The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 33

college! scoreboard 4'. Florida State 41 6.Miami 56 14. UCLA 25 16.0klahoma 30 Arkansas 34 Mississippi State 17 Vandebilt 35 17 Georgia Southern 0 13.Tennessee 23 Syracuse 29 SMU 14 Memphis 6 Wake Forest 14 Michigan 34 8. Colorado 48 15. Texas 18 17.

(JSC 24 Georgia 24 Kentucky 20 20 -Boston College 26 Northeast Louisiana 13 LSU 13 23. Washington 17 South Carolina 21 Louisville 14 Tuskegee 8 11 11 1 -1 11 1 1 1 1 i i i i.i i MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER SUCTION SUNDAY September 4, 1994 i 11 lp OJNWD ofe Jim Johnston Sports Editor jlAuburn not jpominant, ust good i i XFORD, Miss. Terry Bowden's football teams do not specialize in crushing Goal-line stand allows Tigers to escape with 22-17 victory By Brian Bourke ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER OXFORD, Miss. As the game wore on, the magic that seemed to be present during Auburn's dream season of 1993 seemed to be fading fast. But Chris Shelling and the 12th-ranked Tigers had a different outlook on the situation.

The momentum in Saturday's season-opening Southeastern Conference game between Auburn and Ole Miss had clearly shifted in favor of the Rebels. It was late in the fourth quarter, and Joe Lee Dunn's team seemed to have turned things around. They trailed by five points and were threatening to score. But at that point, the question on Shelling's mind wasn't if someone was going to make a big play. It was who would be the one to make that big play.

"We knew we were better than them the whole game and we never thought differently," the Auburn cornerback said after the Tigers held off a furious Ole Miss rally for a 22-17 victory here before a crowd of 41,239 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. "We knew someone was going to make the play." Shelling was right. With Ole Miss 9 yards away from taking a 23-22 lead, the Auburn defense came up with a way to" stifle a revitalized Ole Miss offense to preserve the Tigers' 12th consecutive win under second-year coach Terry Bowden. The Tiger defense held after the Rebels reached a first-and-goal at the 9-yard line. Then Shelling made sure he did his part by blocking a 30-yard field goal I I "Iheir opponents.

The Tigers didn't do it in 1993, and if Saturday's 22-17 season-opening victory over Ole Miss is any indication, they won't make anyone forget powerhouses Florida State or Ne y- braska in 1994, either. will entertain, thrill, bore and terrify you, all in the span of a 60-minute football game. The Tigers also will win ashey demonstrated before I MICKEY WELSHSTAFF Auburn's Stephen Davis uses a block from Leonard Thomas on one of his 33 carries. Davis rushed for 158 yards. Crimson Tide 1 i is Please turn to TIGERS, 12C Dean sets NCAA record in Florida's 70-21 victory By Fred Goodall ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER skins Moccasins 'L 5 239Jans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Quarterback Patrick Nix didn't make anyone forget Pat I Sullivan or even Stan White witfl his spotty, two-interception Saturday. The Auburn defense, even with eight starters returning, couldn't sus- 1 tain a dominating performance i for four quarters. The Tigers, coaches and play- ers, all made plenty of mistakes typipal of a season opener Jmt they won. Have you seen tliisJbotage before? Nix has. jj "Break out the tape," Nix said; "That's what we did last tr yeai and we went 1 1-0." Repeat of '93 J'Sturday's battle with Ole was a mirror-image of last year's season opener between Jthe same two teams at Stadium.

Auburn jumps out to a commanding lead and fob. k-s invincible. The Tigers then relax on defense and wax con-Cser-vjitive on offense. Ole Miss getiHback in the game. Then, the fTers make the plays they have td id order to grab the victory, pub.urn wins by four points.

Ayear later, the Tigers won JTbytve using an identical script Avith a few minor editing Insert former Prattville High School standout Scott Sta-VCey name in one hero's part af-, tdr the junior college transfer 13 to ever de-emphasize winning the ballgame. We were better than Chattanooga. It was not a real good game for us defensively down on the goal line a few times. We didn't play like we ordinarily play." In the beginning of the game, things couldn't have gone any more smoothly for Alabama. The Tide took the opening kickoff and used less than three minutes to drive the length of the field with senior tailback Sherman Williams grabbing the spotlight.

With over 12 minutes left to play, Williams took a pitch to the left, cut back right and raced 32 yards into the end zone for the Tide's first score of the season. For Williams, who rushed for a career-high 153 yards and two touchdowns, it was the beginning of a fruitful day. "I would say it was just an average (performance) because of the opponent," Williams said. "If we would have played a tougher team and I was able to do some of the same things, then I would Please turn to TIDE, 14C By Tommy Sims ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER BIRMINGHAM Opening the season with a Division I-AA opponent, Alabama coach Gene Stallings expected certain things to take place at Legion Field on Saturday. Heading into the second quarter, things couldn't have been going any better if they were scripted by Stallings.

