The Independent-Record from Helena, Montana • 9

Monday, November 26, 2001 Section" ports fo) Sports Desk: 447-4070 lrsportshelenalr.com III Independent Record OW-lf hisati Griz will face From start to finish against SOU, the Saints had to battle the snow, which meant they had to go to their Fitzsimmons missed a pair of passes. Facing third-and-10, Emmert looked like he was in the latter stages short passing game rather than or the tirst halt rather than the A repeat of last years semifinal matchup last two minutes of a quarter- A3H final game. As he their running game. The Raiders nearly gave the Saints more than they could handle, but in the last 2:13 of the game, J.D. Emmert, who's no stranger to snowy conditions, calmly guided his Saints on an 11-play scoring back to pass he saw no one, 'n but he did see a rushing lane.

He sprinted for the first down marker, and just crossed it, giving his team 5 NWestern State in playoffs MISSOULA (AP) Montana football coach Joe Glenn wasn't too surprised his team drew Northwestern State of Louisiana in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA football playoffs. "We've got film traded already," Glenn said Sunday morning. "We'll begin work immediately." The teams traded film last week in anticipation of a first-round matchup. The game will be played Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Kickoff is at 12:05 spark.

A huge slant pass to Nick By SANDRA KELLY IR Sports Writer The Carroll College Fighting Saints will meet a familiar foe this Saturday when they travel to Georgetown, to take on the defending NAIA national champs, the No. 1 Georgetown Tigers in a NAIA semifinal game. The Tigers are undefeated this sea son, and are the Mid-South Conference champions. The Saints were narrowly defeated by the undefeated Tigers 28-21 in the semifinals last year, and a rematch with Georgetown has been in the back of their minds for most of the season. The Saints are coming off a cold, but exciting 16-13 win over the Southern Oregon Raiders.

drive that started at their own 31. Carrell, a receiver he's played Down 13-9 with little time remain ing, it's difficult for anyone to look confident, but Emmert did. He even looked calm after tight end Casey with for most of his life, put the Saints on the Raider 48. -2 More SAINTS, Bears 13, Vikings 6 sun on i Chicago defense stuns i Minnesota no p.m. The Big Sky champion Grizzlies (11-1) received the top seed in the play By DAVE CAMPBELL AP Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Buddy Ryan andjlis 1 "46" defense are long gone, but the Chicago Bears are back to their old ways: not budging r.rf when they don't have the ball.

Chicago's defense held the Minnesota 'All Vikings' often-potent offense without a touch- down Sunday night in a 13-6 It was the first time in 98 regular-season games the Vikings did not get into the end zone. The last Bfl ftra vd iriJ time the Vikings went without a TD was last January a 41-0 defeat to the New York Giants in the NFC championship. Culpepper, held without a TD pass 32 for the first time this season, completed 26 of a frA i i a.1 to passes ior zvt yarus ana an miereepuon. The division-leading Bears improved to 8-2 for the first time since 1991 as the Vikings (4- 6) fell four games back. With rookie Anthony Thomas inactive 1 because of a sore hamstring, James Allen.

rushed 27 times for 107 yards, 80 in the first half. He helped the Bears grind out the clock after the Vikings pulled within 13-6 on Gary Anderson's 21-yard field goal with 3:17 left. Reserve Leon Johnson's 34-yard burst through a big hole in the middle to the Vikings 4 set up his 1-yard scoring plunge in the second quarter that gave Chicago a 7-0 lead. The worst part for Minnesota was wasting a fine performance by its oft-exploited Jim Miller completed 10 of 21 passes for only 97 yards after throwing three TD passes r(? to Marty Booker last week against Tampa Bay. But the Bears' defense was stingy, remind' ing the struggling Vikings of those Ryan-led units on the dominant Bears teams of the 9 1980s.

Randy Moss and Cris Carter, who had 10 receptions each last Monday night against the Giants, combined for just 70 yards 45 for 'a! V. Carter and 25 for Moss, who had his hands on 3d four balls that fell incomplete. Minnesota's second-to-last drive was a per- feet snapshot of its struggles. Culpepper's 23- yard pass to Byron Chamberlain gave Min- nesota a first down at the Chicago 12. After a drop by Moss and another penalty, Culpepper found Harold Morrow for 14 yards to the 4 Travis Prentice was stuffed on first-and- goal, and Culpepper was stopped on a rollout on second down.

He fumbled the next and Anderson had to come out to kick. 1 -i offs, meaning they'll play home games as long as they keep winning. The national championship game is on Friday, Dec. 21 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Montana athletic director Wayne Hogan and Northwestern State athletic director Greg Burke are members of the eight-team selection committee that set the' brackets.

Hogan said the vote to make Montana the No. 1 seed was unanimous. "I knew early this morning that we were going to -play Northwestern State," Glenn said. "I did not know the rest of the bracket. I know nothing about Northwestern State right now." Montana's coaching staff spent Sunday breaking down tapes of three Demons games.

