The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 23

SECTION Scoreboard2 SEC Football9 Pro Baseball 10 Sunday, September 30, 1984 30-21 Victory Puts Vandy in SEC Title Race T7 7 By JIMMY DAVY Tennesson Sports Writer TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Vanderbilt's unbeaten football team whipped Alabama 30-21 here yesterday and threw its black and gold helmets squarely in the Southeastern Conference championship race. Not too many minutes after the Commodores had be-headed the Crimson monsters who have tormented SEC foes for so many years, Vandy's coach George Maclntyre let it be known he believes his club means business in the race for the 1984 championship. "This wasn't an upset We're a contender in this league," Maclntyre said above the shouts and cheers of most of the 2,500 Vandy followers surrounding the team buses and dressing room. And Kurt Page, the senior Commodore quarterback who twice threw touchdown darts into the staggering Alabama giant, contributed his prediction for what's ahead for his gridiron buddies.

Standing in a mob of reporters and fans, the former Father Ryan star said: "I feel Vanderbilt is a Top 20 team. And, to be 4-0 after a 2-9 season certainly qualifies us as the comeback team in college football." The victory, brought on by a beautiful combination of offensive and defensive achievements, gives the Commodores their best start since 1950. It also provides Vandy a 1-0 jump in what appears the beginning of an unpredictable SEC title chase. Vanderbilt rallied from a 10-9 deficit with three second half touchdowns two on the passes from Page and one on a 30-yard run by Gallatin's Carl "Goo The furious finish ended a 14-year losing streak to Bama, and gave the Commodores their first victory over the Tide In Tuscaloosa. Mix in the superb kicking by Ricky Anderson, who averaged 49.8 yards on five punts; and outstanding defensive play, noteably by tackles Karl Jordan and Steve Wade and corner Thanh Anderson, and the result produced one of the more glorious days in almost 100 years of Vanderbilt football.

Vandy tormented the proud, but porous Alabama defense as Page hit 19 of 32 passes for 218 yards and sophomore running back Woods racked up 183 total yards. Woods rushed for 1 16 in 25 carries and caught five passes for 68 yards. 0 Winning Eases Pain for 3 In the process, Woods moved past the career rushing mark as a Commodore. His total now is 1,022. It was a day of records, with Ricky Anderson becoming the all-time career scorer at Vanderbilt.

His three field goals and three conversions pushed him to 157 points. That's one more point than one-time Vandy running back Dean Davidson scored. Ironically, Davidson's final season was 1950, the last time Van-. dy won its first four games. But, it was the Vandy victory, not necessarily how it was accomplished, that shocked this cradle of Southern football.

The magnitude of the decision, despite Bama's 1-3 record, may be measured by the results of the modern football history of the two long-time conference rivals. The Vandy triumph marked the first time Alabama had lost a homecoming in 26 years and saddled the Crimson Tide with only the 12th loss at Bryant-Denny Stadium since it was built in 1929. None of these historical developments was lost on the 60,120 disappointed Alabama partisans, many of whom left the stadium early. The early departees missed the Tide's last touchdown which came with 11 seconds remaining and made the game appear closer than it was. "Being from Ohio, I guess I didn't fully understand what this game was all about," said Thanh Anderson, the sophomore secondary defender who intercepted two Alabama passes.

"Now I know," he said when he stood on the sidelines, tears appearing to well up in his eyes while gazing at the dwindling time on the stadium scoreboard clock. Vandy went into the game an underdog by a touchdown, but it was no fluke upset Indeed, the better team appeared to win even though embattled Alabama coach Ray Perkins never called his conquerors by name in his post-game remarks distributed in the press box. (Turn to Page 4, Column 3) Staff photo by Ricky Rogers Vanderbilt running back Everett Crawford, left, reaches teammate Armando Fitz while celebrating the Commo-over linebacker Marvin Thomas for a high-five from dores' 30-21 win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. War Eagles Destroy A A I i By DAVID CLIMER Tennesson Sports Writer AUBURN, Ala. Bo Who? Disregarding the absence of the injured Bo Jackson, Auburn paraded a collection of big, talented athletes in front of a sellout crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium yesterday.

