The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 21

College football scoreboard 3B NFL preview 14B Breeders' Cup 15B SundMaitgcxTXTyAdCTtiser SUNDAY. OCTOBER 28. 1990 Hollingsworth and Woodson were sacked four times for 34 yards in losses. It wasn't a pretty sight. The Tide had 135 yards passing, but completed just 19 of 47 attempts.

The Nittany Lions, their offense struggling as well, managed 201 yards on 109 rushing and 92 passing. Alabama has now gone 11 consecutive quarters without scoring a touchdown. It didn't much matter last week when Tennessee was upset 9-6. But it mattered a lot Saturday as the darkness closed in on the Tide's historic arena. It mattered to the homecoming crowd of 70,123.

Boos rang out on several occasions as the Tide offense again and again found it impossible to go. The victory was Penn State's fifth in a row. The Nittany Lions, 5-2, are moving into position for a bowl bid. Alabama, which had a three-game winning streak snapped, is 3-4. The Tide cannot lose again before its Dec.

1 finale against Auburn and expect to receive a bowl bid. First-year head coach Gene Stallings could offer little insight about the offense, which sorely misses injured tailback Siran Stacy and receivers Craig Sanderson and Prince Wimbley. "We just couldn't ever get anything started," Stallings said. "We were like a car not hitting on all its cylinders. And we had too many turnovers." Hollingsworth, the SEC player HI By MICKEY WELSH'Stafl away from trouble nU i i 4F Gary Hollingsworth scrambles testis ffgaGc! sDOps Lew Qsiti of the year last season, was benched in favor of Woodson with 11:18 left in the third quarter.

Woodson, a junior who had never completed a pass at Alabama, still hasn't. He entered the game with Penn State leading 3-0. He threw the offense into reverse. He played four series. By the time Hollingsworth returned, Tom Bill had relieved Tony Sacca at quarterback for Penn State and it was 9-0.

"We wanted to give Danny a chance," Stallings said. "Even if he didn't move it, that wasn't going to be anything different than what was going on." Alabama's defense continued its aggressive ways, running its own streak to eight quarters without giving up a touchdown. But the defenders couldn't overcome the hole dug constantly deeper by their offensive teammates. The game was the last in the series between Alabama and Penn State. Senior defensive tackle George Thornton, who had six tackles and knocked down a pass, found it all hard to take.

"It's very hard to swallow coming off a big win like we had over Tennessee," he said. "We've just Please tee TIDE, 16B Hollingsworth disappointed, 4B Hash Marks. 4B Palerno likes defense, 5B Statistics. 5B By MARK MILLERStaff State's Tony Shell (19) V- ..4 "'v, Phillip Marshall Advertiser Sports Editor Tide joins not-so-select shutout club TUSCALOOSA Alabama and Rutgers have something in common. They are the only two teams shut out by Penn State this season.

The Nittany Lions brought a good defense to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. But it was a defense that gave up 17 points to Texas, 19 to Southern California, 21 to Syracuse and 21 to Boston College. Even Temple got 10. Penn State had pitched one shutout before Saturday, that in a 28-0 victory over the Scarlet Knights. Now it has two.

Alabama's hapless offense was worse than inept as Penn State carved out a 9-0 victory here Saturday. It was worse than bad. Alabama was shut out at Bryant-Denny for the first time since 1955, the infamous J.B. "Ears" Whitworth era. It was held to 6 yards rushing.

And that has never happened before to the proud Crimson Tide. Alabama has now gone 11 quarters without a touchdown. It has scored but one touchdown in the last 13 quarters. Going into this season, it was the offense that was supposed to carry Alabama's heaviest load. The defense was young and rebuilding.

After seven games, the defense is the Southeastern Conference's best. The offense is on the other end of that spectrum. It hurt when tailback Siran Stacy and receivers Craig Sanderson and Prince Wimbley were lost for the season with injuries. That comes up every week. But that alone doesn't explain what has happened to Alabama's offense.

