The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 19

Go, 'Hustlers So what if FSU has wrapped flip the 1999 national title? George Diaz predicts 2000's top 10. Story, C-7. Knick of time As if the Magic don't have enough problems, they face Patrick Ewing tonight at the O-rena. Story, C-5 Major League Baseball orders Braves left-handed reliever John Rocker to undergo psychological tests before deciding if he'll be punished for insensitive comments in national magazine. Story, back page The Orlando Sentinel FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 2000 Sports METRO UF iver loses top Road to NFL playoffs goes to strange places Anybody recognize this road we're taking to the Super Bowl? It can't be on the NFL map.

We must be lost, all right It's so far off the beaten path that it will meander under an arch and through St Louis. St You mean not all the fierce hitting there is done by Mark McGwire? Juniors Travis Taylor and I 1 I Who's staying Who's going Darrell Jackson, who combined for 101 catches in 1999, will leave the Gators early to enter the NFL draft. By Chris Harry I Reche Caldwell: 27 catches, 269 yards, 2 TDs I Alex Willis: 24 catches, 322 yards, 2 TDs It then will wind into Indianapolis, and not for a car race. There's even a stop in for a Grand Ole game. Just where are we Jackson Taylor OF THE SENTINEL STAFF going, huh This is I i vv the road we must trav- ,5, I GAINESVILLE University of Florida junior wide receivers Travis Taylor and Dar I Travis Taylor 34 catches, 463 yards, 6 TDs Darrell Jackson: 67 catches, 1,156 yards (SEC leader), 9 TDs UFs offense struggled to move the balL Taylor, from Jacksonville Ribault caught 34 passes for 463 yards and six touchdowns in a season that went south after he sprained his right ankle against Tennessee in September With tone to rest the ankle, however, Taylor played sensationally in the Citrus Bowl, catching 11 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.

Jackson, from Tampa Catholic, made 67 catches for a league-high 1,156 yards and nine touchdowns. Both players along with defensive linemen Gerard Warren and Derrick Chambers THE SPORTS COLUMN site of Super Bowl XXXIV? Used to be we'd sought evaluation last month from the NFLs Underclassmen Advisory Board, a panel of general managers, player personnel directors and scouts that reviews an individual's skills and predicts how high the player might be drafted. Taylor and Jackson obviously got word to their liking. Last week in Orlando, during the days leading to the bowl and following UFs 37-34 loss to Michigan State, both Taylor and Jackson deflected questions about their futures with the Gators, but team sources said they informed Spurrier and his staff of their decisions this week. The deadline for underclassmen to apply for the draft is Monday at 6 p.m.

The draft will be April 15-16. The early exits of Taylor and Jackson will be a major blow to the Gators next season, leaving the team without a proven big-play receiving threat The top returning pass-catchers for UF will be sophomore-to-be Reche Caldwell (27 receptions, 269 yards, two touchdowns) and senior Alex Willis (24, 322, two). In the last five regular-season games, Caldwell and Willis combined to catch nine passes for 43 yards and no touchdowns while rell Jackson have informed team officials that they will bypass their senior seasons and enter the NFL draft "We wish them the best" UF Coach Steve Spurrier said. Neither Taylor, who starred in Florida's loss to Michigan State in the OurHouse.com Florida Citrus Bowl last week, nor Jackson, a 1999 first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection, could be reached for comment Thursday. Woods avoids blow out Tiger Woods fought the conditions in the season-opening Mercedes Championship and finished the day two shots behind leader Jesper Parnevik.

By Hunkl Yun OF THE SENTINEL STAFF KAPALUA, Hawaii It was the kind of day that could have blown away Tiger Woods' chances for a fifth consecutive win. Literally. "It was very interesting," just follow the clearly marked signs to San Francisco, Green Bay or Dallas and wake up when we got there. Lately, even Denver turned into a dependable tour guide to the title game. That was before NFL deregulation along with some pretty wicked surgical procedures broke up the monopolies this season.

This is all you need to know about the league's strangest year Not one team in these playoffs has played in any of the past three Super Bowls. The Cowboys are the most recent and recognizable link left to glories past, and it's a terribly weak link at that They beat Pittsburgh in SB XXX after the '95 seasoa But for their last big round-up, the Cowboys shouldn't be around much longer this time than Bill Bel-ichick. Welcome to our Super Bowl Free-for-AU. No clearly dominant teams have emerged, leaving veritable strangers from Missouri, Tennessee and Indiana to take us by the hand to SB XXXIV Not that that's a bad thing. Seeing the old favorites every year or every other year just gets old.

You'd have the bland leading the bland. The NFL needs some new blood every 20 years or so. This might be a complete transfusion. As the playoff portion of our program begins Saturday, the league might be offering the ultimate sacrifice Jaa 30 in Atlanta: Not one but too Super Bowl virgins appearing at the grandest pro football altar! It could happen. This year's leading candidates hail from St.

