Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 7

Tallahassee Sept. 8, 1985 Baseball, 8, 9 Pro football, 12 Scoreboard, 11 Defense is key to FSU's 17-13 upset FORTS EL LJ By Bill McGrotha Democrat sports editor i i (, fv LINCOLN, Neb. On the hottest football day this state ever knew, Florida State got the defense, the kicking game and whatever else that was required for lightning to strike twice. With it all, the Seminoles chilled mighty Nebraska 17-13 here Saturday, and probably vaulted into the nation's top 10. A national-television audience and a crowd of 75,943, the 137th consecutive sellout in Cornhuskers history, saw a game much like the one in 1980 when Florida State sprung one of the great upsets, 18-14, on this same field.

But few games anywhere ever have been played in such brutal heat. It was 93 degrees before the kickoff, 96 at halftime, and the heat on the field's artificial turf was measured at more than 130 degrees. "Hot hotter than I can ever remember," said a weary but happy Coach Bobby Bowden. "They were bigger, but we were quicker. "Our defense there at the end would just not let them score.

They played their hearts out." The final score was on the board at halftime, but no one would have believed it at the time. In the heat, the offenses of both teams seemed to suffer most and appeared to have little left for the stretch. Just as in 1980, the Seminoles turned over the ball not once. Nebraska lost it three times. Just like 1980, Florida State capitalized on remarkable punting as Louis Berry, averaging 39.7, angling the ball dead at Nebraska's 7, 4 and 12.

And just like 1980, this game had its unlikely heroes. Among them was Kirk Coker, who came in at quarterback and did what was demanded when starter Danny McManus went out with an injury in the first moments of the last quarter with the Seminoles backed inside their 10. McManus was apparently just shaken up and is expected to be OK. And now Florida State stands 2-0 with an open date ahead before facing Memphis State at home on Sept. 21.

At the start, it seemed Nebraska would blow the Seminoles away as fullback Tom. Rathman tore Associated Press Florida State cornerback Martin Mayhew stops Nebraska quarterback Travis Turner on a first-quarter run Defense allows the yardage but refuses to allow the points By Gerald Ensley Democrat staff writer could be attributed to a slight adjustment in its strategy. In a move that substituted Solomon, an inside linebacker, for Garth Jax, an outside linebacker, the Seminoles employed a three-inside linebacker "stack" several times during the game. That move was abetted by bringing a cornerback, usually Stan Shiver, from the secondary up to the line of scrimmage on the strong side vacated by Jax. second half," said Bowden.

"At halftime, I told the guys the same thing I say every time we're ahead at halftime: 'If we keep them from scoring, in the second half we'll That's just what happened." The style was not too fancy. The Seminoles gave up 412 yards of offense to the Cornhuskers. Included in that total were two 100-yard-plus efforts by Cornhusker running backs, as tailback Doug DuBose ran for 129 yards and fullback Tom Rathman gained 113 yards. Quarterback McCathorn Clayton add ed another 97 yards rushing although Clayton and starter Travis Turner managed to complete only three of 14 passes for a paltry 40 yards. But when it mattered, the Seminoles were impenetrable, as they held Nebraska scoreless for the final 38:05 of the ballgame.

"We wanted to stop them every down. But the main thing was we stopped, them when we had to: When they got close to the end zone," said linebacker Jesse Solomon. Part of FSU's defensive success Saturday LINCOLN, Neb. The chant in the Florida State lockerroom after the game went on for almost 30 seconds: "Hoo, hoo defense. Hoo, hoo defense," shouted more than 60 voices.

And none was more heartfelt than that of FSU head coach Bobby Bowden, whose Seminoles had just beaten Nebraska 17-13. "The defense won the game for us in the See DEFENSE, 6F See FSU, 6F Gators start season with a 35-23 win over Hurricanes By George Maselli Democrat staff writer Just to mix things up, Bell completed wide-open short passes to his backs. On a 2nd-and-10 play, Bell finished off the long drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Nattiel. Miami's first drive ended in an interception when Testaverde tried to throw to tight end Willie Smith in triple coverage. Safety Ricky Knight made the interception.

