Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 42

10D BThe Clarion-Ledger Sunday, November 23. 1997 -fJ-r- If liU Li VLJ (Si Ui (akiSlD ODD i t- Rushing yards USM A USM's resounding 42-18 victory over Memphis puts icing on regular-season cake 247 (47 carries) I Memphis tllZI 140 (33 carries) By Robert Wilson Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Passing yards USM to Mi I lEMPHIS Southern Mississippi got selfish Saturday. The Eagles didn't want to share the 3 217 Memphis I ,1137 Total yards if I) -W; Conference USA championship with any other team even after wrapping up an invitation to the Liberty Bowl last week. USM capped off an undefeated conference season with a 42-18 victory over Memphis before 17,243 at the Liberty Bowl. The Eagles ended the regular season with an 8-3 overall record, and more im I USM I 464 Memphis 277 lir "if J.

j- First downs Third downs USM 7 of 15 46.7 portantly, a 6-0 league mark. Tulane finished second with a 5-1 mark. C-USA commissioner Mike Slive presented the championship trophy to the Eagles in a joyous locker room minutes after the rfl a ru a LISMIWemphis Memphis 4 of 13 30.8 11-22-97 2 3 4 USM 7 14 7 14 42 MEMPHIS 0 7 11 018 FIRST QUARTER USM: Lee Roberts completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Sherrod Gideon on the first play of the drive with 10 minutes, 12 seconds to play. Tim Hardaway kicked the extra point. Key play: Memphis FB Brandon Tucker fumbled and USM Jamaal Alexander recovered.

USM 7, Memphis 0. i I i I SECOND QUARTER Shaw lopsided victory. Liberty Bowl president Jan Gwin also talked to the players about winning the league title outright and hosting the Liberty Bowl Dec. 31. "This is a season you will never forget, you are a championship team who went undefeated in your league," Gwin said.

"You don't have to share this with anybody else." "We accomplished a lot this season and we wanted to end the season with a victory," USM coach Jeff Bower said. "I'm very proud of what this team has accomplished and what these seniors have done. We challenged them this week to get this team prepared for the Memphis game." After last week's Liberty Bowl invitation, there was worry about a letdown. But the coaches wouldn't let them. They wanted the players not to think about the future, but think about the past when they had to share the C-USA championship with Houston and were left out when it came bowl season a year ago.

"They got right in our faces and made sure we thought about Memphis and not about what happens about Memphis," USM senior middle linebacker Mar-chant Kenney said. "They didn't want us thinking about the future. We had to focus in on this week and Memphis. The coaches were going to make sure we didn't have a letdown. Y'all have heard of the slogan, 'unfinished and we have had that all season long.

Well, we might have gotten the bowl bid last year, but we didn't finish our business. We did today." Kenney's defense limited Memphis to Troy GlasgowThe Associated Pre; Memphis receiver Chancy Carr is crushed like a sandwich by second quarter at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The Golc USM's DeShone Mallard (left) and Leo Barnes during the en Eagle defense held the Tigers to 277 total yards. Memphis: DE Manny Santibanez picked up a fumble by USM's Harold Shaw and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown with 14:45 left. Jim Cande kicked the extra point.

USM 7, Memphis 7. USM: Shaw ran for a 26-yard touchdown to complete a 65-yard, five-play drive with 12:16 to play. Hardaway kicked the extra point. Key plays: Shaw ran for 59 yards on four plays. USM 14, Memphis 7.

USM: Roberts completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Gideon to complete a 71-yard, nine-play drive with 7:10 to play. Hardaway kicked the extra point. Key play: Memphis was called for a roughing the punter penalty to give USM a first down at the Memphis 34. USM 2 1 Memphis 7. one touchdown and the USM offense produced a season-high 464 yards and tied a season high with 42 points.

Senior running back Harold Shaw had a career-high with 188 yards and three touchdowns and went over the mark for the season. Shaw finished with 1,045 yards, the sixth-best mark in school history and the first rusher since Shelton Gandydidinl987. Sophomore receiver Sherrod Gideon caught six passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns and also broke the mark for the season. Gideon improved his own school marks with his fifth 100-yard game of the season and sixth of his career. He set a school mark with 54 catches for the season and moved into second place with 1,008 yards for the season.

