The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 186

1 TODAYS GAMES 6-0 Redskins host Browns Page 2C FORI Sports A.M. 2C Outdoors 14C Scoreboard 15C SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1991 Heartbreaker: Late FG beats Vandy John Bibb The Tigers are 4-2 overall and 2-1 In the SEC Vanderbllt, for the second consecutive week, scored first Wilson, scrambling out of a third-and-13 hole, flipped a short pass to Corey Harris. Harris turned on the afterburners and was on his way to a 73-yard touchdown run. Auburn answered with a one-yard plunge by Teapot Brown at the end of the first quarter. The Tigers missed the extra-point kick.

Vandy drove to the Auburn 49 on Its next possession, where sophomore Sam Chalmers was stopped cold on a fourth-and-lnches gouge. Auburn took over and three plays later faced a seemingly-Impossible thlrd-and-27. But tailback Alex Smith took a handoff up the middle, spinning and bouncing off tacklers, for a 73-yard scoring run. A two-point conversion gave the visitors a 14-7 lead. On Vandy's next play, Wilson was Intercepted by Mike Pina at the Auburn 42.

Pina returned the ball to the Vandy 28. A personal foul penalty backed the Tigers Into a first-and-25 situation, but they promptly sliced through the Commodore defense In six plays to score on a three-yard Reld McMilion dive. Vanderbllt tackled on a 37-yard Jeff Owen field goal with 16 seconds left in the half to reduce Auburn's lead to 21-10 at intermission. By LARRY WOODY Spurn Hriier Vanderbllt battled 24th-ranked Auburn down to the final seven seconds lost night before losing 24-22 when Jeff Owen's 55-yard field goal veered off-target. The defeat, before a Dudley Field crowd of 32,772, marked Van-dy's fourth in a row and dropped the Commodores to 1-5.

Vandy Is 0-3 In the Southeastern Conference after narrowly missing a chance to win Its fifth SEC game In six years. Auburn, which got Its go-ahead points on a Jim Von Wyl 27-yard field goal with 1:27 left In the game, snapped a two-game losing streak. The Commodores sliced further Into the lead with a seven-yard Wilson run In the third quarter. Wilson hit Clarence Sevillian with a 47-yard pass to set up the score. Vandy missed a two-point conversion attempt to trail 21-16.

Wilson put his team in front 22-21 with a 14-yard sprint with less than a minute to play in the third quarter. Again, the run for the two-point conversion was stopped, Auburn drove to the Vandy 13. where Von Wyl missed a 30-yard field goal with 4:23 left. The Tigers punched their way back down for another Von Wyl attempt, this one good with 1:27 left Rebuilding: VU similar to Auburn Yesterday's results 19. Alabama 62, Tulane 0 24.

Auburn 24, Vanderbllt 22 KX Floflda 35, 4. Tennessee 18 22. Georgia 37, 21 Mississippi 17 Miss. State 31, Kentucky 6 Louisiana St. 70, Arkansas St.

14 Arkansas 29, Houston 17 South Carolina 12, Louisiana Tech 12 SEC report, 11C Auburn's razor-thin, 24-22 shaving of Vanderbllt last night at Dudley Field sliced another layer from the Commodores' all-time football edge over the Tigers. In what many Vandy followers (if -i i L7W Tennessee falls 35-18 69 surely must agree was me most encouraging performance of the season, the slim Auburn victory leaves the Commodores ahead 19-13-1 In the frequently interrupted series which goes all the way back to 1893. Last night's triumph marked the sixth straight time the Tigers have beaten the Commodores. None of the games came close to providing the excitement of last night's game. Auburn and Kentucky are the two present members of the Southeastern Conference over-which Vanderbilt holds a won-losf edge.

The Commodores, who willv meet Kentucky here next lead the Wildcats by a scant 30-29-4 margin. For the record, the two new SEC members. South Carolina (1-0-0) and Arkansas (2-1-0), also have the edge In previous games against Vanderbilt. Historically, It's interesting to recall Auburn's steady resurgence from the bottom of the SEC to Van-derbilt's current effort to stop Its football slide. It's Interesting because it was a Vandy-Auburn match which served as the starting point for the Tigers' return to gridiron glory.

Prior to their turnaround, the Tigers not only had lost five straight post-World War II encounters (1946-1951) with the Commodores, but Vandy had dominated the games, winning by scores of 19-0, 28-0, 47-0. 26-7 and 41-0. But then, on a golden Alabama afternoon In late September of 1951, a 40-year-old rookie head coach directed his host Auburn Tigers to a By DAVID CLIMER Sports Wnltr GAINESVILLE, Fla. Florida found sweet revenge last night And in the process, Tennessee's season was soured. The Gators clamped down on No.

