The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 21

(Dots College football scoreboard 3B World Series preview 12B NFL preview 14B SuixlayMcmtiyxTieryAdvatiscr SUNDAY. OCTOBER 14, 1990 AU has too much firepower for 'Dores, 56-6 1 The Tigers roll up more and Auburn had another way than 500 yards in an easy scnciAa than 500 yards in an easy and Auburn had another way Outside linphapkpp to T.nrrv Young came through untouched and blocked Lawrence's punt at the 35 and easily outran the punter to fall on the ball in the end zone for another Auburn touchdown with 7:27 left in the half. "We had a return called and their end guy had been blocking out the whole game," Young said. "I told myself, 'If you don't block me, I'm coming My next thought was getting high enough to block the kick and the next thought was covering the ball in the end zone. As far as I had ran, I thought, 'Please, don't roll out of the end Lawrence said he had little chance to get the ball away.

"We had a breakdown in blocking on the left side," Lawrence said. "There was nothing I could do about it. We just have to stop making mental mistakes and pick up blocks." Auburn added a 59-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Stan White to Taylor with 57 seconds to make 42-6. Auburn head coach Pat Dye said the difference from last week to Saturday's blitzkrieglike first half was his team's mental attitude. "I think we were the best team today we've been all year, even though Stan White didn't have his best day," Dye said.

"We came to this game in the best frame of mind we've been in all year long and we were more together as a football team and that's what it's all about. "If we keep on churning, the cream will rise to the top. I think we can have a fine football team before the year's out." Except for two Jeff Owen field goals for the Commodores, the first half was completely Auburn's. The Tigers outgained Vanderbilt 301-78 in the first Pleaie TIGERS, 13B Mcintosh has fun, 48 Hash Marks, 4B Vandy OB plays through grief, 5B Statistics, SB victory over Vanderbilt By RANDY ROUGHTON Advertiser Sports Writer AUBURN Senior wide receiver Greg Taylor and freshman fullback Tony Richardson scored two touchdowns each as Auburn pummeled hapless and hopeless Vanderbilt 56-6 before a Jordan-Hare Stadium crowd of 79,269. Auburn improved to 4-0-1 and 2-0-1 in the Southeastern Conference.

Vanderbilt fell to 1-4 and 1-2 SEC. The carnage began on the opening kickoff when Vander-bilt's Mark Johnson fumbled and sophomore Chad Muilenburg recovered for Auburn at the Commodores' 16. Auburn's running game, which has been criticized for most of the first half of the season, proved solid enough for a porous Vanderbilt defense. The Tigers, who rushed for 231 yards and four touchdowns, ran five straight times after the fumble. The last, run was a 3-yard plunge over center by Richardson for a touchdown.

Jim Von Wyl added the extra point with 12:08 left in the first quarter. The kicking game paid off for the Tigers and in more ways than one. Auburn, which didn't punt in the first three quarters, added two more touchdowns when it scored off consecutive punts by Vanderbilt's David Lawrence in the second quarter. Shayne Wasden took the first kick at his 28, ran to his right toward the sideline, reversed his field at the Vanderbilt 45 and ran the rest of the way down'the left sideline for a 72-yard punt return with 8:56 left in the half. "I knew I had plenty of time to catch it," Wasden said.

"I didn't have to worry about the fair catch. I was able to get behind the wall and I had some great blocks. I had to make one cut and was able to outrun everybody else to the end zone." Von Wyl's extra point gave Auburn a 28-6 lead, but Lawrence had another punt coming By ANOV HAILSStaff Larry Young blocks punt by'Vandy's David Lawrence; Young recovered ball for a touchdown Phillip Marshall Advertiser Sports Editor Vanderbilt: The SEC's worst ever? AUBURN In more than half a century of Southeastern Conference football, there might have been a worse football team than the one Vanderbilt brought to Jordan-Hare Stadium here Saturday. But I haven't seen it. Watson Brown's fifth Vanderbilt team, one he insisted in the summer would be his best, is surely, at this point, his worst.

