Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 39

INDEX Sid 1 lartman Page C3 Sports mail PageC4 Twins notes Page C5 NHL PageC17 Sunday NOVEMBER 15, 1998 SECTION www.startrlbune.comsports StarTribune Inside 1- Bowl shot toot away Missed kicks, loss end Gopher postseason hopes INDIANA 20, GOPHERS 19 i i By Jon Roe Star Tribune Staff Writer L- --v or I Gophers fall on Mayasich's night The largest crowd in the history of the new Mariucci Arena, 9,908, saw John Mayasich's No. 8 jersey retired WtTf but also saw tfff I the Gophers lose 5-3 in VS; hockey to Li. North Dakota. The total attendance for the two-game series, 19,768, set an arena record. Turn to C4 NBA checks not in the mail The NBA has been in lockout for 138 days now, but in terms of real impact, today is special.

Most NBA players are paid on a six-month schedule, their salaries divided into 12 equal installments and Hoosiers (4-6, 2-5). It was painful because the margin of defeat came on a pair of missed extra point attempts as well as a pair of missed field goal tries by the most dependable player on the team: Adam Bailey. The senior from Burnsville hadn't missed an extra point attempt in two years, dating to Nov. 16, 1996 a string of 44 consecutive conversions. And Bailey had been just as a reliable on field goal tries, having made nine of 1 1 this year and rescuing a pair of last-second victories in the process.

"I just missed them," said a red-eyed Bailey. Those were the obvious mishaps, but there were others. The Hoosiers used an interception by Curtis Randle El, one of two against Gophers quarterback Billy Cockerham, to set up a touchdown. Up next Who: Gophers vs. Iowa When: 1:30 p.m.

Saturday Where: Metrotome Records: Gophers 4-6, 1-6 Big Ten; Iowa 3-7, 2-5 Radio: WCCO-AM (830) BLOOMINGTON, IND. The Gophers had a Randle El of a time Saturday at Indiana's Memorial Stadium. If Antwaan Randle El wasn't dancing and darting through the Gophers for precious yardage, then the Indiana quarterback's older brother, cornerback Curtis Randle El, was making critical defensive plays for the Hoosiers. And whatever miseries those two didn't visit on the Gophers, Minnesota inflicted on itself. Thus, on a gloriously sunny day that would have served as a wonderful setting for the Gophers (4-6, 1-6) to keep alive their slim bowl game hopes, they instead suffered a most painful 20-19 loss to the Associated Press Gophers senior Adam Bailey had a tough day, missing two field-goal attempts and two extra-point tries.

Turn to 'U' FOOTBALL on C14 THE NATIONAL TITLE PICTURE iest iS ale caif of push disbursed on the 15th and 30th days of each month. Today marks the first missed payday for the 420 members of the NBA Players Big Ten IIS son 'I Association. Turn to C6 High schools: Eagan repeats as volleyball champ Eagan took a 15-17, 15-2, 15-7 victory over top-rated I libbing at Williams Arena and grabbed its second consecutive Class AA volleyball title. Central Minnesota Christian, which slipped up in the final last season, defeated Win-E-Mac 15-4, 6-15, and won the Class A championship. Turn to C16 Columnist Patrick Reusse: Somewhere there's pro basketball The pros in the Twin Cities are dormant, but the CBA and IBA do their best to fill the basketball gap.

Turn to C7 M. 'At .1 Mt'" C3 Tennessee, UCLA and Kansas State the top three teams in the Bowl Championship Series rankings were all victorious Saturday and kept alive their hopes of reaching the Ian. 4 Fiesta Bowl. Tennessee 28, Arkansas 24 The Volunteers rallied to defeat the Razorbacks on Travis Henry's 1-yard dive with 28 seconds remaining in Knoxville, Tenn. Arkansas held a 21-10 lead over Tennessee (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) at halftime.

It was the first loss of the season for the Razorbacks. UCLA 36, Washington 24 UCLA got a 77-yard punt return by Ryan Roques and five field goals from Chris Sailer to extend its winning streak to 19 games and clinch the Pac-10 championship, in Seattle. UCLA (9-0, 7-0 Pac-10) hasn't lost since the second week of last season. By wrapping up the conference title, UCLA earned at least a trip to the Rose Bowl. Kansas State 40, Nebraska 30 Michael Bishop ran for two touchdowns and threw for two, including an 1 1-yarder to Darnell McDonald with 5:25 remaining, and the Wildcats (10-0, 7-0 Big 12) ended their 29-game losing streak against the Cornhuskers, in Manhattan, Kan.