Louis, Indianapolis and Jacksonville, cities that never have held Super Bowl sendoffs for their teams. Same goes for Tampa Bay and Tennessee. Long shots Seattle and Detroit haven't been to the Roman numerated game (and don't figure to be going, either). You have to go back 14 years to find the last tone two first-tone participants collided in the big game. That was after the '85 season, when Chicago squashed New England.

Ever since that '86 SB, won by the Bears 46-10, there always has been at least one club playing in the Super Bowl who had been there before. Seldom has the promise of unpredictability and suspense been greater than this season, although a Super Bowl between an 8-8 club and a 9-7 club no doubt gives Paul Tagliabue night sweats. Probably no need for the commish to worry, except he is like the rest of us: He has no clue whether the teams with the best records are truly his best teams or teams equipped to handle a postseason run. St Louis and Indianapolis are young, powerhouse clubs who could provide a most exciting Super Bowl. But they have no history to suggest that they'd be immune to stage fright en route.

Jacksonville has a limping quarterback (Mark Brunell) who just lost his best offensive lineman (Tony Boselli). The Jags still have a suspect chin. When they stepped up in class, Tennessee beat them, home and away. Might this be the year of the Titan? The defense-first Bucs will try to make it to the Georgia Dome the hard way without an experienced quarterback. List their condition as doubtful.

Such uncertainty throughout this tournament is why Washington and Minnesota have a slugger's chance. The Vikings and Redskins just need to score more than they give up, always a daunting challenge. They should hold off the Cowboys and Lions, respectively, this opening wild-card weekend. The Titans will oust the Bills, who, in a curious move, replaced jockey Doug Flutie with Rob Johnsoa Tennessee, once a vagabond until moving into its new stadium, finally gets to fake full advantage of a home-field advantage. If you know who has the advantage when the Dolphins face the Seahawks, pass it oa The way these two have fallen to the occasion, nobody will win the coin toss.

For some reason, the crystal ball here Hi said Woods, who shot 2-under-par 71 in the first round of the Mercedes Championships, when winds gusted to more than 40 mph. "You were hitting some clubs some distances you're not used to. Overall, I'm very pleased with the way I worked the ball." It's a commonly held golf adage that tournaments cannot be Is Si ii ii I WdimiJt '(licinijlti' won in the first round. But they Woods can be lost. Woods certainly didn't lose it.

He put himself in an excellent position, two shots behind leader Jesper Parnevik on a day when trade winds swept over the Plantation Course, making golf more of a test of survival than a game. "It was similar winds to Carnoustie Scotland, site of the 1999 British Open for a while," said Parnevik, who' had the best round of the day at 69. "You couldn't think of the swing or anything. You just try to get the ball around the golf course and hope for the best." Although affected by the conditions as much as Please see GOLF, C-10 ml. XJL ASSOCIATED PflESS Let's get It started.

Jim Furyk hits the 1st drive of the PGA Tour season at the Mercedes Championships. Crash at Disney paralyzes IRL driver Sam Schmidt was in critical condition, but doctors aren't sure if the injury is permanent after the wreck during testing. By Juliet Macur OF THE SENTINEL STAFF gas, was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center after hitting the wall during a test session for the season-opening Indy 200. He was conscious but in critical condition before undergoing surgery Thursday night so a team of neurosurgeons could attempt to come up with answers. The crash occurred during Schmidt's second day back in a race car after recovering from an accident in October.

In that accident, which happened during the Mall.com 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Schmidt's feet were crushed. Doctors inserted four pins in his left foot to hasten the healing and partially amputated two toes on his right foot. The three-year IRL veteran, had the pins removed from his foot Dec. 11. "He was antsy to get back in the car because he thought he was definitely a championship contender this year," Culbertson said.

The IRL 200 is set for Jan. 29. L- "It's too early to tell how long the paralysis will last, but right now it is from the waist or chest down," medical center spokesman Joe Brown said. "There is no anticipation of short-term change, so it's just a matter of time before doctors will be able to tell more." IRL officials at the track couldn't give details about the crash because they said Schmidt, who finished fifth in points last year, was on the one-mile track alone at the time and no one saw the incident Treadway Racing team spokeswoman Ruthie Culbertson said members of Schmidt's team reviewed a videotape of the accident and the computer systems monitoring the car but still couldn't 1 comes up Miami, sending Dan and Jimmy's Soap Opera on to Jacksonville for a final game Schmidt and maybe a final bow by one legendary ego or the other. LAKE BUENA VISTA Indy Racing League driver Sam Schmidt fractured his neck and is paralyzed from at least the waist down after crashing Thursday at Walt Disney World Speedway.

Schmidt, a 35-year-old from Las Ve repair the fractured sections of his spine. Still, the severity of Schmidt's injury and whether the paralysis is permanent remains in question. Sounds like a perfectly logical fork in the road to this Super Bowl, one in which everyone needs directions. -V.