Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 23

Tallahassee Democrat Sunday, August 11, T996 IPro football: Mickens looks ifor a starting job with Packers; I f- 1 racing I 1 i I NASCAR Bud at the Glen, 1 P.m., ESPN (cable 8) yT- I Also Imside: Football Football, 3-4 Vl Dolphins at Bears, 1p.m., Baseball, 5-6 A Chs. 40, 10 (cable 12, 28) Auto racing, 7 Kavens top wants. iK. Track and field: Km 1 Batten gets revenge in Monaco Grand Prix. 2C 'Nebraska' not a bad word in Gators' camp FLORIDA FOOTBALL Lincoln High graduate Zach Piller gets a starting spot 4C By Jacob Luft DEMOCRAT WRITER GAINESVILLE For the first time since their debacle in the Fiesta Bowl, the Gator football team met the press Saturday, as well as all of the expected questions about the psychological effect of the loss.

Indeed, the word Nebraska was brought up early and often, but it didn't seem to bother the Gators. "If there is any lingering effect right now, it's positive," said Florida center Jeff Mitchell. "Thinking about that loss puts us in our place. It made us realize we weren't ready for it, that everyone has to Scalped Gators Freshman quarterback Doug Johnson's parents may be wise to heed the old saying, "Don't believe everything you read in the paper," or, in this case, "Don't believe what you see in the paper." Courtesy of the team barbers, Johnson and the rest of his freshman class sported the Kojak look Saturday at the Gators' preseason media day. "The pictures of me in the paper yesterday and today show me with hair, so (my parents) haven't seen yet," said Johnson, who also plays minor-league baseball for the Please see FLORIDA, 4C Florida quarterback Danny Wuertfel takes a break from the media and spends time with fan Ken Caudle of Gainesville during Gator Media Day at Florida Field on Saturday.

,1 MICHAEL BEEBEThe Associated Press AP poll ay Nebraska i 3 THE AP POLL Final '95 i teat work harder. James Colzie has added size and If -j 1-" Tfe, I I X.9J-- f7, i I I if sy jwSF i 1. Nebraska 1 2. Tennessee 3 3. Florida St.

4 4. Florida 2 5. Colorado 5 12. Miami 20 17. Auburn 22 Complete poll, 2C FSU IN AP POLL Year Preseasoa Final 1983 7 NR (8-4) 1984 20 17 (7-3-2) 1985 19 15 (9-3) 1986 11 NR (7-4-1) 1987 8 2 (11-1) 1988 1 3 (11-1) 1989 6 3 (10-2) 1990 4 4 (10-2) 1991 1 4 (11-2) 1992 5 2 (11-1) 1993 1 1 (12-1) 1994 3 4 (10-1-1) 1995 1 4 (10-2) "We're just trying to get better and it helps when you don't think you're the best." For now, the only players who have practiced are the ones who did not experience the 62-24 blowout first-hand.

The Gator freshmen began workouts and drills Friday night and continued with two on Saturday. Today is an off day, but the entire team will report to fall camp Monday. FSU football strength to his 5-foot-10 frame. FSU FOOTBALL Veterans depth chart. 4C Court records: Three other "Noles arrested in past year.

4C brawl last summer. Colzie's day of reckoning for a football and academic career that had fallen below expectations came in February in the office of Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews. There, Andrews admonished and then challenged his backup cornerback and starting nickel back. and kept him tied with Citation for the longest victory string by a North American-based horse this century. "The streak is over, but there's still races to be won," said Cigar's trainer, Bill Mott.

"He's still a great horse. I wouldn't back down in ranking him up there with the best." To winning trainer Richard Mandella, the victory by Dare and Go was "as good as it gets." Both Mott and Mandella said a lightning pace figured prominently SUSAN WALSHThe Associated Press Russ Cochran cheers in his birdie putt on the 13th hole at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. By Doug Ferguson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOUISVILLE, Ky. The player who made the biggest move on Saturday didn't even expect to be here, let alone be leading a major championship for the first time in his life. Russ Cochran missed the cut 11 times in his first 17 tournaments this year.

He was playing so badly he had planned to take a family vacation at Hilton Head, S.C., this week. GOLF Karrie Webb leads in LPGA Ping Welch's. 7C Complete scores. 2C "I pretty much hit bottom," Cochran said. The 7-under-par 65 he shot in the third round of the PGA Championship was good for a 205 total and a two-shot lead after a day in which Phil Mickelson stumbled and Valhalla Golf Club reined in so many others who tried to make a charge.

Cochran, who was tied for eighth after two rounds, has never even contended for a major. He finished 131st on the money list last year when he was trying to recover from an injured disc in his neck. "I've been feeling better physically the last six months or so, but it hadn't really responded in my game," he said. "Even though we didn't see any improvement right away, I feel like those five or six weeks, where I really worked hard at it, might be paying off a little bit the past two or three weeks." Cochran finished second in the CVS Charity Classic two weeks ago, his best showing in three years. Then he tied for 13th last week at the Buick Open.

