Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 42

4D The Clarion-Ledger Sunday, November 6, 1994 Coach's Playback Show: Joe Lee Dunn, Ole Miss, 12:30 p.m., WJTV (Ch. 12) MEMPHIS 17, OLE MISS 16 Elusive Roskelly helps Tigers end Oxford drought Ta fTQTr o.ui nrti (J nlnv that followed was a pass from OXFORD They had changed everything down through the years: coaches and players, of course, but also .5 MIKE fa-) CHRISTENSEN V- Staff Writer The Clarion-Ledger Borich to Roskelly, who ducked underneath Alundis Brice in the right side of the end zone. "He was right on my hip," Roskelly said. "I think he thought it was a fade route. I snapped it off, and the ball was right there." Roskelly has been a big-play maker for the Tigers all season.

He had a school-record 368 all-purpose yards in a win over Tulsa earlier this season. "In crunch time, the coaches go to the crunch players," Borich said. "Ryan's been doing it for us all year." The win put the 6-3 Tigers in great shape for the Liberty Bowl bid that goes to the Liberty Alliance champion. "This is the best feeling I've ever had," said noseguard Brian Bamett "This was a season-making game for us." For the Rebels, a heart-wrending loss like this was the last thing they needed. At 3-6, they've clinched a second straight losing year.

Possible NCAA sanctions hang over their heads. They don't even know who their coach will be next season. "I wouldn't say things fell apart," said Rebels wide receiver Ta'Boris Fisher. "I would just say we caught a lot of bad breaks. It's just like what has happened to us all year." The Rebels' last two games will be interesting indeed.

But you can bet they they won't be as crazy as Saturday's. To contact Mike Christensen, call 961-7294. logos, uniform designs and even the name of their school. Still, the University of Memphis, even when it was called Memphis State, could not win here. It would not, could not happen.

Starting in 1921, when Ole Miss beat them 82-0, the Tigers had made 14 fruitless trips down south. Until Saturday, when an improbable day ended in impossible fashion. Memphis scored with 4 seconds left to beat Ole Miss 17-16. The Tigers' toothless offense scored two touchdowns in the last 5 minutes, 46 seconds. Unbelievable.

Hours before the game began, powerful winds blew out the glass windows on the press-box level of Vaught-Hem-ingway Stadium. The game was played under a sky that was alternately gray and rainy, bright and sunny. There were enough controversial calls by the officials to qualify them for a Southwestern Athletic Conference game. But the wildest and weirdest thing that happened was that Memphis won. When Ole Miss lined up for a punt with about 9 minutes left, you wouldn't have given a plug nickel for the Tigers' chances.

They trailed 16-5, and their points had come from a safety on a blocked punt and a school record-tying 52-yard field goal. Then a 173-pound junior college transfer named Ryan Roskelly a former teammate of Ole Miss quar- STr Ashing yards. (PleMissJ y- "-j 121 (45 carries) Memphis -fV '--'-r-JInSSl 129 (37 carries) -m Passing yards Ole Miss Memphis grJ 168 I I 1 I llOle Miss 3 287 3197 I Jj-i i I 1 First downs jThird downs f(i5 LT VisLj 73 26J Ole Miss Memphis Ole Miss Memphis terback Josh Nelson at Fullerton College made the first of his two huge plays. "Heart. We had heart," Roskelly said.

"Heart kept us going." He returned the Ole Miss punt 43 yards to the Rebels 31. Six plays later, Frank Fletcher crashed into the end zone. A try for two failed, leaving the Tigers behind 16-11. An aroused Memphis defense forced another punt, sacking Ole Miss quarterback Josh Nelson on a third-and-6. Roskelly fielded that punt, too, but was smacked right away by Jerry Graeber.

An interference call put Memphis at the Ole Miss 44 with 4:06 to play. From there, it was just crazy: the tauntingcall against Ole Miss' Stacy Wilson that will live in infamy, Joe Borich's 18-yard pass to Fletcher on a fourth-and-15; tight end Joel Peschke's dropped TO pass with 50 seconds left; Borich's 9-yard scramble to the 2 with 11 seconds left. 12 3 4 11-5-94 5 0 0 12 17 MEMPHIS 3 10 3 0 16 OLE MISS FIRST QUARTER Taunting call, late collapse lead to doom for Ole Miss Ole Miss scored first on a 24-yard field goal by Tim Montz at 6:27. The 11-play, 49-yard drive was aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty against Memphis on an Ole Miss punt. The Rebels had first-and-goal at the 10, but the closest they could get was the Tiger 7 before Montz's FG.

The next time Ole Miss punted, Billy Rutledge blocked Lon-ny Calicchio's attempt in the end zone. Ole Miss' Michael Lowery recovered, and Memphis was credited with a safety at 1:53. Following Ole Miss' free kick, Memphis drove to the Rebel 33-yard line. That drive stalled, and Luis Tejeda kicked a 52-yard FG to put Memphis ahead 5-3 with 21 seconds left. By Rusty Hampton Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer SECOND QUARTER Ole Miss drove to the Tiger 8-yard line but stalled again.