Junior quarterback Lee Roberts completed 18 of 28 passes for 217 yards and three TDs and tied Brett Favre's mark of 16 TD passes in a season. But Roberts was most proud of being the C-USA champion. "We had been talking about being the league champions since the start of last season and this was the step we needed to get there," Roberts said. "We took advantage of the opportunity and finished the year with an undefeated league record. This was one of our goals before the season began and we accomplished it." Winning the league outright wasn't the only motivation.

Memphis' defensi was ranked No. 1 in C-USA in total yard; USM was No. 2. USM had ti outgain Memphis by 68 yards to bi ranked No. 1.

The Eagles had 464, Tiger: 277. Defensive coordinator John Thomp son circled the totals and ran up to Ken ney as he was being interviewed. Thomp son showed the figures to Kenney an( gave him a big hug. "We did it," said Kenney, who neede some help from his teammates after leav ing in the third quarter with a shoulde injury. "We stopped Memphis and Memphii couldn't stop our offense.

Our offensi played great." THIRD QUARTER Memphis: Cande kicked a 35-yard field goal to complete a 37-yard, eight-play drive with 7:59 to play. Key play: On third-and-2 from the USM 16, Memphis was called for holding on an apparent first-down run. USM 21, Memphis 10. USM: Roberts completed a 68-yard touchdown pass to Gideon to complete a 72-yard, five-play drive with 6:08 to play. Hardaway kicked the extra point.

USM 28, Memphis 1 0. Memphis: QB Bernard Oden ran for a 1-yard touchdown to complete a 65-yard, 10-play drive with 1:42 to play. Oden ran for the 2-point conversion. Key play: On third-and-2, Oden completed a 17-yard pass to Rashad Bailey to the USM 28. USM 28, Memphis 18.

Bottom line: Guys in front opened record holes USM's offensive line deserves credit for numbers put up by backs, receivers By Robert Wilson Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer FOURTH QUARTER move the ball against Memphis." Memphis had the No. 1 defense in Conference US.A until Saturday. USM's 464 yards was the most Mem phis allowed all season. The Tigers were averaging 31 yards per game. The Eagles had 321 after three quarters "We wanted to prove that we could move the bal against them," Firestone said.

"That kind of jacked up; gave us something to go after. We moved the defen sive line back off the line of scrimmage." USM gained a season-high 247 rushing yards. No only did Shaw gain 188, but backup running back Eri Booth had 83 yards. Booth had 119 yards and Shaw 7 in last week's 33-0 victory over Houston. "We had a running back go over 1,000 yards, a receiver over a 1,000 yards (Sherrod Gideon had 1,008) and a quai terback who threw for 2,000 yards (Lee Roberts had Firestone said.

"It's a bonus for the offensive line. We kno that we were partly responsible for them." he gained 1,025 in 1987. Quick, name any of the offensive linemen who blocked for him. Gandy probably could, even now 10 years later. Shaw is the same way.

"Those guys up front should receive a lot of credit for the 1,000 yards," Shaw said. "I couldn't have done it without them. I knew I needed 143 yards this week to get 1,000 yards and those linemen knew it, too. When I got closer in the third quarter to 1,000, they told me that they were going to open it up for me and just run behind them." When Shaw gained his yard with a 11 -yard run with 5 minutes, 3 seconds to play, he was greeted by his offensive linemen, who were as happy as Shaw. "We don't receive the headlines that the other players receive, but when a player gains 1,000 yards, the offensive line knows that it did its job," said Firestone, who started every game at center this season.

"We worked very hard this season. We wanted to prove we could USM: Shaw ran for a 1-yard touchdown to complete a 71-yard, 12-play drive with 11:37 to play. Hardaway kicked the extra point. Key play: Shaw ran for 2 1 yards to the Memphis 1 3. USM 39, Memphis 18.

USM: Shaw ran for a 36-yard touchdown to complete a 76-yard, eight-play drive with 3:34 to play. Hardaway kicked the extra point. Key play: On third-and-4, Shaw ran for 1 1 yards to the Memphis 48. USM 42, Memphis 18. MEMPHIS The Southern Mississippi record book won't list Henry McClendon, Shederick Black-mon, Frank Firestone, Kasey Keith, O'Lester Pope or Terry Hardy next year on its list of rushers.

