The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 23

IN Tlli SPORTS SECTION 1 ut i Expansion countdown continues 9C 9C Tennessee takes on Syracuse litis IRSityvirAW 3 in UT4-5C Penn State rsESios past Michigan State VANDY 4-5C SEC 6C v. 1 TOP 25 3.7C uuu ALL THE SCORES 2C Page 8C SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1993 i mi if inn a ii rvx wjwmiMj Nebraska's foe? eminoles say choice is easy Jimmy Davy re vVo' i Little hope in fortnight of failures 4 By MIKE LOPRESTI Gannett News Service GAINESVILLE, Fla. The following messages to the West Virginia Mountaineers come compliments of Florida State. Your schedule wasn't good enough. Your wins weren't convincing enough.

Your past isn't rich enough. And, oh, good luck in the Cotton Bowl. It is the Orange Bowl where the national championship will be decided. No. 1 Nebraska against who? The matter is now in the hands of the voters.

Either 11-0 West Virginia or 11-1 Florida State, whoever has the most combined points in today's Associated Press media poll and USA TodayCNN coaches rankings. The Seminoles have a loss. The Mountaineers don't Back in Morgantown, the prevailing feeling is that nothing more need be said. The Seminoles had a few more things to say anyway, after beating Florida 33-21. Issue 1.

The Schedule. West Virginia played seven home games. Their opponents' combined record was 54-64-2. Their non-Big East games: Eastern latter three all top 10 teams. "I don't want to downgrade them," corner-back Clifton Abraham said of West Virginia, "but if you put our schedule down in front of West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen before the season, he'd balk at it He wouldn't play it "What I'd like to do is play Nebraska in Week 1, take a week to rest, and in the third week beat West Virginia." West Virginia won five games by a combined margin of 14 points.

None of Florida State's 11 victories were by less then 12. But of, course, there was the loss at Notre Dame. Issue 2. The Past It really doesn't mean anything now. But some of the Seminoles say it should.

"I look at the year-in, year-out thing," Abraham said. "You can't be good for one year and say you deserve the national championship. Last year they were terrible (5-4-2). The year before that they were terrible (6-5) and the year before that they were terrible (4-7). We've been there year after year." Added cornerback Corey Sawyer about West Virginia, "They ain't been in this situation for 40 years." Yo, Corey.

They did meet Notre Dame for the national championship in 1988. "That's unlike them," shrugged Sawyer. Issue 3. Quality over Quantity. West Virginia has the superior record.

But who, deep in their heart of hearts, would voters call the superior team? The Seminoles claim it'd be a landslide. "If you go by who the best team is, I think we all know we are," receiver Matt Frier said. "We went into some of the hardest places in the country, and won and won and won. You pick who the best football team is, game by game, score by score." Linebacker Derrick Brooks: "We have proven ourselves every week except one quarter, the second quarter at Norte Dame." Now, everyone waits. And FSU Coach Bobby Bowden knows how Nehlen feels.

"We were unbeaten in 1979 and the highest we got was fifth," Bowden said. "Let the voters choose. They should vote for whoever they think are the best two teams in the nation. If they think it's West Virginia, fine, vote for West Virginia. If they think we're the best team, dadgum it vote for us." AP FSU's Chris Cowart, left, and Clifton Abraham hug Corey Sawyer after his interception against Florida.

See 3C. Michigan, Maryland, Missouri and Louisville. Florida State's opponents record was 77-57, and their non-ACC opponents were Kansas, Miami, Notre Dame and Florida, the CD) "5 fiLrD KNOXVILLE Vanderbilt Coach Gerry DiNardo is right. There is no football rivalry between his Commodores and what he likes to call "that school to the east" By refusing to call Tennessee by its proper name, DiNardo has come up with the perfect deception. He gets all the attention, hoping that no one is making football comparisons.