4 Tennessee 35-18 with a marvelous defensive performance, completely shutting down the Vols' vaunted running game to gain revenge for last year's 45-3 loss. No. 10 Florida (5-1) assumed the Inside track to the Sugar Bowl as the Gators won their fourth Southeastern Conference game without a loss. UT Is 4-1 and 21. Florida's win came despite a courageous performance by Vol quarterback Andy Kelly.

Stripped of the usual protection provided by a running game, Kelly finished with 35 completions in 56 throws for 394 yards. Although Florida was clearly In control most of the way, the verdict was not really assured until Florida Larry Kennedy Intercepted a Kelly pass and hustled 44 yards to the end zone to make it 35-18 with 3:25 left It was the third interception thrown by Kelly. With a Florida Field record crowd of 85,135 watching, the Gators built a 21-12 halftime lead, with Shane Matthews exercising his lethal right arm early and often. Matthews recovered from an inauspicious start and early Interception and a sack for a safety to direct first-half touchdown drives of 48, 72 and 75 yards. Chuck Smith sacked Matthews for UTs early two points, but soon Matthews found his touch.

Tennessee hurt Itself with errors, the first of which was a fumble by the scrambling Kelly. Later in the first half, Kelly dropped the snap from center and the Gators recovered. Matthews picked apart the Vols' zone pass coverage with crisp throws. Matthews threw first-half touchdown passes to Terrell Jackson (one yard) and Tre Everett (29 yards). Matthews also moved his team in for a third first-half touchdown, with Errtct Rhett doing the honors from four yards out Rhett's touchdown made it 21-9 with 3:58 remaining in the half.

UT, which scored Its first touchdown on a Kelly-to-Cory Fleming four-yard-er, cut the deficit to 21-12 at Intermission on John Becksvoort's 43-yard field goal Vol linebacker Darryl Hardy wrestled the ball away from a couple of Gator receivers in the end zone as time expired. In the third period, Florida's Carlton Miles blocked a Tom Hut-ton punt The ball bounced out of bounds at the UT 14. Rhett scored three plays later to make it 28-12. Becksvoort delivered two 23-yard field goals the first one came midway thorugh the third period and and the second with 12:00 remaining to make it 28-18. On both occasions, the Vols appeared to be headed to the end zone but Kelly couldn't get the ball into the hands of a receiver.

One ball skipped off the hands of Carl Pickens, who appeared to be open. On two other occasions in the second half, Kelly's passes toward Pickens were intercepted. 4rn ultsci vi iiiv vviiiiiiuuui vj The coach was Shug Jordan, and the victory was the first of 176 he was to gain as Tiger skipper. There's an interesting comparison to the losing environment Jordan found smothering Auburn and the remarkably similar doldrums on4u'e rwlriA hoaH fnnrh Cltrrv til TMMn4 1Q tittnA whan ha rama LI11UIUU, UU IUUIIU niivil IV vunn- Mike DuBose Stail Tennessee defensive end Chuck Smith tries to slow down Florida running back Errict Rhett. Tomahawk power gives Braves 10-3 win, NL lead Minnesota needs one more victory TORONTO (AP) The Minnesota Twins moved to the brink of a World Series berth last night as they drummed the Toronto Blue Jays 9-3 In In Game 4 of the AL playoffs.

A victory in today's Game 5 will put the Twins in the World Series for the first time since their champion SHOWDOWN IN THB to the commodores last uecemoer. As a matter of fact DiNardo's battlecry at Vandy this fall sounds like an echo of Jordan's position in 1951. "What has happened at Auburn in previous years has nothing to do with how we go about our football business," the late Jordan said in an interview before his first campaign, suggesting a new football day was dawning on the Loveliest Village. "Then was them, and now is us." Upon arrival at Vandy, DiNardo quickly made it clear neither he nor his players had cause to fret about what sort of teams the Commodores had fielded before he came. He said he recognized one of his major tasks was to work on a new "from the neck up" attitude.

Vanderbilt later avenged that 1951 upset by defeating Auburn in the 1955 Gator Bowl. In the interim, Jordan's Tigers survived a 2-8-1 mark in 1952 and headed toward a national championship with a perfect, 10-0-0 record in 1957. Last night DiNardo's game plan Hartnna1 tA tact I71llnOIohl1ttf ship year of 1987. Bestf-seven Mile HOWDOWN IN THH AL irx- cs Tonight: Game 4 I When: 7:30 p.m. TV: Channel 5.

