Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 33

SPORTS DIGEST -SCORECARD COMICS 6 (Pie (Clarion-Jhlaf Daily News September 29, 1984 Saturday Troubled Florida will present challenge for Miss. State balanced attack. Tailbacks Lorenzo Hampton and Neal have gained 218 and 217 yards, respectively, and combined for five touchdowns, while fullback John Williams has 155 yards. Williams, however, might not play because of illness. Quarterback Kerwin Bell, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound redshirt freshman walk-on, has improved each game, said Hall.

He's completed 53.8 percent of his passes (35-of-65) for 511 yards and four touchdowns. With Wayne Peace gone, Bell was one of five quarterback candidates when practice started. One by one, they were eliminated two quit school, one moved to defense until it was down to senior Dale Dorminey and Bell. Two days before the Miami game, Dorminey injured See MSU, page 3D WHO: Miss. State vs.

Florida. WHERE: Florida Field, Gainesville. WHEN: Today, 12:30 p.m. CDT. TICKETS: $14, 70,000 expected.

BROADCAST: MSU Network, WYYN (FM 96.3) in Jackson. WEATHER: Partly cloudy; high, 80. By RUSTY HAMPTON Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer GAINESVILLE, Fla. Mississippi State offensive guard Stan Sims said today's Southeastern Conference football opener against Florida at Florida Field "will be our biggest test so far." Although the Gators, 1-1-1, are 14-point favorites, this could very well be their biggest test oi the season, period. The storm that hovered over the Gators since thing's out in the open now.

I think they want to keep that in the past and are looking forward to the future." "I don't think all this media stuff will affect Florida at all," said State offensive guard Danny Sanders. "When they get on that field they'll try to intimidate ya' just like they always do." "I have no earthly idea," said State coach Emory Bellard when asked how the controversy would affect the Gators. "I really don't think that will have a whole heck of a lot to do with the state of mind of the University of Florida pro or con. I know they've got great personnel, and I'm sure they're going to continue the things they were doing." What the Gators have been doing against Tulane, at least is move the football with a school and boosters in violation of NCAA regulations. Today the Gators will try to put their troubles behind them in a character-testing game.

They'll attempt it against a Mississippi State team that ranks fifth in the nation in total offense (458.7 yards per game) and in front of an expected crowd of 70,000 rabid Gator fans. The real question is, can they forget what has transpired off the field the last two weeks when they take the field today? "I think this team has a lot of character about it," said Hall. "They've come through all season, ever since this thing first started around August 20th, so they've been putting up with it for five or six weeks now. "It's a tough situation," he added, "but every late August, when then head coach Charley Pell announced his resignation effective after the season touched down here two weeks ago week. The NCAA, after a 20-month investigation, handed Florida a list of 107 alleged violations by its football program.

After that news broke, the Gators, who had opened with a loss to Miami (32-20) and tie with LSU (21-21), demolished Tulane 63-21. But the next day, Sept. 16, school president Marshall Criser fired Pell and replaced him with offensive coordinator Galen Hall. The Gators were idle last Saturday, giving them time to regroup. But more controversy was sparked Thursday.

A Florida newspaper reported that Lomas Brown, a starting offensive guard, admitted receiving $2,750 from the Streaking Memphis has USM worried Winless Tulane to test Ole Miss r--i Rick 3T Cleveland JL S1 Movie worth 2 hours If V- of any fan time I i I The Bear WHERE: DeVille Cinema Theatre, DeVille Plaza Shopping Center, 1-55 North WHEN: Today, 1 p.m., 3:10 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. TICKETS: $4 adult, $2 children; $2 for matinees before 5 p.m. WHO: Southern Mississippi vs Memphis State. WHERE: M.M.

Roberts Stadium Hattiesburg. WHEN: Today, 6 p.m. TICKETS: Tickets still available at the stadium. All seats $1 1. A crowd ol about 26,000 is expected.

