The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 47

nr.KBiwii.inri ttttcii scores I VANDERBILT NEBRASKA RIPS OKLAHOMA The No. 5 Comhuskers win 73-21 handing the Sooners the worst loss ever. The 52-point margin surpassed the Sooners' 47-point loss to Oklahoma in 1945. The 73 points were the most ever against Oklahoma. ON 14C NO SWEAT AT NO.

1 No. 1 Florida Gators blast Georgia 47-7. ON 1 2C. SEC RESULTS No. 24 Auburn 28, Arkansas 7 Miss.

State 59, NE Louisiana 0 OVC RESULTS Eastern Illinois 42, Austin Peay 7 Murray State 41 Term. Tech 3 UT-MarUn 7, SE Missouri 6 STATE AREA RESULTS Louisville 13. Memphis 10 Cumberland 64, Tusculum 38 Sewanee 28, MiUsaps 13 Western Kentucky 51 S. Illinois 37 No. 2 Ohio State 45, Minnesota 0 No.

3 Florida State 49, Georgia Tech 3 No. 4 Arizona State 29, Oregon State 14 No. 7 Colorado 41, Missouri 13 No. 8 North Carolina 52, N.C. State 20 No.

9 Michigan 45, Michigan State 29 No. 15 Perm State 34, 11. Northwestern 9 No. 13 BYU 40, Texas-El Paso 18 No. 16 Virginia 27, Duke 3 No.

17 Wyoming 59, So. Methodist 17 Syracuse 30, No. 18 West Virginia 7 No. 19 Notre Dame 54, Navy 27 Rice 51, No. 20 Utah 10 No.

21 Washington 21, USC 10 No. 22 Miami 57, Temple 26 No. 23 Southern Miss. 21 Cincinnati 17 No. 25 Iowa 31, Illinois 21 THE DAY AFTER The Rod Dowhower Show (Vandy 9 p.m., WNAB Channel 58.

NEXT SATURDAY Ohio State at Minds 11 am, ESPN. Florida atVanderbllt 11:30 a.m., Channel 4. Tennessee at Memphis 2:30 p.m., Channel 5. Alabama at LSU 6:30 pm, ESPN. La.

i Nebraska's Jay Sims breaks sway from Oklahoma's Terrance Matone. Florida quarterback Danny WuerfM sets a school record for career passing yards. COLLEGE FOOTBALL 9C SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1996 Vols gale victory, tose Little out for season with knee injury mi or ts i. Q.I dT" li'v i Bv MAURICE PATTON Sports Writer COLUMBIA, S.C. It wasnt exactly a hollow victory, but sixth-ranked Tennessee wasnt in a really celebratory mood after defeating South Carolina 31-14 yesterday.

The Volunteers (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) lost stellar defensive end Leonard Little for the season when he sustained torn ligaments in his right knee early in the fourth quarter. Leading just 21-14 at the time, though, Tennessee couldnt pause at that point for a pity party. "You feel bad that he got hurt, but that's not something you're worrying about," defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell said. "You're trying to win." Although Tennessee Coach Phillip Ful-mer wouldn't like to think "it takes an injury to light a fire under us," the Vols did seem to perk up after Little was hurt They scored on their next two possessions to put South Carolina away. "This is one of the longest, hardest foot- to regroup and force South Carolina (54, 4-3) intoathree-and-out UT then moved from its own 38 to a touchdown, as Manning threw 20 yards to Joey Kent with 208 remaining.

It was another big day for Manning, who passed for 362 yards. "Manning is a great player," South Carolina Coach Brad Scott said. "He can do so many things. He kept our defense in check. We did a good job of pressuring him.

He does a good job of checking off and putting in plays." Despite the big day offensively, there's still seems to be a feeling among the Vols that they have better performances in them for the closing stretch of the season. On Saturday, Tennessee returns to Memphis, the site of a victory earlier this season against Ole Miss, to play Memphis. FMil ispoo SEC 12a TENNESSEE 13C aOP25 14-15C OVC 16C tea C2 "I still dont think we've played our best game," said Kent who reached the 100-yard mark for the seventh time this season. "We're still looking for one of those games when we click. But there's something special about our offense that we still havent played our best game, but we're still putting points on the board." Tennessee was sporadic offensively in the opening moments, as Hall missed a 34-yard field goal.

