The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 39

THE MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER AND ALABAMA JOURNAL, SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 4. 1 988 Section irgia hand Vol loss ford Stadium Saturday night. "There was no doubt that was the play," Georgia tailback Tim Worley said of Giles' effort. "That was the game." With Georgia clinging to a 21-17 third-quarter advantage, tailback Rodney Hampton coughed up the football to Tennessee linebacker Bryan Kimbro on the Bulldogs' 16.

Four plays later, Francis had the Volunteers on the brink of retaking the lead with 20 seconds left in the period. On third down and goal from the Related stories, 2, 4, 5, 6D By JIM JOHNSTON Journal Sports Editor ATHENS, Ga. In a game overflowing with offense and offensive stars, Georgia's Paul Giles stole the show. Thanks to the defensive tackle's third-quarter blindside hit on Tennessee quarterback Jeff Francis and his ensuing fumble recovery, the 12th-ranked Bulldogs held off the 18th-ranked Volunteers 28-17 in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at San- Georgia 4, Francis dropped back to pass and was drilled by Giles in the back. The ball popped loose and the 6-foot-3, 280-pound left tackle alertly pounced on it at the Georgia 13.

"I stepped around the tackle and I had a clean shot at him (Francis)," Giles said. "I felt like we were on the ropes right there. It was definitely a big play." From there, Georgia drove 87 yards exclusively on the ground for an insurance touchdown which sealed the game's outcome. Hampton did the hon ors from 2 yards out, catapulting over the Vols' line with 6:35 to play. "No one was going to stop me," Hampton said.

"The coaches told me not to try to dance my way in. They told me just to put my head down and go for it." Aside from Giles' decisive play, neither side did much to stop the other. Georgia rolled up 439 yards of total offense 414 on the ground while Tennessee registered 406 354 of the sum via Francis' right arm. "Jeff Francis is an outstanding quarterback and we felt that if we couldn't get ahead by at least two touchdowns that he could come back and beat us," said Georgia coach Vince Dooley, who celebrated the start of his 25th season at Georgia and his 55th birthday with the SEC victory. Francis, who completed 25 of his 39 attempts, became Tennessee's all-time career passing leader with the performance.

The 6-4, 210-pound senior broke Alan Cockrell's record of 3,823 yards by accumulating 3,984 of his own. But even Francis' record-shattering Please see GEORGIA, 13D ILTOy open: PHILLIP MARSHALL ill I 8 rf with win on practice field 000 fans who were present for the game's start stayed until the end. The two teams went to the practice field and resumed play at 9:49 p.m. with Troy State leading 19-13. The delay lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Both teams missed field goals on their first drives on the new field. The only score came when Troy State's Tony Young sprinted up the middle for a 26-yard score. Lopez added the extra point to give Troy the final margin of victory. Southeast Missouri was the only team to beat Troy State last season. The Indians won 18-17 in the season-opener.

The Trojans went on to win the Division II national championship. The Indians started the scoring in the second quarter. Southeast Missouri used a strong running attack, led by tailback Brian Lattimore, to march to the Trojan 12-yard line. From there, quarterback Jim Eus-tice threw a swing pass to Trent Please see TROY 9D By ROGER HEPBURN Journal Sports Writer TROY In a rainy game that lasted five hours, 25 minutes and was completed on Troy State University's practice field, the Trojans emerged a 26-13 winner over Southeast Missouri State on Saturday night in the season-opener for both teams. The game began at 5 p.m.

in Memorial Stadium, but the lights went out in the fourth quarter at 7:19 p.m. with Troy State leading 19-13. Several attempts were made to turn the lights back on, but nothing worked. A transformer blew in the first half Saturday night and two banks of lights went out, but the game continued under dim light until it went dark with 12:41 to play in the game. Officials from both schools met to decide when and how the game would be completed.

They decided to finish the contest on the lighted practice field next to the stadium. The field had no scoreboard, no yard markers and no seating for spectators. About 400 of the estimated i Staff photo by Mickey Welsh Troy State 9B Bob Godsey runs for gain against SEMO on Saturday sninis JbL diow awa? o6 Hard-hitting defense leads Miami to 31-0 rout of Florida St. Dale Dawkins recovered for Miami at the 5. Backup quarterback Craig Erickson completed the scoring with a 17-yard pass to second-string tight end Pee Wee Smith with 1:30 left in the game.