ISeries: Braves lead 2-1. I Playoffs update on 4-5C. They took a commanding 3 games to 1 lead in the best-of-seven series with last night's win. Mike Pagli-arulo, whose homer won Game 3, singled in the go-ahead run in ATLANTA (AP) Chop! Chop! Braves on top! With Ted Turner and fiancee Jane Fonda leading the chants and cheers, the Atlanta Braves rewarded their faithful yesterday by swarming all over Pittsburgh and seizing control of the National League Championship Series. With 50,905 frenetic fans swinging tomahawks, Greg Olson, Ron Gant and Sid Bream swung home-run bats as the Braves won a postseason game in Atlanta for the first ever, pounding the Pirates 10-3 for a 2-1 edge.

Not a first-pitch home run by Orlando Merced, not John Smiley's great record in the daytime, not anything could deny the Braves and their boosters. "This park has been good to us all year," Olson said. "We really didn't hit the ball well in Pittsburgh, and we were hoping we would come back to Atlanta and hit the ball like Best-of-teven series Today: Game 5 I When: 3 p.m. TV: Channel 5. ISeries: Twins lead 3-1.

we've been all year." They did. Olson connected to cap a four-run first inning, Gant homered in the seventh and Bream hit a three-run shot in the eighth. By then, the Braves' war chant was louder than ever. It started a half-hour before the game, and if the Pirates did not know they were in trouble then, it didn't take long to find out. that had shown in most of Auburn's efforts this season.

The Tigers ha-, ven't been too effective against option-style attacks. Commodore quarterback Marcus Wilson handled the Vanderbilt offense until Auburn scored its field goal with less than two minutes left. a four-run fourth and doubled home a sixth-inning run helped Minnesota build its lead. Toronto's Todd Stottlemyre, making his first start of the playoffs, outpitched Jack Morris through three Innings. Stottlemyre allowed three hits and struck out three before Klrby Puckett led off the fourth Inning with his first homer of the series.

AP Atlanta's Greg Olson gets a friendly welcome after his first-inning, two-run homer. AROUND THE DIAL AUTO RACING Darrell Waltrip of Franklin, NFL today: Noon: Cleveland at 1 kimm- 'immmvh 'm: '-111? -mm'' I I i I i r. If t. Washington, Channel New Orleans at Philadelphia, Channel 5. 3 p.m.: Miami at Kansas City, Channel 4.

7 p.m: Los Angeles Raiders at Seattle, TNT. Baseball COLLEGE FOOTBALL Middle Tennessee State (4-1, 3-1) defeated Austin Peay 23-8 in Clarks-ville, as Joe Campbell scored two touchdowns and Kelly Holcomb made some clutch passes. The Governors fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 In the OVC. On 10C. Cumberland's winning streak ended at two as the host Bulldogs got behind 15-0 and lost to Union (Ky.) 25-6.

Cumberland, however, rushed for 200 yards. Mario Porter got the only score for the Bulldogs (2-3). On 9C. RESULTS COLLEGE FOOTBALL No. 1 Florida State 33, Virginia Tech 20 No.

2 Miami 26, No. 9 Penn State 20 No.3 Washington 48, Toledo 0 No. 5 Michigan 45, Michigan State 28 Texas 10, N0.6 Oklahoma 7 Rice 20, N0.8 Baylor 17 No.20 Illinois 20, No.9 Ohio State 7 No. 13 California 45, Oregon 7 No. 14 Nebraska 49, Oklahoma State 15 East Carolina 23, No.

15 Syracuse 20 No. 17 Iowa 10, Wisconsin 6 No. 18 Clemson 20, Virginia 20 1 will start from the 14th position in today's All American 400 race at 1 p.m. at Nashville Motor Raceway. Bob Senneker will start from the pole.

Prices: $30 reserved, $25 general admission and $10 for children younger than WHAT'S UP TODAY David Green of Nashville will start from the 24th position in the Chevy Dealers of New England 250 Busch Grand National race in Loudon, N.H. Green is the circuit's rookie points leader. TVicover-age: 11:30 a.m,TNN. 0 playoffs on Channel 5: Game 5 in AL, 3 p.m.; Game 4 in NL, 7:30 p.m. Cover age of the PGA's Las Vegas Invitational 11.0n16C WALTRIP begins at 3 p.m.

on ESPN. Listings, 15C..