The Greenwood Commonwealth from Greenwood, Mississippi • Page 10

ommonwcsith Sunday, October 23, 1994 Page 10A Barker keeps wits, rallies Bama past Rebs Ole Miss watches 10-0 lead vanish 0 -sstr. iff not from adjustments," he said. "Sometimes guys just play better in the second half. That's what we seem to do." Ole Miss coach Joe Lee Dunn said the Tide is resilient. "They can play at different tempos, different levels of intensity it seems like," Dunn said.

They picked up the level of play in the second half, but we helped them so much. We don't play smart at times, and that really hurt us." Sherman Williams, who scored Alabama's first touchdown on 2-yard run in the third quarter, added a 3-yard scoring run with 16 seconds remaining after Ole Miss quarterback Josh Nelson had fumbled the ball away at his own 6 with about two minutes to go. Williams rushed 32 times for 118 yards, his sixth game of more than 100 yards. On the slick field, Alabama stuck to its ground game. Barker completed seven of 14 passes for 120 yards, but he extended his school-record string of passes without an interception to 147.

Barker eclipsed the record of 30 wins set by Harry Gilmer from 194447. Barker already had the best winning percentage in school history, it now stands at .955. The Rebels jumped ahead on their second possession of the game, driving 59 yards on 10 plays with Dou Innocent doing the bulk of the work. He ran eight times for 47 yards, appropriately scoring on a 2-yard run. Alabama turned the tide in the third quarter with its best drive of the day: 11 plays covering 71 yards.

Barker hit two key passes to Brown for 17 and 21 yards to set up Williams' first TD. Innocent led all runners with 129 yards on 30 carries. nothing worse than having an open date after a loss. The fact that we won it makes it nice. They deserve a rest." As usual, the Tide (8-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) struggled to beat an out-manned opponent.

Ole Miss (2-5, 1-5), after losing the previous week to Arkansas 31-7, led 10-0 at halftime. But as usual, Alabama found a way to win with a big helping hand from Rebels defensive back Alundis Brice. Trailing 10-7, Alabama was penalized 25 yards for holding and committing a personal foul on the first play of the fourth quarter. Facing second-and-35 and its own 36, Barker attempted to hit Curtis Brown with a pass well short of the first-down marker. Brice tripped Brown before the pass arrived, however, resulting in a pass interference call and an automatic first down.

Then, after the Tide drove inside the Ole Miss 1 but failed to punch it over, Michael Proctor kicked a 20-yard field to tie the game. But Brice collided with Proctor for a personal foul that gave the Tide a new set of downs at the 1. "I was diving and I was pushed in the back," Brice said. "That's just another call that went against me. I thought something should have been called on them." Two plays later, Barker rolled out to his right and fought his way into the end zone to give the Tide a 14-10 lead.

There was still 8:13 remaining, but you had the feeling they could play until midnight and Ole Miss wouldn't score again. The Rebels had only 50 yards in the second half. Stallings is at a loss to explain why his team always seems to play better in the second half. He said it's nothing the coaching staff is doing. "You win football games when football players make plays on both sides of the ball, TUSCALOOSA, Ala.

(AP) Jay Barker was like the eye in the center of a storm Saturday. Neither a 10-0 deficit nor a severe lightning storm could fluster Barker, who calmly rallied No. 8 Alabama to a 21-10 victory over Mississippi a must-win situation for the Crimson Tide to remain a factor in the national championship race. In the process, Barker became the win-ningest quarterback in Alabama history, improving his record to 31-1-1 in four years as the starter. It feels really good to finally get the record," said Barker, who scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 2-yard run midway through the fourth quarter.

"I thank God to be surrounded by a good team." The game was halted for 25 minutes in the second quarter a rare occurrence in football because of the lightning. An Ole Miss assistant coach and two employees for ABC, which televised the game regionally, sustained minor injuries. Barker is often overlooked because he doesn't post big numbers only twice has he thrown for more than 300 yards in a game but there's hardly anyone you would rather have in a close game. And with this Alabama team, that's become a way of life. The Tide's seven victories over Division I-A teams have been by a total of 43 points.

