The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 19

SportsSu Baseball 7B Golf scores 9B High School 10B NFL 7B SECTION The Sunday Advertiser WWW.acadiananOW.COtn October 1, 2000 out in woeful effort a Sports On the SIuh "We didnt do that. Defensively, we were hoping to contain the run and force them to throw the ball. But we probably missed Page 3B: More on Cajuns' lack of heart in 47-2 blowout. Rruce Brown Sports Editor BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -Pitiful.

Simply pitiful. If Louisianas Ragin Cajuns wanted to get run over in a road game at Legion Field, at least they could have played the Alabama Crimson Tide and received a substantial financial guarantee out of the deal. As it is, Saturdays 47-2 loss to the Alabama-Birmingham Blazers was just an embarrassment in front of 22,000 bemused fans. We got it handed to us, Cajun coach Jerry Baldwin said. I thought we had a good week of practice, but you cant win on pregame excitement.

Youve got to go out and play for 60 minutes. Baldwin said. We have to search our hearts and dig deep. Well have to play for pride and guts for the rest of the season. The Blazers had not scored more than 20 points in a game previous to the Cajuns' visit, but they had that much in the bank before the lengthy first period was over.

Once again it was the less-than-special teams which opened the floodgates for the opposition, but it was also quickly evident that the Cajuns were not ready to play. A pair of field goals from Rhett Gallego a career-long 47-yarder and a 43-yard shot capped the first two Blazers drives. The first march was highlighted by Daniel Dixon passes of 13 yards to Johnni Please see WOEFUL on Page 3B more tackles in the first half than any team in the country today. When the Cajuns couldn't force UAB to pass, the Blazers were able to pass at their leisure. So both facets of the UAB attack functioned smoothly.

UAB cruised to 419 yards on a day that could have generated 600 or more. The visitors, on the other hand, could get nothing going. Louisiana had 72 of its 91 total yards in mop-up time in the fourth quarter. Were back to Square One," Associated Press UABs Andrew Kopecky blocks Grant Autreys punt and recovers it for a Blazer touchdown Saturday. Scoreboard MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL American League Indians 6.

Blue Jays 5 Athletics 23, Rangers 2 Manners 21, Angels 9 Red Sox 4, Devil Rays 2 Tigers 6, Twins 5 (11) Orioles 9, Yankees 1 White Sox 9, Royals 1 National League Mets 4, Expos 2 Reds 8, Cardinals 4 Marlins 11, Phillies 5 Pirates 4, Cubs 2 Braves 5, Rockies 2 Astros 7, Brewers 6 COLLEGE FOOTBALL Top 25 Games No. 1 Nebraska 42, Missoun 24 Mississippi State 47, No. 2 Flonda 35 No. 4 Virginia Tech 48, Boston College 34 No. 5 Kansas State 44, Colorado 21 No.

20 Oregon 23, No 6 Washington 16 No. 7 Clemson 52, Duke 22 Oregon State 31 No. 8 Southern Cal 21 No. 9 Michigan 13, No. 17 Wisconsin 10 No.

10 Miami 64, Rutgers 6 LSU 38, No. 11 Tennessee 31 (OT) No. 13 Texas 42, Oklahoma State 7 No. 14 Oklahoma 34. Kansas 16 No.

16 TCU 24, Navy 0 Northwestern 37, No. 18 Michigan State 17 No. 19 Auburn 33, Vanderbilt 0 No. 21 Southern Mississippi 24, Memphis 3 Penn State 22. No.

22 Purdue 20 Alabama 27, No. 23 South Carolina 17 Minnesota 44, No. 24 Illinois 10 No. 25 Georgia 38, Arkansas 7 Louisiana Schools Alabama-Birmmgham 47, UL Lafayette 2 Tulane 24, Cincinnati 19 Northwestern State 57, Gardner-Webb 17 Samford 28, Nicholls State 1C Southwest Texas 27, UL Monroe 0 Alabama State 37, Southern U. 33 Hardin Simmons 45, Louisiana College 12 Grambling State 47, Prairie View 7 UL Ragin Caiun Opponents Texas 33, Texas Tech 15 For complete box scores, please see Page 6B Associated Press USA guard Allan Houston goes for a rebound.

Mens hoops take modest gold medal Tiger Stadium roar returns with upset of No. 11 Vols BATON ROUGE (AP) Rohan Davey threw7 a 25-yard touchdown pass to Robert Royal on the first play of overtime to give LSU a 38-31 victory over No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday night. It was the first overtime game in the Tiger Stadium history, and sent the victory-starved LSU fans swarming onto the field after the game where they quickly toppled both goal posts. After LSU scored, Tennessee drove to the 3, but third- and fourth-down passes to the end zone were broken up by linebacker Bradie Tennessee did not score a touchdown until the third quarter, then scored 25 second-half points.

The Vols, who overcame an 18-point deficit, tied it at 31 with 1:30 left in regulation on A.J. Suggs 16-yard scoring pass to Cedrick Wilson, and Suggs pass to Eric Parker on the 2-point conversion. LSUs John Corbello, who kicked a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter, missed a 46-yarder on the final play of regulation. Suggs hit John Finlayson with a 7-yard scoring pass in the third quarter, and added a 16-yarder to Will Bartholomew in the fourth, and hit Donte Stallworth on the 2-point conversion. Davey, wearing a brace on his knee because of tendinitis and limping on an ankle injured late in the second quarter, threw four touchdown passes in his first start of the year.

