Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 35

6C The Clarion-Ledger Saturday, September 23, 1995 FOOTBALL JOE CULPEPPER Of The Clarion-Ledger On Sports TV Media Texas facing its last hurdle? The No. 3 Aggies play at No. 7 Colorado with an eye on a national title down the road. From Wire Service Report R.C. Slocum bristles when critics suggest his Texas team is playing a one-game schedule this year.

"I'd say those people haven't studied college football very carefully," he said. X- 'f V-Y He has a point. Heading into the season, the third-ranked Aggies fig Greenville's WXVT up to air DSU-North Alabama Television viewers in five states will be to Delta State football tonight at 7 when the Statesmen play NCAA Division H's top- ranked team, North Alabama, at Parker Field in Cleveland. The game will air live on Greenville's CBS af-'filiate, WXVT-Channel 15, which beams its signal across northwestern Mississippi, Louisiana, southeastern Arkansas and western Tennessee. -i WXVT will take a feed from station WAAY in Huntsville, which is producingthe telecast for its viewers in north Alabama.

WAAY is "providing the announcing crew play-by-play man Gus Hergert and color analyst Jeff Steegle. WHCQ, a low-power TV station, also will the game across metropolitan Cleveland. iij. "This is pretty much a public-service kind of "deal for us," said Stephen Robinson, sports di-' -rector at WXVT. "It's not like it's a money- making thing.

We saw this as an opportunity to publicize DSU athletics while doing some-" 'thing extra in the public's interest." Robinson and WXVT sports colleague John Hainey will host a 15-minute college football "Scoreboard show at halftime of the DSU-North Alabama game. They will discuss the first half "and show highlights. ii.j "We've never done anything like this, at least -to my knowledge," Robinson said. "It would be nice if we had the capability to do more things "like this. Everybody up here is pretty excited it." Delta State is 0-1 in television appearances.

-The Statesmen lost to West Alabama formerly Livingston 14-7 on Homecoming in '1982. That game was aired by the ABC Net- 'work on a regional basis. Richardson hosts new talk show FM in Jackson will debut a new "sports program Talk Sports With Willie "Richardson on Monday night from 7-8 p.m. Eric GayThe Associated Press With LeeLand McElroy leading the way, Texas sets its sight on the national title. ured to have one rigorous test today at Fol-som Field against No.

7 Colorado along with 10 pushovers. But several other opponents now look to be considerably stronger than when the season began. "We played LSU in our opening game," Slocum said, "and the next week LSU beat Mississippi State handily and last week they beat Auburn, the No. 5 team in the country." The upset of Auburn vaulted LSU from also-ran status to No. 18 this week.

"Who knows what the rest of them (opponents) down the road will do?" Slocum said. "Texas Tech played at Penn State when they were No. 4 in the nation and played them down to the last play of the game. So right now, it looks like at least three of them are pretty good. And Texas (now ranked No.

13) has demonstrated they have a good team. "I think it might end up being more than a one-game schedule." That's not to say that Slocum and his Aggies were focusing on anyone but Colorado. Today's game should have an early bearing on the national championship. "If we have any aspirations beyond winning a conference championship," Slocum said, "then this game becomes a must game for both teams." Colorado defensive tackle Kerry Hicks agreed. "With the caliber of teams out there this year, you can't lose and realistically win a national championship," he said.

Both teams have national title hopes. After wins over LSU and Tulsa, the Aggies rank seventh nationally in total offense (499.0) and fourth in total defense (217.0). After beating Wisconsin, Colorado State and Northeast Louisiana, the Buffaloes rank fourth nationally in total offense (575.3) and 33rd in total defense (316.7). Running back Leeland McElroy has been outstanding in the Aggies' first two games. He has rushed for 345 yards and leads the nation in all-purpose yards (322.0 per game) and scoring (21.0).

He has a career kickoff return average of 39.0, which would eclipse the NCAA record of 35.1 set by Southern California's Anthony Davis (1972-74). Slocum says McElroy's style reminds him of Detroit Lions star Barry Sanders. "We've had good backs here over the years," Slocum said. "When you look at good players, they all have some outstanding quality that you look at speed, toughness, balance, size or whatever. I think Leeland is a combination of a lot of those factors.