The Crimson Tide had thoroughly dominated the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, scoring on its first three possessions to build a 21-0 lead. However, there the Tide stumbled, letting the outmanned Moccasins fight back and trim the lead to 21-13 before Alabama restored order to nature. After the letdown, Stallings put the Tide's first-team offense back into the game, and UT-Chattanooga never saw light again as Alabama routed the Moccasins 42-13. "I was pleased with the win," Stallings said. "I told the players right after the game I don't want GAINESVILLE, Fla.

Terry Dean showed why there's no quarterback controversy at Florida. The fifth-year senior, who considered transferring when he lost his job to Danny Wuerffel last September, threw an NCAA-record seven touchdown passes in the first half Saturday night to lead the top-ranked Gators to a 70-21 season-opening rout of New Mexico State. Dean completed 20 of 30 passes for 271 yards as his team scored on seven of eight possessions before coach Steve Spurrier called on third-stringer Eric Kresser to lead the last scoring drive of a 56-point half. "He's got a chance to be the best quarterback Iever coached," Spurrier said, "and he played like it tonight." Please turn to DEAN, 9C ,1 sacked Ole Miss quarterback Josh Nelson on third down and goal with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. Give cor-nerback Chris Shelling and free safety Brian Robinson supporting roles for a combination of big hits and big plays.

On offense, just insert Stephen Davis as James Bostic. Nothing has changed for Auburn since it defeated Alabama last November. -w Winning in the Southeastern Conference is not easy," Nix ANDY HAILSSTAFF Alabama's Brian Steger scores on a 19-yard touchdown run during the first quarter. Teammate Tarrant Lynch looks on. ''f-vA ASU nips UAB but pays price said.

"Any time you do that, I think it ought to make you hap- pyl I'm not happy with the way 1 played today, but I'm happy ihar we won." result 1 Auburn had lost a quar-J tcrback, its best running back, an All-American offensive linesman; and two defensive stars since the last time it played a football game. Yet, there was no difference in the outcome. The (Tigers won. 5vQne of these days, we're j' goirig to get unlucky," Bowden said. "I just hope it doesn't hap-j pen too soon." The nation's longest winning streak is now 12 games.

Auburn haatlot lost in the SEC under Bofyden's direction. The Tigers ha(e- been well-prepared for ev-I eryigame he has coached. 1 duck has nothing to do with it. Winning is now Auburn and Bowden's way. The Tigers just don't do it by Sorbinating.

punter Lemond Markham with 2:23 left. The Hornets kept possession and ran out the clock. Despite the momentum the Hornets got by whipping a UAB team that won nine games a season ago, it was costly. Early in the second quarter, the Hornets lost running back Vic Davis and quarterback Alcede Surtain on consecutive plays. Davis went down after cutting to make a first down and apparently has a partially torn anterior cruiciate ligament in his right knee.

On the next play, Surtain was blindsided during a sack by the Blazers' Robert Leslie and suffered a fractured right arm. Both could be lost for some time, if not for the remainder of the season. Despite those crucial losses, the Hornets won by coming from behind, something they did little of last year when they lost their first four games. But ASU coach Houston Markham said this is a different team. "Last year, we would have lost this game because we were one-dimensional," he said.

"We would have been down and all we would have was Rico White because we couldn't throw the ball." The Hornets proved, for one game at least, that they can throw the ball this year. Before he went down, Surtain had thrown for 107 yards on four-of-six passing, including a 43-yard completion to Reggie Barlow that set up the first Hornet score, a one-yard sneak by Surtain. His replacement, Savastin Henry, would come in and throw for 115 yards on 10-of-16 passing, the big blow being a 5-yard touchdown pass to Barlow early in the fourth quarter that started the Hornets on their comeback after they trailed the Blazers 24-13. Barlow was unstoppable, regardless of the thrower. He finished with 11 catches for 198 yards and a touchdown.

His 49-yard reception from Henry was Pleas turn to ASU, 9C By Kelvin Sims ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER The Alabama State Hornets are back in stride. But as delicious as it was in whipping Alabama-Birmingham 27-24 to open the season, it came at a cost. The Hornets scored two touchdowns in the final quarter, with senior Michael William's 39-year fumble return for a touchdown being the decisive points with 9:11 remaining. The Hornets overcame the losses of their starting quarterback and tailback both possibly finished for the season to whip the Blazers on Saturday night at Cramton Bowl in the first-ever matchup between the teams. The Hornets survived a missed Blazer field goal attempt with more than five minutes remaining that would have tied the game.

They then received more good fortune after the Blazers were hit with a 15-yard penalty for runnjng into .4 JULIE HUNTER-COBBSTAFF UAB's Eddie Sinclair, left, and Wayne White stack up Alabama State's Victor Davis. i 1 -1 i r-i.