The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 51

rrn rrrrrrr rrrrr rrrrrrrr rr 7 rrr rr rrrrj 7 7 7 7 7 1 I HOW AP'S TOP 20 FARED Collie Report Page 7D SAntonio 117 Phoenix 104 sports nourjpup Floyd Nicklaus win first cash in Skins PAGE4D Pro Basketball Basketball Report Pages 2-3D F-2 1 Big plays by FSU bury Gators 52-17 An Irish grin Shorthanded Dame tops USC i and Gold partied into the night The Gators still lead this heated rivalry 22-8-1 but that came as no consolation as their touted defense buckled The Seminoles scored more points against them than anyone since a 63-14 rout by Auburn in 1970 That was 198 games ago In addition FSU had never before scored more than 38 points against Florida and its 35-point cushion exceeded a 37-9 margin in 1977 The Seminoles will ride a 10-game winning streak into their Jan 2 1989 Sugar Bowl appointment against Southeastern Conference Turn to UF-FSU 10D By GARY LONG Herald Sports Writer TALLAHASSEE Before its largest home crowd in history against its most bitter rival Florida State University stomped to one of its sweetest victories Saturday night The Seminoles overpowered the Florida Gators 52-17 as senior quarterback Chip Ferguson passed for three first-quarter touchdowns and tailback Sammie Smith romped for 109 yards and one touchdown and caught an eight-yard pass for another The 62693 who jammed into Doak Campbell Stadium set a record and those who wore Garnet as an out-and-out battle for No 1 winner take all Notre Dame quarterback Tony Rice ran 65 yards for a touchdown Stan Smagala returned an interception 64 yards for a score and tailback Mark Green scored twice on short runs Green had to go all the way at tailback after Tony Brooks his backup and the leading Irish rusher was suspended by Coach Lou Holtz and sent home along with flanker Ricky Watters the top receiver They were 40 minutes late for dinner Friday night at the Newport Beach hotel A Notre Dame press release said Brooks and Watters were suspended a result of re- Turnto IRISH 1 ID From Herald Wire Services LOS ANGELES Two great teams beat USC on Saturday: Notre Dame and USC Top-ranked Notre Dame overcoming suspensions to its leading rusher and leading receiver moved within one step of its eighth national championship by defeating No 2 but self-destructing Southern Cal 27-10 before 93829 in the Los Angeles Coliseum The Irish will meet No 4 West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl Jan 2 in a battle of the only unbeaten teams both are 11-0 Southern Cal takes a 10-1 record against No 11 Michigan in the Rose Bowl The Notre Dame victory severely hurt the national title hopes of the University of Miami since the Fiesta Bowl is likely to be billed United Press International Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz left and assistant Barry Alvarez celebrate 27-10 victory Edwin Pope Sports Editor i i i I i I Title hopes fade despite surviving 18-16 Ilogfight By GREG COTE Herald Sports Writer The University of Miami football team found itself in a state of suspended celebration Saturday First it was suspended as in postponed Then it was suspended as in pretty much canceled No 3-ranked UM defeated previously unbeaten No 8 Arkansas 18-16 Saturday at the Orange Bowl but soon after saw its national-championship hopes virtually perish when No 1 Notre Dame dispatched No 2 Southern Cal 27-10 in Los Angeles For UM the chance at a second straight title was agonizingly lost on a day when a hard-fought game was won before a national television audience on CBS and an announced crowd of 63271 A fourth quarter of defensive domination and one crucial field goal carried UM (9-1) past Arkansas (10-1) But celebrating was suspended until the finish of ND-USC UM needed an Irish loss to sustain championship hopes Alas the Hurricanes got half of what they needed Saturday The result out West meant Notre Dame and unbeaten No 4 West Virginia will play for the championship in the Fiesta Bowl and that Orange Bowl Classic date with Nebraska will be tantamount to a consolation match That absolute Not quite anyway Theoretically Miami might have a shot at the poll-vote title if it routed Nebraska while West Virginia unimpressively beat ND UM quarterback Steve Walsh said the voters will decide that when you go through a schedule like had and your only loss is by one point that deserves some recognition Still the odds are longer than ever now and assuming Miami ends the regular season by beating Brigham Young at the Orange Bowl next Saturday think Notre Dame and West Virginia will determine the best team in the defensive tackle Wayne Martin of Cotton Bowl-bound