There was hardly a mention of Vanderbilt's football team in Knox-ville yesterday. The Commodores suddenly are too bad to hate. But not DiNardo. They love to hate the Vandy coach. One sign said: "Thanks Gerry for all your help this week." Another: "Smokey will coach Vanderbilt for food." The Vols hardly needed any motivation for this game, with the possible exception of celebrated QB Heath Shuler, who appeared less than inspired yesterday.

Perhaps it's the best signal that he is, indeed, going to turn down millions of NFL dollars to return here next season. He has noble reasons get the Heisman get a national title for the Vols and throw some passes to brother Benjie. If Shuler comes back, all those things are possible. What is possible for Vanderbilt Commodores experience an Orange crushing By DAVID CLIMER Senior Writer KNOXVILLE One day before maintenance crews are scheduled to begin removing the artificial turf from Neyland Stadium, Tennessee's Vols cut a rug of their own with a 62-14 song and dance over Vanderbilt. The wire-to-wire, wall-to-wall orange crush was the biggest margin of victory ever by the Vols against Vanderbilt and extended UT'S winning streak over the Commodores to 11.

"Bottom line: Tennessee's still Tennessee and Vandy's still Vandy," said Vol center Bubba Miller. '-1'. mi, 9 tl There was no mistaking the teams yesterday. Even with uncharacteristic turnovers that halted two drives deep in Vanderbilt territory early in the game, UT breezed to a 34-0 halftime lead and extended the margin to "Bottom line: Tennessee's still Tennessee and Vandy's still Vandy." BUBBA MILLER Tennessee center i v. i i Si 48-0 by the 3:49 football, in this third year of another rebuilding, is something else.

The most stinging taunt from the crowd hovered over the tunnel leading from the field to the dressing room, was: "Same ol' Vanderbilt" DiNardo, asked to evaluate the progress of his program, refers to 13 wins since he arrived from Colorado three years ago. It represents a better worksheet than his predecessor, Watson Brown. "Judge me by wins and losses," he said after yesterday's 62-14 Big Orange romp. "If you compare to the three previous years the wins are more than doubled." He's right But it doesn't speak to the question of the last two weeks in which two of his Eastern Division opponents have slugged the Commodores by a score of 114-14. "The last two weeks have been no fun," DiNardo said.

Some judgment must be placed on that Anyone who watched yesterday's game is hard pressed to see any significant improvement in the program. Frankly, the performance here was an embarrassment to the knot of Vandy faithful who, to their credit stayed through the rain and the flood of Tennessee scoring. The margin of victory was the widest for a UT team in the series, which goes back to 1909. It is easy to kick the Commodores when they are dowa Perhaps in building the program from the ground up, there are subtle improvements which will suddenly be evident in the next year or two. If you can believe those anonymous recruiting analysts, the current coaching staff has made some big leaps in upgrading VU's talent But yesterday, prospects of better days for Vandy football appeared as dismal as the slate gray skies.

Finally, it was the game, not the weather, which thinned the crowd in huge Neyland Stadium. As one pressbox wag offered: "It takes a really bad game to run Tennessee fans out of the stadium." V-z-i1-' Vanderbilt snapped a seven-quarter scoreless spell with back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth period before Vol reserves tacked on 14 more points for good measure. Along the way, Tennessee's offense broke the Southeastern Conference scoring record. The '93 Vols scored 471 points, bettering the old mark of 454 by Alabama in 1973. The regular season ended with the teams headed in opposite directions.

Vanderbilt lost to Florida and UT by a combined 114-14 score while the Vols' last four games produced a 210-27 point differential. Tennessee heads into the postseason with a 9-1-1 overall record and a 6-1-1 SEC finish in Phillip Fulmer's first full season as head coach. Vanderbilt completed Gerry DiNar-do's third season at 4-7 overall and 1-7 in the conference. Tennessee's next stop is expected to be the Florida Citrus Bowl, with either Wisconsin or Penn State the likely opponent "This contributes to a new era of Tennessee football," said Vol quarterback Heath Shuler, who did not have one of his better days. "Coach Fulmer and his staff have established teamwork.