Montz kicked another 24-yard FG at 11:26. WB Ta'Boris Fisher caught three passes for 52 yards on the 67-yard drive. On their next possesion, the Rebels needed just three plays, all passes, to score the only touchdown of the half. After completions to TE Kris Mangum (6 yards) and Fisher (17), QB Josh Nelson faked a handoff to RB Mark Smith, then threw a 53-yard TD pass to WR Roell Preston, who was 10 yards behind the secondary. THIRD QUARTER Roaelio SolisThe Associated Press The quarter began with an exchange of turnovers.

Tiger NG Tony Williams intercepted a Nelson screen pass and returned it 19 yards to the Ole Miss 24-yard line. The Tigers got to the Rebel 10, but then Tiger RB Derrick Jones fumbled on a sweep and DT David McGowan recovered for Ole Miss. The Rebels then drove from their 13 to the Tiger 17 Dou Innocent tries to pulls away from Memphis defenders on the way to a 107-yard rushing game, his fourth straight over 100. OXFORD Ole Miss was stunned twice here Saturday, once by a referee's call, then minutes later by the Memphis Tigers. "I was shocked when I saw him drop the flag," said Rebel linebacker Abdul Jackson, reacting to a taunting foul against Rebel Stacy Wilson that kept Memphis' winning drive going.

"It's hard to explain," said Rebel wing-back, Ta'Boris Fisher. "We were up 16-5 in the fourth quarter, then things just happened. We just got a lot of bad breaks, like it's been happening all year long." Ole Miss dominated the first three quarters, outgaining the Tigers 274-128 yards. The Rebels led 16-5 and seemed in control halfway through the fourth quarter. Then Memphis scored twice in the final 6 minutes, the second time on a 2-yard pass from Joe Borich to Ryan Roskelly with 4 seconds left, to beat the Rebels 17-16 before a Vaught-Hemingway Stadium crowd of 25,511.

It was the first time Memphis has beaten Ole Miss at Oxford in 15 tries. It marked the first time Ole Miss has lost three games at Oxford in one season. Ole Miss, 3-6, clinched a losing season. The Tigers improved to 6-3 and are in good shape to clinch a Liberty Bowl berth. "At this point it probably is the best win we have had for this program," said Memphis coach Chuck Stobart.

It has to rank among the all-time great emotional wins for us." Rebel players trudged off the field, heads down, hiding faces that carried, "how-did-this-happen?" looks into the dressing room, where a half hour later answers were hard to come by. Instead, the players had a question: Why? downs came on one drive early in the les. "I can't believe he'd make that call at (70 yards) on 11 consecutive running plays. The drive stalled when Williams tackled Smith for a 2- yard loss on third-and-3, and Montz kicked his third FG, a 36-yarder, at the 6j06 mark. FOURTH QUARTER Tiger safety Barry Dillard intercepted a Nelson Why, with 3 minutes remaining, following a sack that would have put Memphis in a fourth-and-19 situation at its own 47, did the split-crew officiating team call a taunting foul on defensive end Stacy Wilson? Wilson said he pointed both index fingers, pistol-style, at the Memphis sidelines following the sack by David McGowan.

"He didn't say nothing," Wilson said. "He just looked at me and pulled the flag out I was like, 'What did I He just pulled the flag. He wasn't an SEC referee, he was one of their conference referees." After deliberating, referee Tommy Taylor marked off 15 yards against Ole Miss, then awarded the Tigers an automatic first down. 1 The call upset Jackson, the defensive captain, who led Ole Miss with 11 tack third quarter, tjuarterback Josh JNelson, who threw for 166 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown to Roell Preston, in the first half, threw two second-half interceptions, one deep in Memphis territory. What Dunn did point to was the plays Memphis made after the taunting call.

On fourth-and-15 at the Ole Miss 31, Borich escaped a rush and hit Frank Fletcher for an 18-yard gain. Then on third-and-8 from the 13, he scrambled to the 2, setting up the game-winning pass. "They made two or three great plays," said Dunn, who took blame for the loss. "I felt I should have been able to do something there at the end to stop them," said Dunn. "To come up with some kind of defense there at the end that would work, so they couldn't score and beat us, and I couldn't do it." that point in the game, he said.

The first down infuriated him. The NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations book lists "taunting" as a 15-yard penalty, but does not include an automatic first down. "I don't know, and they didn't know," said Jackson. "None of the officials in that crew knew, but they gave them the first, down because they had already moved the sticks, and that's the truth." Said Stobart: "It's great to have something good happen for us this season." Rebel coach Joe Lee Dunn didn't blame the loss on that call. He pointed out that, once again, the Rebel offense was nearly comatose in the second half, accounting for just 91 yards, four first downs and no touchdowns.

