The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 24

C-4 The Orlando Sentinel, Friday, September 29, 1995 METRO i 6 vrf te iMlil II It I i Georgia Tech wrecks Maryland, 31-3 ranked Florida State and No. 2 Nebraska each scored 77 points two weeks ago, several coaches said they thought top teams were run ning up the score to impress poll voters. The issue resurfaced last weekend when coaches Joe Paterno and Doug Graber got into a cuss ing match after Paterno Penn State team threw a long touchdown pass in the final minute of its 59-34 victory over Rutgers. In his letter, Delany suggested that voters follow the guidelines drive in which Milanovich was 7-of-8 for 84 yards. Milanovich finished 32-of-51 for 352 yards.

Helped by a 15-yard pass-interference infraction, Tech moved 44 yards on its first possession to take a 3-0 lead on Frakes' field goal, then went 91 yards in 11 plays as Davis passed for 40 yards to set up Williams' 37-yard run. Williams, who had 166 yards on 27 carries, set up Wiley's late touchdown with a 30-yard scamper to Maryland's 35. Tech drew a 15-yard penalty when students threw seat cushions, for a second time, into the end zone after its second used to select the 64-team field for the NCAA basketball tournament. Strength of schedule is an important part of that formula. RAMBLING EDDIE ROBINSON'S march to 400 career victories has slowed recently, thanks to five losses in Grambling State last six games.

The unranked Yellow Jackets snapped a 13-game losing streak by burying the No. 17 Terps. ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA C.J. Williams scored on runs of 37 and 14 yards and Georgia Tech's defense had a night filled with big plays as the Yellow Jackets snapped a 13-game losing streak against Division I-A foes with a 31-3 upset of No. 17 Maryland on Thursday night.

The Jackets (2-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) had six sacks and an interception against Scott Milanovich, making his first appearance for the Terrapins (4-1, 2-1) after an NCAA-imposed four-game suspension for gambling. Tech also snapped its ACC losing streak at nine games dating to its last I-A victory, 38-28 over Wake Forest on Nov. 13, 1993. It was the Jackets' first victory over a ranked team since beating No. 23 North Carolina State, 16-13, on Oct.

3, 1992. Besides the sacks for 51 yards, Tech's pass rush also deflected two of Milanovich's passes at the line of scrimmage. The Jackets defense also stopped three fourth-down gambles by the Terps in the second half, at Tech's 34, 40 and 35 yard lines. There's a good chance he'll get to 399 Saturday night. Grambling State (1-2) travels to Dallas to play MD GT 19 25 24-(-30) 46-261 352 150 0 31 32-51-1 17-24-1 5- 36 4-40 1-1 1-0 6- 50 4-27 29:02 30:58 0 3 0 03 3 13 0 15 31 First downs Rushes-yards Passing Return Yards Comp-Att-Int Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-Yards Time of Possession Maryland Georgia Tech ASSOCIATED PRESS Georgia Tech free safety Mike Dee pulls down a Scott Milanovich pass Thursday for an interception as the Yellow Jackets upset Maryland, 31-3.

OT FG Frakes 37; GT C. Williams 37 run (Chambers kick); MD FG O'Donnell 22; GT Zachery 25 pass from Davis (kick tailed); GT C. Williams 14 run (Bayn-ham pass from Davis); GT Wiley 19 run (Chambers kick). A INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Maryland, Underwood 6-22. Rodgers 6-4, Strozier 2-0.

Simon 1-(minus 10), Milanovich 9-(rmnus 46). Georgia Tech, Williams 27-166. Wiley 10-48, Davis 8-30, Steagall 1-17. PASSING Maryland. Milanovich 32-51-1-352.

Georgia Tech, Davis 17-23-0-150, C.Williams 0-1-1-0. RECEIVING Maryland. J. Lewis 13-189, Rodgers 5-45, Johnson 5-36, Simon 4-30, Underwood 2-21, James 1-13. W.Williams 1-10, Roberts 1-8.

Georgia Tech. Steagall 4-38, C.Williams 3-25, Middlelon 3-22, Baynham 3-15, Zachery 2-37, Wiley 2-13. ing catch in the end zone, a 19-yard run by Charles Wiley with 1:23 to play and a 37-yard field goal by Dave Frakes. Maryland cut Tech's lead to 10-3 on a 22-yard field goal by Joe O'Donnell with 3:12 left in the second quarter, capping a 77-yard Linebacker Jimmy Clements had three of the sacks for the Jackets, and Ralph Hughes, Jer-maihe Miles and Patrick Bradford added one each. Tech's other scoring came on a 25-yard pass from Donnie Davis to Cedric Zachery, who made a twist VANDERBILT STEVE SLOAN, athletic director at the University of Central Florida, said Thursday that he did not expect to be contacted and would not pursue a similar job at Vanderbilt, even though it will be available in 1996.