He's as fast as any back we've ever had here, he's as elusive as any back we've had, and he's got great balance and strength everything you look for." McElroy isn't the Aggies' only threat. Corey Pullig completed his first 11 passes and finished with 272 yards in last week's 52-9 victory over Tulsa. Colorado counters with Koy Detmer, whose 205.2 passer rating leads the nation. Detmer threw for a school -record 426 yards (19-for-27) and tied a school mark with four TD passes in last week's 66-14 win over Northeast Louisiana. After three games, he has 948 yards and eight TDs.

His only interception came last Saturday, snapping a streak of 59 attempts without a pickoff. UK, USC aim for 2nd win Last week's victories boosted the confidence of two fading teams. From Wire Service Reports It's hard to imagine victory could have meant any more to two teams last week than South Carolina and Kentucky. The Gamecocks raised their hopes for a breakout season through the summer, then flopped at Georgia and Arkansas. The Wildcats had few great expectations with their demoralizing 12-game losing streak.

Now, both clubs go after a modest run of two straight wins when they meet at Williams-Brice Stadium today in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina, 1-2, 0-2 Southeast-em Conference, wiped away its early season stink with a 68-21 win against Louisiana Tech. Kentucky, 1-2, 0-1, won for the first time in more than a year, toppling Indiana 17-10. Kentucky coach Bill Curry, who watched a 1993 bowl team slip to 1-10 a year later, is relieved to have his team's focus back. "When you have a streak like this, you spend so much time talking about the past, you have a difficult time getting a group of teenagers to focus on the present moment," he said.

At South Carolina, the heavy sighs of relief by Brad Scott and his staff could be felt throughout the state. South Carolina's offense fueled the revival with a record-setting performance. Steve Taneyhill tied a school record with five touchdown passes and the team's 679 total yards slammed another school mark Rice at LSU: LSU coach Gerry DiNardo would like his team to ignore its No. 18 ranking, disregard its upset of Auburn, forget about the fawning fans and concentrate on Rice. LSU, 2-1, upset No.

5 Auburn, a team the Tigers were very familiar with, 12-6. In Rice they face a very unfamiliar triple-option offense. "The option is a great talent equalizer," DiNardo said. "You can have less talent than your opponent and still move the football." Rice, 1-1, is comingoff a 17-15 upset loss to Tulane. Memphis at will try for its fourth straight victory against Arkansas tonight in Little Rock.

Memphis' quarterback situation is still in flux; at Arkansas, Barry Lunney Jr. has done it all. Qadry Anderson suffered a separated shoulder on the first series of a 28-18 loss to Mississippi State in Memphis' opener. Coach Rip Scherer started Joe Borich in a 24-7 loss to Michigan and Bernard Oden in last week's 33-19 victory over Southwestern Louisiana. Borich is expected to start against Arkansas, but Oden will play, Scherer said.

Scherer, whose team is 1-2, has been frustrated by the lack of production on offense 223 average yards per game. On the other hand, Lunney has been a rock for Arkansas, 2-1. He has completed 42 of 66 passes for 535 yards and has not thrown an interception. Texas Christian at Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt is 0-2, reeling from a 41-0 beating by Notre Dame and still trying to hold onto the ball with 10 total turnovers. TCU is 1-1 following a 7-4 record in 1994 and a share of the Southwest Conference title.

For the third straight game, the Commodores will face a team that played in a bowl last year. Kichardson, 55, a former receiving great at Jackson State and the Baltimore Colts, will interact with listeners via a toll-free telephone number. Football likely will be the most prominent subject, given the season. But Richardson hopes to delve into other Alcorn seeks magic against Texas Southern Richardson areas when the circumstances warrant. "We'll have special guests and highlight outstanding players from area high schools, junior and senior colleges," says Richardson, who Jserved 12 years as a color analyst on the Jackson State Football Radio Network.

"But we'll also highlight people in the community who used sports as a springboard into -careers other than athletics. Not everybody can "grow up to be a star player or coach. We want to lring out the positive accomplishments of people in all walks of life." Richardson, a Greenville native who works forthe Mississippi Department of Transportation, hopes the program will develop a large -enough following to sustain itself into a year- Prairie View needs a victory to avoid tying a dubious NCAA record. By C.B. Bryant Clarion-Ledger Start Writer Only two Southwestern Athletic Conference matchups are slated for today.

But two other SWAC teams will play in key non-conference games. Jackson State, 1-2, and Mississippi Valley, 0-2, will square off in Memorial Stadium in a conference opener for both teams. Alcorn State, 0-2-1, travels to Texas Southern, 2-0, as the Braves seek their first conference victory and first win overall this season. in passing with 61-of-130 completions for 770 yards and one touchdown. He is followed by TSU quarterback Bryon Henderson, who has completed 29 of 62 passes for 453 yards.

