The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 46

C-8 The Orlando Sentinel, Sunday, November 7, 1999 Game Report Fate teases Knights again jM stunning 83-yard gem answered Auburn's opening touchdown and gave UCF the momentum it would hold well into the final period. Kicker Javier Beorlegui provided a 10-7 lead with a 39-yarder in the third and narrowly missed stretching the advantage when his 47-yarder in the fourth bounced, SENTINEL COLUMNIST maddeningly, off the crossbar. UCF Coach Mike Kruczek says he always tries to think in the present, but even at that juncture couldn't fight off visions of a giddy, black-and-gold celebration well into the night, I tionable body THIS IS OUR WE CAN MAKE HISTORY RIGHT The room erupted with shouts that gave way to the little quarterback with big body parts. "LETS GO GET A "WW" Perm screamed. "THINK HOW HAPPY WE'LL BE IN HERE LETS GO WIN IT RIGHT The determined squad rumbled out into the daylight yelling, high-fiving, punching the crisp Alabama air.

Barely an hour later, the final horn left them staggering across the lush, green playing field, dazed and frustrated. John Lovett, Auburn's defensive coordinator, sorted through the milling players until he found Victor Penn, the plucky UCF quarterback who had thrown for 374 yards under extreme duress eight sacks and a few hundred knockdowns by Auburn's formidable defensive front. He had come so excruciatingly close to overcoming UCF's black cloud legacy and the total absence of ground support (minus-27 yards rushing). A year ago, it was another Auburn coordinator saluting downtrodden Daunte Culpepper after a similar tough loss. This time, it was Lovett, lavishing Penn with compliments on his play and poise.

The coach swore Penn played better than any quarterback Auburn faced this year, a list that includes Florida's Doug Johnson and Tennessee's Tee Martin. To the fiercely competitive Penn, they were just words that had little meaning at that moment. "All that matters," the brave junior from Miami sighed softly at his locker, "is that Auburn played 60 minutes and we didn't. This really hurts. We played so hard and thought we were going to win.

It gets redundant to say that time after time." Deja vu. All over again. AUBURN, Ala. Central Florida's effort Saturday at Auburn brings to mind the immortal words of that famed philosopher, Lawrence "Yogi" Berra: "Deja vu, all over again." Just as they did a year ago, the Knights excitedly clutched a three-point lead and the momentum deep into the fourth period against Auburn. They could taste the pulsing joy of that long-overdue breakthrough victory over a marquee program.

Just as they did a year ago, the Auburn Tigers pulled it out in the closing moments. Fate teased the Knights yet again, only to yank away the brass ring. Just like last year, the Auburn offensive coordinator sought out UCF's inconsolable quarterback in the middle of the field to offer gushing praise for a courageous performance in defeat. And just as they did a year ago, the Knights woidd sit hollow-eyed in the cramped visiting locker room at storied Jordan-Hare Stadium, trying to cope with the searing emptiness in the pits of their stomachs. The most empty stomach of all had to belong to flu-stricken senior wideout Charles Lee.

After spending much of Friday and Saturday in the close proximity of the porcelain facility, Charles spent the afternoon alternately gliding through Auburn for 203 yards in receptions and doubled over on the sideline depositing portions of his breakfast. It was Lee who had given his Knights cause to think the unthinkable in the second period when he took a short pass in the left flat, juked three Auburn defenders, cut back across the middle, stiff-armed a cornerback to break free and began running as if he thought there might be a porta-potty in the distant end zone. The really thought our defense would stone em again and we'd be right back down there," Kruz-cek confessed afterward. But instead of being "stoned" after the Beorlegui ricochet, Auburn reeled off a clutch, 70-yard scoring drive Tiger quarterback Jeff Klein converting five third-downs, including third-and-16 for the touchdown pass to wideout Reggie Worthy. That gave Aubum the lead with 3:41 and let the air out of UCF historic visions.

Two quick touchdowns scored on the deflated Knights were.simply window dressing. The stake already had been drive through the hearts of the Knights, who walked off wondering what they have to do get that dreaded big-game primate off their backs. At halftime, Kruzcek had challenged his bitious underdogs to make history. In a fire-and-brimstone intermission sermon, Kruze screamed: "IT COMES DOWN TO HOW BAD YOU WANT HOW BIG ARE YOUR unmen jjg i jjifumm ww. ymf fm, w-f 'm riVJh.t kle), mending from a cut block three weeks ago against Nicholls State, started at defensive end for the first time since.