Paul Hoolahan, Vanderbilt's current AD, announced his resignation, effective Dec. 31, to pursue "other career options." Sloan's name was immediately mentioned by Nashville media because he was the football coach there in 1973-74. He was the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1974 before moving to Texas Tech. "It would have to be extraordinary," Sloan said, "and I wouldn't expect that to be the case. I am very happy here at UCF." Sloan was a finalist earlier this year when Florida State was looking for a new AD.

SOUTHERN CAL THREE STARTERS for No. 5 Southern Cal star running back Shawn Walters, linebacker Erick Herrin and defensive end Israel Ifeanyi were suspended for at least this weekend's game while the school investigates allegations they received money from an agent. USC spokesman Tim Tessalone said there's no timetable for completing the investigation. The first game the three players will miss is Saturday's Pacific-10 Conference contest against Arizona State at Los Angeles Coliseum. "One of the dangers we have in college athletics are people who do favors for athletes," USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said.

"We do all we can to educate our athletes to the dangers of agents and boosters. It's always such a tough situation when something like this occurs. "We're trying to get all the facts and make a correct decision for all concerned. We want to safeguard the integrity of the university and make sure our students get a fair hearing." USC wide receiver Key-shawn Johnson has been under investigation by the NCAA and Pac-10 for nearly two months for allegedly accepting a loan from a sports agent. POLLS BIG TEN Commissioner Jim Delany is unhappy with the college football polls, and he's trying do something about it.

In a letter he recently sent to all 124 voters in The Associated Press and USA TODAY-CNN polls, Delany urged them to put more emphasis on strength of schedule and less on margin of victory when they fill out their weekly ballots. "Please think about what you are rewarding," Delany wrote. "We want to encourage great matchups, not runaways and mismatches." Delany was referring to the recent rash of lopsided scores in college football. After top- Nike signs 5-year, $6 million deal with FSU Prairie View which has lost 50 consecutive games to share the NCAA's all-time futility record with Macalester (Minn.) College. Barring an upset, Robinson will be one victory from No.

400, and Prairie View, a Southwestern Athletic Conference foe, will have the unwanted record to itself. VIRGINIA COACH GEORGE Welsh says it's ridiculous to make No. 11 Virginia a 32Vt-point favorite over Wake Forest. Welsh has a point, considering his conservative play-calling when the Cavaliers get a comfortable lead. Then again, maybe quarterback Mike Groh's grumbling will embolden the game plan Saturday.

In the 22-3 victory over Clemson last week, Virginia didn't attempt a pass in the final 12Vi minutes and had only one first down in its last four possessions. "When a defense knows you're going to run the ball, it's kind of tough to be effective," Groh said. "I know he Welsh wants the clock to run. Maybe that's just his personality. He's very conservative and doesn't want to take any chances with that lead." ELSEWHERE THE NCAA Presidents Commission has agreed to support a requirement that football and men's basketball players who transfer from two-year colleges sit out one year before playing at NCAA Division I colleges.

NCAA members will vote on the proposed rule at their convention in January. The NCAA Council proposed the change because of concerns about low graduation rates for transfer students in those two sports. East Carolina and North Carolina announced they have agreed to a two-game series, which includes the Tar Heels' first visit to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The schools, which last played in 1981, are scheduled to play in Chapel Hill on Oct. 6, 2001.

The second game is slated for Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 11, 2003, athletic officials said. From staff, wire reports for its use in other areas. Some of the money will help fund new facilities for softball and women's soccer. In return, Nike's Swoosh logo will be displayed on almost every piece of clothing worn by coaches and athletes at a school considered to be one of the most visible in college athletics.

Last year, FSU was No. 2 in merchandise sold nationally behind Michigan. The contract effectively eliminates deals that some FSU coaches had with Nike or other shoe companies, such as Converse. Now instead of Nike paying football coach Bobby Bowden and basketball coach Pat Kennedy directly for sponsoring its product, Nike's money will go to FSU, which will then compensate its coaches any of them accordingly. The deal also gives FSU's student-athlete advisory committee input into updated designs for practice and game gear.