Seventy of those yards and all four first pass on the first play of the quarter and returned it 39 yards to the Ole Miss 43-yard line. The Tigers ran three plays and punted. About five minutes later, the fireworks began. Ryan Roskelly returned a punt 43 yards to the Rebel 31-yard line. rom there, the Tigers took six plays to score, with TB Frank Fletcher running 5 yards for the TD at 5:46.

A two point conversion try failed. Ole Miss led 16-11. Ole Miss failed to get a first down on the ensuing posses sion, and following a punt Memphis took over at the Rebel 44-yard line. A 15-yard taunting penalty against DE Stacy Wilson, and an 18-yard pass from Joe Borlch to Fletcher on fourth-and-15 kept the drive alive. Borich scrambled for a first down to 11 l.i.W.aaiWPJWWWP''" 111 "j'gjw.

iiaaHjfii" the 2 with 11 seconds remaining, then he threw a 2 yard TD pass to Roskelly with 4 seconds remaining. Innocent gets record for 100-yard games TEAM STATISTICS MEM UM 33 21 11 10 0 2 1-1 1-0 10-35 8-75 10-90 27:41 32:19 Passes Completions Had Intercepted Fumbles-lost Punts-Avg. Penalties-Yards Time of Possession I I I i i ff tr i A v. By Rusty Hampton Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer OXFORD Dou Innocent gained 107 yards on 24 carries in Saturday's 17-16 loss to Memphis, setting an Ole Miss single-season record with his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game. He broke Kayo Dottley's record of three set in 1949, and tied Dottley's overall record of four in a row.

Dott-ley did it in the final three games of '49 and the opening game of 1950. Innocent's running and the first-half passing of Josh Nelson (166 yards) helped Ole Miss gain 287 yards overall, the most allowed by Memphis this season. The Tigers lead Division I-A in total defense, allowing 215 yards a game. Rebel Memphis' 197 total yards was the second-best effort by Ole Miss' defense this season (Southern Illinois got 185). "They beat me to hell in the first half," said Memphis QB Joe Borich.

"I have to hand it to them." Memphis averaged 2.8 yards on 70 plays, but the Tigers scored two touchdowns in the final 6 minutes of the game. "That's amazing," said Rebel coach Joe Lee Dunn, holding a sheet, shaking his head. Grant to the rescue: After Memphis blocked a Lonny Calic-chio punt for a safety in the first quarter, the Rebels switched to Walter Grant, who also has replaced Calicchio on kickoffs. Grant punted for a 42.7-yard average and kicked one 57 yards. Second-half blues: The Rebel offense again struggled after half-time, gaining just 91 yards and four first downs.

"It's like we just give up in the fourth quarter," said wide receiver Roell Preston, who caught a 53-yard touchdown pass from Nelson in the first half. Nelson threw just three second-half passes. Two were intercepted, one deep in Memphis territory. Nelson said he didn't see safety Barry Dillard, who stepped in front of Le-May Thomas for the pick. "This is frustrating for everybody," said offensive coordinator Larry Kueck.

"Our defensive kids played well. Our offensive kids played hard. We didn't get the stuff done we needed to in the second half." UM FG Montz 24; Memphis Safety, punt blocked out of end zone; Memphis FG Tejeda 52; UM FG Montz 24; UM Preston 53 pass from Nelson (Montz kick); UM FG Montz 36; MemphisFletcher 5 run (run failed); Memphis Roskelly 2 pass from Borich (pass failed). Attendance: 25,511 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Memphis: Fletcher 20-92, Holli-day 7-35, Jones 3-9, Scarpino 2-6, Dawkins 1-2, Borich 4-(-15); UM: Innocent 25-107, Smith 15-48, Nelson 5-(-34). Passing Memphis: Borich 8-25-0-57, Scarpino 3-8-0-11; UM: Nelson 10-21-2-166.

Receiving Memphis: Roskelly 4-17, Fletcher 2-18, Rutledge 2-13, Howell 1-9, Spalding 1-7, Holliday 1-4; UM: Fisher 4-69, Thomas 2-28, Mangum 2-14, Preston 1-53, Innocent 1-2. NEXT UP FOR OLE MISS The opponent: Tulane, 1-8. Where they're playing: New Orleans. Came time: 7 p.m. Ole Miss' record vs.

Tulane: 36-28-0. Last meeting: Ole Miss 35, Tulane 9 (1992). I Rogelio SolisThe Associated Press Memphis quarterback Joe Borich sprints for a 9-yard gain in the fourth quarter. Borich away from Ole Miss safety Michael Lowery passed for the winning TD on the next play. 1 i a a ai eyafcjfcuihtfci jfcj MabjeAAN4hHeMkW9fthJ.