Harley forced a fumble in the second quarter and rolled his ankle in the fourth, but the injury was not serious. He should be ready to play Saturday at Middle Tennessee State. The Knights left Auburn with no further ailments except the flu, which ripped through the team at a bad time. Three starters were battling the bug on Saturday: receiver Charles Lee, fullback Page Sessoms and Richardson. Etc.

Charles Lee felt well enough to catch 11 passes for a season-high 203 yards, but he was depleted by the fourth quarter, shut out in the final 12 minutes. Lee posted the sixth 200-yard receiving game in UCF history. Siaha Burley holds the single-game record (266 yards last year vs. Southwestern Louisiana) UCF tackle Justen Moore of Ocala posted his 33rd career tackle for a loss in the second quarter, breaking the school-record mark of 32 shared by Darrell Rudd (1981-84) and Greg Jefferson (1991-94). Saturday's game was played before an Auburn homecoming crowd of 75,804, UCF's third-largest audience.

The Knights drew crowds of 86,117 at Georgia and 85,346 at Florida, both this season. Tuberville has a perfect record against non-conference opponents, 16-0. He faced UCF once before, the 1997 opener. His Mississippi Rebels survived a major scare, winning 24-23 in overtime after UCF's two-point conversion attempt failed. "When Daunte Culpepper was a junior and they played that first game at Ole Miss, I don't think anyone knew how good they were," said Tuberville, the former head coach at Mississippi (1995-98).

"They opened everybody's eyes. They've earned their spurs, so to speak." JAVIER SOLANO UCF season Pate Opponent Sept. 4 Purdue 47, UCF 13 Sept. 11 UF58, UCF 27 Sept. 18 Ga.

Tech 41, UCF 10 Sept. 25 Georgia 24, UCF 23 Oct. 2 UCF 31, E. Illinois 21 Oct. 16 UCF 28, Nicholls St.

0 Oct. 23 La. Tech 46, UCF 35 Oct. 30 UCF 31, E. Michigan 6 Nov.

6 Auburn 28, UCF 10 Nov. 13 at Mid. Tenn. 7 p.m. Nov.

20 Bowling Green, 1 p.m. Leard sits out Auburn quarterback Ben Leard, still recovering from a concussion in last week's 34-10 loss at Arkansas, did not dress against UCF. He left last week's game on a stretcher after his head hit the turf in the second quarter. Leard practiced most the week, returning to light duty on Tuesday. He still seemed a bit foggy to Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville, who instead gave redshirt freshman Jeff Klein his fourth start "He's got a long life ahead of him," Tuberville said.

"This is just a game. The thing I worry about is that he's got two injuries. I don't want to put him in a situation where it could get worse." The Arkansas game was Leard's first start since he separated his shoulder Sept. 25 against Mississippi, the first of five consecutive losses for the Tigers. Before the injury, Leard led the nation in quarterback rating (175.69), completing 56 of 78 passes for 729 yards and 6 touchdowns in the first three games.

Auburn won all three. Ex-Tiger watches One Golden Knight who wanted to be here in the worst way was freshman defensive end Don Page, a Foley, native listed in Auburn's media guide. His transfer to UCF was cleared in mid-August, and he proved almost too good to redshirt. But Marv Richardson recovered quicker than expected from preseason surgery (nasal polyps), and Page aggravated an old injury (right shoulder) in practice, making the decision a bit easier. But it was a tough call.

Page has impressed UCF coaches, on the field and in the classroom. According to defensive ends coach Charles Huff, Page would have played 10 to 15 snaps a game this season. He will likely be a starter next season, with four years of eligibility remaining. Unfortunately for Page, the series with Auburn ends here. The teams met for the third time in three years at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but there are no games are scheduled for the future.

"He'd like to go in and show Auburn what he can do," Huff said. "He was not happy at Auburn. This was a big week for him, even though he's not playing. We know he's pulling for us real hard." Lineup changes UCF made two changes to last week's starting lineup. Tito Rodriguez, coming off a strong performance on special teams against Eastern Michigan, replaced Edwin Ferguson at outside linebacker.

