The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 53

v- Secfon THE ALABAMA JOURNAL AND ADVERTISER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1985 Baseball Auto Racing Football Golf Late iosn gives Tide PHILLIP MARSHALL 23-1 ory over Bama regains winning touch BIRMINGHAM It didn't have the drama of a 71-yard drive in the final 50 seconds and it didn't end in a touchdown. But, just as it did in beating Georgia 20-16 almost two weeks ago, Alabama's Crimson Tide did what had to be done here Saturday night. This time, it was a 67-yard drive to a 40-yard Van Tiffin field goal. And it was enough to propel Alabama By GLENN GUILBEAU Advertiser Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM Van Tiffin kicked two fourth-quarter field goals and Craig Turner ran 32 yards for a touchdown in the waning moments as Alabama exploded for a 23-10 college football victory over Texas before 74,697 at Legion Field Saturday night. The Crimson Tide, ranked 20th by The Associated Press and 16th by United Press International, moved to 2-0 on the year, while the Aggies dropped their opener.

Facing winds up to 15 miles per hour, Tiffin kicked field goals of 40 and 51 yards in the fourth quarter. He added an Alabama-record 57-yarder with the wind at the end of the first half. "I wouldn't take another kicker in America for Van Tiffin," Alabama Head Coach Ray Perkins said. Tiffin's two field goals in the final period broke up a 10-10 game. His 51-yarder gave Alabama a 16-10 lead with 5:28 remaining.

to a 23-10 victory over Texas Just as in days of old, when the Tide went ahead 13-10 with 11:15 left in the game, it went for the kill. Texas couldn't handle it. There was a 51-yard Tiffin field goal against the wind, then the clincher. Craig Turner romped 32 yards up the gut with just 1:07 left in the game and the issue was settled in impressive style. Once more, the fourth quarter had belonged to Alabama.

For Alabama, it was more than just a winning Saturday on the football field. It was some more blessed relief from the agony of a year ago. It was further proof that this Crimson Tide team is something special. I'll p. v.

I vAjV ill IX I i -N 1 I -f i I 1 AV I i.rrr lexas like Alabama, is trying desperately to turn its back on the recent past, to establish itself again as nnp nf rhp finpsr fnnthall tpnme in tho lanrl 0 17 6-10 lit 1323 Texas Alabama Ala Braggs 2 run (Tiffin kick) FG Franklin 20 Ala FG Tiffin 57 Toney 1 run (Franklin kick) Ala FG Tiffin 40 Ala FG Tiffin 51 Ala Turner 32 run (Tiffin kick) Alabama 16 53-186 86 1 7-12-0 4-39 3-1 1-5 30:49 Texas 15 38-69 209 0 19-27-0 441 4-1 10-83 29:11 First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Time of Possession Aggies error-prone The Aggies aren't there yet. They may not be close. They have some offensive weapons and they play hard-nosed defense. But they aren't likely to crack anybody's top 20 this season. They moved the ball brilliantly at times against Alabama's powerful defense, but they stopped themselves too many times with penalties and mistakes to beat a good team.

And Alabama is a good team. Maybe real good. Continuing a trend he started with a conservative game plan in last season's 17 -15 victory over Auburn, Alabama Head Coach Ray Perkins is content to put the bulk of the load on the shoulders of his defense. People like Cornelius Bennett and Jon Hand have very broad shoulders. It is obvious in the fiery way they play the game that they welcome the burden.

The fans often don't like it, and they vented their displeasure with some lusty boos. But they didn't boo when it was over. They cheered the way they did when Alabama football was at its zenith. Alabama didn't walk onto Legion Field and knock the Aggies dead. But, when the game was on the line, they were the men in charge of the arena that has been the site of so many great Crimson Tide moments.

Saturday's victory must take its place among, the most Advertiser photo by Jamie Sturtevam Alabama fullback Craig Turner (44) breaks loose on 32-yard touchdown run game-clinching score climaxed an eight-play, 68-yard drive THEN THE TIDE defense forced the Aggies to punt after three plays, and Alabama took over on its 32 with 3:49 left. Seven plays later with 1:07 remaining, Turner bolted 32 yards up the middle for a touchdown and 23-10 lead after Tiffin's extra point. Turner rushed 21 times for 114 yards on the night. His touchdown run climaxed an eight-play, 68-yard drive that erased 2:42 from the clock, dampering any late Aggie hopes. f- "The offense did a good job in the fourth quarter when they needed to," Perkins said.

"We broke a trap with Turner on the touchdown when they had a blitz and we put it away. "I think these have been the- best two games they've played since I've been here. "It wasn't pretty, but the players hung in there. Our defense did an outstanding job for the second week in a row." Alabama's field goal drive for the 16-10 lead was set up by a stingy defense, which allowed the Aggies just 89 yards rushing. The Tide defense turned an Aggie first down at its own 10 to a fourth-and-18 from satisfying.

Under heavy fire for two years, Perkins has mained steadfast in his belief that Alabama football will Freshman Bobby Humphrey, carrying the ball for the first time for Alabama, sparked the drive with a 16-yard run to the Aggie 23. Humphrey ran six times for 30 yards and returned four kickoff for 104 yards. Shula, who was 7 of 12 for 86 yards, hit wide receiver Al Bell for 12 yards and a first down, setting up Humphrey's run. The drive stallled after a Shula run for no gain and two incompletions, signalling in Tiffin. The Aggies, plagued by 10 penalties for 63 yards, outgained the Tide 298 yards to 272.

the 2. DEFENSIVE TACKLE Brent Sowell sacked Aggie quarterback Kevin Murray for a loss of 6 on second down and Murray fumbled for a loss of 4 on third down. Alabama took over on the 44 after Todd Tschantz's punt. After Shula hit tight end Thornton Chandler for 11 yards and a first down at the Aggie 30, the Tide lost 4 yards on the next three plays, bringing on Tiffin. Alabama took a 13-10 lead with 11:15 to go in the game on a 40-yard field goal against the wind by Tiffin.

