The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 40

Page CIO, Sunday, November 23, 1997 The Beacon Journal Top 25: Tlie Nation's Best PennS tate winner, loser u.n. I '5 Associated Press catches a pass and then evades Wisconsin defender Lamar Campbell and races for a 20-yard touchdown Big Ten game at Beaver Stadium. The former Mentor Lake Catholic star caught four passes for 101 yards. Mid-American Conference Central Florida 34, Toledo 17 Paul Miranda scored on an 88-yard kickoff return, and Daunte Culpepper accounted for two touchdowns to help Central Florida defeat visiting Toledo in a non-conference game. Culpepper completed 22-of-31 passes for 219 yards and set a school record for most yards passing in a season with 3,086 in what may have been his last game as a Golden Knight.

He is to announce at a noon press conference tomorrow whether he will stay in school or file for the NFL draft. Central Florida and Toledo exchanged field goals in the first quarter, and then Miranda scored on the 88-yard kickoff return to make it 10-3. Midway through the second quarter, Todd Cleveland returned Gabe Lindstrom's 63-yard punt 39 yards to the Toledo 28-yard line, setting up a 42-yard field goal. Culpepper capped a nine-play, 81-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown dive as the Golden Knights ended the half up 20-3. Culpepper, third in the country in total offense (327 yards a game), ran for a 1-yard score and threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Charles Lee.

Big Ten Iowa 31, Minnesota 0 Randy Reiners threw two touchdown passes and Tim Dwight scored on a punt return while setting three Big Ten return records as Iowa beat Minnesota to become eligible for a bowl game. While Dwight was having a career day for Iowa (7-4, 4-4 Big Ten), Hawkeye defenders smothered Minnesota (3-9, 1-7), forcing five turnovers and limiting the Golden Gophers to just 170 yards. The Hawkeyes needed the victory to receive bowl game consideration because only five of their wins were against Division l-A opponents. Dwight, a senior from Iowa City playing his last game at Kinnick Stadium, zigzagged his way for a 44-yard punt return touchdown with 49 seconds left in the third quarter that gave Iowa a 24-0 lead. The return was Dwight's third of the season a conference record and fifth of his career, also a record.

Dwight, who leads the nation in punt returns with a 19-yard average, also had a punt return for four yards that gave him 1,086 yards in his career, eclipsing the career mark of 1,075 yards by Northwestern's Brian Musso. Dwight also caught four passes for 29 yards to become Iowa's all-time leading receiver. His 2,220 receiving yards eclipsed Danan Hughes' mark of 2,216 yards set from 1989-92. Iowa capitalized on the Golden Gophers' mistakes to take a 17-0 halftime lead. Michigan St.

27, Illinois 17- Sedrick Irvin rushed for 159 yards and caught a touchdown pass as Michigan State beat Illinois in Champaign, giving the lllini their 17th consecutive loss and first winless season in 28 years. Todd Schultz threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten), who broke their own four-game losing streak and earned a chance for a bowl bid with their sixth win of the season. Illinois (0-11, 0-8) got as close as 20-17 in the second half. But Lemar Marshall intercepted an lllini pass at the beginning of the fourth quarter and returned it for a touchdown to make it 27-17. Ohio W.

Illinois 24, Youngstown St. 21 Aaron Stecker's 4-yard touchdown run with 2:47 to play gave Western Illinois a 24-21 victory at Stambaugh Stadium over host Youngstown State, clinching the Gateway Conference title and an NCAA Division l-AA playoff berth for the Leathernecks. Stecker scored two other touchdowns on a 12-yard pass from Jeff Hecklinski and a three-yard run. He ran for 136 yards on 35 carries, giving him 1,957 yards for the season. A 39-yard field goal by Keith Jones in the first quarter opened the scoring for Western Illinois (10-1, 6-0 Gateway).