But the Vols went ahead on Jay Graham's 6-yard run 6:13 into the game. South Carolina tied it on the ensuing drive, but didnt score again until the third quarter. By then, the Vols had stretched the margin with Andy McCullough's 48-yard touchdown catch and Peerless Price's 54-yard reverse for a TD. The Gamecocks threatened to put some pressure on Tennessee in the third quarter, scoring with 423 remaining before Hall missed a second 34-yarder. Following Little's departure, though, his teammates rallied for the nro-r Big fish slips off the hook Eastern Kentucky storms past TSU By ANTHQNY COLEMAN Sports Witer RICHMOND, Ky.

At halftime Tennessee State was deadlocked with Eastern Kentucky and it appeared the Tigers had a great opportunity to jump into second place in the Ohio Valley Conference. But mighty EKU, which has won 11 of the last 16 OVC titles, overpowered the Tigers in the second half by playing power football and won 30-10 at Roy Kidd Stadium. "They were simply too strong for us in the second-half," TSU Coach LC. Cole said. "We dont have a strength coach at Tennessee State and it's obvious that they do.

They didnt do anything special in the second half. They just ran it straight at us and they were effective doing it" The Tigers (44, 3-2) hit the Colonels (5-3, 5-0) hard and often in the first half by using misdirection and long passes. Todd Valentine connected on a 48-yard pass to Juan Hall on the first play. It seemed to confuse the Colonels. "We thought that we could get them back on their heels and make them respect our passing game by doing something like that" Hall said.

"Coach talked about that all week. After that I thought they were thinking about the big play for the rest of the half." With EKU thinking pass, Jarrick Hillery scored on 17-yard draw to put the Tigers on top 7-0. "Tennessee State is a good football team," EKU Coach Roy Kidd said. "They hurt us with some big plays early." But the game was ultimately decided in the first two series of the third quarter when EKU resorted to its trademark the running game. The Colonels scored on their first two possessions and took command at 24-10 with 5:46 left in the third quarter.

"I think that it comes from the heart when you play a team like this," TSU linebacker Mike Holcey said. "They just came at us man on man and we didnt respond on those two drives. That was disappointing." Eastern Kentucky trails Murray State by one-half game in the OVC and hosts the Racers on Saturday. TSU, which goes to Tennessee Tech, must shift into a different gear. "The chances of us winning the OVC title are probably gone," Cole said.

"But we want to have a winning record and finish high in the conference standings." I mt t. 4 1vSV SI III SAM PARRISH STAFF Tennessee's Andy McCullough Is hoised by Marcus Nash after scoring a touchdown. Gamble in fourth OT fails Cal wins longest game in history Associated Press BERKELEY, Calif. Arizona Coach Dick Tomey just figured four overtimes were enough, and decided to end the longest football game in major college history with a final touch of drama. Arizona, faking an extra point failed to make a two-point conversion in the fourth overtime and lost 56-55 yesterday to California.

"I just felt it was time to win the game," Tomey said. "Whatever second guessing there is to do about this game, blame it on the head coach. I've never been a genius, and nobody's ever accused me of being stupid. I was just trying to find a way to win the damn game." Pat Barnes threw for eight touchdowns and 503 yards, both school records, for Cal (6-2, 3-2 Pac-10). He pad scoring passes in the first third and fourth overtimes.

Keith Smith threw for five touchdowns and ran for two more for Arizona (44, 2-3). Jeremy McDaniel, who entered the game with 119 yards in receptions this season, set school records with 14 catches for 283 yards including two touchdowns. The teams combined for 1,254 yards. This is the first year that overtime has been used in regular season games in Division I-A. Earlier this season, California needed three overtimes to beat Oregon State 4842 in what had been the longest game.