The Commodores' 24-21 victory over Louisiana State in Nashville might rank as the upset of the year. Or the fluke of the year. Just look at the other scores. SMU 44, Vanderbilt 7. Alabama 59, Vanderbilt 28.

Syracuse 49, Vanderbilt 14. And Saturday was the worst of all. Auburn, looking for blood after barely surviving Louisiana Tech last season, romped 56-6. It could have been much worse. One Auburn coach, asked to compare Vanderbilt and Louisiana Tech, shook his head.

"It wouldn't be a contest," he said. "They're nowhere near as good as Louisiana Tech." There is a lot of moaning at Vanderbilt about injuries. And there is no question the Commodores, playing physically superior teams, have taken a beating. No fewer than five, including starting quarterback Mike Healey, were hauled off the field Saturday. Brown says as many as 15 starters have been lost.

With former starter Marcus Wilson also injured, that left redshirt freshman Jeff Brothers to carry on. But the hard truth is that, with the exception of LSU, the results have been the same, whoever has played. "There's not much I can say," Brown said. "We came down here with eight or nine starters out. We lost four or five more in the first quarter or quarter and a half.

"Trying to play Auburn with 14 or 15 starters out is a disaster." It would have been a disaster anyway. For five years, Brown has stood in the summer to insist he had a good football team, that his program was ready to turn the corner. It hasn't come close to happening, and there is nothing on the horizon to indicate that it will. Brown is a nice man who was reputed to be an excellent offensive coordinator. But his record as a head coach speaks for itself.

He's 9-37 at Vanderbilt, 32-71-1 overall. Percentage-wise, that surely must be the worst record of any active major college head coach. One has to wonder if anybody can get it done at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is a fine school, the finest academic institution in the SEC. That is more important than any football program.

But understanding physics doesn't do you much good when a 270-pound, fire-breathing defensive lineman is coming at you. The Commodores played with pride. They fought until the end. And that was all they had to take back to Nashville. "Our players didn't quit," Brown said.

"They kept fighting it. That's hard to do in a situation like this. I'm proud of them for that." And those words of optimism kept coming. "I'm still optimistic about this team," Brown said. "I'd just like to have them all out there with me.

"If we can get them back, I still think we can win some football games." Hope springs eternal. Meanwhile, Auburn got exactly what it needed Saturday. The Tigers were wondering about themselves after Louisiana Tech. They would have wondered some more going into next week's showdown with Florida State if Vanderbilt had made things tough. The 4-0-1 Tigers had a grand old time.

They ran for touchdowns. They passed for touchdowns. They blocked a punt for a touchdown and returned a punt for a touchdown. But now it's time for the real deal for this team that dreams still of a national championship. Florida State's visit is followed by trips to Mississippi State and Florida.

"I think our schedule will put us where we belong at the end of the year," Auburn head coach Pat Dye said. "If we belong up there, we'll be there." He got that right. There will be no more Vanderbilts. Gton jjuGDii? Scaairtiaons top CUHBoIhiDgairQ win the ballgame. I called the kids over and explained the ramifications and they wanted to do the same." Trailing 28-21, the Wolverines, behind the passing of Elvis Grbac, drove 70 yards in 13 plays.

Grbac hit Derrick Alexander with a 7-yard touchdown pass to pull Michigan within one point with six seconds left. On the two-point conversion attempt, Grbac lofted a soft pass to Desmond Howard in the back the end zone. TV replays showed Howard was hit by Michigan. State defender Eddie Brown before the pass arrived, but no interference call was made. Despite the contact, Howard was open and appeared to have the ball in his grasp as he landed in the end zone.

The ball rolled away and the pass was ruled incomplete. For the second week in a row, the top-ranked team takes a fall Associated Press Report ANN ARBOR, Mich. Michigan saw its No. 1 ranking and Big Ten lead slip away as easily as did the two-point conversion pass that slid out of Desmond Howard's arms. John Langeloh's extra point after an 8-yard touchdown run by Tico Duckett lifted Michigan State to a 28-27 upset of the top-ranked Wolverines, who lost a late bid for victory when a two-point conversion failed with six seconds remaining Saturday.

