The Tennessean du lieu suivant : Nashville, Tennessee • Page 17

Tar Heels Top Cage Poll Righettl Best AL Rookie i iff Sports A.ifT., Scoreboard 19 Jf apleirood, Clenclii Vie 20 TUESDAY December 1, 1981 Page 1 7 rown i i i Mfb VU's AP Lauds Variety's Taylor For Showing Against Vols a Ho tern 13' yW: i 1 By Jimmy davy offensive chief Watson Brown has emerged from the 1981 season as one of the hot-'test' coaching commodities among assistants in the Southeastern Conference. The situation has prompted questions all over Uhe South as to whether Vandy can hold on to the architect of a devastating passing attack which transformed the Commodores into a competitive -team in just one season. IS Brown leaving? "PEOPLE ASK me that everywhere I go," he' 'said yesterday, plopping into a chair. "All I can say that I'm happy at Vanderbilt. Very proud 'to be a part of this program." This, of course, doesn't alleviate the fears that i i bigger check or a head coaching job is going to whisk him away just as the program is being moved into offensive high gear.

"One thing for sure, I want to be a head coach again" said Brown, the former Austin Peay State University head "But I haven't heard anything in that respect." NEITHER HAS he been contacted by any team for his services as offensive with a cushier setup than at Vandy. Butj then it's considered unethical for such over- tur.es during the season and the season has only tbeen over three days. one in the conference has done the kind of job he has." The United Press International All-SEC team for this year had Georgia's Buck Be-lue as its quarterback and picked only a first team. The AP all-conference team has not been announced will include a first and second team. Taylor is less concerned about his individual honors than those around him.

He had a great year, completing 58.5 of 357 passes for 2,318 yards, and thinks he can be much better in 1982. "I HAD A blast playing football this fall," Taylor said yesterday, lounging outside Maclntyre's office, waiting for vision cameras. "I don't feel I have changed as a player. I don't pinch myself to see if it is me," he added. "But, there has been a big change in the team." "We went into every game thinking we could win," he said.

"This hasn't happened before. And, other teams also appeared to think we could win, too. They took us seriously, particularly as the season went on." AND, EVEN though Vanderbilt, under the guidance of Brown and the gamesmanship of Taylor, led the SEC in passing and will rank in the top 10 of the NCAA, the quarterback feels the best is yet to come. (Turn to Page 22, Column 1) By JIMMY DAVY Vanderbilt Whit Taylor says he hasn't changed as a football player, but football is changing all around him. And, no one is satisfied that the record-smashing Commodore passer is able only to reap weekly honors.

For instance, yesterday the 5-11 junior from Shelbyville, was named Southeast Back of the Week by the Associated Press for his 464-yard passing performance in a heartbreaking 38-34 loss at Tennessee last Saturday. IT MARKED the second time this season he has been the outstanding individual offensive player in the Southeast -which takes in some of the finest collegiate talent in the country. "If he didn't get Back of the Week, I don't know who would have," said Vanderbilt head coach George Maclntyre. "What I don't see is how people selecting All-SEC teams can look at how much he has done for our team and not pick him." "He was Back of the Week in the opening game against Maryland. He is Back of the Week in the last game.

And, in between he played hurt," said Vandy offensive chief Watson Brown. "BUT, EVERY week he played he was an All-American for Vanderbilt. It was an unbelievable year for the little guy. What a winner," Brown said. "I don't think any "I can't say what is going to happen.

Brown 'said, candidly. "But, I don't want this to sound like I'm opening the door for offers. I'm not. it's like at Austin Peay. They asked me if I was going to be there and I said, 'Shoot, how do BROWN LEFT Austin Peay as head coach af- ter two years, both with 7-4 seasons, to join Van- (Turn to Page 28, Column 1) Staff photo by Dan Loftin Vanderbilt quarterback Whit Taylor, left, with coach Watson Brown.

