The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 31

D-7 The Oriando Sentinel, Tuesday, January 3, 1989 New Orleans brings out party best in fans SUGAR BOWL The Game By Larry Guest Of THE SENliNLi SWF 10 0 0 0 SEMINOLES 13, TIGERS 7 Receiving No Yds AvgTD NEW ORLEANS The main challenge of football teams draw-in" berths recent Sugar Bowls. it seems, is to produce a game more intet esting than the fans who 'e to cheer them. New Orleans is party town sort of a Disney World for drunks it 9 3 4715.6 0 31 15.5 Player Anthony O'Malley Carter Williams R. Johnson Dawsey Butts 25 8 3 20 10.0 1616.0 10 5.0 8 8.0 Klckoff returns FSU AUB 1st DOWNS 21 18 Rushing 1 1 9 Passing 9 9 Penalty 1 0 TOT. NET YDS.

305 270 NET YDS. RUSHING 148 108 Rushes 47 36 Sack-Yds. lost 2-18 2-14 Avg. per rush 3.1 3.0 NET YDS. PASSING 157 162 14-27 19-33 Had int.

3 1 PUNTS-Avg. Had blocked 0 0 RETURN YDS. 11 38 Punts Returns 0-0 2-25 Kickoffs Returns 2-30 4-103 Interceptions 3-11 1-13 PENALTIES-YdS. 6-45 5-65 FUMBLES-Lost 2-1 3-2 TIMEOFPOSS. 33:35 26:25 Florida State 10 3 0 0 13 Auburn 0 7 0 07 thnt firings out 1 best from the who come to behalf of the oaring, eonserva-Njoi loirs back No Yds AvgTD 2 3015.0 0 Player Carter AUBURN and decadence the entcrtainm fun-ioviru' raucously r- old school.

Most are Sund: home. But here, thin' -'uJ hibitions at fall right inu. i -J No Yds Net LG 19 81 58,10 47 47 on as they arrive check their in- city limits. They spirit of a zanv lb- bizarre is com- Player Danley Joseph Flack Harris Weygand 9 6 0 -9 6 -4 Passing precinct win monpUuv. The pk've inalv samp! of the Front FSU Williams 2 run (Andrews kick); FSU FG Mason 25; FSU FG Mason 31; AUB Reeves 20 pass from Slack (Lyle kick).

A 61,934. sort of sidewalk huckster you figure to find in The Big Easy. Malcolm Burnett is a Central America refugee who earns a living betting on himself against -strolling challengers in brace yourself chess. A wasted intellect. Burnett takes on up to three at a time on the trio of chess boards he sets up on a slender, rickety table.

Malcolm bets against each comer's $5. The drunks he polishes off in a few moves. The others take a bit longer, only because the more se- rious challengers ponder each move for several long moments. This Sugar Bowl has been espe- dally profitable for Malcolm. don't know if I've played anyone from Florida State," he said Sun-dav night.

"But I played 10 Auburn fans last night, three at a time, and won all 10." Okav, so Auburn is not here because they are SEC co-champions in chess. Second has been what could be called pita bread helmets. It's the newest novelty item for football fans two layers of foam rubber fused along one side and shaped like a football helmet. You slide the $6 device down over your head, tuck the strap under your chin and presto you're wearing what represents a helmet of your favorite team but actually looks more like a comical World War 1 aviator cap, turning one's head into, well, a pita bread sandwich. Th- French Quarter has been replete this week with Auburn and FSU fans wearing silly grins and silly ptta bread helmets.

In journalism, prolonged exposure to football fans develops a certain warped standard of decorum. You grow to accept pig head-wear, glass eyes inscribed with Roll Tide" and plastic hog noses on otherwise pretty faces. At Co In Yds TD 33 19 3162 1 Player Slack will- cnbieoce lepite the ipce IV ii'i t.ioas Rov Receiving No Yds AvgTD 5 35 7.0 0 5 2 4 0 4 4812.0 0 3 4013 3 0 2 3718.5 1 Player Taylor Danley Tillman Weygand Reeves FLORIDA STATE Rushing No. Yds. Net LG i Punt returns 24 116 115 16 8 25 25 No Yds AvgTD 2 2512.5 0 Player Wasden Player Smith Carter Williams Ferguson Butts Floyd Dawsey 16 19 6 5 0 16 15 6 5 0 Kickoff returns No Yds AvgTD 4 10325.7 0 Player Wasden '14 Passing i'iiaehes.