Overtime statistics count toward NCAA and school records. In the fourth overtime, Barnes threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Marc Vera and Ryan Longwell added the extra point to give Cal a 5649 lead. Arizona then took its turn from Cal's 25 and Gary Taylor responded with a 1-yard scoring run. The Wildcats lined up for the extra point but holder Ryan Hesson took the snap and flipped it over his head to kicker Matt Peyton who was buried by Andre Rhodes at the 3 to end the game. Cal fans stormed the field to surround the Bears as the scoreboard flashed: "The 8th Quarter is Ours!" "It took us eight darn quarters, but finally we did it" said Cal Coach Steve Mariucci.

"I tip my hat to Dick Tomey, because to go for the win was really a gutsy call there. A spectacular call. "And we're lucky we rallied to it and tackled the guy, because that would have gone down in history as 3 1 i 8 8 8 one of the big 0 l-r- 1 1 1 ii 1 By a on ball games I've been through in a long time," Fulmersaid. "We turned into our own worst enemies at times; we couldnt take advantage of some opportunities we had. I'm proud of our team for fighting back, but we've got to stop hurting ourselves." The first Tennessee drive started at its own 4, after a 56-yard punt by the Gamecocks, and resulted in a 23-yard Jeff Hall field goal.

"I think that drive showed a lot about the character of our team," Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning said. "You're backed up, you get in the huddle and you say, This is what you're made of, this is why you play the A touchdown would have been nice, but three points was huge in the ball-game." The possession lasted 15 plays, took up nearly six minutes, and allowed the defense FREEMAN RAMSEY STAFF UAB Coach Watson Brown instructs his quarterback, Rodney Hudson, during the first half. with a commanding 21-3 lead. A wind-chilled crowd of 30,453 tried to stay warm while watching the Vandy offense cook like it never has before under second-year coach Rod Dowhower. "We took advantage of opportunities to score 31 points and we're all excited about that," Dowhower said.

"We're going to enjoy this win the kids played well enough to deserve it and then we're going to get ready for the next Sports S5 1 FREEMAN RAMSEY STAFF Vanderbilt's Marcus A. Williams, a converted defensive back making his first start at tailback, finds running room en route to his 111 yards yesterday. VU offense clicks just like in the days of Brown three weeks." Those next games will be considerably more difficult than yesterday's victory against a team in its first season of Division I-A football. The Commodores (2-6) face the ultimate challenge next week when No.l-ranked Florida visits. The players on this Vanderbilt team have never faced a top-ranked team.

Vandy visits Kentucky the following week then ends the season Nov. 30 hosting current No. 6 Tennessee. "We just could not lose this game," said Williams, who bruised his foot and did not play in the second half. "Now we're headed back to the SEC, back in the big-time and everybody knows how good Florida is.

This really helped to get our confidence level up." Offensively, the Commodores had hit rock-bottom before yesterday's uplifting experience. Quarterback Damian Allen's 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jason Tomichek snapped a nine-quarter scoring drought for the Commodores, and the 31 points were the most produced under Dowhower. A 78-yard touchdown scoring drive in the third quarter was the longest of the season. I Turn to PAGE 11C, Column 5 MIKE OMAN Sports Writer It was just like old times yesterday on Dudley Field with Watson Brown pacing the sideline and the Commodore offense ticking like a Rolex. Vanderbilt plowed through its opponent with mighty running assault and a passing game good enough to keep 'em guessing.

It was vintage Watson Brown football offense, offense, offense. But it wasnt Brown's offense that produced this memorable day at Vanderbilt Stadium. The Commodores spoiled Brown's homecoming with a 31-15 spanking of Alabama-Birmingham. And it seemed fitting that VU's offense, for the first time this season, swiped the limelight "Vanderbilt just whipped us," Brown said. "They ran the ball better than I thought they would.

They absolutely dominated the line." Vandy's Swiss cheese offensive line hasnt come close to dominating an opponent all season and the running game has never been as overpowering as it was yesterday. Marcus A. Williams, a converted defensive back making his first start at tailback, rushed for 111 yards on 24 carries, all by halftime when the Commodores had put the game out of reach Editor Nights: 2594013. Sports Kathy Kudravt, Assistant Sports Editor Planning, 259-8299. Kevin Procter,.