There is no running attack to speak of. Hollingsworth, a great player last season, looks lost. Goodness knows, Danny Woodson isn't the answer. He threw the Tide into reverse when he got his chance Saturday. What happened to the Alabama attack troops here Saturday was downright embarrassing.

Defensive players tried hard to be understanding, relying on the time-worn adage that teams win together and lose together. The fans weren't so kind. They booed the offense lustily several times. "Sometimes you get angry," cornerback George Teague admitted. "A defensive player begins to think that if the offense can't score, we can't let them score.

"You think it's only a matter of time, that the offense is going to move down the field and score some points. It's hard to explain what happens. Or what doesn't happen." Quarterback coach Mai Moore, the offensive coordinator without the title, shook his head sadly- "We felt we had a good scheme, a good plan for them," Moore said. "They did a good job." Yes, they did. And Alabama offered plenty of help in the form of five interceptions and a fumble.

Even when receivers were open, passes often hit the artificial turf far away from human hands. Alabama couldn't run. Alabama couldn't throw. "We got whipped on the line of scrimmage," Alabama head coach Gene Stallings said. "When you can't run and you have to throw on every play, you are in trouble," Especially if you don't throw it any better than Alabama does.

Alabama can't lose again before its finale against Auburn and hold out any hope for a bowl bid. That's not an impossible situation. It would mean winning at Mississippi State, beating LSU here and Cincinnati in Birmingham. But there are no guarantees. When you can't find the end zone, it's very dificult to beat anybody.

"I'm disappointed, but I'm realistic enough to know we are going to have to play our best to have a chance," Stallings said. "We're not going to blow 'em out. We're not a good enough football team to do that." A week ago, it didn't matter that Alabama had not scored a touchdown against Tennessee. The Vols had been beaten 9-6 and all seemed right with the world. Saturday night, Alabama was once again a team looking shakily at an uncertain future.

V'V yr 1 p'. Alabama is shut out for the first time at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 35 years By PHILLIP MARSHALL Advertiser Sports Editor TUSCALOOSA Penn State slung Alabama's offense around Bryant-Denny Stadium like a rag doll here Saturday. With all the nation watching on ESPN, the Tide's offense reached a low point in a season of low points. The Nittany Lions never let the Crimson Tide sniff at a touchdown. And they flew away to Pennsylvania with a 9-0 victory, the first time Alabama has been shut out at Bryant-Denny since Texas Christian won 21-0 here on Oct.

8, 1955. One Alabama scoring opportunity died when a 43-yard Philip Doyle field goal sailed wide inthe first quarter. Another died when Kevin Turner fumbled at the Penn State 20 late in the second quarter. There would be no more. Penn State freshman Craig Fayak kicked field goals of 34, 50 and 34 yards.

It was more than enough. So dominant was the Penn State defense that Alabama managed just 6 yards rushing, an all-time low. Gary Hollingsworth was intercepted four times and reliever- Danny Woodson once. Alabama State finished with 211 rushing yards and 182 yards passing, while Alabama finished with 108 and 198, respectively. It was the fourth straight win for the Hornets, who improved to 5-2-1.

Alabama fell to 4-5. "Downtown" Reggie Brown led the Hornets in receiving with seven catches for 73 yards and one touchdown, while Horace Brooks caught three for 66 yards and one touchdown. "They had a lot of different routes where they were mismatched." said Brown, who gave the Hornets an early lead with a brilliant catch from 3 yards out with 10:16 lea in the second quarter. "They put a linebacker on me at times, and we just tried to exploit that. We do the two-minute offense every day at practice.

Everyone just came out on that last drive and had a lot of confidence. They were making the right decisions." Alabama retaliated with a 1-yard run by Terrance Cooper in the second quarter. The extra point was blocked, and the Hornets led 7-6 with 8:56 lea. That score stood until the half. Please tee HORNETS, 16B Tuskegee rallies lor win, 16B Troy State tops UT-Martm, WB Auburn defensive "I caught it on about the 1," Wasden said, "and my momentum carried me into the end zone.

