The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 20

"I T. fy-Yf9''rfT'T'''T't'W' WW Sports-: Sunday, Dec. 2, 1M4 tTlir Attttifitoii far Tir Charles I Goldberg 'fr Star Sports Editor Auburn loses i Pitt tf i I 1 Ill .1 TTTZX Star PtwlM by Mm Orou Alabama's Paul Ott Carruth plows through Auburn defenders on his way to second quarter touchdown Tide rises to the occasion guessing game BIRMINGHAM So you want to second guess the decision not to kick the field goal? Get in the back of the line, buddy. And take a ticket. You're number is 2,001 and you've got a long wait 1 ahead of you.

A lot of people are asking tBday why Auburn, which painstakingly went for a 2-point conversion to set up a potential winning field goal, didn't try to kick it when the opportunity presented itself here Saturday. Instead of kicking the shortest field goal known to man, Auburn went for a touchdown on fourth down from the two-foot line with 3:27 left in the game. And didn't make it. Bo Jackson, Auburn's Heisman Trophy candidate, ran left when he should have run right, and without his blocking services, fellow running back Brent Fullwood was a dead duck. He lost 4 yards.

Auburn lost the game, 17-15 to the University of Alabama here Saturday in a game that will be remembered as The Field Goal That Wasn't, and The Victory That Was. It was ironic. Jackson, the guy who beat Alabama with "Bo over-the top'-' two years, ago and repeated the feat with 69 and 71-yard runs last year, ran the wrong way. Simple as that. AUBURN HEAD COACH Pat Dye defended his decision not to kick the field goal, but be patient for the details.

There's a long line in front of us. And while we're waiting, maybe we shouldn't lose sight that this game wasn't decided on the decision not to kick the field goal or the fact Jackson ran the wrong way on the play that was called, although both stare you right in the face. The game was decided over the course of 60 minutes Saturday, and over the days and weeks Alabama head coach Ray Perkins used to convince his team to hold its head up in the face of adversity. Sure, Alabama was suffering through its worst season in 27 years. And sure, there were fans who were disgruntled.

And sure, it is Alabama that is 5-6 and it is Auburn that Is 8-4 and bowl bound. But on one shining Saturday afternoon, Alabama was Alabama again, playing as if a national championship depended on the outcome instead of just pride. Alabama finished the season with a losing record, a mark that Perkins said hurt despite the win over Auburn. But tlihj was still a sweet victory for Alabama, which knocked its arch-rival out of the Sugar Bowl. And it was sweet for Perkins, the man who had taken so much flack for his team's record, but left Legion Field with Auburn coach Pat Dye occupying his hot seat after the Tigers didn't try the field goal.

"What would I do if I'm coaching in that situation? I would just as soon you -didn't ask me that question," said Perkins smiling. Perkins had talc en enough criticism this year without jumping back into the If Pat Dye didn't want to kick a field goal, that was fine with him. But was Perkins surprised? "TOTALLY. I THOUGHT they were trying to draw us offsides and eventually kick the field goal," said Perkins. The shoe was on the someone else's foot for a change.

Ray Perkins smiled: And all of those of the crimson-and-white persuasion smiled. And rightfully so. -Alabama, in the unfamiliar role of playing second fiddle to Auburn this season asjyeH-as- in the last two meetings between these teamsfstood tall for a change. There would be no foupth-quarter letdowns. "XThere would be noJieart-breaking loss.

Onaxool, fall Sa'turday at Legion Field, Alabama returned to greatness, if just for a day. Alabama had won THE game. But why not kick the sure field goal? Well, it's not our turn, but let's eavesdrop "Well, we would have had a sure touchdown (if Jackson had run the right way)," said Dye, "The ball was sitting on the right hash mark two feet away from a touchdown. "I don't question anything we did. I question why we 11 -r sl I v.

Loss reroutes AU to Liberty By DARRYAL RAY Star Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM Call em Bowl Busters. Call 'em The Liberators. Call 'em The Avengers. But before you call Alabama's Crimson Tide anything, it would be wise to call the travel agency and change those New Year's Day reservations in New Orleans. Reroute those plans to the north and 'Memphis, Tenn where the Liberty Bowl and Arkansas will be waiting for the Auburn Tigers on Dec.

26. At least, Auburn coach Pat Dye hopes they will be waiting. But even Dye wasn't too certain of that here Saturday after arch-rival Alabama wrote a surprising end to its worst season in 27 years by upending his favored Tigers 17-15. "No, I haven't seen anybody from the Liberty Bowl," Dye said in his post-game press conference. "I guess they may be around here somewhere.

the people from the Sugar Bowl came by and wished us well in the Liberty Bowl." f4 4 Ah, yes, the Sugar Alabama 17 Auburn IS 13 Flrtl downs 19 Yardi rushing JI5 73 Yards passing 113 253 Total yards 321 Pass atlampts 20 6 Pass completions I Intercepted by 1 0 Fumbles lost 0 7-43 Punting average 0 461 35 Yards penalised 34 29 43 Time possession 3017 Auburn had been handed that prestigious New Year's Day berth by virtue of a Southeastern Conference decision banning regular-season champion and 7 (7i i The Crimson Tide defense caused Auburn some problems NCAA rules violator Florida from participating. ALL 11TH-RANKED and 8-3 Auburn had to do to fulfill their end of the bargain was beat unrahked and 4-6 Alabama. Win and the Tigers are in; lose and Auburn would have to swap bowls with LSU. All in all, it was a seemingly easy assignment. Maybe even as easy as kicking a 42-yard field goal.