The Miami defense, however, the gang that had sand kicked in its face much of last season, got tough. Cornerback Tolbert Bain broke up a deep throw to Nattiel, and then the Hurricanes sacked Bell twice for 20 yards in losses. talked about going for the mythical national championship. That hardly seems out of the question. Florida led 20-7 at the half, then fell behind 21-20.

Then Bell began ripping apart the Miami secondary, a disaster area last year. Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde the man replacing Bernie Kosar brought the Hurricanes into position to win with his passing and a 13-yard touchdown scramble with 14:45 left in the game. But the Gators, pinned down in terrible field position and without a first down in the third quarter, woke up. They got that elusive first down with 11:40 left in the game. There was no stopping Bell and friends thereafter.

Bell's passing keyed a 79-yard drive leading to a 28-21 lead with 7:50 left. The scoring came on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Nattiel, his second scor ing catch of the night, and a two-point conversion run by Neal Anderson, your basic reverse-the-field-and-race-to-the-far-corner number. Not content to sit on that lead, Bell fired four straight completions, the final one 8 yards to Frankie Neal with 2:45 left. That was that. Testaverde was 24 of 40 for 278 yards and two interceptions in a credible first game as leading man.

But that was too much of a margin to make up on the Gator defense. Florida came racing into the 1985 season looking invincible on offense at both the start and finish of the first half. They used simple running plays with tailback Neal Anderson (the game's leading rusher with 59 yards on 25 tough carries) and fullback John L. Williams ripping off large chunks of yardage at first. MIAMI The Florida Gators may be in NCAA jail for the season, but when they get out on weekends they are still mighty dangerous.

Opening the season with a pedal-to-the-metal performance, the Gators battled past the Miami Hurricanes 1 35-23 Saturday night. The passing of Kerwin Bell and a good-enough defense showed that the bowl-barred Gators could make a run at a No. 1 ranking. "I think we can be an awesome team," said Bell, the sophomore quarterback who simply had a marvelous game. He completed 20 of 28 passes for 248 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions against Miami's soft zone coverages.

Bell conceded that he and his teammates have See GATORS, 10F Mandlikova upsets Navratilova for title Lsr I From Democrat wires Late FAMU rally falls short against Georgia Southern By David Whitley Democrat staff writer JACKSONVILLE All week, this game was called "the real test." Florida flunked. But just barely. Georgia Southern beat the Rattlers 27-21 in the Bold City Classic before an estimated Gator Bowl crowd of 25,000 Saturday night. The loss dropped the Rattlers to 1-1. It was Georgia Southern's opener, and its first win wasn't easy.

After building a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles survived a late charge that brought the Rattlers within six, and had the FAMU-oriented crowd rocking the stadium. The game ended with FAMU on the Georgia Southern 38, with Mike Kelly looking to throw it into the end zone and cap a miracle. Kelly was run down from behind, and Southern had escaped with the vicgtory that had seemed such a sure thing just a few minutes earlier. See FAMU. 4F Ivan Lendl, advanced to today's men's final.

McEnroe came from behind to eliminate Sweden's Mats Wilander 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Lendl crushed five-time U.S. Open champion Jimmy Connors 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. McEnroe's match took 3 hours 49 minutes in heat that rose to 114 degrees at courtside. Mandlikova, the No. 3 seed, won $187,500 with the victory; Navratilova, the No.

2 seed, won $93,750. It is the first time any woman other than Navratilova or Lloyd has won a Grand Slam title since Tracy Austin beat Navratilova here in 1981 also in a third-set tie breaker. "To beat Chris and Martina in the same tournament just doesn't happen very often," Mandlikova, 23, said. "This is a great moment for me." See TENNIS, 11F NEW YORK It was Martina Navratilova who said it on Friday when someone asked how she would react if Hana Mandlikova found a way to beat Chris Evert Lloyd and Navratilova back-to-back to win the U.S. Open.

"If she does it," Navratilova said, "All you can do is say, 'Great No two words can better describe the tennis that Mandlikova and Navratilova produced Saturday afternoon, dueling for 2 hours and 14 minutes before Mandlikova finally produced a 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory that left her lying flat on her back on match point as "21,169 fans screamed their appreciation. In the men's tournament defending champion John McEnroe and another frequent runner-up, Associated Press Hana Mandlikova scoops a half-volley during her U.S. Open upset of Navratilova.