Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 13

INSIDE: Scoreboard 2B NFL preview 3B College football Outdoors 5B Sunday, November 12, 1995 1B SPORTS Chuck Abadie, Sports Editor 584-31 10 Alan Hinton, Assistant Sports Editor 584-3136 A 544-8405 z3 kid at Mei Tipm snaps TIM DOHERTY r-TT- i .1 WHO: Southern Mississippi vs. Southwestern Louisiana WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Lafayette, La. 1 I .1 warn A Lift 3 IS things that were going." Little things? How about wild, crazy, things. Consider the sequence of the events that led to USM's game-clinching touchdown: Trailing 10-6, Memphis forces a punt from UM's 43-yard line, only to watch Chris Pierce's kick bounce off the back of UM cornerback Keith Cobb.

The ball is recovered by USM linebacker Lytrell Pollard at UM's 17. During the play, linebacker T.J. Slaughter, who set up USM's first touchdown by blocking Mike Coughlin punt in the first quarter, gets into an altercation with a Memphian and is thrown out of the game. USM loses 15 yards on the unsportsmanlike penalty. On third-and-five, tailback Chris Buckhalter and receiver Fred Brock botch the handoff on a reverse.

The ball is accidently kicked 28 yards downfield, where linebacker Cedric Miller picks it up and gains another 10 yards before being tackled at USM's 38. After Jimmy Keith's 29-yard field goal cuts it to 10-9, Drew Pairamore kicks off to Buckhalter, who returns to USM's 22. Memphis is flagged for offside. Pairimore kicks again to Buckhalter, who drops the ball, watches it bounce right back in his hands and then zips 71 yards down to UM's 4-yard line before being tackled. Buckhalter fumbles the handoff from Chris Windsor on the first play, and Marquis Bowling recovers at the 6.

Quarterback Qadry Anderson, who scored on a 4-yard run The Associated Press GOT IT: Richard Hogans (14) of Memphis blocks a pass by USM's Heath Graham (6) on Saturday. Eagles take 1 7-9 victory By TIM DOHERTY AMERICAN Sports Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. They call this annual gathering between the University of Southern Mississippi and the Univerity of Memphis the "Black-and-Blue Game." Saturday's edition was about as adorably huggable as a full-body bruise. USM had to overcome its own mistakes as well as the Tigers, but thanks to an aggressive that resembled the swarm of 1994, the Golden Eagles prevailed 17-9 before 11,503 at the Liberty Bowl. "I don't know how many total turnovers we had (five), but we shot ourselves in the foot time after time on offense," USM coach Jeff Bower said.

"You have to give a lot of credit to our defensive football team for making things happen and making the big plays when we really needed them." Which basically turned out to be all day long as USM (5-5) snapped a 3-game losing streak. USM had 183 yards of offense, the second straight week it did not crack the 200-yard plateau. Worse, USM lost five fumbles and Heath Graham tied a school record by throwing his 17th interception of the season. But the Tigers (3-7) could do even less against USM's defense. Memphis piled up 138 total yards, lost four fumbles and threw an interception.

"It was the second straight week that the offense didn't really play good, but we just hung in there with them," USM linebacker Marchant Kenney said. "Everybody was trying to keep their heads up with all the little Alabama squeezes Bulldogs By Gannett News Service TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Alabama used to win with kicking and defense. The kicking game took a day off Saturday, but the defense more than compensated in a 14-9 victory over Mississippi State. No.

16 Alabama survived three missed field goals, a bad punt snap that led to a safety and a four-yard pop-up punt. None of that mattered on a day the Crimson Tide held the Bulldogs to 135 yards total offense, State's poorest offensive showing in Jackie Sherrill's five seasons as coach. Alabama's offense didn't score much, but it played keepaway to perfection. The Tide moved the ball slowly down the field, then missed a field goal or flubbed a punt, or, on two occasions, scored in the third quarter, fades back into his end zone to pass. Defensive end Tim Bell is charging up the middle and linebacker Eugene Harmon is coming in from the side.

Just before he is buried, Anderson tries to hit Chancy Carr on the left sideline. Instead, USM cornerback Derrick Hervey returns his first interception of the season for a touchdown. Locklear's fumble and LT Gul-ley's recovery. Even when Memphis got it right, it got it wrong. Trailing 10-0, Graham was hit and fumbled at his 9.

Two plays later Anderson cracked in to cut USM's lead to 10-6, but Robert Brown blocked blocked the PAT. USM summary, 2B All this took place over a span of 3 minutes in the third quarter. "It was messing with my mind a little bit," Buckhalter said. 'The whole game felt kind of whacky to me." Indeed. Memphis opened the game by missing a 38-yard field goal and after recovering a fumble at USM's 30, promptly gave the ball right back on Robby LSU clobbers Ole Miss, 38-9 What a day, what a game for the Eagles MEMPHIS, Tenn.