"t'oarh Bowden asked us not to be drinking and going into certain types of pla.es." said Seminoles tailback Dexter Carte, sheepishly adding that he oimos! complied. One evening Dexter hapnond stop at the door of one oi thosi "places" where the girls wear less than at ter's back home in liaxley Ua. "Somehow, we stepped inside a minute saw some inteivstini-things," laughed Carter, win thoughtfully had brought along his Kodak Instamatie. "1 can't to Ri't mv pictures developed." Expect he unexpected on these cozy, lounge-lined streets. This vi.sit.

to cover the Auburn FSU scrum, has been no exception. New. for example, was the last MISSED FIELD GOALS FSU, None; Auburn, None. At Co InYds TD 26 14 1 157 0- Player Ferguson T'3 3im Tf I I lit. FIRST QUARTER FSU Dayne Williams scores on a 2-yard run.

Key play: Chip Ferguson gains 8 yards on the option on a third-and-2 from the FSU 24-yard-line. Sammie Smith gains 49 yards on seven carries. Twelve plays, 84 yards. 5:12. 7-0, Seminoles.

FSU Bill Mason kicks a 35-yard field goal. Key play: Stan Shiver's interception and 11 -yard return, giving the Seminoles the ball on the Auburn 18-yard-line. Four plays, minus-1 yard, 2:21. 10-0, Seminoles. SECOND QUARTER FSU Mason kicks a 31 -yard field goal.

Key play: Dedrick Dodge's interception on the Auburn 38-yard line. Eight plays, 24 yards, 4:22. 13-0. Seminoles. AUBURN Walter Reeves scores on a 20-yard pass play from Reggie Slack.

Key play: Vincent Harris gains 2 yards on a third-and-1 from the FSU 23-yard line. Also, Shayne Wasden returns low punt 17 yards to Aurn 49-yard line. Seven plays, 51 yards, 2:44. 13-7, Seminoles. Tom O'Malley, Joey lonata and Jason Kuipers revel in 'No! Halting up for errors ASSOCIATED PRESS GOING FOR A RECORD WITH VICTORY Monday night, FSU Coach Bobby Bow-den became college football's all-time winnlngest bowl coach.

His record is .727 (8-3-1), which ranks him ahead of Bobby Dodd's record of .692 (9-4). COUCH POTATOES FLORIDA STATE Coach Bobby Bowden and Auburn Coach Pat Dve watched a lot of football on television, pro Ki ninht'a nima thminh nnt NEW ORLEANS Auburn's defense spent much of the night trying to make up for the mistakes made by its offense. Ail-American tackle Tracy Rocker wasn't blaming anyone for the Tigers' 13-7 loss to Florida State in the Sugar Bowl. Auburn turned the ball over three times on interceptions and twice on fumbles, leaving the defense backed up against its own goal line for much of the game. But Rocker refused to point fingers at his teammates.

"On both sides of the ball, we all had some good plays and we all had some bad plays," he said. "I told everybody this would be an exciting game to watch. I had a good time out there. I enjoyed playing the game. We did not come out the winner, and that puts a damper on it." Florida State's Sammie Smith rushed for 115 yards, nearly half on a first-quarter touchdown drive.

Smith was the first back to top the 100-yard mark against Auburn since Alabama's Bobby Humphrey got 204 against the Tigers 25 games ago. Rocker said he didn't think much about Smith's 100-yard night. Rocker: "You can't go out and get caught up in the statistics of holding a back to under a hundred yards or anything like that." "Any time you play football, you know something like that can happen. Any time I walk out on the field, I know I'm going to get blocked sometimes, and sometimes a back will make yards, and sometimes he won't." Rocker said the Tigers were stung by the Seminoles' first scoring drive. Florida State took the opening kickoff and marched 84 yards, capped by Dayne Williams' 2-yard scoring run.

ana college, leaaing up iu iviunuay mum a yamo, necessarily for enjoyment. Bowden said he likes to practice his play-calling. "I like to see what I would call in each situation and then see what happens." As for Dye: "I always manage to learn something from every game I watch." SEC STRENGTH DURING THE '80s, SEC teams have appeared In 50 bowl games more than any conference In the nation. The Big Ten is in second place with 42 appearances. During that period, the SEC's record is 23-19-3.

Every team in the conference has at least one bowl appearance, a distinction the SEC holds alone. DOME FIELD ADVANTAGE NEITHER FSU had Auburn ever lost a game In the Louisiana Superdome before Monday. Auburn Is now 1-1-1 with a victory over Michigan in the '84 Sugar Bowl and a tie with Syracuse in the '88 Sugar Bowl. FSU is 4-0, including a 48-28 victory over Tulane this season. Tulane actually beat FSU in '83, but was later forced to forfeit the game.