The two teams have never played. The winner of the Montana-Northwestern State game plays the winner of the Northern Arizona (8-3) at Sam Houston State (9-2). Two-time defending champion Georgia Southern (10-1) received the No. 2 seed and will play Florida (7-3). Furman (9-2) gained the No.

3 seed and will play host to Western Kentucky (8-3), while Northern Iowa (9-2) will play at fourth-seeded Eastern Illinois (9-1). The other matchups have Hofstra (9-2) at Lehigh (10-0), William Mary (8-3) at Appalachian State (8-3) and Maine (8-2) at McNeese More GRIZ, page 2B No playoffs for Portland State PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Despite ending the season with a four-game winning streak, Portland State was not one of the 16 teams selected Sunday for the NCAA I-AA football playoffs. The Vikings (7-4 overall, 5-2 in the Big Sky Conference) could not overcome a sluggish start to their season, when they lost to Gram-bling, Montana, Idaho State and Southwest Texas State. Eight schools received automatic bids to the field; eight others were at-large selections.

Among those eight was Northern Arizona of the Big Sky. Though Northern Arizona (8-3 over all, 5-2 conference) had a better record than Portland State, the Vikings hoped they would get the bid because they beat the Lumberjacks 33-30. Portland State returns 13 starters to next year's team, including Ryan Fuqua, the freshman running back who rushed for 906 yards and nine touchdowns in his last three games. CHICAGO BEARS wide receiver David Terrell (83) hauls in a 26-yard pass from quarterback Jim Miller over Minnesota Vikings corner-back Kenny Wright in the third quarter in Minneapolis, Sunday. The Bears won 1 3-6.

Miami-Florida championship? 1 1 AP photo MIAMI QUARTERBACK Ken Dorsey (1 1) looks to throw 0 over teammate Brett Romberg (61) during the first half against Washington Saturday. Heisman up for grabs By RICHARD ROSENBLATT AP Football Writer All the national championship controversy is behind No. 1 Miami for a change. A win over No. 14 Virginia Tech on Saturday, and the Hurricanes (10-0) clinch a spot in the Rose Bowl with a chance for a fifth national title.

The opponent may be argued about forever thanks to a pair of mind-boggling results that knocked Nebraska, then Oklahoma out of contention. For now, though, it looks as if No. 2 Florida (9-1) possesses the strongest resume to outpoint a handful of other one-loss teams in the BCS standings and end up in Pasadena. How does Miami vs. Florida for the national title sound? "That's what the people want to see," running back Clinton Portis said after Miami's 65-7 No.

19 Washington on Saturday night. "They see that Florida puts up a lot of points and they see that we put a lot of points. People want a shootout. "But we've got to get there. Florida's got to get there.

We've got to take care of business." Miami fans don't need reminding move into Saturday's Big 12 Conference title game, Nebraska (11-1) was clobbered 62-36 last Friday and fell out of the title chase. Needing a win over lowly Oklahoma State to move into the Big 12 title game against Colorado, Oklahoma (10-2) was stunned 16-13 and lost a chance to repeat as national champions. Enter Florida. And Tennessee (9-1), Texas (10-1), and Oregon (9-1). Afterthoughts before the weekend, the Gators, Vols, Longhorns and Ducks are back in the race.

And it's so close it might come down to a hundredth of a point in the final Bowl Championship Series computer tabulations to separate who plays for the title and who doesn't. We'll find out on Dec. 9. "I guess everyone anticipates what could happen," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said, "but that's why you play the game give players a chance to make plays and see who can do it." In Monday's BCS standings, expect Miami to be first, with Florida second. After that, it's too close to call.

The pack is so tightly bunched it's likely that four major confer-More MIAMI, page 2B By RICHARD ROSENBLATT AP Football Writer 10 Heisman Trophy, anyone? With just one week left before the 900- plus Heisman voters cast their ballots, the race for the Heisman Trophy is as wide -open as the chase for the national chanipi-- Is AP ptlDtO A MIAMI HURRICANES fan holds up a sign during the game against Washington Saturday at the Orange Bowl in Miami. how tough that can be. Last season, the one-loss Hurricanes were left out of the national title game in favor of one-loss Florida State. The Seminoles' lone loss? Miami. Fans of the HuskerNation, then the SoonerNation got a dose of title turmoil over the weekend.

Needing a win over Colorado to onship. A quarterback quartet of top contenders- was reduced to a trio, with Nebraska's Eria Crouch dropping from short list following -the Cornhuskers' 62-36 loss to Colorado on Friday. Crouch ran for 162 yards and two-TDs; 3 and passed for 198 yards with two intercep- .1 More HEISMAN, page 2B? I.