"He's playing good right said Tom Watson. "He's coming in on a high. There's no substitute for being on form." Watson showed the kind of birdie binge that was available at Valhalla, but a tour-putt at no. led to a double bogey, and a mishit 4-iron at the 216-yard 14th hole led to another double. Watson finished with a 73, eight strokes behind Cochran.

"Today cost me quite a bit," said Watson, whose eight majors lack a PGA Championship. Watson was among 11 previous major winners who were within range of second-rouna leaaer mick- elson. but nearly all of them ran into trouble somewhere along the wav. Nick Price, the two-time PGA champion and former British Open winner, suffered bogeys at Nos. 12 and 14 after getting within two shots of the lead.

He finished at 8-under 208, still just three strokes behind. Cochran PGA-OK after 3 rounds Seminoles' Colzie says focus no longer secondary in his life By Andrew Bagnato CHICAGO TRIBUNE First things first: Even without Tommie Frazier, Nebraska is No. 1. The two-time defending national champions were a landslide No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press media college football poll released Saturday, two days after the coaches gave them the same honor.

But the more important question was: Who's No. The answer Tennessee. That means neither the Corn-huskers nor the Volunteers need help from strangers to make a date for the national title game Jan. 2 at the Sugar Bowl. That's not the case for third-ranked Florida State, which could find itself locked out even if it goes undefeated against a weak schedule.

The bowl alliance pairs the Nos. 1 and 2 teams, excluding those in the Pac-10 and Big Ten, in the national title game. It is the first time in seven years a team from Florida is not atop the preseason rankings. FSU was first in 1991, 1993 and 1995, while Miami was No. 1 in 1990 and 1992 and Florida No.

1 in 1994. Since the AP started its preseason poll in 1950, Nebraska has opened at No. 1 four times but each time failed to finish that way. The last time was 1983, when the Husk-ers went 12-0 before losing 31-30 to Miami in the Orange Bowl. Only two teams Notre Dame in 1943 and Army in 1945 have sat atop the polls from wire to wire.

Like Nebraska in '83, FSU came close in '93. The Seminoles were No. 1 for most of the season, lost to Notre Dame but beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to claim the title. "If you're No. 1, everybody is shooting at you.

You have a target on your back," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said Saturday. "But you want to be in the top 5 or top 10. You are visible there. I like where we are." The voters showed great faith in Notre Dame the Fighting Irish are sixth and, amazingly, received a first-place vote. Siphon, $2.10, who was followed by Dramatic Gold, Luthier Fever and Tinners Way, the winner of the Pacific Classic the previous two years who was pulled up.

Each starter carried 124 pounds. The victory was his second in six starts this year and the $600,000 first money from a $1 million purse boosted his earnings to $1,547,356. The $200,000 second money pushed Cigar's bankroll to $9,019,815 and made him the third horse to surpass $9 million. The other two raced in Japan. The FSU defensive back makes education and staying out of trouble a priority, and has earned a No.

1 spot on the depth chart. By Steve Ellis DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER The soul searching began even before a Leon County judge sentenced James Colzie to four days of jail and 75 hours of community service for his part in a nightclub PHIL COALEDemocrat For Colzie, who reports for his senior season with the rest of the FSU varsity on Tuesday, time was running out. So was Andrews' patience as Colzie cut classes and failed to prepare himself in the offseason for his final spring practice. Now Colzie enters the preseason as the No. 1 field cornerback.

Although Colzie will miss FSU's season opener against Duke for his part in the fight, he is projected to play a big role in FSU's defense. Credit talks from Andrews and assistant head coach Chuck Amato Please see COLZIE, 4C in Cigar's upset by a horse who paid $81.20. "Pace makes the race and obviously it had something to do with the outcome today," Mott said. Siphon led the six-horse field through three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 1-5, with Cigar second the entire time. Cigar was a head in front when they reached the mile in 1:33 3-5 and was 3y2 lengths back when Dare and Go completed the iyA miles in 1:59 4-5.

Cigar, who paid $2.40 and $2.10, finished seven lengths in front of Of course, there are a few downs to be played between now and the holidays. But the preseason poll is an unofficial harbinger of the new season, which kicks off Aug. 24 when Texas visits Brigham Young. Nebraska coach Tom Osborne sees his team's ranking as a potentially mixed blessing as it guns to become the first three-peater in major-college football. "The good part about it is, if you're rated Jhat high and start playing well and continue to play well, you have a great chance to end up where you want at the end i of the season," Osborne said after putting his players through a work-' out in Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska returns seven starters on one of the nation's staun-chest defenses. But for the first time in three years it will enter the season without Frazier at quartern back. DAVID LONGSTREATHThe Associated Press Jockey Alex Solis is congratulated after he rode Dare and Go to victory over Cigar. 4 )) i it Streak ends: Cigar is smoked by Dare and Go By Ed Schuyler Jr. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DEL MAR, Calif.

Close, but no Cigar. The upset victory over Cigar by Dare and Go in the Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar even left the winning jockey a little unhappy. "We're glad to have won," said Alex Solis, "but it was kind of sad. Cigar was kind of a hero for us on the racetrack." Cigar's second-place finish snapped a 16-race winning streak.