The Jackson Sun from Jackson, Tennessee • 35

SECTION SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1991 JACKSON, TENN. Bama survives against Memphis St. in the period on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jay Barker to Kevin Lee and a 21-yard field goal by Matt Weth-ington. But sixth-ranked Alabama's offense did little after that offensively against an aggressive, risk-taking Memphis State defense. "Our defense played very well, and our whole team played hard," said Tiger coach Chuck Stobart "I think this team deserved to have more good things happen to it" Memphis State kicker Joe Allison missed two second-half field goals, either of which would have tied the game.

The win solidifies a berth for Ala bama in the Blockbuster Bowl in Miami. The Tide ends the regular season next week against state rival Auburn. Meanwhile, Memphis State will look back on a season that never quite reached the promise apparent in that September upset in Los Angeles. "I think it's a mental thing," said sophomore linebacker Danton Barto. "We've been losing for a lot of years, and we have to believe that we're going to win.

"I hope this game and this season help us understand that we're a good football team." The Tigers were not quite good enough to capitalize on three key sec- SCOPES FOOTBALL Area colleges Cumberland 23 Lambuth 8 West Georgia 56 Lane 8 No. 7 Alabama 10 Memphis St. 7 SEC No. 5 Florida 35 Kentucky 26 No. 10 Tennessee 36 Ole Miss 25 Georgia 37 Auburn 27 Mississippi St.

28 LSU 19 Top 25 No. 2 Miami 17 No. 1 Florida St. 16 No. 3 Washington 58 Oregon St6 No.

4 Michigan 20 No. 25 Illinois 0 No. 6 California 25 Arizona St. 6 No. 8 Penn St.

35 No. 12 Notre Dame 13 No. 9 Iowa 38 Northwestern 13 No. 1 1 Nebraska 38 Iowa St. 13 No.

13 Texas 13 Arkansas 3 No. 14 E. Carolina 24 Va. Tech 17 No. 15 Clemson 40 Maryland 17 No.

16 Colorado 30 Kansas 24 No. 17 Syracuse 38 Boston College 16 No. 18 Ohio St. 20 Indiana 16 No. 1 9 Oklahoma 2 1 Oklahoma St.

6 Texas Tech 31 No. 20 Baylor 24 No. 22 Stanford 49 Washington St. 14 No. 24 N.C.

State 32 Duke 31 BASKETBALL Men Faulkner 118 Freed-Hardeman 71 Jackson St. 101 Cleveland St. 87 Bethel 124 Williams Baptist 97 Union, Ky. 71 Union 63 Women Cleveland St. 72 Jackson St.

63 Freed-Hardeman 72 Bluff 60 Bethel 78 Williams Baptist 73 NBA Dallas 91 Phoenix 88 San Antonio 106 New York 89 Cleveland 127 Indiana 117 Orlando 102 New Jersey 100 Charlotte 118 Boston 109 Denver 122 Portland 111 Miami 120 Milwaukee 116 IM1HEMEWS DoftftD eg mflgiifi 1-4 hf' It ond-half opportunities. On their second possession of the third quarter, they lost a superb scoring opportunity through penalty. With a fourth-and-12 from the Alabama 35, backup punter Andy McWil-liams was sent in, and instead of punting, threw to Eric Nelson at the 9. But the play was nullified by penalty. The signal on the field was illegal procedure, but Stobart said he was told by officials that a Memphis State player was lined up in the neutral zone.

"I'll have to look at it on the film" said Stobart "It was a play we worked Please see BAMA, 4D Miami rally knocks off Florida St. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) After 59 minutes and 45 seconds of sweat, struggle and fierce fighting, the battle between top-ranked Miami and No. 2 Florida State came down to this one foot Gerry Thomas' 34-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right by the length of a football with 25 seconds left Saturday, giving Miami a heart-pounding 17-16 victory and a solid shot at its fourth national championship in nine years. It was the fourth time in the last five years that Miami (9-0) probably spoiled the Seminoles' (10-1) bid for their first national title.

But this may have been the most painful loss of all for Florida State. Thomas, a walk-on sophomore who had made all three of his previous field goal tries in the game, walked onto the field with Florida State facing a third-and-nine from the Miami 17. When he kicked the ball, the outcome was in doubt for a few agonizing seconds until the official under the goalposts made the no-good signal. That triggered a wild celebration by Miami players, who threw their helmets in the air, ran onto the field and hugged each other for several minutes. The Hurricanes were penalized for the display, but it didn't matter.