BROADCAST: USM Network, WJDX-AM (620) in Jackson. WEATHER: Temperature expected to be in the mid-50s. Slight chance of rain. By MIKE CHRISTENSEN Daily Newi Sports Writer HATTIESBURG There were only 13 minutes and 5 seconds left to play when Sam Dejarnette scored on a 6-yard run to give Southern Mississippi a 27-0 lead against Memphis State last Oct. 15.

That would seem a comfortable enough lead. But when the Eagles kicked off after Dejarnette'sTD Boom! "We were on a roll last year. We played good for three quarters," said USM head coach Jim Carmody. "But before we know it, it's 27-20 in the last minute of the game, and they've got the football." USM held on to win it 27-20, but something seemed to click for Memphis State in those last 13 minutes. The Tigers finished up the '84 season undefeated.

They beat Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Cincinnati and Louisville and tied Arkansas State. The final tally was 6-4-1, the first winner at Memphis since 1977. "Memphis State won the admiration of the nation last year," said Carmody. "They were 1-10 in 1982 (and in 1981 as well) and were really a poor football team. But they turned it around last season.

I believe that was the best improvement of any team in America." Memphis State lost the architect of that turnaround, Rex Dockery, in a tragic plane crash on Dec. 12, 1983. Rey Dempsey, who guided Southern Illinois to the Division I-AA national championship a year ago, took the job, and although some things have understandably changed, the winning atmosphere has not. The Tigers are 2-1 that's 6-1-1 since the loss to USM with a win over Arkansas State, 17-2, a loss to Ole Miss, 22-6, and, most recently, a win over Cincinnati, 47-7. "The Memphis State game is an essential game for us," said Carmody, whose Golden Eagles are 1-2.

"That win Saturday must have given them a great deal of confidence. They had so many errors and penalties against Ole Miss that they just never gave themselves a chance to win. "But they played well the first week and very well last Saturday. Any time a team gets over 600 yards total offense it concerns you. They have to be doing a lot of things right." See USM, page 3D Truth is, I was more than a little skeptical about the movie "The Bear" before entering the theatre Friday.

To make a movie about a man less than two years after his death is an awesome task. That's especially true when the man is a legend so familiar as Bear Bryant was to most of us in the South. Putting movie-making in football terms, it's like starting the game 30 points down, with third and long and all your quarterbacks in the hospital. Here's why: All of us still remember Bear Bryant as Bear Bryant. He's still very real to us.

It is asking far too much of anyone to accurately portray Bear Bryant because, for us, The Bear is still The Bear. We all have our own memories. I remember oh, how I remember covering a rare Alabama defeat during Bryant's glory years. In the locker room afterward, I gathered the nerve to ask Bryant why he had punted instead of going for a first down in one key situation. Bryant glanced up at me as if I were a bug splattered on his windshield.

"Because, son," he drawled after a long, uncomfortable pause and a drag on his Chesterfield, "I was trying to win the game." I felt like a bug splattered on his windshield. And the memory is vivid. And I couldn't and still can't imagine actor Gary Busey or anybody else making me feel like a bug on his windshield. Besides, I've always figured John Wayne was the only actor who could come close to playing Bear Bryant. And Wayne, like Bryant, is dead.

Busey as Bear Bryant? No way, I thought Busey was a wonderful Buddy Holly but Holly, the rock singer, and Bryant, the football coach, were as different as, well, rock singers and football coaches. Now then, an admission: I enjoyed The Bear. I liked it despite the fact the movie sugar-coats Bryant's personal habits. (Busey takes one drink in the movie and cusses maybe twice. Bryant drank and cussed prolificly.

Fact is, Bryant lived a very hard life which you would never learn from viewing this film.) And I liked it despite other foibles, such as: The movie is little more than a documentary of Bryant's coaching career. There is precious little drama in this film and there certainly could have been. For instance, Alabama quarterback Pat Trammell, who Bryant said was his favorite player ever, is introduced briefly but disappears. The movie doesn't show Bryant going to his bedside, as he did, when Trammell died of cancer. I expected to see that scene in this movie.