Ahhh, to be alive and well for a glorious afternoon of college football on the banks of the Mississippi River. Forty-one degrees at kickoff, with a nippy little bite in the air that dropped the mercury to a cozy, wind-chilled 16 degrees. I The Liberty Bowl welcomed 11,503 brave souls who decided to catch a preview of Conference USA football. Southern Miss-Memphis. Nine fumbles.

Two interceptions. Eleven turnovers. A blocked punt. A blocked extra point. Thirteen penalties for minus 99 yards.

Oh yes, and two major scuffles, including one where a Memphis player alledgedly took a poke at a USM assistant coach, i Of course, that only came after the UM player was rudely pushed into USM's bench and somebody kind of hit him. That started the jawing that continued the rest of the afternoon and resulted in the occasional hand-to-hand spat. One flared into a bit of nastiness that earned USM freshman linebacker T.J. Slaughter an early view from the bench and meant the end of his rookie season, thanks to the NCAA's automatic, one-game suspension concerning such things. "I think what you had was two really frustrated teams playing out there," USM linebacker Marchant Kenney said.

Yes, you probably did, and watching the game film won't help relieve any stress. USM rolled up 183 yards total offense, an unseemly 80 by passing. Memphis went for 138 total, a stunning 57 on the ground. Nice defense, so it's only fitting that the play of the game came courtesy of USM cornerback Derrick Hervey. His 15-yard interception return for a score boosted the Eagles to their 17-9 win.

No ugly wins There are ugly wins, and then there are as USM coach Jeff Bower put it, "a beautiful, ugly win." Indeed, Saturday was like one of those lunkers you drag up from the deepest part of the lake. If USM hadn't needed this win so badly, it might have been tempted to throw it back. "Man, we were hungry after going without a win in a month," USM cornerback Rod Thomas said. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and was a needed about-face after the 42-0 wash against Tennessee the week before. One more time In its simplest terms, the win gives the Golden Eagles an opportunity for a winning season.

This was not the golden apple that USM had in mind when it started practice this summer. Visions of bowls and maybe-one-of-the-best-seasons-in-USM-history were being mentioned. But after four horrifyingly close losses and a rout at the hands of one of the best teams in the land, the Golden Eagles have little else to play for. "We're playing basically for pride and that winning season," Thomas said. "But I'll tell you what, I think we showed we can handle adversity, and we've had to handle plenty of that all year." Yes, they have, so maybe a sense of justice was served Saturday.

After all the games that the Eagles have looked pretty and lost this season, maybe it was time they won ugly. Tim Doherty is a sports writer for the American. He can be reached at 584-3107. WHO: Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State WHEN: 1:30 p.m.

Nov. 25 WHERE: Starkville tS I. ..4 Freshmen key win over Rebs By Gannett News Service BATON ROUGE, La. The Ole Miss Rebels came to the unfriendly confines of Tiger Stadium Saturday night hoping to clinching a winning season with a victory over Louisiana State. They didn't come close.

LSU ripped Ole Miss, 38-9, on a chilly night before 78,246 at the stadium known as Death Valley. Now they must regroup and finish strong two weeks from now in an even less friendly environment: Mississippi State's Scott Field. Mississippi fell to 5-5 overall and 2-5 in the conference. The Rebels are seeking their first winning record since 1992. Ole Miss scored first, on a 37-yard field goal by Tim Montz.

But LSU dominated the rest of the game, whipping the Rebels up front on both sides of the ball. "We just didn't physically match up with them," said Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville. 'They out-physicaled us. They manhandled us." LSU ended with 521 total yards, its best this season in an Southeastern Conference game. It was the most yards allowed by Ole Miss and most points scored against the Rebels since Auburn racked up 526 yards in the season-opening 46-13 victory.

The Rebels didn't come close to scoring until 6:45 remained, when they trailed by 35 points. Defensively, they spent the night trying to catch up with the future of the LSU program: Tailback Kevin Faulk, quarterback Herbert Tyler and fullback Kendall Cleveland. Those three freshmen had a The Associated Press UP AND OVER: Dennis Riddle of Alabama goes over Mississippi State's Paul Lacoste (20), Eric Daniel (29) and Eric Dotson (98) during action Saturday at Tuscaloosa. hand in all five Tiger touchdowns. Faulk ran for 159 yards on 23 carries, and scored on a 56-yard screen pass and 24-yard run.

Tyler, starting in place of injured Jamie Howard, completed 13 of 23 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 43 yards and a TD. Cleveland gained 84 yards and scored on a 20-yard run. The Rebels couldn't stop talking about Faulk. Tuberville was equally impressed with Tyler.

"They've blocked people all year long, but the quarterback gave them something extra," Tuberville said. "He's a running threat. I much rather would have played against the other quarterback." Faulk ran hard inside, turned the corner on sweeps and made Rebels miss him in the secondary. "Faulk's the kind of running back you've got to get a hand on him in the first 5 yards," said Rebel safety Walker Jones. "Once he gets in the secondary, he's just too quick and fast.

