The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 27

Missoulian, Monday, November 23, 1998 D5 SPORTS Badgers make most of second chance Division l-AA playoffs No. 1 Ga. Southern (11-0) No. 3 Richmond (9-2) Ho. 16 Colgate (8-3) No.

14 Lehigh (11-0) I 'I'm not sure anybody believed we could do it. We've i done it. We're going to tlie RoseBowL' Linebacker Donnell Thompson No. 9 Hampton (9-2) No. 11 Massachusetts (8-3) No.

6 McNeese St. (9-2) No. 8 Connecticut (9-2) MADISON, Wis. (AP) While waiting for the Rose Bowl invitation, the Wisconsin Badgers are parrying like it's 1999. Wisconsin's 24-3 victory over Penn State, combined with Ohio State's 31-16 victory over Michigan all but guaranteed the Badgers a trip to Pasadena for the Jan.

1 bowl games. That's barring a farfetched scenario occurring on the Bowl Championship Series. Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State all finished 7-1 in the Big Ten. The Badgers (10-1) will represent the conference in the Rose Bowl because Ohio State made the more recent appearance. Michigan, which played there last year, is out because of its 8-3 overall record.

The official invitation should come this week. "As far as I'm concerned, we're in," said coach Barry Alvarez, who took his team to the 1994 Rose Bowl. "I don't need anything official." Neither did his team, which moved up three spots to No. 10 in the poll. One gesture said it best.

After the Badgers recorded the most regular season wins in their 110-year history, 6-foot-7, 370-pound tackle Aaron Gibson held aloft a tiny red rose for team. "You know what? We have gotten to the point where we laugh at that," Alvarez said. "It's hard to win games in our league. People say Ohio State may have the best players, in the nation, yet someone in our league who was a heavy underdog (Michigan State) beat them. "I know how hard it is for gur guys to win, so people can criticize us all they want.

But it's gotten to be a joke with us," Alvarez said. "It's a relief and a thrill to be going to'the Rose Bowl." And they're going to their second Rosa Bowl in six seasons. "Everybody asks my why I came to Wisconsin," Burke said. "Now, they know why. I didn't come to go to the Outback Bowl or the Copper Bowl.

I came to go to the Rose Bowl." The Badgers blew their first opportunity, losing 27-10 at Michigan last week. But they knew they had a second chance when they heard the Ohio State score Saturday; with 5:31 left in a scoreless first quarter in Madison. rf "You don't get too many opportunities when you let one slide," Alvarez said. "To have it 7 offered to you again, we didn't want to let it slip." No. 7 Appalachian St.

(9-2) No. 5 Florida (10-1) all the screaming fans to see. "I couldn't wait to smell those roses," said defensive end Tom Burke, whose four sacks increased his national lead to 21, a Big Ten record. "I grew up on a farm, I only know what hay smells like." The only snag could be if the Buckeyes miraculously climb back into one of the top two spots in the BCS ratings and get a shot at the national title. But even if that were to happen, the prevailing sentiment from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is the Rose Bowl committee would still take the Badgers, who even announced their Rose Bowl ticket plan right after the game.

"Our people know we're going to be there," Alvarez said. "So, they can start making plans." Critics will say the Rose Bowl is getting the Big Ten's third-best No. 10 Tennessee St. (9-2) No. 12 Troy St.

(8-3) No. 15 Illinois St. (8-3) No. 13 Montana (8-3) Championship Chattanooga, Tenn. Dec.

19 denotes home team) No. 2 N-western St. (9-2) No. 4 W. Illinois (9-2) FROM PAGE D1 Tennessee holds on to No.

1 Associated Press Broncos Vikings Gram Bay 0 7 0 7 14 MlniMsota 10 10 0 8 28 First Quartar Min FG Anderson 35, 10:57. Min Hitchcock 58 interception return (Anderson kick), 12:23. Sacond Quartar Min FG Anderson 29, 8:37. 12 pass from Favre (Longwell kick), 2:38. Min Carter 4 pass from Cunningham (Anderson kick), :24.

Fourth Quartar T.Davis 2 pass from Favre (Longwell kick), 6:31 Min Moss 40 pass from Cunningham (Cunningham run), 2:17: A 64,471. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said, "but we kept our poise. Oakland 0 7 7 0 -14 Denver 3 14 0 23 40 First Quarter Den FG Etam 33, 7:24. Second Quarter Den Sharpe 7 pass from Elway (Elam kick). 9:53.

Den Davis 1 run (Elam kick), 12:13. Oak Dudley 29 pass from Hollas (Davis kick), :32. Third Quarter Oak Jett 14 pass from Hollas (Davis kick), 4:06. Fourth Quarter Den FG Elam 23, 123:37. Den R.Smith 28 pass from Etway (pass failed), 10:50.

Den Griffith 3 pass from Elway (Elam kick), 3:34. Den Hebron 3 run (Elam kick), 1 :23, A 75.931. Ohio State (10-1), with a 31-16 .7 win over Michigan, moved up two places to No. 5, followed by No. 6 Texas No.

7 Arizona, No. 8 Florida, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 10 Wisconsin. In the USA TodayESPN coaches' poll, the top five are Kansas State, Tennessee, UCLA, Florida State and Ohio State.