Elsewhere Florida State and Florida, ranked fourth and fifth in the BCS, also were victorious. The Seminoles (10-1, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), playing without injured quarterback Chris Weinke, defeated Wake Forest 24-7. The Gators SEC) cruised to a 33-14 victory over South Carolina. Turn to C12-C13 alone Wolverines set Badgers back 15 MICHIGAN 27, 8 WISCONSIN 10 By Jerry Zgoda Star Tribune Staff Writer ANN ARBOR, MICH. Finally, after nine appointments with such opponents as UNLV, Illinois and the Gophers, the Wisconsin Badgers no longer have to answer questions about the teams they have played this season.

Long before the Badgers' 27-10 loss ended Saturday afternoon, a national television audience, 111,217 screaming fans and even the mysterious Bowl Championship Series computer knew Wisconsin had met Michigan. On a perfect, blustery, gray November afternoon, the Wolverines ended Wisconsin's ambitious, if unlikely, aspirations for a national championship and assumed control of the Rose Bowl race. The Badgers would have won a piece of the Big Ten championship and almost certainly a trip to the Rose Bowl if they had won Saturday at Michigan Stadium. Instead, the Wolverines earned a share of their 39th conference title and will reach the Rose Bowl for a second consecutive season if they win Saturday at Ohio State. Two months ago, the defending national co-champions were 0-2 after losses to Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Now, Michigan (8-2 overall, 7-0 Big Ten) is the conference's only remaining unbeaten team after silencing running back Ron Dayne and slicing the nation's No. 1 defense against the run. Outdoors I The long hunt When Eldon Blake began hunting in 1918, World War 1 was ending. Eight decades later, Blake, 96, carries almost immeasurable experience into the northwestern Minnesota woods in search for whitetail. Turn to C20 FYI 'v -r College football OHIO STATE 45 TEXAS 17 IOWA 14 MISSOURI 14 PENN STATE 41 ARIZONA 27 N'WESTERN 10 CAL 23 PURDUE 25 NOTRE DAME 30 MICH.

STATE 24 NAVY 0 FLORIDA 33 TULANE 49 S. CAROLINA 14 ARMY 35 FSU 24 SYRACUSE 28 WAKE FOREST 7 VA. TECH 26 i' I. 1 uT i x-1 Turn to C12 C13 Associated Press Kansas State's Michael Bishop gets a face full of turf courtesy of Nebraska's Eric Johnson and Tony Ortiz during Saturday's game. Turn to MICHIGAN on C14 Vikings, Cunningham put pedal to the metal 1 TVhiilights College women's basketball: Tennessee vs.

Purdue, 3:30 p.m., ESPN. NFL: Green Bay at N.Y. Giants, 3 p.m., FOX29; Chicago at Detroit, 7:15 p.m., ESPN. Comments? For comments about this section, call Sunday sports section editor Marty Pantages at 673-4367, or send an e-mail to sportsgw.slartribunc.com For complaints about individual stoties, call our reader's representative at 673-4450 or send an e-mail to rcadcrrcpgw.start ribunc.com H'W'faill llll TtM If? around Winter Park this week, it was this: The Bengals might be 2-7 and losers of six of of seven, and the Vikings might have a two-game lead over Green Bay in the NFC Central, but this is no time to back off. Playing safe might lead to playing sorry.

Turn to VIKINGS on C10 Also on CI Dan Barreiro column: Vikings running back Robert Smith has shed the label of fragility. play him only six days after arthroscopic surgery boiled down to two pretty straightforward deductions. First, the Vikings feel Cunningham is legitimately ready and faces no real risk of re-injuring his right knee, from which doctors removed two dime-sized bone chips Monday morning. And secondly, the 8-1 Vikings want to keep a good thing going and believe the NFL's top-rated passer surprise gives them the best chance to win. If there was a team theme echoing By Don Banks Star Tribune Staff Writer Pssst.

Want to know the real reason the Vikings intend to start Randall Cunningham instead of Jay Fiedler at quarterback today against struggling Cincinnati? The inside scoop? The story behind the story? While the specter of Cunningham's battle of wounded knee provided a week's worth of grist for Vikings fans and the media to chew on, the decision to Today Who: Vikings vs. Cincinnati When: Noon Where: Metrodome Records: Vikings 8-1, Cincinnati 2-7 Line: Vikings by 11 (830) Cunningham: NFL's top-rated passer healthy. Ml, JM. 0k IN 41. fh, 0i Ht 4) A.

0b. 0 Hfc fetftfe Ah fa. At A 0 4k.