The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 79

A WELL-REPRESENTED AT LIBERTY BOWL I ho Confatfecf me a No! Officially I is i 1 i I back to Blacksburg Sunday morning and I have j- ii.t iu uu up niak noj Jerry smiled when By RAYMOND JOHNSON TENNESSEAN Sports Editor MEMPHIS Jerry Claiborne, Virginia Tech's totally colorblind football coach who has had remark-able success in six years of top coaching, had not been officially contacted by Vanderbilt at a late hour last night. CLAIBORNE is be- What's more, Fred and his wife were staying at the same mid-town motel where Claiborne and the Tech Gobblers were quartered. Pete Holt, former Vandy gridder and incoming president of both the Nashville Quarterback and the Commodore Boosters lieved to be the top man among candidates for the vacant Commodore job. Fred Hamilton, a former member of the Vanderbilt athletic committee and active in alumni affairs, was here for Virginia-Tech's gallant Liberty Bowl battle with Miami yesterday. Clubs, also was at the same motel.

Pete was in the Tech dressing room after the game, but all he said to Claiborne was, "I hope you'll come to Vanderbilt. We will talk to you later." "I have not talked with anyone officially," Claiborne said after the awards banquet last night. "I judge from what Alf Satterfield's teammate (Holt) said they expect to talk to me, either late tonight or in the morning. They'd better make it early because we head for the airport at 9 a.m." CLAIBORNE refused to be trapped into any suggestion that he might go to North Carolina and he laughed off the idea that he was in the Wisconsin picture. "I repeat," said Jerry, "that I have not talked with anyone officially from any school.

I have refused to be involved until after the Liberty Bowl. I'm going p. I I i asked if he might come to Nashville Tuesday. If Claiborne rejects a probable Vandy offer, which is most likely, two Vanderbilt alumni (Turn to Page 2) flmmmmmmmmmm mmimmmimmsmm IT" l-l I Warren, Hagan mm Shine Win Claiborne Pulled All Stops, Almost Contained a Hurricane 88-82 Upset I C2j RAYMOND JOHNSON and cashed all seven foul shooting opportunities. On any other night the been role would have Mr 1 the private property of Hagan, MEMPHIS Jerry Claiborne pulled out all stops here yesterday in a futile effort to give Virginia Tech a victory over Miami in the Liberty Bowl in probably his last game as coach of the Gobblers.

Skinner's crew called time out, and, from there on, the Commodores steadily pulled away at one time getting consecu. tive baskets by Warren, reserve Gene Lockyear and Bo Wyenandt for a comfortable 84-74 advantage. The Southeastern Conference team hit a blazing 52.9 per cent from the field, connecting on 36 of 68 field goal attempts and pouring in 16 of 31 at the foul line. WARREN, averaging just 10.6 points in the first three Vandy victories, dumped in 12 of 17 field goal attempts By JIMMY DAVY TENNESSEAN Sports Writer WINSTON SALEM, N.C. Kentuckians Bob Warren and Tommy Hagan had the best scoring nights of their careers and shot Van-derbilt's unbeaten Commodores to an $8-82 in- tersectional victory over Wake Forest last night at the Winston-Salem Coliseum.

WARREN, a 6-4 jumping-Jack from Hardin, fired up for 30 points and Hagan, a fast-blooming sophomore from Louisville, pitched in with 27 as the surprising Commo the bushy-thatched guard who had 10 of 17 shots fall through the nets and missed only one of eight foul shots. "What a great win for us," said Skinner, the jubilant Vanderbilt coach. "We were, in trouble there for a few minutes, but called time out and settled down for the finish." IT WAS the first victory in history on North Carolina soil (Turn to Page 6) I 1U. Tech shocked the with a successful screen Bob Warren Tosses In 30 DICKEY DAZZLES MUSKINGUM dores racked up their fourth straight win. Vanderbilt, which went into the game ranked 18th in th pass on the first scrimmage play He vainly attempted a reverse off a faked punt His trick quick huddle 'play on which the quarterback throws to the other side of the field was foiled by a quick-thinking, green-shirted Miamian.

