The Daily News-Journal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee • 17

nslclo IKTSU, 23 Tennessee, 33 SEC, 33 Ten, 43 ACC.S3 East, 53 0VCt63 State schools, 63 BU63 SC0fi0Aft0, 78 Sunday, Oct. 17, 1999 Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Tenn. A1B 1 Staff Columnist msm Lj JLLU v. Stalled drive turns the tide Aii buJi The WAC is meeting today and will decide if it wants to expand. i i 4 sions, though, we'd be looking at football only in the Sun Belt" Fowler is confident the new Sun Belt football conference will be I formed; 5 "People see there's a need to get something done right now" Fowler said.

"It's going to come down to what the WAC does, but a lot of people think they're going to stay an eight-team conference." If the new Sun Belt football league is formed, teams likely to join are MTSU, Central Florida, Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, New Mexico BtMomhHauJr. Sports editor RUSTON, La. The on-again, off-again new Sun Belt football conference hiight be on again. i After the Sun Belt Conference delayed voting on adding football as a sport because of impending moves in Conference USA and the Western Athletic Conference, talks are again on about forming a new football league. "We're back talking and I think we're just waiting to see what the WAC does now" said MTSU athletic director Lee Fowler.

"I think it's a deal where something could get done this week or it could be a couple of months." State and North Texas. Central Florida originally wasn't interested in the Sun Belt, but no other conference has shown iiitptest in it. Louisiana Tech also had remained out of the Sun Belt picture, but has recently said it would join the conference if Central Florida came aboard. "Both Central Florida and Louisiana Tech would lend credibility to the league," Fowler said. "I think if all those teams were to get in it would be a great football conference.

"I'm confident we're going to be in a conference soon, whether it's football or in all sports. I certainly feel better now than I did a month ago." uuuuuyo i ay RUSTON, La. Every football game has its defining moment. Many times it's one play, other times it's a series of events. The turnaround in Saturday's game between MTSU and Louisiana Tech occured in the second quarter.

Conference USA invit- ed Texas Christian to join its league this week, but SMU, which was thought to be going as well, didn't f. get invited. With SMU staying in the WAC, speculation is the league will not expand. If that happens, MTSU, North Texas State and New Mexico State would likely join the Sun Belt in all sports. "If North Texas and New Mexico State were to join, I think it would open the door for us Fowler said.

"Without two divi- Having just scored, only to have the extra point blocked to trail 7-6, MTSU stopped 1 Louisiana Tech for the third straight time Monte Hale Jr. 1 fffli Blue Raiders fall to Louisiana Tech By Toky Stinnett Sports rter RUSTON, La. If it's not one thing, it's another. Despite giving up 639 yards of total offense at Louisiana Tech Saturday afternoon, MTSU's defense did something it hasn't been able to "'J 1 v- r': 4 t' 4 i i 2V i -1 -W 1 I do in recent weeks create turnovers, pressure the quarterback and even score the first defensive touchdown as a Division I-A mem and got the ball back at its own 32-yard line. The Blue Raiders had gained the momentum they needed and had the opportunity to take the lead over the BulIdogV who were 30-point favorites.

MTSU picked up one first down, but was forced to punt. Louisiana Tech responded by driving 77 yards in six plays in just 2:06 to take a 14-6 lead en route to a 42-18 victory at Joe Aillet Stadium. The Blue Raiders defensive woes this season have been well documented, but they did their job early against highly-touted quarterback Tim Rattay. Delvin Pikes thwarted one Bulldog drive by picking off a Rattay pass in the end zone. Mario Kelso got into the theft act on Louisiana Tech's next series when he picked off Rattay at the MTSU 46-yard line.

The Blue Raiders then drove 54 yards In 2:03 for their first points of the game. However, when given the opportunity to take the lead and put some heat on the host team, the Blue Raiders couldn't and all the momentum swung the other direction. MTSU was stopped again on its next possession, and Louisiana Tech promptly marched 63 yards to take a 21-6 advantage. MTSU also had an impressive drive in the works on its initial possession, only to come up empty when tailback Jamison Palfner fumbled at the Bull- U. Tech 42 MTSU 18 Notebook, 2B Statistics, 2B ber.

However, MTSU's offense wasn't able to cash in as the Blue Raiders fell 42-18 in front of 17,324 at Joe Aillet Stadium to fall to 1-6. Louisiana Tech improved to 4-2. frustrating part is we have not put an offensive, defensive and special teams game together at the same time," said MTSU coach Andy McCollum. "When it happens we are going to turn the corner at this level. "The offense didn't execute today.