"The players are tired, the coaches are tired," said Alabama coach Gene Stallings, whose team is off next week. "There is a ii it AP ALABAMA'S SHERMAN WILLIAMS GOES HARD TO TURF Ole Miss cornerback Derek Jones makes a head tackle MSU QB's aerial assault leaves Tulane 'out to dry if lb -1 STARKVILLE (AP) When Tulane buckled down and refused to let Mississippi State run, Derrick Taite just switched strategy, throwing for a school record 466 yards and four touchdowns. "We did not run the ball like we anticipated, but when you line up against people that are going to come after you and keep coming with an eight and nine-man front, then you have no choice," coach Jackie Sherrill said after his team overpowered Tulane 66-22 Saturday. Taite hit four different receivers for touchdowns in the first half, starting with a 20-yarder to Chris Jones three minutes into the game. He added scoring throws of 60 yards to Shaston Coleman, 47 yards to Bernard Euell and 48 yards to Eric Moulds.

"He really put the ball on the money," Tulane coach Buddy Teevens said. "We hung our defensive backs out to dry." Teevens said his team "came out scrapping hard in the first half," but suffered from a series of blunders in the second. The loss assures Tulane (1-6) of a losing season for the seventh straight year. Mississippi State (5-2) led 31-16 at halftime but pulled away with three touchdowns on the ground, including two Nakia Greer rushes. Sherrill said Taite responded to Tulane's blitz with the help of a good offensive line.

"We just executed well on offense," Taite said. "When you execute like that, you get big numbers in big games. It's a great feeling to break a record." Taite was 21-of-30 in breaking the school record of 429 set by Dave Marler in 1978. His four touchdowns tie a record held by Tony Shell, who threw four touchdowns against Alabama and Georgia in 1988. Tulane contributed to its demise by losing a fumble, having three passes intercepted and surrendering two safeties.

Scott Gumina returned one interception for a touchdown, and the fumble set up Michael Davis' 1-yard touchdown run. Bart Baldwin kicked two 40-yard field goals and a 22-yar-der, and Jerald Sowell scored on a 5-yard run for Tulane, which has lost five straight. Tracey Watts, who threw a 42-yard TD pass to Jeff Liggon in the fourth quarter, was 9-of-23 with two interceptions. The Pass Christian native, playing in Mississippi for the first time as a collegian, was held to 75 yards in the air and minus-1 rushing. "We just have to keep our heads up and go from here," Watts said.

"I don't feel the season is lost." Mississippi State, which out-gained Tulane 554-286. must STATE'S MIKE JAMES WRAPS UP JERALD SOWELL Derrick Taite set school record with 466 yards passing now look ahead, Sherrill said. bowl bid. "Now we're playing every State's 66 points were the game as a must," he said of his most for a State team since the team, which needs one more vie- 1950 team beat Arkansas State tory to qualify for a post season with 67 points. outhem roughs up I-AA Samford, 5946 TSU kicks Valley HOUSTON Mississippi Valley State lost its fourth straight game of the season here Saturday night as it let a 24-21 fourth-quarter lead slip away.

Texas Southern's John Thorn kicked three field goals, including a 41-yarder, in the final quarter to lift the Tigers to a 30-24 come-from-behind win over Southwestern Athletic Conference foe Valley. The Tigers snapped a three-game losing skid to improve to 3-4 overall, 2-2 in the SWAC standings. Valley is 2-6, 1-4. The Delta Devils had a chance at a game-winning drive in the final minutes, but the drive stalled when receiver Cornelius Turner was stopped two yards shy of a first down on fourth and 14. Texas Southern took over at the 50-yard line with 1:40 left in the contest and ran out the clock.

The Tigers outgained the Devils 368-248 in total offense, churning out 251 yards on the ground. Valley had a mere 14 yards rushing. Valley took a 24-21 lead with 4:30 left in the third quarter on a 37-yard pass from quarterback Nyka Long to receiver Steve Booze, capping a 4-play, 43-yard drive. Thorn tied the game at 24-24 on a 33-yard field goal with 10:14 left. He added a 41-yarder at the 7:24 mark and a 25-yar-der at the 3:30 mark.

TSU led 21-7 early in the second quarter. Valley tight end Victor Cullen hauled in a 7-yard touchdown pass from Long, making it 21-14 at the half. Long, in his first considerable action all season, completed 15 of 40 passes for 234 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Cullen led Valley's receiving corps with four catches for 90 yards, including a 73-yarder. Booze had four receptions for 69 yards.