"We planned a wide lateral on the kickoff (after Miami's second touchdown), but their short kick spoiled it," moaned Claiborne as he touched on the high and low spots of this game which drew a record gate but was witnessed by only 25,012 because of the cold and light rain. The turning point came midway through the third quarter when Jimmy Richards knocked punter Bobby Stokes' feet from under him That drew a 15-yard penalty and gave Miami the ball only 16 yards from touchdown land. BOTH CHARLIE TATE and Claiborne agreed that that was the play that pumped new life into tne Hurricane which was United Press International Rolls 34-7 poll, broke a 49-49 deadlock a three-point olav bv Haaan with 15:37 left in the second half and was never headed. The Commodores, however. found themselves floundering with 6:05 to play aa Wake Forest's red-hot Paul tang continued to blister the nets.

LONG, who got 36 points for the night, hit a basket to close the gap to 76-73, and the partisan crowd went wild. It was here that coach Roy By TOM POWELL TENNESSEAN Sports Writer HflURFEEESBORO' J-'A Tennessee State proved what most observers believed that the Ohio Conference is a weak league by pasting the best of that loop, Muskingum, 34 to 7 here yesterday in the third annual Grantland Rice Bowl. NONE of the 6,500 rain-and- Staff photo by Frank Empson MURFREESBORO Bonnie Claire Barrett, Grant-land Rice Bowl queen keeps protected from the rain as she watches proceedings with friend Lynn Crowder. ''ft badly outplayed in the first snow-soaked fans who sat through most of the action will ever know by what score Eldridge Dickey and Company would have won had it been a dry day. Mercifully for the Muskies, it was the contrary but Dickey, nevertheless, passed 29 times and completed 14 for the staggering total of 316 yards.

The 6-2, 190-pound Junior signal-caller from Houston figured in every touchdown for coach John Merritt's Tigers, who went through their 24th straight game without a loss. The setback snapped a 17-game winning streak for coach Ed Sherman's Muskies. HE RAN for two touchdowns and passed for three more. Actually, only 10 of his passes hit the ground as Muskingum intercepted five. The yardage gained passing and number of interceptions were both records for an NCAA regional bowl game.

For his efforts, Dickey was named the game's outstanding performer. Dickey fumbled and lost the nan. "We felt Miami was the best team we had played all season before we met them," admitted Claiborne, "and we still feel that way. We knew we had to do a few things differently in hopes of surprising them. We even used their flood formation.

This was the first time we've used the spread, too." After taking a hasty glance at the statistics which revealed that Miami's total offense was only 163 yards, a faint smile came over Claiborne's face as he said: "We Jerry Claiborne Statistics is 89 316 14-29 2 2 54 M'gum 57 1-7 70 First downs Rushing yardage Passing yardage Passes Passes Intercepted Fumbles lost Yards penalized Punts by vj kinda cut their offense down, didn't we? My only regret is that they were not No. 1 instead of No. 9. "MAYBE PEOPLE WILL realize after this performance that we have a fine team, just like Miami has." 'Fine Team, Lot of Heart' "We were impressed with Tech," volunteered Tate after praising his Hurricanes for their comeback. "They sort of shocked us with their screen Pass on the first play.

Their quick kick (Gene Fisher's 62-yarder to Miami's 11 early in the second quarter) was beautifully executed. They have a real fine team and have a lot of heart. They gave us all we wanted. Francisco (Tommy) is a great runner'' Tate was highly complimentary of the way the Gobblers blitzed Bill Miller and David Olivo. Miami's quarterbacks, in the first half Miami adjusted its blocking and gave Miller better protection after intermission Consequently, he threw much better.

Tech Defenders Best Miller-Spillers Miller was able to complete only nine of 26 against the Gobbler blitz He was thrown for a total of 38 lost yards However, he did gain 14 in 11 times with the ball which left him with a minus 24, the year's low. "They rushed me more than any other team all season," admitted Miller, who had a total of 1,235 yards for the year running and passing. "We did somewhat better in the second half." Miller threw 17 times before intermission and hit on only 5 of them He did connect on three in a row in the fourth period when Miami moved 70 yards in 11 plays for the game-winning tally One of these was a 38-yarder to Jimmy Cox that moved the ball to Tech's 5. Miami had averaged 301 yards with its offense up until this cold day. Weather Not Factor Tate The weather did not affect Miami's play in the opinion of coach Tate.

"Our kids enjoyed the weather," he remarked. No, I don't feel the weather had anything to do with the outcome. There were very few fumbles (the ball changed hands only three times via this route). The Held was dry, and they kept a dry ball in play." Tate admitted he gave more than a second thought to going for the second touchdown when Miami had the ball about two feet from Tech's goal in the fourth quarter on fourth down and the score tied. "I asked my coaches up in the pressbox how far we had to go," declared Tate.