Quarterback Gino Torretta kneeled down to kill off the final seconds, then rose and threw the ball skyward as Florida State fans in the record crowd of 63,442 at Doak Campbell Stadium sat in stunned silence and Miami supporters chanted "We're No. 1." The victory snapped Florida State's 16-game winning streak and extended Miami's to 15, now the longest in the nation. It was the 26th meeting between the nation's two top-ranked teams, with No. 1 now holding a 17-7-2 edge. It was also Miami's eighth consecutive win over No.

1 teams dating back to 1981. Florida State took a 16-7 lead on Thomas' 20-yard field goal with 14:22 remaining in the game. But Miami rallied to move ahead 17-16 on a 45-yard field goal by Carlos Huerta with 9:48 left and a 1-yard TD run by Larry Jones with 3:01 remaining. Aided by a pass interference penalty on Miami's Ryan McNeil, Florida State then drove 53 yards to the Hurricanes' 17 in the closing seconds. Rather than risk a mistake on third-and-nine, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden sent Thomas in right away to attempt his fourth field goal.

The kick would have been good last year, before the goalposts were narrowed by almost five feet But with the new rule, it sailed a dozen inches wide. Bowl picture gets clearer, 5D By Gordon Trowbridge Sun sports reporter MEMPHIS Alabama and Southern Cal are side by side in terms of college football tradition. Saturday, the storied Crimson Tide nearly gained another distinction in common with the Trojans: an embarrassment at the hands of Memphis State. Alabama survived a scoreless but hardly scare-less second half to take a 10-7 win at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, spoiling the host Tigers' hopes of pulling a shocker to equal their season-opening surprise of USC. The 9-1 Tide led 10-0 with 5:24 left Tennessee tailback James Ole Miss defenders Kevin Stewart sparks By David Selgerman Sun sports reporter KNOXVILLE Somehow, the nickname "Little Man" doesn't seem to fit James Stewart anymore.

In fact, Stewart turned out to be nothing less than Tennessee's main man Saturday afternoon. The 19-year-old tailback from Morristown, demolished Mississippi's defense for 215 yards on 38 carries the best performance by a true freshman in school history as the lOth-ranked Volunteers posted a 36-25 victory. The Vols improved to 7-2 overall, 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference, and have apparently secured a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. Officials from the New Year's Day bowl are expected to extend invitations to Tennessee KNOXVILLE They will make it official today, but Tennessee's Volunteers are already in a festive mood over next month's trip to the Fiesta Bowl. A 2 p.m.

CST press conference has been scheduled today on The Hill to announce that Tennessee accepts an invitation to play Penn State on New Year's Day at 3:30 p.m. CST in the Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, just By Dan Morris south of Phoenix. Saturday's 36-25 Sun sport editor victory over Ole Miss, made certain the Vols' major bowl bid would stand, and Fiesta officials were obviously delighted. "We're talking about two Top 10 teams with two national-championship coaches," said Chuck Johnson of the Fiesta Bowl. "Penn State will likely have 10 wins and Tennessee nine, and by bowl time we might have two of the highest-ranked teams." 'fa If Associated Press Stewart evades Gary Abide (52) during Saturday's Volunteer Ingram (54) and victory, 35-26, in Knoxville.

Fiesta-bound Vols past Ole Miss both Tennessee and Penn State today at a 2 p.m. CST press conference. "I knew I was going to get some playing time, but I figured me and Aaron (Hayden) would split the time. I never expected to carry this many times," said Stewart, who recalls rarely carrying more than 17 times a game during his high school career. After Hayden another true freshman tailback and the team's leading rusher was forced to the sidelines in the first quarter with a leg injury, the load was placed squarely on Stewart's shoulders.

Little Man responded in a big way. His 38 carries were three short of a school single-game record, held by former Munford standout Johnnie Jones. Stewart's 215 yards 74 Bonilla talks with Phillies PHILADELPHIA (GNS) The Philadelphia Phillies' brass met with free agent Bobby Bonilla here Saturday and, after making what general manager Lee Thomas said was "a competitive offer," feel that Bonilla could indeed wind up in Phillies pinstripes next spring. "It was a good meeting," Thomas said Saturday night after Bonilla had departed to meet the next suitor on his $25 million whistlestop, the New York Mets. "(Club president) Bill Giles and I showed him around, showed him some areas and talked about the ballclub.