"I'm very disappointed," Michigan coach Gary Moeller said. "We wanted to "Once he got inside me, I gave him a little push and he stumbled," Brown said. "He pushed me first and I pushed him second, but I thought they'd see the second one. "If there was interference, I thought it would have been defensive. I looked for a flag and when I didn't get it, I ran off the field." Referee John Nealon said the covering officials just didn't see it as an interference situation.

"The question is, basically, when Howard had the ball, did he have possession when he hit the ground," Nealon said. "In order to have possession, you must be able tolo one of three things: run with it, throw it or kick it. He could not have run with it." Howard had brought Michigan back from a 21-14 deficit by returning a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown with 5:50 re- maining. "I felt as if I caught the ball," Howard said. "As I looked up after the ball popped out, the first thing I saw was the officials' face and I was looking for him to raise his arms for a touchdown, but he never did.

"After the play I was looking for a flag but there wasn't one and I couldn't believe it." Please STATE, 13B Top 25 roundup, 6B SEC roundup, 7B Other games, BB ADabama Sftate cops Miles 53-3 2 3 avoirs i extremely hard and really hustled for four quarters. Their coaching staff should be proud of the effort they put Despite the lopsided final score, the Hornets trailed after one quarter of play. Jason Thomson put Alabama State on the board first with a 28-yard field goal. But Hornet miscues then put the Golden Bears in business. Thomas Catchings blocked a 42-yard field-goal attempt, but the Hornets had too many men on the field.

The penalty gave the Bears a first down, which they cashed in on when quarterback Darrick Brown ran in from 10 yards out behind a convoy of blockers. Charles Northern blocked the Bear extra-point attempt that left Miles ahead 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Jones then brought the Hornets back. After a brilliant play fake, he went deep for a 50-yard pass to "Downtown" Reggie Brown that the Hornets a first-and-goal at the 8. Rico White scored for the Hornets on a 1-yard plunge over the top on fourth down.

Thomson added the kick. Minutes later, Jones again hooked up with Brown, this time PIMM HORNETS, 13B The Hornets have little trouble with the outmanned Bears By KELVIN SIMS The Alabama State Hornets continued their offensive prowess they showed in the two previous games, walloping Miles College 51-12 in Cramton Bowl Saturday night. The Hornets improved to 4-2-1 on the season. Miles dropped to 0-7. The Hornets have scored 42, 44, and 51 points int their last three games.

But this score was misleading. The Hornets struggled at times and didn't execute well in the second half after quarterback Ricky Jones went down with an ankle injury. Alabama State fumbled twice near the end zone with different quarterbacks after bad center exchanges. "I'm trying to figure out how in the heck we scored 51 points," said Hornet head coach Houston Markham. "This was the toughest game I've ever been associated with.

We didn't do a good job of mentally preparing our team, and I take the blame for that. They didn't hsutle at all. "They have the best 0-7 team I've seen in a while. They played No. 5 Tennessee explodes in second half to smash No.

9 Florida 45-3 Associated Press Report KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Dale Carter's 91-yard lightning bolt turned a showdown into a Florida meltdown. Some 15 seconds into the second half of what had been a terrific struggle of unbeaten Southeastern Conference teams, Carter celebrated at the end or a 91-yard kickoff return. His jaunt ignited a 28-point third-period outburst that carried No. 5 Tennessee to a smashing 45-3 vic tory over ninth-ranked Florida Saturday night.

"In 24 years. I can't remember one quite like it. I don't know that I've ever seen a game break open like that one did the second half in my life," said Tennessee coach Johnny Majors, whose club was hard-pressed to lead 7-3 at Florida, 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, "just self-destructed in Plaaae see VOLS, 13B By JAMIE STURTEVANTBtaff Alabama State running back Rico White charges into the line during the first half of Saturday night's game with Miles College.