IN THEIR CLAWS AUBURN WAS optimistic about its chances going Into Monday night's game If they could avoid turnovers. It was unlikely they would do worse holding onto the ball than in their last meeting Nov. 1987 against the Seminoles. The Tigers had three turnovers on their first five possessions, five turnovers in the first half (when FSU took a 27-3 lead), and six for the game. The 34 points by FSU remain the most against Auburn since Tennessee scored 38 in 1985.

And the 34-6 defeat was the second worst for a Pat Dye-coached Auburn team. "I've probably watched that game film a dozen times, Dye said. "Whenever you get your expletive beat like that, you want to look at it and learn. There haven't been too many times in my coaching career I've been out of a expletive ball-game by halftime." MELISSA ISAACSON JOHN RAOUXSENTINEL Walter Reeves of Auburn makes a quick move on FSU's Deion Sanders in the first half. 1 time this season that an Auburn on- SUGAR 'A From D-1 A statistical comparison I 1 rEiocTnow.

I I RUSHING I 1 PASSING 0i YARDS YARDS f.f' is? 21 148 ieo W-crVT ffi 157 ij i I i i fa i.i.i -J LB I i ni TIME OF POSSESSION 33:35 I TOTAL I YARDS OFFENSC PENALIZED 305 4 5 270 if 3 rT- 45 26:25 ponent had scored on its first possession. The Seminoles threatened to run away early and repeat last year's humiliation of Auburn as FSU strong safety Stan Shiver picked off a pass by Reggie Slack on the ensuing series and returned the ball 11 yards to Auburn's 18-yard-line. The Tigers couldn't do much of anything right in the first quarter. On their very next possession, tailback Stacy Danley fumbled on a hit by FSU linebacker Shelton Thomson, and nose guard Odell Haggins recovered on the Auburn 29. This time, however, the Seminoles tried to get a little bit too cute.

Stopped on a third-and-2 at the 2-yarcl line, they elected to fake the 19-yard field goal and go for the touchdown but a pass from holder Brad Johnson to Dave Roberts was broken up by Carlo Cheattom. At that point, the Seminoles were crushing the Tigers statistically as FSU had 118 yards in total offense to 9 by Auburn. And when right cor-nerback Dedrick Dodge intercepted Slack on the Auburn 38 on the Tigers' next possession for the Tigers' third consecutive turnover, it looked like the Seminoles wouldn't have to worry about missed opportunities. Once again, however, FSU had to settle for a field goal, this time a 31-varder by Mason that gave FSU a 13-0 lead. "We had the kind of year we deserved," FSU Coach Bobby Bowden said.

"We're were preseason No. 1, and I think we justified those votes tonight. I'm awfully proud of this team." Sanders' interception ended a 17-play, 78-yard drive for Auburn that began on its 4-yard line and culminated a scoreless second half for both teams. "At times I was tired," Sanders said. "But no quarterback can pick on me.

The last play of the game was a storybook ending for me. All week I visualized how the game would end." But Sanders' was not the only fairy-tale ending. Apopka's Sammie Smith was voted the bowl's Most Valuable Player for his 115-yard effort on 24 carries, which made him the first ballcarrier to rush for more than 100 yards against Auburn in 24 games. "I made up my mind early in the week to run as hard as I could," Smith said. "I haven't been out on Bourbon Street.

I put my mind on Auburn and winning this ball game. "They were tough, by far the toughest we've played all year." The first half was a game in itself, complete with dramatic turns, a potential runaway and a daring come- ii -i Smith were in top form on the opening drive. Ijook'ing e-eiy bit the first-mund NI- draf choice that he will be, Smith earned the ball seven times in FSU's 12-play scoring and gained 49 yards. Smith benefitted from the outstanding line play of right tackle Pat Tonibeiiin, who had his way w.th fellow Tracy Hoeker. Auburn's left tackle.

And FSU scored when fullback Dayne Williams punched the ball in from 2 vards out. It was only the second back. It fill bee.ae, similar fashion to Auburn last burn eomrnitie -i overs The Tigers nn then 'M tirne. but th" tially capital ved goals The Tigeis. early momentum.

and elected 1" their top-raukod field. But the tnf FSU's offense hot): uee: ee JOHN RAOUKfSENTINEL Seminoles" Sammie Smith makes his way toward a 1 15-yard effort. HIM IMIUIII.II.