Fred Harley (sprained left an Wi lli I I -V i 4' elfTT i I ii GARY BOGDONfTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL bbs- tJZZ t.Bl 4 1 7 Tough day. Auburn receiver Reggie Worthy (above) dances over UCF's Da-vin Bush after Worthy caught a 16-yard touchdown pass in the 4th quarter from quarterback Jeff Klein. UCF's Damian Demps (left) grabs the helmet of Auburn fullback Heath Evans to bring him down. Central Florida Golden Knights 0 7 3 0 10 Auburn Tigers 7 0 0 21 28 FIRST QUARTER CF-AU Time Scoring play Drive, time 0-7 10:16 AU T. Robinson 20 pass Irom Klein (Duval kick) 9-73, 4:44 Key play: Evans 24 run.

SECOND QUARTER 7-7 1:10 UCF Lee 83 pass from Penn (Beorlegui kick) Key play: Clark 13 pass from Penn, throwing out of his own end zone. THIR0 QUARTER IM VA3 UCF FG Beorlegui 39 9-53, 3:17 Key play: Hinshaw 32 pass from Penn. FOURTH QUARTER 10-14 3:41 AU Worthy 16 pass from Klein (Duval kick) 16-70, 6:38 Key plays: Five consecutive third-down conversions 10-21 2:58 AU Evans 1 run (Duval kick) 18, :06 Key play. Fields sacks Penn on 4th-and-15. 10-28 2:04 AU Lincoln 20 interception return (Duval kick) i GARY BOGDONTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Receiving Team 97 seconds all it takes for a loss UCF from C-1 Charles Lee on a 24-yard post for a touchdown in the fourth quarter instead of missing him high.

That was Auburn's cue. The Tigers (4-5) scored three touchdowns in a span of 97 seconds late in the fourth quarter to snap a five-game losing streak, preserve their own bowl dreams and hand UCF (3-6) another cruel setback. "Just like last year," Lee said. "Again this year, we did it to ourselves. The defense played a hell of a game.

We just didn't put the ball in the end zone when we needed to. Because we definitely had a chance to put this game away early, and we let it slip away from us." Facing third-and-goal from the 16, freshman quarterback Jeff Klein hit Reggie Worthy for Auburn's go-ahead score with three minutes and 41 seconds left to play. Auburn's defense, as good as any UCF has faced this season, did the rest. The Tigers converted a fourth-down stop into Heath Evans' 8-yard touchdown run, and linebacker Alex Lincoln closed the scoring with a 20-yard interception return. "We knew it couldn't stay dari forever," Auburn end Marcus Washington said.

"We knew the sun would shine sometime. I am just glad it did today." Lee gave a heroic performance, battling through the flu to catch 11 passes for a career-high 203 yards and scoring UCF's only touchdown. The defense forced three turnovers, intercepting Klein twice. Their efforts were wasted largely because of the futility of UCF's ground attack, which lost 27 yards for the game. A season-high eight sacks pushed the Knights backward, sending that figure into the red.

But they hardly moved for- CF No. Yds Avg. TD 11 203 18 5 1 8 55 69 0 5 68 1 3 6 0 4 42 105 0 1 6 60 0 Player Lee Davis Clark Htnshaw Fryzel AU 17 8 9 0 6-14 0-0 368 68 54 19 2 16 1 4-17 2-5 347 82 42 -27 30 09 374 Interceptions No. Yds Avg. TD Player Fve 1 8 80 0 Shavers 1 37 37.0 0 37 26 Said senior linebacker Deau-brey Devine: "We still haven't put together a complete 60-minute ball game against a top team.

The same thing's going to keep happening until we put together a 60-minute game on both sides of the ball. We had a lot of breaks in the game that went our way. Then at the end, they had a lot of things go their way." At last year's homecoming, with Liberty Bowl officials on hand, the teams played 59 minutes between the goal lines before the Tigers broke a quick out for the game's only touchdown. They scored with the opening drive in the rematch. Punt returns 270 No.

29-52 19-31 1ST DOWNS Rushing Passing Penalty 3RD DOWN EFF 4TH DOWN EFF TOTAL NET YDS. Total ptays Avg. gam NET YDS RUSH Rushes Avg per rush NET YDS. PASS Com-Att" Yds. per pass Sack-yds.

lost Had int. PUNTS-Avg. Had blocked RETURN YDS. Punt returns Ktckoft returns Interceptions PFNALTIES-Yds. FUMBLES-Lost Poss.

A 75.804. Yds Avg. TD 2 2.0 0 Player McGflft son 1 -3-3 0 0 Klein 6 -12 -20 0 Passing Player Alt Com Inl Yds TD Klein 31 19 2 2 70 2 Receiving Player No. Yds Avg. TD Daniels 10 143 14.3 0 Worthy 3 39 13.0 1 Diamond 2 62 31 0 0 T.