With the Nike deal done, Hart's attention will shift to two other pending agreements, one with Host Communications and the other to a new contract for Bowden. Hart has said he would like to have Bowden's contract signed by the end of the football season, but the contract with Host will be done first. The shoe company guarantees FSU's athletic teams sports apparel for national exposure. By Alan Schmadtke OF THE SENTINEL STAFF TALLAHASSEE Nike's business relationship with Florida State now is official, and the company will pay the school $6 million in cash and apparel in exchange for more national exposure, the school announced Thursday. A five-year deal guarantees that all of FSU's athletic teams will reap a lengthy list of new shirts, shorts, pants, jackets, socks and other necessities.

But the real value of the corporate contract comes in funding in off-field areas and outside the athletic department, FSU Athletic Director Dave Hart said. Those include donations to a minor scholarship program and to the school's capital fund. "We don't have a large endowment at Florida State, and this will enable us to help with a degree-completion program after normal grant-in-aid money has run out," Hart said. Nike will make a cash donation of $100,000 to the capital campaign and $750,000 to the school the second half, and several starters were upset by a lack of playing time. FSU has plugged in offensive line backups one at a time all season, but this one spurred the impromptu gathering.

Shiver said he thought a players-only gathering would help sort through everybody's emotions. "I invited everybody, and everybody who was invited showed up," he said. "I really don't think this is a big deal, but it's something that needed to be done. I'm the senior, so it's my place to do it." BRIEFLY FSU PARKING officials dismissed 13 tickets written to football players after coach Bobby Bowden complained about them, the Florida Flambeau reported Thursday. In a memo written Jan.

6, Bowden asked that tickets given to his players during December workouts for the Sugar Bowl be Outside linebacker Hank Grant (dislocated shoulder) is out for next week's game with Miami Defensive tackles Orpheus Roye (ankle) and Julian Pittman (knee) did not practice Thursday. ALAN SCHMADTKE Offensive linemen hold unity meeting History shows that Miami has not always brought out the best in Florida State, and FSU senior center Clay Shiver has taken steps to see that's not the case this year when they play on Oct. 7. With frustrations and questions creeping in, Shiver called and conducted a meeting of offensive linemen this week as insurance for unity. "I wanted to make sure there aren't any bad feelings by anybody," he said.

"It was a pre-emptive thing. A lot of the offensive linemen feel we're a vital part of the offense and a lot of its success or failure points back to us. I think we owe it to the team to be on the same page." A tongue-lashing from offensive line coach Jimmy Heggins at half-time of FSUs 46-14 victory last week over Central Florida riled up some of his players. The Semi-noles led, 27-14, at halftime, and players concede they did not give UCF their best game. Heggins substituted liberally in tMutriitoiit Wuerffel does not care for talk about Heisman E.

Kentucky at SE Missouri. 3 p.m. Jackson St vs. Alabama St. at Chicago 5 m.

S. Illinois at Indiana 7 pm. Cent. Ohio at Illinois. 8 pm.

Illinois St. at SW Missouri 6 p.m. Thursday's results ACC Georgia Tech 31 Maryland 3 WAC Nevada at San Diego night BVU at Colorado St. (by 3V4). 2 m.

Air Force (by 5) at N. Mexico, 8 p.m. Utah (bv 191 at UTEP. 9 p.m. Hawaii (by 13Vi) at UNLV.

10 p.m. Knights discover secondary while losing to Seminoles Michigan (by 1 1 at Kent, 1pm Mich, (by 21) at Akron. 6 p.m. BIG WEST Utah St. at Jose St.

(by 2). 4 30 INDEPENDENTS Tulane at So Miss, (by 17). 6 m. Toledo at Cincy (by 7V), 7 p.m. Tulsa (by 3') at La, Teen, 8 pm.

Louisville at Memphis (by 3Vfe), 8 p.m. SOUTHWEST Alcorn St at Ark -Pine Blurt. 8 p.m. Grambling St vs. Prairie View at Dallas.

6 Utah at SW Texas 8 m. Sam Houston St. at Texas Southern, 8 p.m. FAR WEST Idaho at Idaho St 2:05 pm. UC Davis at Montana, 3 35 pm.

Montana St. at N. Arizona, 7:05 pm. NW Louisiana at Boise St 9:05 p.m. E.

Wash at Weber SI 8 05 pm. Portland at Sacramento 9 pm. St. Mary's, Cal. at Humboldt 10 pm.

Note: Numbers in parentheses are now much a team is favored by. Games with no line are off Settling on a starting four-man defensive secondary appears to be one of the benefits the University of Central Florida Golden Knights received from playing Florida State. Senior cornerback Allen Powell has been the secondary's leader since the season began. Now he's joined in the starting by junior cornerback Darryl Lati-more, sophomore free safety Ken UCF at McNseseSt. Cowboy Stadium Saturday, 8 p.m.