The touchdown pass to Stecker made it 10-0 early in the second quarter. The Penguins (9-2, 4-2) went ahead 14-10 at halftime on touchdown runs of one yard by former Canton McKinley star Adrian Brown and nine yards by Jake Andreadis, with Brown's second 1-yard scoring run making it 21-10 with 7:53 left in the third quarter. Brown gained 70 yards in 20 attempts. Nittany Lions defeat Badgers 35-10, but have to settle for second in Big Ten race. Manning bolsters Heisman bid Associated Press The connection is wired again.

Joe Jurevicius, Perm State's top receiver, hadn't topped the 100-yard mark since a 150-yard day against Louisville in September. He was empty on touchdowns since Illinois, the fourth game of the season. Yesterday, the former Mentor Lake Catholic High standout hooked up with quarterback Mike McQueary for four catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns -one a 42-yard Hail Mary pass with one second remaining in the first half as No. 6 Perm State beat No. 24 Wisconsin 35-10 in State College, Pa Despite the win, Penn State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) lost its chance at a piece of the Big Ten title when No.

1 Michigan beat No. 4 Ohio State 20-14. The Nittany Lions are in line for a major bowl, however. "It was big. You always look for the big play," Jurevicius said of the leaping catch.

The TD put Penn State in the locker room up 21-3, and Wisconsin never recovered. McQueary, who was also struggling lately, put together an almost perfect first half, missing just one receiver and tallying 219 yards a school record. McQueary completed 16-of-19 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns. "He made a couple of great throws under pressure," Coach Joe Paterno said. "We knew we had to throw the ball and Mike was awfully good.

He was on the button all game." Curtis Enis ran for 138 yards and two scores, including a career-long 78-yard romp down the Wisconsin sideline. He had his seventh straight 100-yard game, tying the school record set in 1989 by Blair Thomas. Ron Dayne, who played on a gimpy right ankle, ran for 126 yards on 30 carries for Wisconsin (8-4, 5-3). The Badgers were the last Big Ten team without a loss in Beaver Stadium. "I thought Penn State played an excellent ballgame.

We had our opportunities but we didn't take advantage," Badgers coach Barry Alvarez said. "We have a lot of young kids back there (in the secondary). We couldn't stop their passing game." The Penn State defense, mired in the middle of the conference standings, bent but never broke and recorded 6'2 sacks. In other games involving Top 25 teams: No. 5 Tennessee 59, Kentucky 31 Peyton Manning bolstered his bid for the Heisman Trophy, passing for a school-record 523 yards and five touchdowns to overshadow a school-record effort by Kentucky's Tim Couch in Lexington, Ky.

Couch broke his school mark with 476 passing yards, completing 35-of-50 for two touchdowns. He set a school mark with 13 straight completions and also was intercepted three times before a record Commonwealth Stadium crowd of 61,076. Manning connected on 25-of-35 passes. He also completed a school-record 12 in a row in helping Tennessee (9-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) beat Kentucky (5-6, 2-6) for the 13th consecutive time. Jamal Lewis scored four touchdowns and rushed 21 times for 128 yards to boost his season total John Carroll 30, Hanover 20 Mike Ten brink scored on runs of 5 and 2 yards, and Tom Riley returned a punt 84 yards for another score, as John Carroll defeated host Hanover 30-20 in the opening round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.

John Carroll (10-1) will play at Mount Union in the second round. John Carroll held Hanover (10-1) to minus-14 yards rushing as the Blue Streaks sacked Chris Stormer seven times. Adrian Jones had three of the sacks for 24 yards in losses. Stormer completed 28-of-47 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted twice. Hanover led early on a 3-yard TD pass from Stormer to Andy Michael.

Ten brink's first touchdown tied the score with 11:05 left in the half, and Riley put John Carroll ahead to stay with 8:34 remaining by returning the punt. John Carroll went on to lead 17-7 at halftime on a 24-yard field goal by David Vitatoe. A 38-yard TD pass by Stormer to Josh Habegger made the score 17-14 after three quarters. Ten brink's second TD and a 9-yard TD pass from Nick Caserio to former Josh McDaniels, an All-Stark County quarterback while at Canton McKinley, gave the Ohio team a 30- L'L onship and was in line for an automatic bid to an alliance bowl. The Hokies have already beaten Syracuse (8-3, 5-1), which now can win the Big East by beating Miami on Saturday.

