The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 38

Sports Forum IOC Outdoors 11C Scoreboard 13C LI tate lays claim lr 1 1 5v A the No 1 and No 2 teams play and the No 2 team wins I certainly think they should move Joe Paterno I TlKWrt ite it keyed by end Walker Lee Ashley and the passing of Todd Blackledge to stop bid for a second national title in three years Curt Warner scored on runs of two and nine yards and Blackledge passed 48 yards to Gregg Garrity for a fourth-period score which gave the Lions a 27-17 advantage Nick Gancitano of Coral Springs added field goals of 38 and 45 yards Warner rushed for 117 yards on 18 carries and Blackledge completed 13 of 23 passes for 228 yards the Lord the greatest season ever said Blackledge Penn State effectively bottled up Her-schel Walker the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner especially when the Bulldogs were unable to generate much passing offense State played like said Walker who finished with 103 yards on 28 carries took advantage of the opportunites we gave them That was the difference they No no Georgia down 20-3 late in the first half closed Please turn to SUGAR 4C By CHRISTINE BRENNAN Herald Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS Finally Penn State Coach Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions won the game that counted most It is up to the writers broadcasters and coaches who vote in the wire-service polls to determine who is No 1 but Saturday night in the Sugar Bowl the No 2-ranked Nittany Lions staked their claim to the crown by defeating top-ranked Georgia 27-23 After coming close with three undefeated teams in the late and early that were not ranked No 1 and losing a national championship bid to Alabama four years ago in the Sugar Bowl Lions held on running out the clock with three crucial first downs after a Georgia touchdown with 3:54 to play want Joe! We want jubilant Penn State fans yelled moments after the victory in front of a Sugar Bowl-record 78124 in the Superdome Penn State (11-1) played the most difficult schedule in the nation according to the NCAA with a 42-21 loss to Alabama the only blemish The Nittany Lions defeated five bowl teams including Ne- braska and Pittsburgh during the regular season Georgia also finished 11-1 Both The Associated Press and United Press International will release the results of their voting at 6:30 pm today the No 1 and No 2 teams play and the No 2 team wins I certainly think they should move Paterno said certainly feels good winning but it really set in until you have had time to stop and think about it have great people and I thought this would The Nittany Lions parlayed a swarming defense Associated Press Penn Curt Warner: 117 yards two touchdowns eBra cag -W s' 't'ty 54407 see Huskers win OB 21-20 'i i -y -w 'rJ I 9 i HiH '1 My aj yyl A I A Ai tf i I 4 I Jfc' ft ft- ft -4- ISznL By GARY LONG Herald Sports Writer Those red-clad partisans in the smallest Orange Bowl Classic crowd in 36 years are still Hooked on the Huskers avid supporters had to wait until late in the third period for Coach Tom troops to flash the talents that had elevated them to the No 3 national ranking But the Cornhuskers finally struck with touchdown drived covering 80 and 47 yards to shake off tenacious Louisiana State University Saturday night and claim a 21-20 victory Quarterback Turner Gill passed 1 1 yards to tailback Mike Rozier for one touchdown and vaulted a yard for another to lift his team from a 17-7 third-quarter deficit to a final 12-1 ledger The Tigers get a ground game going to balance Alan 173-yard passing and fell to 8-3-1 in a season that still stands as a success under the circumstances The Bayou Bengals were coming off a 3-7-1 campaign that had Coach Jerry Stovall walking the high wire of job security when this year began The flashy freshman most responsible for the turnaround tailback Dalton Hilliard did flaunt his skills Saturday night with eight pass receptions for 82 yards but the defense limited him to 29 yards rushing on 18 carries Rozier in contrast netted 118 yards on 26 trips Only 54407 persons among the 68713 who purchased tickets bothered to show up and though the Huskers did stagger around some with six turnovers the fans got a wild satisfying show One of those thrills came in a halftime show featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from London the one that has made those On albums such collectibles With the national championship being decided to a Dixieland jazz beat not far from New Bourbon Street Nebraska could shoot only for a No 2 ranking Osborne had said this week that we play well prepared to say this is the best team Four lost fumbles and two interceptions may have swayed him some Please turn to NEBRASKA 6C 4 A -p A Vsv tyvys yv JK i 4 x-1 411 -4 4- 5 i A i 4 Sf Sc 45 I Vl xi- 4 4 fYM-raMflffWili-ffinriiArr it- 1 1 j-jS- MIKE