It was like a Cecil B. DeMille movie, only with Pat Dye in the director's seat. Auburn had a cast of thousands. Tennessee got an eyeful. And by mid-afternoon, the Volunteers had seen all they could stand as Auburn piled up a 29-10 victory.

And it could've been worse. Perhaps much worse. Auburn turned the ball over five times and chose to kill the clock instead of going for another touchdown when the Tigers had the ball at the Tennessee 3-yard line at the bitter end. "Aw, we didn't need another touchdown," shrugged Auburn's Dye. They sure didn't By then, their domination had been firmly established in the eyes of 75,076 fans on hand and a nationwide cable television audience.

Those spectators got the chance to see the difference between a team that can still make a run at a nation- that he has failed to gain 100 yards. "It was killing me before I ever got on the field today," he said. "I just played as long as I could." As the final numbers indicate, Auburn was in control most of the way. The Tigers, now 2-2, fumbled away their first possession on the UT 1-yard line but came back with a churning 61-yard drive that ended with the first of Collins' three touchdown runs. Auburn extended its lead to 9-0 when Gerald Robinson slammed into Vol quarterback Robinson, forcing a fumble that bounced out of the end zone for a safety with 11:50 left in the half.

Tommie Agee's fumble at the Auburn 37 and Dale Jones' recovery led to a 40-yard field goal by Fuad Reveiz that cut the Vol deficit to 9-3. But Auburn came right back with an 89-yard drive that included a key 23-yard pass from Pat Washington to Freddy Weygand on third-and-21. Reggie Ware's 1-yard dive extended the Tiger lead to 16-3. Reggie McKenzie's interception of Washington's ill-advised throw gave the Vols a chance to get back in the (Turn to Page 3, Column 1) Tennessee got just 220 total yards in a puny offensive performance that could be blamed both on Auburn's physical brand of defense and on the Vols' own pitiful execution. "Auburn's turnovers kept us in the game for awhile but we just didn't capitalize.

You've got to get a touchdown or field goal or something out of those turnovers, but we didn't execute," said quarterback Tony Robinson, who was intercepted twice in a rusty 7-for-17 passing performance that produced just 1 19 yards. The offensive futility took its toll on a Vol defense that played its heart out despite a series of injuries to key personnel. Star linebacker Al-vin Toles didn't make it past the first series and strong safety Charles Benton was injured later in the first half. "We'd come up with a big play and then we'd be back on the field three plays later," said linebacker Carl Zander. Even old reliable, Johnnie Jones, couldn't help the Vol offense.

A series of heavy hits by Aubum defenders aggravated a shoulder injury and kept Jones on the sidelines most of the second half. He wound up with 67 yards on 14 carries, only the third time since last year's Auburn game Defense Silver 4 al championship and a team that is probably no better than middle of the road in the Southeastern Conference. "If we continue to improve, we won't be too far out of the hunt when it's all over," said Dye, whose national championship dream is still alive despite opening losses to Miami and Texas. "We play the toughest schedule in America. We're going to keep churning and hope the cream will come to the top." All of that churning will be done without Jackson, the gifted halfback who is out for the season after suffering a broken shoulder in the loss at Texas.

But the absence of Jackson didn't seem to hurt Auburn yesterday. Even with three fumbles and two interceptions, the Tigers piled up 526 yards in total offense, including 134 rushing yards by Brent Fullwood and three touchdown carries by Kyle Collins. Auburn's wishbone also controlled the football for 37:29 compared to UT's 22:31. Staff photo by Dan Loftin Tennessee's Bruce Garrett drives Auburn punt returner Trey Gainous into the turf during the Vols' 29-1 0 loss to the Tigers in Auburn, Ala. Garrett was penalized on the play.