Gonzalez, a fifth-year senior who didn't become a starter until this season, threw TD passes of 18 yards to Terry Murphy, 40 to Andy Molinaro, 35 to Juan Williams and 56 to freshman Kevan Barlow as Pittsburgh (5-5, 3-3) beat a ranked opponent for the second time this season. Notre Dame 21, No. 22 West Virginia 14 Ron Powlus connected with Bobby Brown on a 11-yard scoring pass late in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame overcame a career day from Amos Zereoue and upset the visiting Mountaineers. The Mountaineers (7-3) got the ball back at their own 20 with 1:14 left and quarterback Marc Bulger moved them quickly down the field. On fourth-and-11 at the Irish 26 with eight seconds left, Bulger lofted a pass to Jerry Porter that Irish comerback Ty Goode picked off in the end zone.

Zereoue scored twice and rushed for a career-high 234 yards, including a 60-yard run that was his longest of the year. No. 23 Purdue 56, Indiana 7 -Ed Watson rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns as the visiting Boilermakers beat Indiana and finished the regular season with a winning record for the first time in 13 years. The only unfinished business now for the Boilermakers (8-3, 6-2 Big Ten) is a bowl bid, which also would be their first since 1984. That invitation should be only a formality when the postseason lineup is fixed in two weeks.

The Hoo-siers (2-9, 1-7) got 342 yards passing by Jay Rodgers, a record for the 100-game series against the Boilermakers. But Purdue scored 35 points off Indiana turnovers. Indiana trailed only 21-7 at halftime and threatened at the Purdue 3 in the third quarter before losing the ball on downs. Game stories on Florida-Florida State, Washington-Washington State, UCLA-USC and Yale-Harvard are on C13. Penn State flanker Joe Jurevicius in the first quarter of yesterday's to 1,021.

Couch set the SEC single-season records for passing yardage with 3,884 yards, total offense with 3,759, and total offensive plays with 613. Besides the scoring pass to Lewis, Manning had TD strikes of 59, 66 and 31 yards to Marcus Nash and 17 yards to Andy McCullough. No. 8 North Carolina 50, Duke 14 Host North Carolina (10-1, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) rallied from 14-0 deficit in the second quarter to record its eight consecutive win over Duke and remain in contention for an Alliance Bowl berth. The Tar Heels must now wait two weeks to see if they will be invited to their first major bowl since 1950.

Chris Keldorf threw four touchdown passes and Jonathan Linton rushed for 199 yards to reach the mark for the Tar Heels. North Carolina also intercepted five passes. Dre' Bly picked off two, tying the school's career mark of 16. The win enabled the Tar Heels to record a 10-win regular season for only the fifth time in 107 years of football. Duke (2-9, 0-8) matched the record for consecutive ACC losses with 18.

No. 9 Kansas St. 28, Iowa St. 3 Michael Bishop ran for two touchdowns and passed for another as visiting Kansas State remained in contention for an Alliance Bowl berth. On a day that Mike Lawrence became the school's career rushing leader, Kansas State (10-1, 7-1 Big 12) completed its first 10-victory regular season since 1910.

The Wildcats sputtered at times against an Iowa State team that had been giving up 46.5 points a game. But Iowa State (1-10, 1-7) rarely threatened a Kansas State defense that limited the Cyclones to zero yards rushing and sacked Todd Bandhauer eight times. No. 14 Georgia 21, Mississippi 14 Robert Edwards rushed for 180 yards, scoring once and setting up visiting Georgia's other two touchdowns, as the Bulldogs maintained a shot at the Southeastern Conference title. Georgia (8-2, 6-2 SEC) scored on its first two possessions, taking the lead for good when Edwards 14 lead with 4:26 to go and Stormer threw his third TD pass with 35 seconds to play.