Arkansas said Saturday is the best without a Maybe most everybody except the final polls will say so Fair or not however Saturday was the day the Hurricanes had to begin reconciling the fact last 31-30 loss at Notre Dame apparently will be the single point separating UM from its dream The irony is that Saturday was otherwise a triumphant day for UM which found a considerably tougher Arkansas team than in last 51-7 UM rout in Little Rock The Hurricanes scored on Carlos field goals Turn to UM 8D i I JJ was right about Arkansas not being patsy Jimmy Johnson found himself in the ro-dental mode He was too relieved at escaping the trap to worry about the big cheese that might have remained in there for the taking However he was not surprised The warning hairs on the back of neck had been twitching all week He just start them twitching on his players The University of Miami football boss-man had tried to play down the furor over whether No 2 Southern California could upset Notre Dame and allow his No 3 Miami Hurricanes to slip into second Over and over he had told the Hurricanes the Razor-backs would come into the Orange Bowl with eyeballs big and red as well His pleas fell on deaf ears within and without the squad And all but the worst of fears came true Only Carlos 20-yard field goal with 52 minutes left won for Miami 18-16 The Hurricanes rolled up 26 first downs to the six but dropped and fumbled so many balls and were caught so short in running strength they barely slipped the trap knew it would be Johnson said over and again after the escape was complete A really ratty anticlimax would have been for Miami to lose and Southern Cal to win The first came dreadfully close to pening even if the second when the Irish battered the Trojans 27-10 Johnson merely sighed at that final This was 7 pm by which time he and his coaches had checked out the bad news by tube from in La La Land congratulate Notre Johnson said only hope people realize we should be ranked No 2 because if by looking at the schedule they realize that then I should switch my opinion from the bowl system to a playoff system have beaten champions or in the case of LSU co-champion of three major conferences the Big Ten the Southeastern and the Southwest We had the No 1 team tied and could have beaten them So strength of schedule should mean About four hours earlier Johnson was recapitulating the end of a week full of shudders All too obviously they were only his own shudders team had been unemotional the whole he said knew coming off the big win over LSU and with Arkansas still smoldering after that 51-7 blowout from last year we were in for problems If you had told me before the game we would have won 18-16 1 would have been the most relieved football coach in the Johnson believes his team at its best is the best in college football So do I Miami playing at top form would level Notre Dame and Southern Cal But the seven turnovers that blitzed the Hurricanes in South Bend amounted to much less than tbeir best and they get a chance at Turn to POPE 8D UM's defense shut down Arkansas in the fourth quarter giving up no first downs and a net total of minus-16 yards on four possessions Jimmie Jones levels QB John Bland forcing an incompletion on final series Heat 103-93 Bucks withstand late rally by outcome would be obvious Heat Coach Ron Rothstein decided not go with his regular starting lineup a smaller quicker combination because of the size advantage Starting forward Sylvester Gray (6-6) was used sparingly in favor of 6-11 Vi John Shasky and 6-10 Scott Hastings who played with Seikaly On this HEAT 2D point play by rookie Jeff Grayer for a 98-85 lead A basket by Heat forward Grant Long made it 98-93 with 35 seconds left before the Bucks ended the threat by scoring the final five points The Bucks with four seven-footers are the NBA's second-tallest team averaging 6-8 With the Heat checking in 22nd (a 6-6 average) the strategy t- and the By SHAUN POWELL Herald Sports Writer MILWAUKEE Before the Heat made it close at the end something besides poor shooting came between Miami and a consistent offense The Milwaukee Bucks used size to their advantage offensively and defensively Saturday in a 1 03-93 victory over Miami before 1 8573 at the new Bradley Center After trailing by 19 at the end of the third the Heat managed to end strong The Bucks scored only 12 points in the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter Two free throws by Heat center Rony Seikaly and a steal and basket by Kevin Edwards sliced lead to 93-85 with three minutes left Then Milwaukee scored five straight on a Larry Krystkowiak basket and a three-.