The Tide drove 67 yards in 12 plays. CRAIG STUMP started each half at quarterback for the Aggies, but Kevin Murray played more, completing 13 of 20 passes for 158 yards. Stump was 6 of 7 for 51 yards. Each quarterback cited crowd noise problems, as as did their coach, Jackie Sherrill, who also had a word for the officials: "Two things disappointed me with the officials tonight," Sherrill said. "One, we had a lot of noise down when we were close to the end zone, and I asked them for some Please see TIDE, 5D Tigers soiitter but win 29-18 be back, that tne downturn tnat lea to a losing recora last season was temporary.

The signs that he knew all alongwhat he was talking about are there. National championship material Alabama does not likely have. But it might not be far away. And it has the talent and the heart to have its best season since 1981, when Paul "Bear" Bryant became the winningest coach in all of football history. One reason is an offense that seemingly is unconcerned by who plays and who doesn't.

The Tide isn't going to score great numbers of points. But it seems Mike Shula and his men are adept at scoring enough, even if they don't share the spectacular habits of their defensive buddies. General wisdom wrong The general wisdom before the season started was that Alabama's offense would rise and fall on the status of Kerry Goode. The general wisdom was wrong. Alabama didn't have Goode Saturday night.

And it didn't have freshman Gene Jelks, his backup. It did have steady junior Chester Braggs, freshman Bobby Humphrey and a tough fullback in Turner. It had the best kicker in the Southeastern Conference and it had Al Bell and all his pass-catching skills. It had an offensive line that is playing perhaps better than anyone had a right to expect. But mostly, it had a quarterback who knows something about winning.

On offense, Shula might be the single biggest difference between the Tide of 1985 and the Tide of 1984. The Tide of 1985, playing lightweights Cincinnati and Vanderbilt the next two weeks, figures to take a 4-0 record and high national ranking into an Oct. 12 showdown at Penn State. A win there and the Crimson Tide could be off and running toward one of those years to remember, another glorious chapter in its football history. For Texas Head Coach Jackie Sherrill, who was Perkins' teammate at Alabama, the future might be bleak.

Having only one winning season to show for three years, he is under heavy fire. Maybe it sounds harsh, but the Aggies didn't appear to be a well-coached team Saturday night. They fumbled snaps, they caught punts that should have been left alone, they botched up kickoff returns. And, more than anything else, they got penalties in crucial situations, times when they appeared poised to take control of the game. mat r.

ft IT By DOUG AMOS JR. Advertiser Sports Writer AUBURN No. 1-ranked Auburn never operated on all cylinders Saturday but escaped a Southern Mississippi trap with a 29-18 college football victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium. A pair of second-quarter interceptions that resulted in two quick touchdowns staked sluggish Auburn to a 19-3 halftime lead. However, Pat Dye's Tigers had to fight off a gallant Golden Eagle effort in the second half for their second win against no defeats, much to the relief of the partisan crowd of 63,000.

"Southern Mississippi was ready to play, that's for sure," Dye said. "We apparently weren't. I can't remember a team of ours making as many mental mistakes as we did today. I have no explanation for it. "They have a fine football team.

As for us, I don't know how good we are, especially defensively." fA J. i Ly 5SS4 Ail Southern Mississippi Auburn II 7 3-21 I i i SM FG Banks 37 AU Agee 15 run (Knapp kick) AU Agee 18 past from Burger (kick failed) AU Jackson 2 run (run failed) SM Alston 78 pass from Anderson (pass failed) SM-FG Banks 38 AU Jackson 2 run (Johnson kick) AU FG Johnson 27 SM Anderson 4 run (run failed) jf it i I Aabura I I I If Southern Miss 16 42-85 260 42 13-26-4 6-45 14 6-38 31:36 MM 7 1 I First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Tim of Possession I '1 i Coaches can't teach speed or strength. But, as Sherrill's old coach preached virtually every day of every football season, the kinds of errors made go back to the way they were taught. Tide is battle tested It was an Alabama team giddy with delight that got on the bus to return to Tuscaloosa. It should have been.

Though the season is yet young, it is a team that has proved itself in the heat of battle. It proved itself under fierce pressure when it trailed Georgia 16-13 with 50 seconds left and went 71 yards to win the game. It proved itself again Saturday night when it answered a Texas rally with a fourth-quarter blitz that left the Aggies stunned and beaten. There'll probably be a Saturday or two before the end when Alabama doesn't have quite enough to get it done, when there are tears instead of cheers in the dressing room. But there won't be six of those days like there was a year ago.

And there'll be a bowl bid waiting at the end of the line. Alabama football, as its heritage dictates, is winning acain. I Southern Mississippi's chances for an upset took a devastating blow late in the first quarter when elusive quarterback Robert Ducksworth, who had already thrown for 50 yards and run for 50 more, went down with a contusion of a calf muscle in his right knee. Ducksworth didn't return to the game, a fact that Dye feels may have kept his Tigers undefeated. "I REALLY DON'T know if we could have beat them if Ducksworth had not gotten hurt," Dye said.

"I don't think we could have. He's a helluva deal, I'm telling you. Please lee TIGERS, 5D i -9- fee iimii i i ii i i -Ooornal photo by Hal Toafef Auburn's Freddy Weygand appears to have reception, but he dropped the ball as he fell to the ground Mississippi's James Cooper (25) and Vincent Rollins (33) defend a v. The writer iporti editor of The Advertir..