Rowan 43, Coast Guard 0 Greg Lister passed for 289 yards and three touchdowns to lead Rowan to a 43-0 victory over Coast Guard in an NCAA Division III East Region playoff game at Glassboro, N.J. Rowan (10-0) will host the College of New Jersey in the East Region final next Saturday. New Jersey was a 34-30 winner over Cortland State. Eugene Foster scored three touchdowns for Rowan, two rushing and one receiving. Rowan took a 7-0 lead at 8:33 of the first quarter on a 15-yard touchdown run by Foster.

Four minutes later, the Profs made the score 14-0 on a 23-yard scoring pass from Lister to fullback Jamaine Crawford. Rowan increased its lead to 30-0 at halftime on a 20-yard field goal by Mark Migliori, a 1-yard touchdown run by Foster and a 12-yard scoring pass from Lister to Taman Bryant. A 3-yard touchdown pass from Lister to Foster and an 8-yard run on a quarterback draw by Lister's backup, Tony Cattani, completed the scoring. Paul Wolford led Coast Guard (9-2) with 43 rushing yards on six carries. 1 Auburn players make their way in traditional Tiger Walk prior to last Alabama Crimson Tide.

broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and scored from 10 yards out to make it 14-7 late in the first quarter. Stewart Patridge set Ole Miss (6-4, 3-4 season records for completions (208) and yards Arkansas 17, No. 15 Mississippi State 7 Clint Stoerner directed two touchdown drives that consumed almost IAV2 minutes as Arkansas beat Mississippi State in Fayetteville, putting a crimp in the Bulldogs' hopes for a trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game. Arkansas went 91 yards in 17 plays and then traveled 78 yards in nine plays for a 14-0 half-time lead. At that point, Mississippi State (7-3, 4-3) had two first downs.

Linebacker Matt Hammond had a game-high eight tackles for the Bears. Division II Slippery Rock 30, Ashland 20 Randy McKavish threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns to lead host Slippery Rock to victory in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. The win was the 11th straight for Slippery Rock (11-1), a school record. Scott Whipple caught two of McKavish's touchdown throws. The first catch gave the Rockets a 14-0 lead in the second quarter and the other made it 21-7 in the third.

Ashland (9-2) scored on a 55-yard pass from Terrence Henton to Jarrod Pruiett in the third, a 20-yard pass from PJ. Peters to Henton in the third and a 2-yard run by Matt Otero in the fourth. NAIA Findlay 40, Westminster 0 Chris Jaquillard rushed for 102 yards and three touchdowns and quarterback Bo Hurley ran for a pair of scores as host Findlay shut out Westminster in the first round of the NAIA playoffs. The Oilers (11-0), ranked No. 1 in NAIA, held iM V.

9 4k if 11 1 Associated Press Jordan Hare Stadium during their night's game against the rival The Bulldogs will represent the West-em Division in the SEC title game only if LSU and Auburn lose next week. Ontraia Moss made two interceptions for Arkansas (4-6, 2-5), which had lost five straight. The Bulldogs had won four in a row. Todd Latourette's 25-yard field goal made it 17-0 with 13 minutes to play. Pittsburgh 30, No.

19 Virginia Tech 23 Pete Gonzalez, enjoying the best season by a Pittsburgh quarterback since Dan Marino in 1981, threw four touchdown passes to spark an upset by the host Panthers that likely cost Virginia Tech a major bowl bid. Virginia Tech (7-3, 5-2 in Big East) could have a clinched at least a tie for the conference champi Westminster to 154 total yards, including minus-3 rushing yards. Findlay had 457 yards of total offense. Hurley, who carried 10 times for 107 yards, started the scoring with a 79-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He followed that up with a 9-yard scoring run in the second, which gave Findlay a 14-0 lead.

Hurley also completed 8-of-19 passes for 159 yards. His 26-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Ramsey late in the second quarter gave the Oilers a 20-0 lead at halftime. Jaquillard scored on two 1-yard runs and broke away for a 39-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Todd Huda led Westminster (9-2), completing 11 of 24 passes for 110 yards. He was intercepted twice.

Findlay advances to the NAIA quarterfinals, to be played Dec. 6. The Oilers' opponent and the location of the game had not been determined. Mount Union escapes with a 34-30 victory win over Allegheny. Story, and photos, Page C14.

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