DSU crushes Livingston CLEVELAND CAP) Delta State completed a three-game home stand with a 30-7 win over Livingston University in Gulf South Conference play Saturday. Statesman Jason Klimczak capped an 11 -play, 62-yard drive at the 6.59 mark of the opening quarter with a 24-yard field goaL setting the stage for the Statesmen (2-3-1, 1-2-1). Joe Hobson ran 87 yards in the first quarter for the game's first touchdown. top lu puWH tf Jar Knf HATTIESBURG (AP) Coach Jeff Bower says that if the fans were looking for a "pretty win" in Southern Mississippi's game against Samford Saturday they were probably disappointed. But if the Golden Eagles faithfuls were looking for a victory against the Division 1-AA Bulldogs, them M.M.

Roberts Stadium was the place to be. Southern Miss scored in every quarter, intercepted the Bulldogs three times and our effort was good tonight. "That is what we talked about going in, we wanted to fight them a little bit and compete on every Tailback Howard McGee, filling in for the suspended USM rushing leader Chris Buck-halter, added touchdown runs of 19 and 8 yards. Samford, 2-5, pulled to within 10 points at the half behind the passing of quarterback Bart Yancey. amassed 502 yards in collecting a 59-16 victory.

After a slow start, with Chris Pierce's 47-yard field goal accounting for the only first quarter scoring, Southern Miss poured in 21 points in both the second and third periods, adding 14 more in the final stanza. "It wasn't the prettiest win, but we played respectable," Bower said after watching his team improve to 44 in a game played before a homecoming crowd of 15,514. "They were ready to play and they made a lot of good plays." Harold Shaw ran for three Southern Miss touchdowns on runs of 8, 6 and 1 yards. For the night, Shaw rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries, and caught two passed for 13 yards. "Southern Mississippi is a good football team," said Samford coach Pete Hurt.

They have good players, but I thought cNair shatters record ft coach Cardell Jones said. "There are not enough superlatives to describe that young man. He's a great player." Against Southern, McNair passed for 587 yards and four touchdowns, taking over second place on the Division I-AA career lists for passing yards (12,924) and touchdowns (107). He was 32-for-58 with one interception. "If there's a better player in this country, I don't know where he is.

You might can go out of the universe and find one, but in this hemisphere, Td say Steve is the greatest. He proved that," Jones said. Prior to his game-winning run, McNair hit Robert Hinton for 52 yards to the 1. McNair also had 62 yards on 14 rushes. "Steve is best under pressure.

When the game is on the line, he has just done it so many times in his career at least seven or eight times we have had to score touchdowns in the final two minutes to win," Jones said. Three minutes earlier, McNair threw a 23-yard TD pass to Marcus Hinton for a 34-29 lead. But Southern regained the lead when Eric Randall hit LJean McKnelly on a 47-yard crossing pattern with 2:15 left McNair, playing in his 39th college game, needed 266 yards against Southern to break Detmer's mark. Southern was allowing only 190 yards per game before Saturday. LORMAN (AP) Steve McNair ran past Ty Detmer to become the NCAA career leader in total offense, and he did it by breaking his own Division I-AA single-game yardage record.

McNair had 649 total yards Saturday against Southern, Division I-AA's top-ranked defense, to end Detmer's three-year stay atop the NCAA career list After Alcorn State's 41-37 victory, McNair had 15,049 total yards. He has 4,025 yards and has accounted for 39 touchdowns (32 passing and seven rushing) for the Braves (6-2, 5-1 SWAC) this season. The senior quarterback broke Detmer's record of 14,665 yards on a 22-yard run on third-and-21 with 1:26 left in the first half of the Braves' Southwestern Athletic Conference game. McNair scrambled out of trouble, ran to the left sideline, cut back across the field and wasn't tackled until he had a first down and the record. The historic ball was presented to his mother.

"I'm glad (the record chase) is Behind I can control the things I do on the field now," McNair said. "I look forward to the next game and putting it out of reach the best I can." He led the way as Alcorn State came from behind twice in the last four minutes, scoring the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 10 seconds remaining. "Steve had a brilliant performance, Alcorn ALCORN'S STEVE MCNA'R SPRINTS FOR A 22-YARD GAIN He is the NCAA's career leader In offense with 15,043 yards.