Messenger-Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky • 13

BYU 24 BostonCol 24 31 UCLA 29 Tennessee 41 ..14 Syracuse 16 Indiana .....24 USC 10 Mississiooi .....17 rr Page 5 Page 5 Page 6 Page 5 Pag 2 Miss. St. ..16 LSU ..14 Page 2 EKU ..21 Florida ...14 Page 2 Ohio St. ..........21 Notre 44 Oklahoma 17 19 Murray St ..17 Michigan 6 PennSt 7 Nebraska 7 W.Virginia 17 WKU 16 PageS Page 6 Page 5 Page 6 Pag 2 SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18, 1984 PREP COLLEGE PRO AMATEUR MESSENGER-INQUIRERIB Gators get the glory UF takes SEC title with 25-17 win over Cats Florida whoops it up Fans cheer title, await SEC word FLORIDA 25, KENTUCKY 17 standing ovation for a Grade A performance against the team some think might be the best in the country. In the last two weeks the Gators, despite operating under the cloud of a recently imposed three-year probation by the NCAA, mashed Georgia and squashed LSU, the same two teams that mashed and squashed UK.

The general feeling was that Florida would kick Kentucky into the next county, and while kicking certainly played an important part in Florida's win, the Gators were pushed to the limit. "We could never get hold of the game," said Hall. "We had several opportunities. you must compliment the Kentucky defense. They played very well." Against UK the Gators scored only one touchdown and were forced to rely on the foot of Bobby Raymond.

Raymond tied his own SEC record by kicking six field goals. It was a game that had about everything and Kentucky contributed its share of the excitement. There was even a controversial play near the end of the game that went in Florida's favor. Had it not the Wildcats See GATORS7B By Steve Vied Messenger-Inquirer LEXINGTON It was simply a glorious day for the University of Florida here Saturday. To begin with, the Gators defeated a stubborn, gallant band of Kentucky Wildcats 25-17.

Then, when word came that LSU had been upset by Mississippi State, it meant that fifth-ranked Florida had won the Southeastern Conference championship for the first time in 52 years of trying. And if that wasn't enough, Marshall Criser, Florida's president, added to the celebration by announcing that interim head coach Galen Hall had been named the permanent head coach. "First of all I want to congratulate this team," Criser was quoted as saying in a statement released only minutes after the game ended. "They represented every Gator that ever played for the University of Florida today. They are a great, great bunch of Gators and I thought I 'd give them a little news today about the future to announce that Galen Hall is the permanent head coach." But while the Gators and their fans were celebrating with shouts of the defeated but far from vanquished Wildcats received a Florida 3 7 IS Kentucky 3 0 7 717 RaFG Raymond 30 Ky FGWortey50 RaFG Raymond 38 Fla FG Raymond 27 Fla FG Raymond 30 Ky-l.

Phillips 7 pass from Ransdell (Wonay kick) Fla Neal 9 pass from Bell (Raymond kick) RaFG Raymond 36 Ky J. Phillips 8 pass from Ransdeft (Woriey kick) Fla FG Raymond 43 A 52.823 Fla Ky Firs! downs 19 18 Rushes-yards 56-231 25-71 Passing yards 163 237 Return yards 2 9 Passes 11-18-1 20-37-2 Punts 1-48 4-33 Fumbles-tost 1-1 2-1 Penalties-yards 5-30 5-31 Time of Possession 35:44 24:16 INDIVIDUAL LEADERS RUSHING Florida, J.l. Williams 18-110. Hampton 19-78. Anderson 14-30.

Kentucky, Adams 14-60. Higgs 8-1 4. PASSING Florida, Bell 11-18-M63. Kentucky, Ransdell 18-35-2-189. RECEIVING Florida, J.L Williams 6-72, Nat-tie! 2-31.

Kentucky, Burbage 5-76, Deny 3-36. J. Phillips 4-35. Associated Press Kentucky's George Adams (33) appears to run over Florida's James Massey during a kick-off return in the second quarter of Saturday's Southeastern Conference game in Lexington. The Gators defeated the Wildcats 25-17.

When it rains, it pours KWC's strange season ends with loss to UE Associated Pratt GAINESVILLE, Fla. year" finally arrived Saturday, pumping frenzied Florida football fans through this college town's streets like orange blood flowing out of a fast-beating Gator heart. For 51 seasons, Gators fans have had to say "Wait 'Til Next Year" when it came to winning the Southeastern Conference championship. They finally got their wish Saturday when the Gators beat Kentucky 25-17 in Lexington. That clinched at least a tie for the title, and later in the day when Mississippi State defeated Louisiana State 16-14, the Gators were left all alone at the top.

As the Florida-Kentucky game ended, orange-clad fans swarmed the main streets surrounding the campus. Horns blasted and banners fluttered while people shouted "We're No. 1" and "This is history." The roving party, approximately moved to Florida Field around 6 p.m. CST when the team returned to campus. The players, many of them misty-eyed, entered the stadium while the rock standard "We Are The Champions" blared from loudspeakers.