"I thought about how they had stopped us on fourth-and-one in the third quarter when we were on their nine. "Yes, I thought about going for the field goal, (Turn to Page 3) Staif photo by Frank Empson MURFREESBORO Tommy Davis (78) of Tennessee State has his arm retaped by teammate Tom McCord during Grantland Rice Bowl game. ball the first time he touched it, but spent the rest of the afternoon making up for that error. MIDWAY through the first quarter, fleet little Nolan Smith zoomed behind the Muskingum secondary, and Dickey launched a perfect 46-yard touchdown aerial that kicked off the scoring. Roy Meneese followed with his first of four successful conversions.

A 22-yard aerial to John Robinson kept the drive in motion on a third-down play. Robinson had a sensational day, grabbino. six of Dickey's passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns. It remained 7-0 when a field goal attempt by Meneese from the 25 was wide. The Tigers struck again late in the second quarter after Howard Finley intercepted a 1 Jim Uszynski pass on the Muskie 36 and returned it to the four.

Two plays later Dickey scored from the one. ADDED another touchdown before the half when big Claude Humphery fell on a loose ball at the Muskingum 18. Dickey again went over from the one after Leroy Motten rambled 16 yards off tackle. After intermission, Muskingum scored its only points with a 44-yard drive that required eight plays. An interception by Greg Freda gave the Muskies the opportunity.

The three biggest runs of the day for Muskingum led to the TD. Uszynski ran for 13, Jim Griffin 11 and Rick Harbold 15 before Harbold went over from the two on fourth down. Ail STRUCK back with a 79-yard scoring pass from Dickey to Robinson which established a school record. The old mark of 78 was set in 1953 on a toss from Fred Valentine to Milton Tiddle. The 6-2, 188-pound Robinson was all alone when he hauled it in.

The final score came after a seven-play, 69-yard march when Dickey threw 14 yards to the elusive Robinson. Dickey played no favorites, (Turn to Page 4) iami Ra 147 lunged into the end zone four score, but the key was a 15-playa later from the one. yard roughing the punter penalty which gave the Hurri TECH SCORED early on a canes new life at the Tech 26. Miller kept his team on which Miami gained only 163 yards in total offense Tech only 111. Tech got its touchdown when halfback Jim Richards blocked a Miami punt and Tech took over at the Miami 21.

Francisco carried four the ground until he got to the seven, where he hit Mira with a touchdown pass. It was a defensive battle in MEMPHIS (AP) Quarterback Bill Miller engineered a 70-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter yesterday to give ninth- Hurricanes How Ttch Miami First downs 7 11 Rushing yardage 36 55 Passing yardage 75 1C8 Passes 6-16 10-28 Passes intercepted by 0 1 Punts 1.3M Fumbles lost 1 Yards penalized 57 80 straight times and scored from the one. RICHARDS HAD never rushed a punter until this game and he had not played since he broke his collarbone against Kentucky Oct. 8. Tech's quick defense pre-vented Miami from gaining a first down until the final minute and a half of the second quarter.

The longest play of the game was Francisco's 57-yard second half kickoff return, but Tech was forced to punt four plays later. DEFENSIVE guard John Barnett of Miami intercepted a pass and returned it 42 yards to the Tech 18 in the third period. But Miami was held at the nine. Francisco carried 21 times (Turn to Page 3) one yard run by Tommy Francisco and Miami tied it 7-7 in the third period on a seven-yard pass from Miller to Joe Mira, brother of San Francisco 49er quarterback George Mira. The Liberty Bowl had a record paid attendance of 39,101, but only 25,012 showed up because of 36-degree temperatures and a light rain.

Miller, a. junior, completed three passes to Cox on the final scoring drive and each time kept -the march alive with a first down. With first and five, Mira reached the two on two carries, then McGee got one before diving over the line to score. IN THE third quarter, Miami drove 47 yards to Outdoors Section I ISUNDAY MORNING, DEC. 11, 1966 I I I ranked Miami a 14-7 victory over Virginia Tech in the eighth annual Liberty Bowl.

The big play on the game-winning inarch was a 38-yard Miller-to-Jlm Cox pass to Tech's five. Doug McGee.