NCAA l-AA Tennessee St. vs. S. Carolina St. Atlanta.

4 pm. Norfolk St. al Delaware 8 pm. EAST AP Top 25 Princeton at Colgate, 1 m. Duquesne at Qannon, 1 pm.

Fordham at Harvard. 1 p.m. Brown at Holy Cross, 1 m. New Hampshire at Lehigh, 1 p.m. James Madison at Maine.

1 m. Delaware at Northeastern, 1 p.m. Mass at Rhode Island, 1 m. Connecticut at Yale, 1 Georgetown, C. at Canisius.

1:30 Cornell at Dartmouth, 1 :30 p.m. even Columbia at Latayette, 1:30 p.m. Bucknell at Penn, 1 :30 p.m. Ce it Connecticut St. at Robert Morris, 1 :30 pm Vlllanova at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

lona at Siena. 7 pm Monmouth, N.J, at Towson 7 p.m. Today's games NCAA l-AA Wagner at St Peter's, 7 pm. Liberty at Hotstra. 7:30 Marisl at St.

John's, NY. 7 30 m. Saturday's games FLORIDA SCHOOLS Miss, at Florida (by 28), 12:30 p.m. FAMU at Howard 1 Hampton vs. B-CC at Jacksonville, 7pm UCF at McNeese 8 p.m.

SEC Alabama (by 3) at Georgia. 1 m. Arkansas (by 8) at vandy, 2 pm. Okia. St at Tennessee (by 34), 4 m.

Auburn (by 16'.) at Kentucky, 7 m. NE La. at Miss. St. (by 22), 7 pm.

LSU (by 7M at S. Carolina, 7 m. ACC Wake Forest at Virginia (by 32). Noon Clemson (by 2) at St 1 Oho at Car (by 34). 1 30 m.

Navy at Duke (by 13). 7 p.m. BIG EAST Syracuse (by 2') at Rutgers, Noon Boston Coll, (by 4') at Mich Noon Va. Tech (by 3) at Pitt 1:30 W. Vir.

at Carolina (by 3). noon Green (by 4Vs) at Temple. 6 p.m. BIG TEN Miami. Ohio at Mich, (by 30).

12 30 p.m. Indiana at N'western (by 3), 2 p.m. Ball St. at Purdue (by 18), 2 m. Mexico St.

al Iowa (by 28). 2 05 p.m. Notre Dame at Ohio St. (by 6'A), 3:30 p.m. Wise, at Penn St.

(by 14), 5 45 m. Arkansas St. at Minn, (by 25). 7 p.m. PACIFIC-10 Wash, (by 7) at Oregon 4 n.

Cal at Arizona (by 6 -41 6 30 Arizona St at USC (by 21). 7 pm. Fresno St at UCLA (by 10V4). 10 m. BIG EIGHT Wash.

SI al Nebraska (by 29). 2 p.m. N. III. at Kansas St, (by 27), 2:10 p.m.

Colorado (by 3'fi) at 8:45 p.m. SOUTHWEST Texas (by 21) at Southern 1 pm. Rice (by 2) at Army, 1:30 m. Texas Tech at Baylor (by 1 '), p.m. here, and at the end of the year all that kind of stuff individual awards takes care of itself.

Thinking about it winning the Heisman now doesn't do anything but hurt you." Gators coach Steve Spurrier, the 1966 Heisman winner as UF's quarterback, said Wuerffel is sincere when he says such things. "He's a very confident, mature young man, and nothing seems to bother him," Spurrier said. "He's a devout Christian who realizes there are other things more important in life than football, even though he does the very best he can at that. He's got his priorities in such excellent order." That hasn't stopped Wuerffel from enjoying the spotlight just a little bit, though, particularly the Sports Illustrated cover. "It was definitely exciting to see that and know that a friend of mine in Colorado could pick it up and be excited for me," Wuerffel said.

"But at the same time, like everything else, you just try to keep it at that and keep going on with everything else you do day in and day out." NOTES: Senior offensive tackle Jason Odom was named Thursday as one of 12 semifinalists for the Lombardi Award to the nation's top lineman Terry Jackson will make his second consecutive start at tailback, despite the return of former starter Eli Williams from an ankle try to alternate them and keep them both fresh," Spurrier said. "If they both stay healthy and play the way we expect, they'll both play about half, probably." Defensive linemen Keith Council (wrist), Mike Moten (shoulder) and Willie Rodgers (knee) are out for the Ole Miss game. GATORS from C-1 stark contrast to Dean, who talked openly about his desire for the honor. "I've got a lot of things going on," said Wuerffel, a 6-foot-2, 211-pound junior. "Today, I've got classes from 8 in the morning 'til 10 at night with just enough of a break to go to football practice.