Many of the events happen out of sequence. For instance, in the movie Bryant signs his first black player before he endures the Saturday Evening Post scandal. In reality, the Post "fix" story and Bryant's successful libel suit happened nearly a decade before a black athlete signed an Alabama scholarship. Almost no attention at all is paid to one of Bryant's greatest legacies, that is, the way he took care of his former players after their graduation. Bryant has more former players in the coaching business than just about any 10 other coaches you can name.

This is nitpicking, but Busey wears his hat indoors constantly. Bryant never wore a hat inside. Many of the scenes that are supposed to be at Alabama were obviously shot elsewhere. The movie has its faults and lots of them. It also WHO: Tulane vs.

Ole Miss. WHERE: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford. WHEN: Today. 1:30 p.m. TICKETS: Tickets available, $14, 40,000 expected.

BROADCAST: Ole Miss network (WSLI 930-AM in Jackson). WEATHER: Windy and cool, high in mid-60s. Slight chance of rain. By BUTCH JOHN Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer OXFORD Rebel coach Billy Brewer agrees that two of the rrtore memorable aspects of Tulane's 27-23 victory over Ole Miss last year in the Superdome will not be repeated in the rematch. The lights will not go out in the stadium for 17 minutes in the fourth quarter.

Vaught-Hemingway does not have lights, nor is a lightning bolt expected to hit a downtown tsansf ormer, which caused the outage in New Orleans. Rebel quarterback Kent Austin, with Ole Miss in position to score on the last play of the game, won't fall to an artif ical surface. V-H is natural grass. Ole Miss was on the Tulane 7 when Austin took the final snap, was tied up by lineman John Allen, tripped and landed totally without fanfare. "I don't know if we'd have scored or not, but not to have a chance to execute that's just one of those freak things," Austin said this week.

Beyond those incidents, Brewer's promising nothing. Though the Rebels are 2-0-1 and favored in most comers over the 0-3 Green Wave, Ole Miss has been hurting all week while the Green-ies have shown signs of getting well. "The Tulane football team coming to Oxford is 0-3, but it's not an 0-3 football team," said Brewer this week. He might have, along the same lines, said the Ole Miss football team is not what it was a week ago. Injuries have decimated the offensive front.

Tackles Greg Walker (ankle) and Eric Sheehan (turf toe) are out. Ross Genovese, who subbed for Sheehan in last week's 14-8 win over Louisiana Tech is questionable due to a concussion. Center Nubbin Ross (back) is out. Wayne Pierce, Ross's backup, has been hit with the flu, leaving freshman Sonny Harbuck a sneeze away from starting. Of the group, which earlier lost tackle Eric Denmark for the year with a back injury, Brewer said only Harbuck has been able to practice this week.

"We're in the worst shape we've been in at any time," said Brewer. "I thought we'd be much better in the offensive line, and we were until all this happened. We've really had to make some moves up there." The loss of the linemen should lead to the always-interesting confrontation of a potentially movable object against a See Ole Miss, page 3D Actor Gary Bu-sey's portrayal of the life of Paul W. Bryant is highlighted by scenes such as the legendary coach using grueling drill-sergeant techniques during his days at Texas right, to the Bear's last game in the '82 Liberty Bowl, above. (wV.

Tit iZr The 'real' Bear. Bryant probably would also enjoy the scenes from his first pre-season camp at Texas when he took more than 70 players to camp and came back with fewer than 30. Those scenes, too, are believable and entertaining. The movie is worth two hours of any football fan's time, especially if you feel as I do. That is, we've gone through one football season without Bear Bryant and it didn't seem right.

We didn't see him leaning against the goal post watching the warm-ups. We didn't see him pace the sidelines with his rolled-up game plan. We didn't see him putting his arm around his quarterback on the sidelines. We didn't see him cross the field to console the losing coach. You can see it, at least most of it, in The Bear.