But those six offensive linemen Hardy is a tight end were the ones who opened the holes for Harold Shaw, who became the first USM player since 1987 to gain 1,000 yards in a season in Saturday's 42-18 victory over Memphis. Shaw gained a career-high 188 yards and finished the regular season with 1,045 yards, the sixth-best season in school history. Shelton Gandy was the last rusher when TEAM STATISTICS Notre Dame eligible, but Liberty wants all-Mississippi match USM MEM Passes 28 35 Completions 18 14 Had Intercepted 0 1 Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1 Punts-Avg. Penalties-Yards 8-55 7-55 Time of Possession 34:43 25:17 Miami, Pittsburgh still have hopes as Big East representative By Robert Wilson Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer MEMPHIS Liberty Bowl president Jan Gwin said Saturday that Ole Miss or Mississippi State still strong possibilities to play Southern Mississippi in the Liberty Bowl here on New Year's Eve. "We want to fill up this stadium and one of those two matchups would definitely put people in the stands," said Gwin, who saw USM's 42-18 victory over Memphis with only 17,243 fans in attendance.

"But there are other possibilities." The first is a Big East team. The Liberty Bowl gets the fourth pick from the Big East to face Conference USA champion USM, but Pittsburgh or Miami must knock off Top 25 opponents next week for the league to have four eligible teams. The next choice would be either a Southeastern Conference team leftover for an at-large position Ole Miss and MSU might be that team nent and 15th of its last 16 in th past two seasons, the only loss to team not in the Top 25 was las year's 56-49 overtime decision a Houston. The Eagles are 0-5 vj ranked teams in the past two sea sons. Hardy the receiver USM senior tight end Terry Har dy caught a career-high four passe for 36 yards.

He had caught eigh passes for 72 yards this season be fore Saturday. Kenney hits 400 USM senior middle linebacke Marchant Kenney had five tackle before injuring his shoulder in th third quarter, but he eclipsed th 400-tackle mark for his career. Ken ney has made 104 tackles this sea son and 404 for his career. He ha the sixth-highest career total ii school history. Former Eagle Former USM player and Laure native P.T.

Jones returned threi kickoffs; for 61 yards for Ivjemphii Saturday. Jeff Bower Show, 12:30 p.m., WAPT-16 in Jackson Conference USA standings, 1 1D or independent Notre Dame. The SEC champion goes to a the bowl alliance game, and the conference has four other bowl tie-ins. Gwin said it will be at least another week before the bowl situation becomes clearer, but he did say that Notre Dame wants to be play the highest ranked team it can. That might be USM, which could jump back into the Top 25 today, or it might be an SEC team in the Independence Bowl.

Back to back With its victory over Memphis, USM clinched its first back -to-back eight-win seasons since 1980-81. The Eagles, under Bobby Collins, finished 9-3 in 1980 and 9-2-1 in 1981. Another non-ranked win USM won its eighth straight game against a non-ranked oppo USM Gideon 29 pass from Roberts (Hardaway kick); MEM Santibanez 64 yard fumble return (Cande kick); USM H. Shaw 26 run (Hardaway kick); USM Gideon 23 pass from Roberts (Hardaway kick); MEM Cande 35 FG; USM Gideon 68 pass from Roberts (Hardaway kick); MEM Oden 1 run (Oden run); USM H. Shaw 1 run (Hardaway kick); USM H.

Shaw 36 run (Hardaway kick). Attendance: 17,243. INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing USM: H. Shaw 29-188, Booth 1 5-83, Roberts 3-(-24); Memphis: Arnold 16-64, Bailey 7-32, Oden 7-22, Tucker 1-12, Riley 2-10. Passing USM: Roberts 18-28-0-217; Memphis: Oden 14-34-1-137, Cande 0-1-0-0.

Receiving USM: Gideon 6-140, Hardy 4-36, Pinkston 4-34, E. Shaw 2-7, H. Shaw 2-0; Memphis: Floyd 3-31, Powers 3-25, Bailey 2-26, Sermon 2-22, Dodson 2-19, Kendall 1-10, Carr 1-4. NEXT UP FOR SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI The gam: Liberty Bowl The opponent: To be determined Where they're playing: Memphis Came time: Dec. 31, 2:30 p.m.

(ESPN) i The Associated Press File Photo USM's Harold Shaw ran 29 times for 1fJ8 yards, which gives him 1,045 yards for the season..