Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 49

Pittsburgh ......30 Tennessee ..6 -Page 2 Grambling 24 J-State .....14 Page 6 SMU ....20 Texas 6 Page 10 Millsaps. 17 Maryville 7 -Page 7 Crje Iatfon--LcDgct JACKSON DAILY NEWS Sporte Sports AM Scorecard Home Sunday, October 26, 1 980 CI State's goal-line stand saved a MSU victory and may have cost Auburn's Doug Barfield his job. A i I (': I 1 1 'ii, 'it fvVV; '8; fcj. -iM Excitement? Gosh almighty. There was a pulsating MSU goal-line stand late in the fourth quarter, and a game-saving intercep-j tion by Willie Jackson at the State 4-yard' line with 2:38 remaining.

There was a punt return by the inimitable Mardye McDole of 33 yards that set up the Bulldogs only touchdown of the first half. There was Sam DeJarnette's 100-yard kickoff return to open the second-half with an Auburn score, immediately retaliated by Glen Young's own 67-yard effort: 167 yards in precisely 15 seconds. And there was the virtuoso play of Brooks, the Tigers' 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior, who finished the day with 29 carries for 159 yards 1 50 of which he seemed to carry the Bulldogs defensive backfield around his neck. "When I think about it afterwards," said free safety Rob Fesmire, anchor of State's defense, "I almost wish I could have been sitting in the stands watching this one. We've played two exciting games in a row like this.

I don't know how much more I can stand." The game began innocently enough, with State compiling a methodical 13-play, 65-yard opening drive that stalled when McDole was stopped for 3 yards on a third-and-seven at the Auburn 18. In came Dana See Goal-line, Page 9D Related stories, Pages Statistics, Page 12 By JOHN McGRATH Daily News Sports Writer By all accounts, Mississippi State's electrifying 24-21 win over Auburn Saturday could have been calisthenics for the elementary yawner. State, relying on its familiar ground-it-out, up-the-gut running attack, managed only four complete passes for 35 yards. Auburn's offense, designed around the dynamic James Brooks, was almost as predictable, rushing on 51 out of its 68 plays from scrimmage. Ah, but there lurked more than a frolicsome air show in Saturday's pivotal Southeastern Conference showdown, a match that thrust the Bulldogs (6-2) dead-solid-perfect into the post season bowl picture while placing the future of Doug Barfield, coach of the 4-3 Tigers, into a seriously dense fog.

Indeed, before the afternoon concluded, 40,822 fans "at Mississippi Memorial Stadium were treated to a contest as thoroughly delightful and crisp as the October sunshine above. "Gosh almighty," said MSU head coach Emory Bellard, describing matters rather perceptively, "it was a heck of a win." Staff photo by Damian Morgan State coach Emory Bellard exhorts his goal line defense late in the fourth quarter. -rj mm If For USM, 110 question who's No. i OleMiss struggles by Vandy Related story, Page 6 Statistics, Page 12 By JERRY POTTER Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. It began in confusion and really didn't get much better until Kinny Hooper rumbled 2 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to help Ole Miss preserve a 27-14 Southeastern Conference victory over Vanderbilt before 27,800 fans at Dudley Field Saturday.

Until Hooper's score, which gave the Rebels the victory margin, it was a game of hold your breath and wonder what was going to happen next. It began, with Ole Miss winning the toss then mysteriously getting the wind to its back. But before the opening kick-off Vandy coach George Maclntyre went onto the field and argued until the two teams switched ends of the field. Things didn't get much better for the officials. For on Vandy's first possession, which was capped with a 1-yard scoring run by Terry Potter, the officials ruled a completion on a play which the Vandy receiver said was a fumble.

It was a third down pass, which quarterback Whit Taylor threw to tight end Flavious Smith. He caught the ball but dropped it as he fell to the ground. Ole Miss recovered, but Vandy kept the ball. "I thought the official missed the call," said Ole Miss coach Steve Sloan. "It was either an incompletion or a fumble recovery." Smith was in agreement with Sloan.

"I caught it," he explained, "but the ball just slid out of my hands. I acted like it wasn't a fumble. I think we got the call because the official was behind me." Later, in the second quarter, Vandy's Potter fumbled twice to set up Ole Miss scores. The first triggered a 15-play, 85-yard drive, which ended with John Fourcade scoring from the 1. The second set in motion a 6-play, 77-yard drive, which Fourcade capped with a 3-yard pass to Ken Toler.

The drive started when Fourcade and Toler connected on a 55-yard pass, which Maclntyre thought was interference on Toler. See Rebs, Page 6D 1 "I -n -H jm Related stories, Pages Statistics. Page 12 By BARRY LASSVYELL Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer TUSCALOOSA, Ala. For a few exciting minutes Saturday, Southern Mississippi was right in there, giving Alabama all it could handle. And then the party was over.

From a 7-7 tie in the second quarter, the Crimson Tide poured on the power and crushed the Golden Eagles 42-7 before a capacity crowd of 60,210 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Top-ranked Alabama (7-0) is dangerous enough without help, but the Tide got plenty of assistance from No. 20 Southern Mississippi (6-1), which lost three fumbles and had lots of other mistakes. can expect what we got today," USM coach Bobby Collins said. Alabama played its typical game 13 backs carried the ball for 325 yards, and five different players scored the six touchdowns.

Only quarterback Don Jacobs had two TDs. The first part of the game wasn't typical for Alabama, though. USM answered an early Tide touchdown to move into a tie before the Eagles committed the turnover that everyone agreed was critical. The crucial mistake was Ricky Floyd's fumble on a punt in the second quarter. The Tide recovered, scored quickly, got the ball back and scored again before halftime.

That made it 21-7, and the Eagles were never much of a threat in the second half. "After we scored, we thought we could move the ball, and then we stopped them," Collins said. "Then we fumbled the punt. I'd 'i'-fl lf 5 1 "5 I rwif 'to? "54- "When you give Alabama something, you See USM mistakes, Page 5D Hattiesburg, fever9 didn 9t drop Stiff photo by MHwWtnn USM's Butch Smith reflects the agony of a day against Bama. Inside who showed up at M.

M. Roberts Stadium Saturday afternoon to cheer on the University of Southern Mississippi as it beat the stuffing out of the nation's No. 1 team, Alabama's Crimson Tide. The whipping never happened, of course, but that story comes later. First, how there came to be this eagle, a sax player, one referee and a believing horde in the stadium, when the game was played before an Alabama homecoming crowd in Tuscaloosa.

It certainly lookedike there was going to be a football game in Hattiesburg. "Be here and cheer the Eagles to another was the promise on the.comDUterized.mes- I believe there's an epidemic called Eagle fever. They haven't found a care for that either. They've still got one trick left up their While the Southern fans will sing 'I do believe' (I do believe, I do believe). from the song Eagle Fever By VERENDA SMITH Clarion-Ledger Sports Writer HATTIESBURG And they do believe, too.

Everybody out at the stadium believed. The live eagle did and so did the saxophone players and the fellas who moved their beds and stereo in front of the athletic ticket office. Abo among the believers thi afternoon i were the lone referee, and the nearly 1,000 W'BA boxing champ Mike Wea ver didn 't ha ve an easy time, but be still proved he carries a knockout punch. Hood column Page 3 Turner column Page 8 For the record Page 4 Scorecard Page 12 Sports AM Page 13 Borden column Page SI Gerrie Coetzee found out in Visage, reboluiistadiurfla an.