We're like a family. Our work ethic is unbelievable." Playing with blue-collar tenacity, UT carved up Vanderbilt for 525 yards, including 359 on the ground against a unit that previously ranked second in the SEC in rush defense: Delores Detvin Staff Tennessee defender Shane Bonham drives into Vanderbilt quarterback Ronnie Gordon during the first half yesterday. Charlie Garner did much of the damage with 151 yards on just 16 carries, pushing his season total to 1,161 yards. Garner also became only the fourth Tennessee back ever to run for 2,000 yards in his career and the first to do it in just two seasons. The Vols also scored in the kicking game, with Shawn Summers' 51-yard punt return opening the onslaught.

"They played true to form," DiNardo said of the Vols. "They're an outstanding team, one of the best in the conference. They have victory over the University of Tampa during the 1960 season. And while the Vols' offense was up to its usual slash-and-dash act the UT defense snapped Vanderbilt's I-bone attack, limiting the Commodores to just 224 yards and forcing three turnovers. Stuffed at the line much of the day, the Commodores used the pass more than usual with quarterback Ronnie Gordon completing 11 of 24 throws for a season-high 120 yards.

a great package and do a great job of coaching it and executing it" While there was no repeat of the pre-game brawl that marked Vanderbilt's last visit to Neyland Stadium, there were a couple of tense moments early on. Words were exchanged between players at the end of pre-game warmups and officials called the teams together for a brief cooling-off period during the first series. After that break, Tennessee kicked it in gear for its biggest point total since a 62-7 Jimmy Davy is a senior writer for The Tennessean. MEMPHIS STATE The Tigers (6-5) lost at ninth-ranked AROUND THE DIAL The day after: Vanderbilt at Ten AROUND THE NATION NO. 14 Penn State rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to beat No.

25 Michigan State 38-37. The Nittany Lions (9-2) may play UT In the Citrus Bowl. The Spartans (6-4) appear headed to the Liberty Bowl vs. Louisville. On 8C.

I-AA PLAYOFFS On 2C Ga. South. 14, EKU 12 Dataware 49, Mont, 48 nessee replay, 11 am, SportSouth; The Phillip Fulmer Show, 1:30 rfj-T'umwwwi ii sad oMZJZLLm p.m., Channel The SEC Louisiana State (5-6) blew its chance to go to a bowl game as Oscar Malone and Carlton Calvin each ran for two TDs and 100-plus yards as visiting Arkansas (5-5-1) won 42-24. Virginia will now replace LSU in the Carquest Bowl on New Year's Day in Miami. On 6C.

Mississippi State 0-6-2) had a happy end to a disappointing season, beating Mississippi (5-6) 20-13 in Stark-ville. Michael Davis (154 yards rushing, one touchdown) led State. On 6C. MM Gerry DiNardo Show, 11 p.m., Channel 4. Al Miami 41-17.

It was the 57th consecutive home win for the Hurricanes, which matches Alabama's string from 1963-82. Ryan Collins threw for 392 yards and three TDs for Miami (9-2). Isaac Bruce ccored two TDs ffor coach Chuck Stobart's Jl ready hungry for the SECTION EDITORS Ted Power, Managing EditorSports, 259-8022. Senior Writers: Jimmy Davy, 259-8298; David Climer, 259-8020. To report sports news: 259-8010.

Sports fax machine: 259-8826. 1 Need a 259-8023. Marshall 28, Howard 14 Troy 42, S.F. Austin 20 lOOOL first postseason bowl Youngs. St.

56, C. Ra 20 Idaho 34, NE La 31 game? Well, just hold your horses it's Bost.27,N.lowa21(20T) DIVISION l-A Oh2C the Las Vegas Bowl, fitting Ball against Utah State, on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.1 on ESPN. TV bowl schedule, 3C. Wyo.

43, S. Diego St. 38 Cal at Hawaii BYU, 47, UTEP 16 SW La. 21, La. Tech 17 STOBART Tigers.

On 7C..