Robinson 20 20 0 1 Cooper 1 5 50 0 Evans 1 4 4.0 0 C. Robinson 1 -3-3 0 0 Interceptions Player No. Yds Avg. TD Lincoln 1 20 200 0 Carson 1 1 1.0 0 Punl returns Player No. Ydl Avg.

TD Cooper 1 11 11.0 0 kickott returns Player No. Yds Ave. TD T.Robinson 1 17 17.0 0 Carter 2 45 22.5 0 Tackles-assists-sacks 12 9 14 2 3-28 8-53 2 2 5-38 6 5-44 0 0 0 Kickoft returns vg. Player Clark Mack 150 14.7 106 94 1-2 1- 11 3-62 2- 21 1-15 ward on handoffs, stopped four times on third- or fourth-and-short. Auburn's senior tackles, Jimmy Brumbaugh of Keystone Heights and Leonardo Carson, dominated the line of scrimmage.

Eddie Mack broke UCF's longest run of the game, a 5-yard option pitch, on the final drive. By then, "the big one" had already slipped away. Again. The Knights, 0-9 against the SEC, are still searching for their first victory over a major conference power. That task falls on another group of seniors next year.

"This is probably about the sixth game in five years that's been like this," senior tight end Joey Hubbard said. "Unbelievable. I mean, you can sit around for 90 years and not see five games like we've lost in the last five years. Hopefully next year, we can come out and win a big one." Penn completed 29 of 52 passes for 374 yards with two interceptions, his first in four games. Two big plays set up UCF's two scores.

Lee turned an out pattern into an 83-yard touchdown, eluding four tacklers before cutting left to right across the field. It was the second-longest scoring pass in the program's history, and it evened the score at 7 in the second quarter. On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Penn eluded the rush and found help from Tyson Hinshaw, who turned and wheeled for a 32-yard gain. Javier Beorlegui finished the drive with a 39-yard field goal, sending UCF ahead 10-7 with 11:43 left in the third quarter. For the next 23 minutes, the teams traded turnovers and missed opportunities, not points.

UCF safety Tommy Shavers stopped one Auburn drive in the red zone with his first career interception. Auburn freshman Damon Duval missed a pair of field goals on consecutive possessions, hooking 42- and 39-yard attempts wide left. "I felt like we had to create some opportunities with some things we don't normally do," Kruczek said. "I just thought they had momentum against our defense and we had to make something happen." 3- 59 2-45 4- 30 1-0 2-1 29:47 30:13 Tackles-assisli -sacks Fisher 1-1-0. Fye 6-1-1, Devine 4-1-1.

Gunn 1-0-0, Demps 5-1-0, Bush 3-0-0, Hardman 4-2-1, Shorter 1-0-0. Samuel 1-0-0, Joseph 3-0-0. Rodriguez 4-0-0, Smith 0-1-0. Ferguson 1 -0-0. Harley 1-0-0, Mauldin 2-1-0.

Richardson 1-0-0. Moore 4-0-0, Josh McKibben 1-0-0, Patterson 2-0-0, Ponlitlet 3-0-0. Spencer 1-0-0, Hulsman 1-0-0. Auburn INDIVIDUAL UCF Rushing Rushing Player No. Vdt Avg.

TD Howard 5 11 22 0 Williams 5 8 1.6 0 Hinshaw 1 110 0 Sessoms 1 0 00 0 Mack 7 0 00 0 Perm 11 6 -47-4 3 Passing No. Yds Avi Simmons 1-0-0. Crayton 4-0-0. Kelly 6-0-0. Nolan 3-0-0.

Casher 4- 0- 0, Pate 5-0-0, Trone 2-0-0. Walker 1-0-0. Pounds 1-0-0. Lincoln 4- 1- 1. Fields 2-4-1.

Dunlap 1-1-0, Washington 1-1-1, Reese 4-0-1. Carson 2-1-0, Brumbaugh 6-3-0. Weldon 2-0-0. Evans 1-0-0, Mears 1-0-0, Robinson 1-0-0. Chambers 1-0-1.

Mnirt Hold-goal attempts: UCF Beorlegui 43, 47. Auburn Duval 42, 39. 24 1 TD 1 0 0 0 0 Player Evans Carter Cooper Williams Team C. Robin- 14 140 12 120 8 27 -2 -2 0 7I The last word Maybe UCF does stand for Can't Finish. Player Alt Com hit lit TO Penn 52 29 2 374 1.