O'BRYON Miami Herald Staff Quarterback Turner Gill hurdles in from the one-yard line for what proves to be the winning touchdown with 11 minutes left Nebraska finally gets it right NBC doesn9 Edwin Pops sensational halftime show by running so many close-ups it missed the marvelous panorama of computerized pyrotechnics Nebraska pulled its act together better than the network did but it took a terrific turnaround and a lot of help from LSU Tom Cornhuskers seemed to try their level best to lose their third straight Orange Bowl with four fumbles and two interceptions If the London Royal Philharmonic the halftime centerpiece had played as raggedly those tootlers would be tooting in Argentina this morning But the Cornhuskers finally shucked their futility and went ahead 21-17 after spend ing the better part of three quarters behind Tigers are awfully pesky for Nebraska This was the second year that they have come into the OB as favorites over them It looked for the longest time as though Tigers would do the same thing to Nebraska that did last year in winning 22-15 Jerry Stovall called it right only to wind up on the wrong end The LSU coach said on New Eve that he has tried to copy patience and of Osborne Patience and flexibility were just what won it Please turn to POPE 6C NBC-TV whipped from the outset started New Day screwed up and never caught up Cornhuskers 10 -point favorites started the same way but kept trying until they got it right and they nosed al-most-heroic Louisiana State 21-20 in the 49th Orange Bowl Classic The network was in deep enough just fighting Penn ultimate 27-23 victory over top-rated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl NBC compounded its problems by failing to allow enough time for the Fiesta and Rose Bowls It then left the Orange smallest crowd since 1947 (54407 with 14306' Sports Editor no-shows obviously more interested in Penn State-Georgia on TV) cooling its heels for 36 minutes past the scheduled 8 pm kickoff time As a final fillip the network muffed a Inside Dolphins face longshot Colts Cotton Quarterback Lance fourth-quarter touchdown run lifted fourth-ranked Southern Methodist the only unbeaten major-college team to a 7-3 victory over sixth-ranked Pittsburgh Rose Quarterback Tom passing and safety Don defensive play helped Fifth-ranked UCLA defeat 19th-ranked Michigan for the second time this season 24-14 Fiesta No 11 Arizona State capitalized on four Oklahoma fumbles and a blocked punt to rally past the 12th-ranked Sooners 32-21 Stories Page 2C cover their heads for 60 minutes He figures Baltimore Coach Frank Kush will try to inspire his troops to victory just that it figures to be a very tough sell running 0-7-1 going into the last game of the season the cold part of the year got a lot of young guys who are homesick going to be thinking about getting out to the parking lot and hitting the pavement and getting on Blackwood said The interest in the game is entirely different A loss would not only be humiliating it could also be expensive If Miami wins the worst it will finish is second in the AFC If the San Diego Chargers also beat the LA Raiders the Dolphins would have the top spot in the AFC and a home-field advantage for as long as they last in Please turn to DOLPHINS SC By LARRY DORMAN Herald Sporti Writer BALTIMORE This is becoming an all-too-familiar scenario for the Baltimore Colts Last game of the season fighting to stay dead the Colts are facing your classic must-lose situation right Must-lose Because not only are the Colts (0-7-1) no match either on paper or on the field for the Dolphins (6-2) in season finale at Memorial Stadium (2 pm Chs 5 7) they also cannot afford to win the football game If they do they could lose the No 1 pick in this college player draft This would be the biggest loss in a season of little else for Baltimore From the standpoint this is almost a replay of last final game when they found themselves locked in mortal combat with the New England Patriots for the worst record in football Both teams were 2-13 and fighting for the No 1 pick in the draft the Colts won the game which featured four fumbles and four interceptions 23-21 Bert Jones threw three touchdown passes He was eventually traded to Los Angeles Lyle Blackwood the Dolphin safety who played for Baltimore from 1977-80 is surprisingly candid in assessing the chances of winning today can remember when I was there and we would be in a situation like this most of the guys would have the cars all loaded up out in the parking lot ready to head he said was just wanting to get the season over Is there any way then that the Colts could inspire themselves to the point where they could beat the Dolphins? Blackwood said think Blackwood is not implying that the Colts will simply lie down and Associated Press Lance Mcllhenny celebrates winning TD against Pitt ii mt jfii irti tnrftn.