1 guess we must settle for that Rick Cleveland Is Sports Editor of the Daily News has its moments. The actual game footage is entertaining, especially that of win No. 315 over Auburn. Many of the "acted" football scenes are as realistic as I've seen in movies which probably says less for other football movies than it praises this one. As for Busey, well, he's as good as anybody could be playing the role of Bear Bryant in 1984.

He was surprisingly believable at times. I mean, Busey could never make me feel like a bug on his windshield but then nobody but Bryant ever could. "I want you to go out there and hit somebody," Busey says in as gruff a tone as he can manage. "Hit somebody. Knock 'em down.

Then help 'em up. And then tell them you'll be back to do it again. Go out there and make your mama and your daddy proud." Bryant would have liked that. INSIDE Southern U. playing numbers Minnesota loses, KC tied for title Friday's baseball in hopes of grounding Valley AMERICAN LEAGUE Indians 1 1 Twins 10 Red Sox 5 Orioles 4 Rangers 4 Angels 1 Box score, Page 4 That's the kind of thing worrying Washington as he pre NATIONAL LEAGUE Cards 4 Cubs 1 Expos 7 Mets 0 Astros 6 Reds 3 Padres 4 2 Pirates-Phils Rain, ppd.

The Associated Prew -Page 3 WHO: Miss. Valley vs. Southern U. WHERE: Mumford Stadium, Baton Rouge. WHEN: Today, 7:30 p.m.

TICKETS: End zone only, $5, crowd of 30,000 expected. BROADCAST: Valley Network, WOAD-AM (1400) in Jackson; WABG-FM (96) in Greenwood; WBAD-FM (94.3) in Greenville. WEATHER: Clear and cool, temps near 55. By JOE CULPEPPER Daily Newt Sporli Writer BATON ROUGE, La. Otis Washington says he's spent more time this week working multiplication tables than coaching football, but they have gone hand in hand.

"For every receiver Mississippi Valley has," the Southern University head coach says, "every man can run four different routes. Since they use at least four wide receivers on every pUjy, that computes to Impossible routes on evfry play." pares his llth-ranked Jaguars for tonight's Southwestern Conference showdown against Mississippi Valley State here. Southern and Valley, both 3-0, are tied for the SWAC lead along with Alcorn State. The Jaguars are 3-0 in the conference, while Valley, on the strength of last week's 49-32 shelling of Jackson State, is 1-0. The Jaguars lead the series 11-4.

Valley's last victory was a 21-16 win back in 1981. "One thing Valley has going for it is the pass routes they run," said Washington, who's spent the entire week watching films of the Valley-Jackson State game. "If we sit back in a zone, they will pick us apart If we rush (quarterback Willie) Totten and play man-to-man coverage, they can kill us, too. I feel like we are in between a rock and a hard place." See Valley, page 3D CLEVELAND Brett Butler hit a bases-loaded single with one out in the ninth inning Friday night as the Cleveland Indians overcame an early 10-0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 11-10, handing the Kansas City Royals at least a tie for the American League West title. The Royals, who were playing Friday night against the A's in Oakland, needed only one victory in their last three games to clinch the title after the Twins fell Vh games behind.

The Indians trailed 10-0 after Minnesota's third, but Joe Carter started Cleveland's comeback with a two-run homer in the third inning, his 12th. After the Indians scored seven runs in the sixth inning to pull within 10-9, Carter slugged a solo homer with two outs in the eighth against Ron Davis, 7-11, to tie it. 4 Today's state college football Mississippi State at Florida, 12:30 p.m. Alcorn State at South Carolina State, 1 p.m. BMillsaps at Trinity, 1:30 p.m.

Tulane at Ole Miss, 1:30 p.m. Memphis State at Southern Mississippi, 6 p.m. Miss. Valley at Southern University. p.m.

North Alabama at Delta State, 7 p.m. Tennessee-Martin at Mississippi College, 7 p.m..