But on a Saturday afternoon in Legion Field with 76,853 fans shouting, nine seconds remaining, and two points behind, Robert McGinty couldn't make that 42-yard kick he had made five of six times earlier this season. Instead, McGinty struck the ball with his ankle and the ball wobbled wide to the left as Alabama sealed its, first win over the Tigers since 1981. "I was confident that I was going to make the field goal," McGinty said. "The snap was good and the hold was perfect it's something I can live with, but not easily." Dye will also have trouble living with the outcome particularly his decision one series earlier to go for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from Alabama's -yard line, when an easy 18-yard field goal would have put Auburn ahead 1847. But Dye feared a l-point'lead with 3:27 left to play was not enough against the worst offense in the SEC And so, he ordered offensive coordinator Jack Crowe to call for an option pitchout to left halfback Brent Fullwood.

didn't do any better coaching." Dye said he wanted the touchdown because a field goal would have allowed Alabama to win with a field goal of its own. But as it turned out, Alabama won without even scoring again. Auburn, which had used a rather conservative game plan all day, lost on a big gamble. Perkins, who had said before the game the outcome wouldn't change the disappointment of the season, stuck to his guns Saturday. He accepted victory with modesty and class.

"I DON'T REALLY have the vocabulary to describe how I feel," he said, just as the late Paul "Bear" Bryant had said so many times before him. Perspectives change with losses. And victories. Ray Perkins used to be the guy who coached Alabama to its first losing season in more than a quarter of a century. Today, he.

is the coach who upset Auburn. Hero at large. But this win doesn't change all that came before it. The Tide had been down. But now it is riding into a new year with new enthusiasm.

Auburn is the one going to the Liberty Bowl, but not even the Tigers pretended to be excited with, that. Alabama is the one that is celebrating "It does help'us to go into the offseason with a level of confidence to prepare for 1985," said Perkins. There were no rumors Saturday." No fleeing to Tampa Bay. It was a day to enjoy victory. And maybe to keep things in perspective.

"As far at erasing any of the six losses, it doesn't do that at all," said Perkins. But for bragging rights in this nothing could' have been bigger. "I think it really means more for the fans," said "To them, it's 365 days, not just a.OO-minute (Please tee Goldberg oa Page 7B) And as for Jackson's missed assignment? "Bo didn't hear what he thought he heard," Dye explained. "He thought he was supposed to get the ball." AND SO, JACKSON the hero of Auburn's two previous wins over the Tide was indirectly blamed for the loss. Ironic? "Ain't nobody hurting worse than Bo," said Crowe.

Still, Jackson earned his keep. He scored the game's first touchdown on a 2-yard run, converted on the 2-point run after Fullwood's fourth-quarter burst to put his team in a position to win with a field goal, and led all rushers with 118 yards on 22 carries. But Jackson never broke the big inn. After breaking free for runs of 69 and 71 yards in the two previous meetings with the Tide, the best Jackson could do Saturday was a 28-yard pickup. That coupled with an Alabama defense that ranks at the top of the conference and tendency toward conservatism by both teams left the game almost void of the big play.

The first half was uneventful despite a 7-7 tie. Auburn went 80 yards in 12 plays to score on Jackson's 2-yard first-quarter touchdown run and McGinty kicked the conversion. Alabama matched that in the second period with Paul Ott Carruth't 6-yard touchdown run and Van Tiffin's conversion kick. By halftime, Auburn's wishbone the top-ranking offense in the conference had netted 177 yards (77 from Jackson) and 11 first downs. But when Auburn returned for the third quarter, the Tigers couldn't earn another first down until just over nine minutes re mained in the game.

"They wanted to get the ball to Bo as much as possible but we started shutting down the said junior tackle Jon Hand. they started going out wide. When we started shutting that down, they started to pass. When we started shutting that down, there wasn't anything left for them to do." THE ONLY THING left for Auburn to do was switch quarterbacks, which it did. But Mike Mann could not generate any more yardage against the Tide defense.

Alabama, meanwhile, stuck to quarterback Mike Shula and the running game. While Shula only passed 11 tirnejk completing six for 73 yards and one interception, the Tide relied heavily on a a counter trap play called "Counter 23-0." "Mississippi State had killed 'em with the same trap," said Tide fullback Ricky Moore, who finished his career by rushing for 63 yards on 17 carries. "Our coaches felt that this was going to be one of their weak spots and it worked out for us today." "It's where the guard loops around and traps the linebacker," said quick guard Mike White. "It's not really a trap it's more of a counter. Bill Condon did a great job of blocking the linebacker and Wes (Neighbors) and I handled that middle guard pretty well and we turned up some yardage today." The Tide used the control trap to pick up most of its yardage over the guard positions in the first half, but -began working on the end positions in the second period.

"We had been running it up the middle in the first (Please' see Alabama Page 7B) Iulfwood had scored Auburn's second touchdown with a blistering 60-yard burst oh a similar play. But this time, the worst that could happen did happen. Quarterback Pat Washington called for the play to go to the right. But Ail-American halfback Bo Jackson went to the right left, thinking that he was to get the ball. The foul-up left Fullwood without any blocking as he tried to cut around the right end and was thrown for a 3-yard loss by a charging Rory Turner, Freddie Robinson and Ricky Thomas.

"We had studied the films and we knew in that situation that they were going to go to the outside," said Turner. "The coach called the right play. I took advantage of the hole and just waxed the dude." i 7. I..