We took him to see Lenny Dykstra and where Lenny lives and I think Bobby was impressed." After meeting with the Mets, Bonilla has meetings scheduled with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St Louis Cardinals and California Angels. Several other Interested teams have yet to make the1 itinerary. TCAC tournament set at Oman Arena The sixth annual Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference Commissioner's Basketball Tournament will be played Thursday though Saturday at Jackson's Oman Arena. i Action begins at 1 p.m. Thursday when Christian Brothers faces Belmont's men.

At 3 Bethel meets Trevecca. Top-seeded David Lipscomb faces Cumberland at 7 and at 9 Union challenges Lambuth. The semifinals are set for Friday and the championship is set for Saturday. For ticket information, call Rick McCormick David Blackstock at Union University at 668-1818. USA TODAY Sports Hotline 1-900-773-6000 USA TODAY Sports Hotline gives you all the scores of all the teams updated every five minutes.

Just call the 900 number and follow your favorite team, whether you're home or away. Remember: 1-900-773-6000 05 cent per minute. Touchtone callers only. TO CALL TH1 EDITOR Sports Editor Dan Morris can be reached bv calling 427-3333, Ext. 134.

In West Tennessee outside Madison County, readers can call toll-free 1-800-372-3922. Tri more than his previous career high of 141 set against Auburn represent the eighth-best rushing performance in Volunteer history. "When Aaron's in the game, he has a job to do. When I'm in there, I have to do my job. I have to be ready when they call my number," said Stewart The Vols called Stewart's number almost exclusively in the second halfTennessee led 19-0 at halftime, thanks to a safety, a blocked punt recovered in the end zone, a John Becksvoort field goal and Stewart's first touchdown of the day.

UT opened the third quarter on its 28-yard line when Stewart went to work. He carried seven times for 44 yards, including a 5-yard scam-Please see VOLS, SD people, but we weren't following through with our blocks." Tennessee led 19-0 at intermission, but it should have been more. The Vols failed to score two times in the first half after moving inside the Rebels' 20 twice, missing field goal attempts of 39 and 34 yards. In the second half, Tennessee netted 217 of its 343 total rushing yards, thanks mainly to a sensational effort by true freshman James Stewart He netted 147 of his 215 yards in the second half. The total was the most ever gained by a true freshman at UT.

After Ole Miss pulled within 11, the Vols made certain of their win by eating up the game's final 6:02 with their last possession. Eleven of the final 12 plays were rushes. "It was important for us to end it that way," said Fisher. "We wanted to eat up the clock. I can't believe Ole Miss didn't use their timeouts.

It seemed like they just gave up." Ole Miss, 5-5, likely blew its chance of landing a berth in the Liberty Bowl against Air Force. The Rebels have lost four straight and end their season set for bowl festivities to begin Saturday at Mississippi State. Tennessee's defense spread the tackles among them. The Vols' top tackier was lineman Shazzon Bradley with four. Senior linebacker Earnest Fields of Milan netted three stops.

He had two of the day's best plays on consecutive snaps in the third quarter. Fields temporarily put Rebel quarterback Tom Luke out of action with a jarring sack for a five-yard loss at the UT 27. And on the next play he blocked a third-down pass attempt "I knew we were going to put a little more pressure on the quarterback in the second half," Fields said. "But it was nice to get two in a row." Defensive end Kacy Rodgers of Humboldt netted two tackles and a bad turf burn on his right forearm, which was treated after the game. "It happened on our first series, and it's the worst burn I've had," Rodgers said.

"But it will be OK in about two weeks. "We're just happy to win and be going to a New Year's Day bowl. Now we want to close out with wins over Kentucky and Vandy." Tennessee, 7-2 and ranked 10th, has games remaining with Kentucky and Vanderbilt Penn State, 9-2 and ranked No. 8, ends its season Nov. 28 at Pittsburgh.

"The Fiesta Bowl is an outstanding place to go to," UT coach Johnny Majors said. "It's a great place to take a team. I've been there once in 1973 (with Pittsburgh), and I've always wanted to take a team back there." Tennessee fans are just happy their Vols will be playing on Jan. 1. At the end of October, after consecutive losses to Florida and Alabama, a 4-2 UT team stood on shaky ground.

But last week's dramatic come-from-behind victory at Notre Dame quickly restored Tennessee's prestige. That win also did wonders for the Vols' confidence. They still made numerous mistakes against Ole Miss, but the Big Orange knew they were in control the whole way. "In the first half we were more or less just running straight at them, the same plays over and over," said Tennessee center John Fisher of Milan. "We just weren't executing that well.

We were getting our hats on the right tin..