I looked over at the referee, and he didn't give me any indication, so I had to run it." That left Auburn with more than two minutes to kill, while Mississippi State had two timeouts left. Two Stacy Danley runs gained 8 yards, setting up a third-and-two at the 12. After a Mississippi State timeout with 1:46 to play, Danley plowed over right tackle for 4 yards and the first down. Auburn was then able to run out the clock with three more running plays. "The game turned out like I expected it," Auburn head coach Pat Dye said.

"I was hoping it wouldn't be quite that close at the end, but I knew this was going to be a hard-fought game." Mississippi State head coach Rockey Felker could find little fault with his team's effort. "I don't see how we could expect any more out of our players than the way they played today," Felker said. "It went down to the wire and we had our opportunities. If you look at all phases of it, we played well at all levels." Pleas aee AUBURN, 16B Danley enjoys playing time, 6B Hash Marks, 6B Felker defends decision to kick, 7B Statistics. 7B Darrel Crawford blocks an extra point attempt to help the Tigers escape with a 1 7-1 6 victory By MIKE CASON STARKVILLE, Miss.

The individual heroes were different, but the story was the same for the Auburn football team. Pushed to the brink of defeat by underdog Mississippi State, Auburn made another fourth quarter escape. This time the decisive blow was struck by Darrel Crawford's left hand. The Auburn linebacker blocked Joel Logan's extra-point attempt with 2:33 left in the game to preserve a 17-16 victory. Mississippi State had driven 80 yards in nine plays for a touchdown.

Before the ball was snapped on the extra-point attempt, Crawford felt he could block it. "Throughout the game, the few times they did kick it, I was getting through there," Crawford said. "I just kept overrunning the ball. He was kicking it by me. So I knew I had a chance to block it.

I thought, 'This is my opportunity. Don't blow He didn't blow it, but Auburn's escape still wasn't complete. On the ensuing kick-off, Shayne Wasden was tackled at his own 4-yard line after hesitating in the end zone. Wasden was uncertain if the official would allow him to drop to a knee for a touchback. tackle Jon Wilson (72) sacks ASU's Datie TLoD mraaEies a mraeinnioiralblle 'lassie' "Coach (John McKenzie) was calling the plays, I was putting them in, and Ricky was executing," Alabama State coach Houston Markham said.

"That's the easy way of putting it. "I told them during that last timeout that if we were going to go for the win no matter what. We weren't going to go for the tie." Jones, who completed 14 of 31 passes for 182 yards and rushed for 63 more on 12 carries, rolled to his right, and couldn't find an open receiver until Matthews came streaking back in the opposite direction. "It was great feeling that's all I can say," said Matthews, elated that his first collegiate touchdown catch couldn't have come at a better time. "That last drive was just plain hard work." Anthony Lewis led the Hornets in rushing with 90 yards on 14 carries, while Rico White followed with 83 yards on 17 carries.

"This is the kind of thing I live for," Lewis said. knew coming in that the Classic has always been hard faught. Both teams move up a notch. "The offense played pretty well, considering this is one of the best defenses we've faced all year. They kept changing the types of defense, and kept pressure on the quarterback." Eric Matthews catches game-winning touchdown pass with just 27 seconds left in the game By BRIAN BOURKE Advertiser Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM Alabama State tight end Eric Matthews stood on the 50-yard line of Legion Field.

He thrust his hands into the air, enjoying a world of his own. Matthews had just caught the game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback Ricky Jones, which gave the Hornets a 24-20 victory over Alabama in the 49th annual Magic City Classic. Matthews, a former Sidney Lanier standout, ate up every minute of the glory from the large, roaring crowd. Jones' 3-yard pass to Matthews with 27 seconds left capped a brilliant Alabama State drive that began on the Hornets' 20 with 6:03 remaining in the game. Alabama State, which was down 20-17 when the drive started, drove to the Alabama 3, before Jones was able to put the game away for the Hornets in front of a crowd of 58,000, the largest in series history.

ByJAYSAILORSSt.M Alabama State's Thomas Catchings, left, and Eddie Robinson stop Alabama Reginald Leslie short of the goal line.