The victory stretched Miami's winning streak to 13 games, longest in the nation. The Hurricanes also have won their last 33 regular-season games. The one-sided setback was witnessed in 84-degree weather by a sellout crowd of 77,836 in the Orange Bowl, the second largest home crowd in Miami's history. Florida State became the fifth No. 1 team to lose its opening game since the AP began a preseason poll in 1950 and the first since Miami, also coming off a national championship, defeated No.

1 Auburn 20-18 in the 1984 Kickoff Classic. lead just 3:14 into the season. A 36-yard interception return by strong safety Bobby Harden to the Florida State 20 set up Gary's 2-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter. Huerta's conversion made it 10-0 and the Hurricanes took a 17-0 lead on Walsh's 19-yard pass to sophomore tight end Rob Chudzinski, one of Miami's 10 first-time starters, with 11 seconds left in the second period. The 45-yard scoring drive followed a 29-yard punt by Florida State's Tim Corlew.

Walsh also threw a 5-yard pass to tailback Leonard Conley at 6:06 of the third period. The score came one play after an official's ruling went Miami's way. Walsh threw a 36-yard pass to wide receiver Randal Hill at the Florida State 17. It appeared to be an incom-pletion, but it was ruled a fumble and wide receiver Terry Anthony fumbled the ball away. So dominant was Miami's defense that FSU tailback Sammie Smith, who rushed for a school record 1,230 yards a year ago, was held to just six yards, a career low, on 18 carries.

Miami's record against No. 1 teams in the 1980s is 6-0. It also was the sixth straight year in which the Hurricanes have defeated the team ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason poll. It was only the second shutout suffered by the Seminoles in Bobby Bowden's 142 games as head coach.

The other one, also at the hands of Miami by a 47-0 score, came in the second game of the 1976 season, Bowden's first at Florida State. Miami marched 61 yards following the opening kickoff and Carlos Huerta's first collegiate field goal, a 39-yarder, gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 By HERSCHEL NISSENSON Associated Press Writer MIAMI The Miami Hurricanes, college football's defending national champions, continued their perfect record against No. 1-ranked teams in this decade by defeating top-rated Florida State 31-0 Saturday night as Steve Walsh passed for two touchdowns and Cleveland Gary ran for one. The sixth-ranked Hurricanes' hardhitting, lightning-quick defense smothered one of the nation's most explosive offenses, limiting Florida State to 91 yards in the first half Miami had 239 and permitting the Seminoles to cross midfield just twice in the first two periods. Once they got to the Miami 30, where Richie Andrews missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt, and once to the 48, a 16-yard pass play on which Keep the game in perspective Finally, game week is here for Alabama and Auburn.

There has been enough written about the state's two major football programs in the past month to fill a couple of books. No aspect of either football team has been left unexplored. Come Saturday, it will finally be time to play. This is a good and happy time in our state, a time of excitement and anticipation. The young men who go to do battle with great courage will carry on a tradition that has been built over more than half a century.

It is a unique and special tradition. When three months have passed, there will have been joy and disappointment, soaring happiness and tears of defeat. There are few citizens in Alabama whose lives aren't touched in one way or another by the games the big, strong and fast young men play before thousands on Saturdays. But, please, let's keep things in perspective. The downside of college football in this state is the fact that, for some, it becomes more than a game, more than a way to have fun.

It becomes almost a battle between good and evil. Will make mistakes Remember, it is a game played by youngsters in their teens and early 20s. They will make mistakes. They will not always do what they have been taught. But they don't deserve derision.

It was almost exactly eight years ago that Tennessee came to Auburn to open newly enlarged Jordan-Hare Stadium. There was great anticipation. This was supposed to be Auburn's first step toward a big season. What I remember most about that day isn't the oranges that rained down on the Tennessee football team or the 42-0 pasting the Vols put on the Tigers. No, I remember the torrent of boos that fell on Charles Thomas' head when he took the field to start the second half at quarterback with Auburn trailing 28-0.

It has happened at Alabama, too. And it has happened at other places across the country. It's sickening. If fans want to boo Pat Dye or Bill Curry, so be it. They get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to put up with it.

The young men who play deserve better. Nobody who hasn't been there can really understand just how badly the players who put on those jerseys want to win on Saturday. Whether it is at Alabama or Auburn or the smallest of Division II schools, the price those young men have paid just to be there is a fearsome one. It didn't just start in early August when they braved the blazing summer sun in two-a-day practices. It's a year-around deal.

When the season is over, they go into a grueling off-season program. Then there is spring practice. Then there is a summer spent preparing for the demands of preseason practice. Nobody fumbles on purpose. Nobody blocks the wrons men or misses a tackle or throws an interception because he wants to.