Strock Leads 13-10 Comeback Win yipniras isage: isogies vn Schama'nnT. fore this. The loss to the Jets (16-15 in the final minute eight days ago) was devastating. But we bounced back." HARRIS HAD mouthed off after that loss to the Jets. He had caught two of the three passes thrown his way in that game.

He complained loudly about the way Shula's. calls failed to exploit the Jets injury-weakened secondary. And he complained before conferring with Shula and his teammates. "I was just trying to get things going," he said. "I didn't want things to slip away with me lying back, doing nothing." Against the Eagles, he caught nine of the 15 completions thrown by the Dolphins for 1 14 of their 1 54 aerial yards.

The loss dropped Philadelphia, 9-4, one game behind Dallas in the National Conference East. The Eagles visit the Cowboys in 13 days. STROCK REPLACED Miami's ineffective starting quarterback, David Woodley, three minutes into the fourth quarter. He couldn't move the Dolphins the first time they got the ball but the next following a Philadelphia punt, he drove them 61 yards in just six plays. The march consumed 1:57.

MIAMI (AP) Duriel Harris couldn't hear the signal being barked out by Don Strock. He took a guess. He guessed right. His 17-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter last night and Uwe von Scham'ann's 27-yard field goal after Lyle Blackwood's interception carried the Miami Dolphins to a 13-10 victory over Philadelphia and back into a share of first place in the American Conference East. "The touchdown was an audible on a 76' play," said Harris.

"I wasn't sure. All I heard was the 6 part of it. I saw they were in a blitz, which opens up the middle. So I ran the 76 pattern to the inside. Don just laid it up there." AFTER THE score, Harris spiked the ball gleefully, twisting his left knee in the process.

"The leg feels pretty good," he said. "Itvwas only my second touchdown this year. I guess I just forgot how to do that." The victory propelled the Dolphins, 8-4-1, into a virtual first-place tie with the New York Jets, a half-game ahead of Buffalo. Technically, the Jets still lead the division, having tied and beaten the Dolphins in their two meetings "This win was what we needed," said Miami Coach Don Shu-la. "We had two tough losses be- He whipped the ball 11 yards to Harris to midfield, and a roughing-the-passer penalty against defensive end Carl Hairs-ton tacked on 15 more yards.

FOUR PLAYS and a penalty later, it was fourth down at the Philadelphia 17. Harris, slanting in from the right side, caught Strock's bullet at the 10 and burst into the end zone with 5:21 to play. Von Schamann's extra point tied it 10-10. But the drama was only beginning to build. Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski, facing a third-and-8 at the Philadelphia 22 following the kickoff, could not be heard by his teammates as the frenzied Orange Bowl crowd of 67,797 whooped it up.

FIVE TIMES he stepped back and looked helplessly at the officials. Five times the officials waved play dead. Five times the crowd responded with even louder booing while the Dolphins pleaded for the fans to calm down. Finally, Jaworski took the snap in the shotgun formation. But his wobbly pass, intended for Harold Carmichael, was picked off by Blackwood, giving the Dolphins the ball on the Philadelphia 33 with 4:12 to play.

-it UP! Telephoto MIAMI Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski slips past a Dolphin defender for a gain. So Wheat. Curci Charge Echoes Bear Tale Jones, Taylor Join I-AA All-Americas I 8 rvi: many Commodore fans rallying behind VU skipper George Maclntyre, who has had critical comments officiating on more than one occasion this season. Included in one of the letters from an "eye witness at Saturday's game" are copies of newspaper accounts of the 1951 Van-dy-Tennessee game in Knoxville which wound up with players trading punches after WIIM JOHN BIBB j'Oi'J kxioi By DAVID CLIMER Tennessee State coaches have insisted all along that Mike Jones and Malcolm Taylor were just about as good as any football players in Division I-AA. A panel of coaches evidently Orangeburg, S.C., early Friday morning.