College Football Scores 4 fc Who's No. Syracuse Upsets No. 1 Nebraska SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) Syracuse, still smarting from last week's 19-0 loss to Rutgers, punished Nebraska defensively yesterday and rode Todd Norley's passing to a 17-9 upset of the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.

Both teams, playing before 47,280 in the Carrier Dome, emerged from the game with 3-1 records. "Their defense probably played as good a game as we've had played against us in the last 3 or 4 years," said Nebraska coach Tom Osborne. "They were just more physical than we were and they outplayed us. We really got banged around today." Norley's 40-yard touchdown pass to Mike Siano midway through the third quarter gave the Orangemen their first lead at 10-7. Siano, one of four receivers Norley used In a 9 of 18 passing day for 106 yards, said he was still thinking about the pain of the Rutgers loss which resulted from seven Syracuse turnovers.

(Turn to Page 12, Column 2) Saturday's Results APTop20 1. NEBRASKA (3-1). Lost to Syracuse 17-9. 2. TEXAS (2-0).

Defeated Penn State 28-3. 3. OHIO STATE (4-0). Beat Minnesota 35-22. 4.

PENN STATE (3-1). LoM to Texas 28-3. 5. BOSTON COLLEGE (3-0). Idle.

6. WASHINGTON (4-0). BeatMlaml, Ohio, 53-7. 7. OKLAHOMA (4-0).

Beat Kansas State 24-6. 8. BRIGHAM YOUNG (4-0). Was Idle. 9.

FLORIDA STATE (3-0). Beat Temple 44-27. 10. OKLAHOMA ST. (4-0).

Deteated Tulsa 31-6. 11.SMU (3-0). Beat TCU 26-17. 12. GEORGIA (2-1).

Lost to South Carolina 17-10. 13. CLEMSON (2-2). Lost to Ga. Tech 28-21.

14. MICHIGAN (3-1). Beat Indiana 14-6. Memphis St. 23, So.

Miss. 13 Centre 24, Univ. of South 14 Miss. College 28, UT-Martin 10 South Georgia Tech 28, Clemson 21 Maryland 38, Wake Forest 17 Miami, Fia. 38, Rice 3 East Texas 28, Penn State 3 West Virginia 28, Pitt 10 Syracuse 17, Nebraska 9 Midwest Iowa 21, Illinois 16 Ohio State 35, Minnesota 22 Notre Dame 16, Missouri 14 Southwest Arkansas 33, Navy 10 Oklahoma 24, Kansas State 71 SMU26, TCU 17 Far West UCLA 33, Colorado 16 LSU 23, Southern California 3 Arizona State 28, Stanford 10 Washington 53, Miami, Ohio 7 GComplete List on Pago 2 15.

SOUTHERN CAL(21). Lost to LSU 23-3. 16. MIAMI, Fla. (4-2).

Defeated Rice 38-3. 17. UCLA (3-1). Beat Colorado 33-16. 18.

GEORGIA TECH (3-0). Defeated Clemson 28-21. 19. NOTRE DAME (3-1). Beat Missouri 16-14.

20. AUBURN (2-2). Beat Tennessee 29-10. SEC Vanderbilt 30, Alabama 21 Auburn 29, Tennessee 10 Florida 27, Mississippi St. 12 Mississippi 14 South Carolina 17, Georgia 10 LSU 23, Southern California 3 ovc Eastern Ky.

20, Austin Peay 3 MTSU 16, Akron 3 Murray St. 58, Morehead 28 W. Carolina 34, Tenn. Tech 6 State East Tenn. 16, The Citadel 6 UTChattanooga21, Furman 14 i APLaserphoto Syracuse's Harold Gayden gallops over Cornhuskers No.

2 Texas Rips Pcnn State 28-3 No. 3 Ohio State Drubs Minnesota Page 6.