The players tossed the fans packets of sugar, symbolic of the much-anticipated trip to the Sugar Bowl. When university President Marshall Criser and Galen Hall, the interim head coach who was made the permanent head coach Saturday, walked onto the field, the fans started chanting "Galen, Galen." "You want Galen," Criser asked over the public address system. "You want Galen you've got Galen. "There are people who've waited 52 years for this and you represent all of them tonight, every Gator who ever suited up and every fan who ever bought a ticket in this stadium," Criser said. Hall showed his normal understated style in his short speech.

"I want to tell you people this is one of the happiest days of my life," he said. "I'm very proud to be connected with this university and to lead this football team, they are a great bunch of athletes." Ike Cottingham, a longtime Gainesville resident and Gator fan, was among the mostly student-age crowd. He said he and his wife Barbara haven't missed a Florida home game in 20 years. "It's the greatest victory in the world, and we're happy we lived to see it," Cottingham said. "This made up for all the times we blew it." "We're the SEC champions whether they take it away or not," said John Lee, a student.

"We won it on the field." Cottingham had the final word on that subject. "They ain't gonna take it away," he said. "We'll sue 'em." I Iff'' 'u; Jl'v r.HA x'y Artsl 44 i By Rich Suwanski Messenger-Inquirer The saga of the Strange Kentucky Wesleyan Football Season came to a close Saturday with whatever force it is that hovers over this team saving its best, or worst, for last. Be it home or on the road, Wesleyan has been involved in some doozies this year. Saturday the strangeness took place at Rash Stadium, no friendly confines it.

Evansville won, 43-17, in the first annual Field Cup. Wesleyan has encountered bad weather, bad officiating, bad luck and bad play this season and, with the exception of the weather, it all came together for one last toast Saturday. The following sequence says enough; With Wesleyan trailing 30-17 early in the fourth quarter, Evansville quarterback Jim Vernasco backpe-daled 15 yards deep in his own territory to sucker the Panthers on a screen pass. But Wesleyan lineman George Cottrell intercepted the pass at the Evansville 8, headed for the end zone and got hit from behind short of the goal. 4 Mta, Bobby Roe, Messenger-Inquirer Bubby Lewis of Evansville has the ball knocked loose from his grasp as Wesleyan's George Cottrell (98) brings him down.

running back Don Austin had recov-ered and ruled a touchback. Evansville regained possession, first-and-10 at the 20. The ball popped loose into the end zone. A mad scramble ensued. When the play was finally blown dead, officials said that Evansville fensive team," said Wesleyan coach Billy Mitchell.

See KWC 7B "The officials said the ball was between the legs of one of our players, but that no one had possession of it so they gave the ball to the of Kentucky's weekend warriors are a promising lot STEVE VIED tefC. nth Was it ever some kind of weekend at the University of Kentucky. First it was the UK-China exhibition basketball game on Friday night and then the UK-Florida football game Saturday. Both ended happily. Oh, I know Kentucky lost the football game and everyone knew that China would be no match for the basketball Wildcats, irregardless of the fact that starters James Blackmon and Winston Bennett were out with worrisome injuries.

While exhibitions are usually forgotten before the lights in Rupp Arena cool off, the one Friday night was an exception. It will be remembered for the Brooklyn moves of from the mighty stand by the Wildcats. The bottom line Saturday was that Kentucky needed only to be respectable against the No. 5 Gators. No one wanted another loss like the two to Georgia and LSU.

But the Wildcats surprised everyone, probably themselves too. The game went down to the wire and anybody that left early risked missing a huge upset. Few did and even though the 'Cats fell short, few, if any. weredissappointed. UK coach Jerry Claiborne certainly wasn't.

"The players told me one thing: They'll lay it on the line," he said. That they did. team. As for Davender, he reminds me of, ah, well I'm not really sure. He's like no one I've seen in a while.

Let's just say Kentucky fans are going to like him. Put him and Blackmon in the backcourt and Kentucky won't need to feed it to the big man. Of course, how can you not feed it to Kenny Walker. Here's a prediction that Walker will lead the SEC in scoring this season, and maybe in blocked shots and rebounding. Here's another prediction: Kentucky will win the conference, with Lock in the middle 80 percent of the time.

Roger Harden will be the point guard for the most part, although he won't score much, and Blackmon and Davender will split time at the other guard position. Now for the football game. Against the best team that money can buy, the Wildcats were pure class. Their brightest moment had to be their goal line stand in the third quarter. With a 12-10 lead Florida was going after its first touchdown and seemed about to get it at the Kentucky 1-yard line.

But two dives over the line by running back John Williams were met head on and repelled. The Gators needed a foot for the first down and a yard for the TD and got neither. That UK quarterback Bill Ransdell was intercepted on the next play and Florida scored three plays later doesn't take away freshman guard Ed Davender and the Rick Robey-like tenaciousness of freshman center Robert Lock. Even basketball coach Joe Hall said that Lock, the 6-foot-9 California product, reminded him of the rugged, bulletproof Robey, he of the 1978 national championship.