Some of the players who look now at a season at hand will go on to play professional football. Most won't and know they won't. They are playing for a scholarship precious little compensation for the time and effort involved and for themselves and their schools. They are the ones who make it possible to have those tailgate parties and all the other terrific things that are part of football Saturdays. Go to war again When the game is over, the fans go home or go to their pni ties.

Win or lose, the players have to get ready to go to war again. All indications are that this could be one of the great years ever for football in our state. Both Auburn and Alabama appear poised to have outstanding seasons. But there are no guarantees. The teams they will play have paid the same price they have.

They, too, will give great effort to win. But somebody has to lose. That somebody almost certainly will be Alabama or Auburn more than once along the way. For the fans who have bragged all week in the office, it won't be easy to accept. It'll be disappointing and even painful.

The temptation will be to be angry at the young men who came up short and the men who coach them. If you feel moved to vent your frustrations verbally, stop and think how you would feel if it was your son on that field. AIL UA 1 week from battles sjj i "Derrick Thomas is an outstanding player who has a chance to be a great player for us this year, a tmly great player in every way? And we need for a him to do that for us." -University of Alabama head coach Bill Curry Jr "I feel good about Reggie Slack. He's done fi everything we've asked of him and he's done it said all along, though, he has to do it in. Gainesville and Baton Rouge and Birmingham.

jfj has to prove himself in some adversity." "Auburn University kfi head coach Pat Dye I 'Different' Curry starts 2nd season Related story, 8D By MIKE TANKERSLEY Advertiser Sports Writer TUSCALOOSA Bill Curry enters his second season with the Alabama football team as a different football coach than he was a year ago. Last year, as his first season as the leader of the Crimson Tide approached, Curry was full of praise for the Alabama players, for the Alabama tradition, for the Alabama mystique, for the Alabama fans, for Alabama football. Looking back, it is apparent that Curry was still feeling his way around as the new kid in a tough neighborhood. This year, Curry is different, and the change is reflected down through his entire coaching staff and to his players. Last year, Curry talked a good game but the results were not so good a 7-5 record in an uneven season.

This year, Curry is much more intense, and so are his assistants. In the off-season, he made some tough decisions, among them replacing his friend, Rip Scherer, with Homer Smith as the offensive coordinator. The off-season program under strength coach Rich Wingo was nothing short of brutal. In the preseason. Curry has been Please see ALABAMA, 9D Dye: 7 hope we're ready9 Related story, 8D By RAGAN INGRAM Advertiser Sports Writer AUBURN For- the Auburn Tigers, the memories of beating Alabama and winning the Southeastern Conference championship are to be filed away.

"We're a week away," Coach Pat Dye said. "I hope we're ready." Ready or not, here it comes. In six days, Auburn will begin its attempt to do what was last done by the Georgia Bulldogs in 1982 repeat as SEC champion. Auburn was coming off an SEC championship and ranked first in the nation in 1984. The Tigers promptly lost their first two games and stumbled to a 9-4 record.

A repeat of that is Dye's darkest fear. Auburn hasn't opened its season with a league game since 1972, but it will this year. Kentucky ccmes to Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Wildcats defeated Central Michigan 18-7 Saturday in Lexington, Ky. Dye's public preseason assessments of his team have been guarded and cryptic.

He has rarely mentioned the potential of this team to be "special," a word he likes to use to signify championship caliber. He's used the phrase, "a long way to go," as a recurring theme. Here are the black and white facts: Auburn has six starters returning on offense, but has three other players not considered as returning starters who have started at least two games. Advertiser graphic by William NefT some say there is also gray. Here is some potential gray: Junior Quentin Riggins and sophomore Steve Brown have to replace seniors Kurt Crain and Edward Phillips, who combined for 291 total tackles last year.

Riggins and Brown combined for 99. When Auburn faces Kentucky, it is entirely possible that three members of the secondary will be starting their first game. Cornerback John Wiley saw a lot of duty, but never as a starter. The other corner, Dominko Please see AUBURN, 9D Defensively, the Tigers officially list five returning starters. Injured outside linebacker Craig Ogletree is one of those, so that cuts the official number to four.

But again, four players who have started at least two games for Auburn will be available. When Ogletree returns, the Tigers will have 18 returning starters. Both specialists, place-kicker Win Lyle and punter Brian Shulman, are back. And they, some will argue, are the best kicking pair in the league. But when there is black and white.

The writer is sports editor of The Advertiser..