We got the turnovers early against a great offensive football team not average, but great. We made some plays (defensively) that gave us a chance to make the game a game and we didn't execute offensively." MTSU's defense stopped La Tech's high-powered offense on three consecutive drives after the Bulldogs scored on their opening possession. Blue Raider defenders Delvin Pikes and Mario Kelso intercepted quarterback Tim Rattay on consecutive possessions in his re-(Ses 'D', page 2B) AP photo touchdown pass over MTSU's Louisiana Tech wide receiver Sean Cangelosi (81) hauls In a 15-yard Geno Henderson In Ruston, Saturday. fi an i pa1 hhjr yfjy "Pfj' V- Fake punt kickstarts T- 111 Instead of getting points early, the miscue turned into seven points for Louisiana Tech, which drove 68 yards in 2:18 to go up 7-0. It is more or less a broken record, but the fact is MTSU can't afford turnovers.

They are going to happen, they are part of the game, but when you're outmanned you simply can't afford them. Because of their shortcomings, first-year coach Andy McCollum has said all season that the Blue Raiders have to play Georgia comeback 1 By David Boclam Sports writer NASHVILLE The call is "Oscar" and it turned Vanderbilt coach Woody Widenhofer into a grouch. "It's a perfect play to second-guess so go ahead and second guess it," Widenhofer hissed Sat on their part." Either way, the Commodores stepped in it. Vanderbilt clearly outplayed No. 14 Georgia through the first three quarters and seemed poised for their most dramatic victory of an already uplifting season.

The Commodores scored the game's first 17 points including a touch- down on a 59-yard in terception return 'It's nrrfprt held BxMo met' a perjew back Quincy Cartcr in play tO Second check and allowed just -l 5 1 1 near perfect football Unfortunately, the Blue Raiders have commited 20 turnovers compared to 12 by their opponents. Those numbers usually equate to losses and they have for MTSU, which is 1-6 this season. Turnovers are obviously the most glaring, but sometimes a team's problems aren't on the surface. Which takes us back to the defining moment of Saturday's game. Sure, it was only one of many offensive series for MTSU nnf tn mention the Blue Raiders urday after the Commodores were beaten 27-17 by the University of Georgia.

Facing fourth-and-1 6 at their own 2 1 with a seven-point lead in hand the Commodores attempted a fake punt that was squashed completely by the Bulldogs' defense. Thlree plays later Georgia tied the game with the second of its guess so go ahead and second guess it Woody Widenhofer I 3 one play of more than 13 yards through the first three quarters. Even though three consecutive third-quarter drives had produced a total of minus-four yards of offense, Van-r derbilt-was -stilt in' AP photo Georgia running back Patrick Pass gets by Vanderblit defensive back Rushen Jones (1) on his way to scoring the winning touchdown In Saturday's game. Bulldogs score 24 in fourth-quarter three touchdowns lna span of 5:03. Confounding as it was, Widenhofer afterward maintained confidence in the call that flies in the face of any sort of football logic.

"The time before I wanted to call it but 1 was talked into waiting and making sure they were playing the same defense" Widenhofer said. The call was my deci- yielded 42 points anyway but it was a series that turned the game around in favor of Louisiana Tech. You hate to use the "what if phrase, but what if MTSU had scored on that possession and taken the lead? Who knows what might have happened. Instead, it opened the door for Louisiana Tech to get unpacked and put the Blue Raiders away. frUati Kit Jr.

is sports front, 17-10. Then came the fake punt When you call a play like that, it's either the outhouse or the penthouse" Georgia coach Jim Donnan said. MI feel bad for Woody. It was a big momentum shift" The ball was snapped to the up-man, true freshman Jonathan Shaub. From there, the play was a basic option as he and punter John Markham went right, to the short side of the field.

Shaub barely got going before he had to make the pitch to Markham, who ultimately and made us work a lot harder." Vanderbilt (4-3, 1-3 Southeastern Conference) scored 17 unanswered points in the first 18 minutes and looked ready to pull off its first upset of a ranked opponent since 1992. Georgia (5-2, 3-1), trying to get over its loss at Tennessee last week struggled early and wound up playing most of the game without leading rusher Jasper Sanks. It dropped the ball four times in the first 20 minutes but didn't lose any. Carter denied that the Bulldogs suffered a letdown after last week's 37-20 loss at Tennessee. He credited the letdown to the different atmosphere Saturday.

NASHVILLE (AP) Fourteenth-ranked Georgia nearly let a hangover turn into a loss Saturday until the Southeastern Conference's worst defense bailed out the Bulldogs. Kendrell Bell had two of Georgia's four interceptions in the second half and the Bulldogs scored 24 points in the fourth quarter in rallying for a 27-17 victory over Vanderbilt It was Georgia's biggest fourth-quarter comeback since 1965 when it rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat North Carolina. "The morr.enftim that the defense provided in the second half gave the whole team a lift," said Qubcy Carter, who tossed fourth-quarter touchdowns of 6 and 25 yards. "They played real well We watched, and two or sion three times in a row they were in the same defense so we thought it was going to be there. 'They ended up with two people on the outside.

I don't know if they fell into that or if it was a call t- Hm Journal. E-rnali im (See Fsks, psgs 23).