Tulane (10-0), the only other team with a perfect record, was 11 in the AP poll, followed by No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 14 Nebraska, No. 15 Michigan, 16 Virginia, No.

17 Georgia Tech, No. 18 Air Force, No. 19 Miami 1 and No. 20 Virginia Tech. Arkansas dropped four places after its second straight loss, 22-21 to Mississippi State, while the Wolverines also dropped four spots with the loss to Ohio State.

Miami, a 38-10 winner over Pittsburgh last Thursday night, improved three places. i Syracuse, which beat Temple 38-7, was No. 21, followed by No. 22 Oregon, No. 23 Penn State, No.

24 Missouri and No. 25 Mississippi State. GB 22 18-53 277 2- 21 1-17 1-15 31-39-1 3- 26 Tennessee is anything but rocky at the top. With a 59-21 victory over Kentucky, the Volunteers easily held their No. 1 ranking Sunday in The Associated Press' Top 25 college football poll.

Tennessee (10-0), with 42 first-place votes and 1,715 points, increased its slim lead of a week ago over No. 2 Kansas State. The Wildcats (1 1-0), who got past Missouri 31-25 on Saturday, had 24 first-place votes and 1,685 points from the 70 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel. Last week, the Vols led the Wildcats by eight first-place votes and 10 points. This week, the lead is up to 18 first-place votes and 30 points.

UCLA (10-0), 34-17 winners over Southern California, remained No. 3 with four first-place votes and 1,628 points. Florida State (1 1-1) moved up a spot to 4 after its 23-12 win over Florida (9-2), which fell four spots to No. 8 from a week ago. Oak Den 15 28 19-49 41-196 245 201 1-10 2-44 5-108 3-59 0-0 3-74 Continued way well, I'd better not say that, because Barry's played so much longer." Cunningham was 20-of-30 for 264 yards.

But he didn't get started until after he came out of the first quarter with a 10-0 lead despite no first downs by the Minnesota offense. Twice after Green Bay drew to within six points once in the second quarter and once in the fourth Cunningham drove Minnesota for scores, the second on a 49-yard TD pass to Moss with 3: 17 left that put the game away. "We know Brett is a great quarterback," Cunningham said. "But it makes a difference with all the talent we have here on offense. He has to score, but their defense has to stop us." In this case, it was the Minnesota defense that made a difference.

Continued "But the Broncos responded with fourscores. I Elway completed three passes a(d Davis had a 19-yard run, setting upUason Elam's 23-yard field goal on the third play of the final quarter for a 20-14 lead. Moments later, cornerback Ray Crockett intercepted a pass from Hollas, and Elway passed 28 yards to Rod Smith to make it 26-14. Defensive end Neil Smith's interception of a tipped pass at the Oakland 40-yard line set up Elway's 3-yard scoring pass to fullback Howard Griffith with 4:39 left. Safety Tyrone Braxton, subbing for the injured Eric Brown, returned another interception 72 yards to the Oakland 3, and Vaughn Hebron scored on the next play.

"The Raiders really came back "and made it a football game," First downs Rushes-yards Passing Punt Returns Kickoff Returns Interceptions Ret. Comp-Att-Int Min 15 21-92 248 0-0 2-47 1- 58 20-30-1 2- 16 0-6 7-50 27:49 First downs Rushes-yards Passing Punt Returns Kickoff Returns Interceptions Ret. Comp-Att-Int Sacked-Yards Lost Punts Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Time of Possession 20-35-3 18-26-0 Sacked-Yards Lost 3-2 9-48 32:11 Punts Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards 4-25 1-10 0-0 1-1 9-44 6-52 23:56 36 04 Time of Possession INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Green Bay, Holmes 16-51 Favre 2-2. Minnesota, Hoard 3-39, R.Smith 13-27, Cunningham 4-20, Palmer 1-6. RASSING Green Bay, Favre 31 -39-1-303.

Minnesota. Cunningham 20-30-1-264. RECEIVING Green Bay. Schroeder 7-93, Holmes 5-50, Henderson 5-23, Chmura 4-37, Freeman 3-46, T.Davis 3-19. Brooks 2-19.

Preston 1-13. Blair 1-3. Minnesota, Moss 8-153, Glover 3-38, Carter 3-28, Reed 3-18. R.Smith 2-10. Tate 1-17.

MISSED FIELD GOALS None. RUSHING Oakland. H.Williams 9-35. Kaufman 9-8, Hollas 1-6. Denver, Davis 31-162, Loville5-29, Hebron 1-3, Elway 4-2.

PASSING Oakland Hollas 20-35-3 270. Denver, Elway 17-25-0 197, R.Smith 1-1-0 14. RECEIVING Oakland. Mickens 4-86. T.Brown 4-65, D.Brown 3-38.

Kaufman 3-21 H.Williams 3-12. Dudley t-29. Jett 1-14, Ritchie 1-5. Denver, R.Smith 6-95. Sharpe 3-41 Davis 3-26, Green 2-1 7, Griffith 2-8, Elway 1-14, Nash 1-10.

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