While Jones will be an integral part of TSU's pass-oriented offense, Taylor will be no more than a 6-5, 250-pound spectator. The senior defender suffered a multiple fracture of his wrist against Nicholls State over five weeks ago and will not be available to TSU even if the team should advance all the way to the I-AA finals on Dec. 19. Taylor, in fact, had his old cast removed and a new one placed on the wrist yesterday. HIS ABSENCE has been sorely felt by TSU's defense, which has been riddled for consistent yardage on the ground since Taylor's injury.

The big senior from Crystal Springs, played the Tennessee's final touchdown in a 35-27 victory. The Vols, by the way, were named national champions two days later by how things were at Kentucky in those days by telling you a little story: THEY HAD a real nice dinner honoring the football and basketball programs. It was right after we had beaten Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, breaking that long winning streak by Bud Wilkinson. Kentucky's basketball team had won another championship, maybe another national championship. i "Anyway, at the dinner, they made a lot of speeches and said a lot of nice things about how our football program was so outstanding and how we had brought such great acclaim to the school.

Then, they started handing out gifts. They gave Rupp a Cadillac. They gave me a cigarette lighter. "Understand, I'm not real smart, but I was smart enough to know I'd better start looking for a job somewhere else, and fast." Vanderbilt's dazzling effort against Tennessee in Knoxville this past weekend has triggered a wave of reader reaction, FRAN CURCI'S scathing allegation that the University of Kentucky has double standards for its football and basketball programs has brought a "so what 'else is, new?" yawn from many longtime Southeastern Conference followers. They've listened to such charges for years.

The first man who really ever said it out loud probably was Bear Bryant, and for much of this'year just about everything Bryant ever said, and much of what he thought about the Kentucky situation or anything else has been re-hashed by anyOrie with access to a typewriter, or tape recorder. BRYANT, AS you probably knoWr walked away from UK after the 1953 season. He had been Wildcat skipper for eight during which time Kentucky had won 60 games, lost 23 ar tied 5. It.was as clean a break as could have been accomplished undeC- the circumstances. BryanJ felt, as does Curci, he had -met his contractual commitment by delivering a win- both wire service polls.

In the 1951 thriller, the Com ning program to Kentucky. But 'Bear also realized he and his players were doomed to remain in the shadow of the basketball coach and his players. So, when he decided to leave Lexington, he took the only job available at the time. That was at Texas During this past summer when a group of newspeople gathered for an evening with Bear in Tuscaloosa, he was reminiscing about his departure from Kentucky. Much to the delight of a couple of listen-' ers who had witnessed the Bear-Baron struggle up close, Bryant said he didn't want to say anything derogatory about UK, "because the people were very, very nice to me.

I had a lot of friends up there, and I still do. Maybe I can explain modores deserved no worse than a tie. They had come from a 21-0, third-quarter deficit to trail 28-27 with less than two agrees, placing Jones and Taylor on the Kodak Ail-American team. JONES, A junior wide receiver, and Taylor, a senior defensive tackle, are joined on the Ail-American team by four Ohio Valley Conference players. Eastern Kentucky offensive lineman Kevin Greve and defensive back George Floyd made the team, along with Western Kentucky defensive lineman Donnie Evans and Akron linebacker Brad Reese.

The honors handed to Jones and Taylor kicked off a big week for TSU football. The Tigers are currently preparing for their Division I-AA first-round playoff game against host South Carolina State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CST. will leave for minutes to go. Hoping to get within field goal range, they gambled on a fourth-down screen pass deep in their own territory and Tennessee got the ball and scored with 2 seconds remaining.

critical strongside tackle spot on TSU's defense and was considered the team's top defender against the run. Jones, on the other hand, will be very much in action Saturday. The junior from Chattanooga is (Turn to Page 18, Column 1) -r. The last pass Bill Wade threw (Turn to Page 28, Column 1) ill' HWMlTi -r -m rl in i riiT il i i.r mm.