In regulation, Davey threw touchdown passes of 16, 31 and 53 yards to Josh Reed. The LSU offense, which managed only one touchdown last week in a 13-10 home loss to Alabama-Birmingham, amassed 460 total yards against Tennessee Its the first time LSU (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) has beaten a ranked team since 1998, and just the fourth victory against an SEC team in three years. Tennessee (2-2, 0-2) was making its first road trip of the year. The Volunteers had not played in Baton Rouge since 1993 and had not lost in Tiger Stadium since 1974. Davey replaced Josh Booty, the starter in the first four LSU games.

Booty fell out of favor when, with 30 seconds, left and the score tied against UAB, he tried to adlib a play but instead he threw his fourth interception of the game to set up UABs winning field goal. Davey completed 23 of 35 passes for 318 yards and no interceptions. Reed had seven catches for 146 yards. LSU running back LaBrandon Toefield rushed 15 times for 120 yards and a touchdown against the SECs stingiest rushing defense. LSU scored on its first possession, SYDNEY, Australia (AP) The basketball gold medal didnt come all that easily for the U.S.

men, who let France creep within four points with 4 minutes left. After that, however, there was no repeat of Lithuanias near miracle in the semifinals. Vince Carter had a doublepump dunk with 1:40 left and the U.S. team scored nine of the games final 12 points to defeat France 85-75 Sunday (Saturday night EDT). It was the 12th gold medal in 14 Olympic basketball competitions for the United States, but this one will be remembered as the Olympics when the rest of the world caught up.

The final victory margin of 10 points was the lowest ever for the United States in a gold-medal victo- (Dan McDonald, a veteran of two Olympics as a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee media relations staff, picks out the best bets for Olympic television viewing daily.) Page 8B: Michael Johnson, Marion Jones grab gold. Brad Kemp, The Advertiser LSUs LaBrandon Toefield (22) pushes away Tennessee defensive back Rashad Baker (16) on his way to a 74-yard touchdown run, while Rayne High product Josh Reed (25, left) celebrates after scoring the second of his three touchdowns during the Tigers dramatic 38-31 overtime victory over the Tennessee Volunteers Saturday at Tiger Stadium. LSU since 1998. Tennessee had allowed only 47.7 rushing yards per game and a single 25-yard run had been the biggest gain against the Volunteers.

Tennessee managed 132 yards in the first half, but produced only a second field goal by Alex Walls, a 36-yarder in the second quarter. Walls also kicked a 46-yarder in the third quarter. Tennessee adjusted at halftime and held LSU to 17 yards total in the third quarter while the Volunteers gained 101. Suggs completed 37 of 59 passes for 319 yards as LSU pressured him all game. A crowd of 91,682 watched the game.

It was the largest crowd to see a sporting event in Louisiana and the first sellout since LSU expanded the stadium to the fourth-largest on-campus stadium in the country. moving only 35 yards, but getting close enough for a field goal that made it 3-0 1:23 into the game. By halftime the Tigers were ahead 24-6 as a surprisingly effective offense moved the ball and the hustling defense harried the Tennessee quarterbacks and held Travis Henry to just 43 yards rushing in 'the first half and 89 yards on the game. After trading a pair of 47-yard field goals in the first quarter, LSU put up three first-half touchdowns against a defense that had given up just five TDs in the previous three games. Davey hit Reed for a 16-yard touchdown two minutes into the second quarter.

The pair connected again with 5:48 left in the half on a 31-yard scoring pass. In between the two touchdown passes, Toefield ran 74 yards to score. The run was the longest rushing touchdown for The pomp and circumstance of the Closing Ceremonies highlights the final day of television coverage from Sydney, but theres still some athletic events to be decided on the final day of the Games. And, Amencans will be in some key roles, with two boxing names to remember for the future Rocky Juarez and Ricardo Williams. They will box in gold-medal matches at 125 and 139 pounds.

Four Amencans also wrestle for medals in the final day of freestyle finals. In pnme time, though, its the Closing Ceremonies that will get most of the attention. The mens marathon finishes up inside Stadium Australia before the prade of athletes. Rulon Gardner, who won the Greco-Roman superheavy title and was the most unlikely gold medalist in the entire Games, will carry the U.S. flag.

The Aussies promise more tricks with the flame before its extinguished at least, until Salt Lake in 2002 and Athens in 2004. Olympic TV Schedule NBC (Channel 7) 10 a m.5 m. Boxing finals Equestrian individual jumping final Gymnastics -rhythmic final Volleyball men's gold medal match Wrestling freestyle finals 6 p.m -11 Track Field men marathon, Closing Ceremonies MSNBC 7 a -10 a Water Polo mens gold medal match Canoeing finals Let us know If you have any questions about todays local news stories, please call Sports Editor Bruce Brown at 289-6356. ry. It was the fifth time in these Olympics that the Americans won by 15 or fewer points, quite a difference from 1996 and 1992 when the U.S.

teams won every game by at least 22 points and often had victory margins of 40 points or more. What this Olympics demonstrated is that the competitive level of international basketball has improved more so than casual observers of the game understood, NBA commissioner David Stern said. That competitiveness didnt manifest itself in the gold medal game, at least not to the degree it had in the semifinals. France led only twice, 2-0 after scoring the first basket of the game and 7-6 on two free throws by Stephane Risacher following a technical foul on Gary Payton for getting in the face of a French player during a stoppage in play. Still, the Americans found themselves leading just 76-72 after Antoine Rigaudeau hit a 3-pointer with 4:26 left to complete a 16-4 run that turned a slow-paced, fc plagued game into an interesting one.

This section was edited and designed by Brad Hawkins, Brady Aymond, Jonas Breaux and Kevin Foote. i i i I.