"There's not much time to think about a lot of other stuff." That's Wuerffel. Always calm, collected and grounded in the present, which this week is preparing for a game against Ole Miss. Place that approach among the wealth of talent in UF's offense and one has the nation's second-rated passer behind Colorado's Koy Detmer, whose season is in doubt because of a knee injury incurred last week. In three games, Wuerffel has completed 60 of 85 passes (71 percent) for 814 yards, with nine touchdowns and two interceptions. In his last outing against Tennessee, he threw for six scores and ran for another.

And despite starting only 17 games, Wuerffel is fourth in UF history with 49 touchdown passes an average of three per game. "I don't think about it winning the Heisman hardly at all except for when you get to talk to the media people," said Wuerffel, from Fort Walton Beach. "It's so much a team game. We just focus on team goals. "When I was in high school, we won the state championship and we had nine guys sign in Division I.

The year before, we hpd one. It seems like individual, goals go right along with team goals. We just do our best to win games around Teem Rec Pra Pv 1. Florida St (42) 4-M 1,528 1 2 Nebraska (18) 4O0 1498 2 3 Florida (2) 3-00 1J98 4 4 Cobraoo 4O0 1,315 7 5 Southern Cal 300 1,293 5 6. Penn a.

3O0 1,247 6 7. Ohio St 3WI 1,220 8 8. Mchigan 4QO 1,123 9 9. Texas 2-1-0 1,012 3 tO.OWahome 3O0 957 10 11. Virginia 4-1-0 929 11 12 Tennessee 3-1-0 851 15 13.

Auburn 2-1-0 810 14 14. LSU 3-1-0 705 18 15 Notre Dame 3-10 623 21 16. Kansas St 300 601 19 17 Maryland OQ 453 24 18 Washington 2-1-0 396 22 19 Oregon 31-0 379 12 20 Alabama 2 IO 339 23 21 Texas 2-1-0 328 13 22 Stanford 30-1 264 23 Arkansas 3-10 240 24 Texas Tech 1-1-0 146 SOUTH ton Rickerson and freshman strong safety Deon Porter. Powell, who played at Edgewater High in Orlando, is a team captain. He was one of the dozen defensive backs who were injured last year, and he only played in seven games because of a hurt knee.

Rickerson, despite his youth, started seven games last year and was expected to start this season. The surprises are Latimore and Porter, both of whom have moved into starting roles. "Porter made seven tackles against FSU, which is solid play for a freshman," UCF coach Gene McDowell said. "As for Latimore, he's made so much progress that it's like he is a different player now." Tight end is an area where lack of depth is a current concern. Senior starter Scott Braun missed the FSU game because of strep throat, an illness that caused him to lose 16 pounds.

He's still questionable, meaning freshman Joey Hubbard may make his second start Saturday when the Knights face McNeese State, the No. 1 team in Division I-AA, in Lake Charles, La. MONEY MATTERS THE KNIGHTS sold 6,131 tickets for the FSU game in Tallahassee. Their contract called for them to be paid $225,000 minus the $21 cost of all tickets they failed to sell (1,869) out of their allotment. Deduct $39,249, leaving the Knights with a check for $185,751.

JERRY GREENE of the Sentinel E. Tennessee St. at Appalachian 1 p.m. Boston U. at Richmond, 1 p.m.

Davidson at Guilford. 1 :30 p.m. William i Mary at VMI. 1:30 pm Knoxville at Jacksonville St 3 p.m. Wofford al Presbyterian, 3 m.

Furman at W. Carolina, 4 30 p.m. Alabama St at Jackson St 5 pm. Charleston Southern at Morehead 7 pm. Marshall at 7 p.m Kentucky at Troy St 7 m.

Murray St. at Austin Peay, 7 30 pm. Ala -Birm. at Middle Tenn 6 p.m Southern U. at Misa Valley p.m.

Samtord at Nicholls 8 pm, Tenn. Tech at 8 p.m, MIDWEST 25 Kansas 400 116 Others receiving votes; Northwest-em 60. Washington St 57, Colorado St. 52, UCLA 45. Ilhos 40.

Iowa 26 Miami 17, Arizona 15, Georgia 15, Mesnsippi 13, Baylor 12, Virginia Tech tO, Miami, Oho 4. Sywpuee Wisconsin 3, Michigan St. 2, TMedo i Georgetown, Ky. at Dayton, 1 pm. Drake at Butler.

1 30 m. San Diego at Valparaiso. 2:30 pm. N. Iowa at W.

Illinois, 2:30 p.m..