No doubt about it, he's the best we've seen all year." Ole Miss starting quarterback Paul Head was ineffective, completing 11 of 23 pass attempts for 85 yards. Josh Nelson, the former starter, replaced Head and threw a 27-yard pass to LeMay Thomas for the Rebels' only touchdown. The Rebels ended with a season-low 262 total yards. State got just one first down the rest of the game. "We've always outphysicaled Alabama since I've been at Mississippi State," senior center Brian Anderson said.

"They didn't want to stand there and just take it, so to speak. They moved around. They made plays. They've got some great athletes over there." Mississippi State's lone touchdown came on a 4-yard pass from Derrick Taite to Eric Moulds. a touchdown.

It wasn glamorous or particularly pretty, but it helped limit Mississippi State to 41 offensive plays. Time of possession for the scoreless fourth quarter: Alabama, 11 minutes, 53 seconds; Mississippi State, 3:07. On a field better suited for synchronised swimming than football, Alabama's Dennis Riddle showed he could run on water. Riddle ran for 181 yards and both Tide touchdowns. He carried the ball 38 times on a day so cold and windy there were thousands of no-shows at sold-out, Bryant Denny Stadium.

"I knew we wouldn't throw the ball a lot because of the weather," Riddle said. "Because it rained (Friday), I thought I would get the ball a lot." Mississippi State, 3-7 overall, 1-6 in the Southeastern Conference, led 9-0 in the second quarter and 9-7 at halftime. But Alabama scored the go-ahead touch- down on the opening drive of the third quarter, and Mississippi State went scoreless on its three second-half possessions. Alabama (8-2, 5-2) made a key stop in the third quarter on fourth-and-one from the Tide 38. Frahn D'Anjou took the handoff and had nowhere to run.

Cedric Samuel hit him for a 2-yard loss. If Samuel hadn't stopped D'Anjou, several other Tide players could have. 'The biggest play in the game," Sherrill said. "We had an opportunity to be in the game. We had an opportunity to move the ball down the field.

Our linemen did not hear the snap count, and they beat us off the football." That happened with 3:21 left in the third quarter. Mississippi 1 WHO: Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Nov. 25 WHERE: Starkville ON TV SCOREBOARD AHEAD IN SPORTS Show), WLOX.

2 p.m. Miss. State (Jackie Sherrill Show), WLOX. 3 D.m. NFL Southern Cal at Oregon State, late JuCo championship game Hinds 12, Itawamba 7 BASKETBALL College-men Athens State 107, Wm.

Carey 97 NBA Orlando 94, Miami 93 Charlotte 123, Toronto 117, OT New Jersey 86, Sacramento 84 Atlanta 113, Dallas 100 Houston 119, Minnesota 97 Chicago 110, Portland 106 Seattle 117, Vancouver 81 L.A. Lakers at Golden State, late NBA summaries, 2B Nebraska 41 Kansas 3 Ohio State 41 Illinois 3 Northwestern 31, Iowa 20 Florida State 28, North Carolina 12 Kansas State 49, Iowa State 7 Colorado 21, Missouri 0 Texas 52, Houston 20 Michigan 5, Purdue 0 Virginia 21, Maryland 18 Oregon 17, Arizona 13 Virginia Tech 38, Temple 16 Washington 38, UCLA 14 Syracuse 42, Pittsburgh 10 Clemson 34, Duke 17 Wyoming 34, S.D. State 31 9:30 a.m. Running (New York City Marathon), ESPN2. 1 1 :40 a.m.

NASCAR Auto Racing (Winston Cup, Napa 500, at Atlanta), ESPN. Noon NFL Football (Indianapolis at New Orleans), WDAM. Noon NFL Football (Chicago at Green Bay), WXXV. Noon NCAA Football (Miss. State at Alabama, replay), SportS-outh.

1 p.m. Ole Miss (Tommy Tuberville Show), WLOX. 1 :30 p.m. USM (Jeff Bower FOOTBALL State scores USM 17, Memphis 9 Alabama 14, Miss. State 9 LSU 38, Ole Miss 9 Alabama State 56, MVSU 28 Jackson St.

68, Prairie View 0 Delta State 14, Miss. College 0 SEC scores Vanderbilt 29, La. Tech 6 Kentucky 33, Cincinnati 14 Arkansas 24, SW Louisiana 1 3 Auburn 37, Georgia 31 Florida 63, South Carolina 7 Top 25 scores Monday: NFL report Tuesday: USM news conference Wednesday: Prep predictions Thursday: Playoff preview Friday: NBA roundup LET'S HEAR FROM YOU To submit items for Sports, send them to Chuck Abadie, Hat-tiesburg American, P.O. Box 1111, Hattiesburg, MS 39403 or fax them to 583-8244. Football (San Francisco at Dallas), WXXV.

4 p.m. Senior PGA Golf (Senior Tour Championship, final round), ESPN. 4 p.m. CFL Football (Playoffs, second round), ESPN2. 6 p.m.

NFL Football (Denver at Philadelphia), ESPN..