Henderson has not thrown for any touchdowns. He leaves the scoring to Thomas Sich, the SWAC's second-leading rusher with 135 yards on 32 carries. His five touchdowns ties Southern's Mel-vin Williams, a two-time SWAC offensive player of the week. Grambling State, 1-1, will host Central State, 2-0. The Tigers fell short of giving coach Eddie Robinson his 399th victory when they lost to Hampton 16-7 last week before 61,023 fans at Giants Sta dium in New Jersey.

Hampton will take on yet another SWAC opponent when the Pirates meet Southern in Baton Rouge at 7 p.m. Southern, a preseason favorite, sits atop the conference at 3-0. The Sheridan Poll ranks the Jaguars first and Hampton fourth. In a battle of winless teams, Praire View, 0-3, will try to end its 49-game losing streak against Tar-leton State, 0-3. A loss by the Panthers would tie the NCAA all-time, all-collegiate mark of 50 consecutive losses.

Alabama State, 1-1-1, will host intrastate rival Troy State. The undefeated Trojans, 3-0, lead the series 6-2. Last year against the same opponents, Alcorn and Jackson State played in battles that went down to the wire. JSU lost to Valley 18-16 when an Oliver Dean field goal fell short with seconds remaining in the game. The Braves, featuring Steve McNair and just barely pulled out a 28-21 victory over the young Tigers.

The Tigers hurled a desperation pass on the last play of the game that was batted away as time expired. Entering today's contest, Alcorn's first-year quarterback, Jerry Fletcher, leads the SWAC Player awaiting trial back on Nebraska sidelines Coach Tom Osborne says he believes backup receiver Riley Washington is innocent. round show. He hosted a similar program on WKXI-1300 AM in 1982. It was highly 0 Sound bites NFL network TV ratings are slumping.

Fox j(minus 15 percent), NBC (off 9 percent) and ABC (down 12 percent) are down a combined 12 percent from 1994. Most network officials tjblame the decrease on the return of baseball, Hollowing the strike that wiped out the sport af-t'er Aug. 11 last year. Ratings back that up. Compared to 1993, when baseball last was I played in the football season, Fox's NFL ratings are down 4 percent but NBC's are up 4 percent, numbers that balance out.

ABC's Monday night games are off 13 percent, but local telecasts don't affect ABC's ratings as "much as Sunday afternoon games. On Oct. 110, WLOV-TV in ColumbusTupelo will trade its ABC affiliation and join the Fox Network. station currently is enjoying the best of both networks. To contact Joe Culpepper, call 96 1-7294.

From Wire Service Reports Phillips, who has been suspended from the football team, pleaded no contest and was found guilty of hitting his former girlfriend. He has been the focus of an NCAA probe since June, when it was discovered he had lunch with a recruiter for a sports agent. Phillips repaid the cost of the meal. Tennessee: The president of Tennessee, whose football team has been rocked by a series of player problems, said athletes must be dealt with "in a way that all of them understand if you break the rules, you will not play on Saturday." Joe Johnson read a prepared, three-page statement to the university's Board of Trustees to spell out his position on recent problems. Those have included a rape charge against one player, allegations of NCAA violations by the girlfriend of another and reports that former players received gifts from agents.

His trial is scheduled to begin sometime in the jury term that begins Oct. 23, which means it will be held sometime after and possibly after much of the football season is over. Nebraska's NCAA compliance director says the owner of a California group home where tailback Lawrence Phillips once lived has supported a number of other former residents of the home. Al Papik went to California on Monday to investigate the relationship between Phillips and Tina McElhannon, the group home operator who has said she leased a 1995 Ford Mustang for Phillips, paid for plane tickets and provided money for living expenses. The NCAA is trying to determine whether that constitutes a violation of the extra-benefits rule.

Nebraska officials said Friday they support coach Tom Osborne's decision to allow backup receiver Riley Washington to play while he awaits trial on an attempted murder charge. Osborne said Thursday that Washington, who has been practicing with the team but did not play in the first three games, will play today against Pacific. Osborne said he believes Washington is innocent of charges that he shot and wounded a man outside a Lincoln convenience store on Aug. 2. Washington has pleaded innocent and is free on $10,000 bail.

uudy games College Football 1 1:30 a.m. Texas at Notre Dame, NBC (Ch. 3) 11:30 a.m. Kentucky at S. Carolina, JP (Ch.

12) Manning From 1C 1 1:30 a.m. Air Force at Northwestern, ESPN 2:30 p.m, MSU at Tennessee, ABC (Ch. 16) 2:30 p.m. E. Kentucky at Tenn.

Tech, SportSouth 6 p.m. Chattanooga at Ga. Southern, SportSouth 6:30 p.m. Penn State at Rutgers, ESPN 7 p.m. N.

Alabama at Delta State, WXVT (Ch. 15) 9 p.m. USC at Arizona, SportSouth Sunday's games NFL Noon Saints at Giants, Fox (Ch. 40) 3 p.m. Broncos at Chargers, NBC (Ch.

3) 8 p.m. Cardinals at Cowboys, Fox (Ch. 40) p.m. Packers at Jaguars, TNT College Playbacks Shows Noon Tommy Tuberville, Ole Miss, WJTV (Ch. 12) 12:30 p.m.

Jeff Bower, USM, WAPT (Ch. 16) 1 p.m. Jackie Sherrill, Miss. State, WAPT (Ch. 16) 1 a m.

Monday James Carson, JSU, WAPT (Ch. J6) All listings subject to change; check local listings for games in your area. 1 fc: There's the story about Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe dropping by the house one day to go over the play-book with Peyton. As coach and player talked, Archie fell asleep in his chair. You can't get much more detached than that.

And there's the story Archie relates about offensive line coach Steve Marshall telling Peyton "his daddy is a good daddy because he doesn't come around." But you can listen to Peyton and tell he has been coached by his father, if not about the game plan then certainly about the survival plan. Archie knows all about being a football celebrity, and Peyton clearly benefits from that knowledge. First came the recruiting pressures and publicity, then the attention given a freshman starter at Tennessee. This year, it got even bigger. Some star players make it onto the covers of football magazines; Peyton made it onto the cover of TV Guide.

Archie's fatherly advice was less and less about football apd more and more about other things. "This year we just talked about all the attention he was getting," Archie says. "It's gotten to the point now where Peyton, he's been around. Everything I say is reinforcement. He can tell me how he's goingto handle something." Peyton, like his father, has a knack for saying the right thing, for being accommodating, for maintaining his image and his sanity at the same time.

He hears praises and know how to handle it. And there's plenty of praise. "He has probably the quickest release of anybody we've ever played here," says seventh-year Bulldog assistant coach Bill Clay. "He's probably the most polished sophomore quarterback I've ever witnessed. When people blitz him, he goes immediately to the proper blitz check without any hesitation." State coach Jackie Sherrill calls him as good as John Elway or Dan Marino were at his age.

Hearing this, Peyton gives the ver bal equivalent of a good-natured shrug. "I really don't pay any attention to it," he says, "because it's all so far-fetched. I'm just a sophomore quarterback. This is just my fourth game where I'm going to play all four quarters of the game." Manning played very little last season until the Mississippi State game. But when Jerry Colquitt got hurt in the opener and Todd Helton got hurt against State, Manning suddenly became the No.

1 quarterback. He completed 14 of 23 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-21 loss to the Bulldogs. It turned out to be the only 200-yard passing game of his freshman year, and the 76-yard TD pass he threw that day to Kendrick Jones remains the longest of his career. "Yes, it did give me some confidence," Peyton says, "but the loss was very painful." There were other painful moments to come. He fell one well -thrown pass shy of a possible victory against Alabama, then got booed in home game against Memphis.

Archie, who endured his share of disappointments as a player, worried that Peyton could be headed for some big ones this year. It would be so easy not to live up to the preseason build-up. "I didn't want him to fall flat," Archie says. "The quarterback position is one that can really be a yo-yo." There's been no sign of a downside so far. Peyton has completed 64 percent of his passes and thrown for 853 yards and five touchdowns, with just one interception.

He's 20 pounds stronger than when he came to Tennessee, and he's wiser than the freshman who passed so well in a losing effort against State. "I just know so much more football now," he says. "Then, I was still learning our plays. Now, I'm learning about defenses. There's still a lot more I can learn." Some of it, perhaps, from his dad? "I listen to him," Archie says.

"I don't add very much at all. He's playing pretty well. I wfuldn't say anythingfco screw him up.".