The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 12

SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS Inside A fourth-down touchdown and a two-point conversion No. 8 Notre Dame a 17-16 tory over No. 22 Penn Third-ranked Michigan six turnovers yet claimed ond straight Big Ten title 22-22 tie with Illinois. 4C The Columbia, pass gave vicState. 4C committed its secwith a Scores ALSO Passing COLLEGE FOOTBALL Tennis the torch Florida 14.

S.C. 32 Steffi Graf crushed Olympic nemesis Jennifer Former South Chas. Capriati 6-0, 6-1 in a semifinal match at the Virginia Evander Maryland 53 Slims of Philadelphia. 18C champ Holyfield con- Bowie State ....22 High schools gratulates his Citadel ...............50 Wake 23 successor Rid- .0 Georgia 10 Chapin's Ben Anderson stopped thinking in dick Bowe after Newberry 35 terms of blitzes last week, and began worrying N.C. State.

45 about jump shots. 10C Friday's night's Fayetteville St. 12 27 heavyweight 35 NBA 7 The Charlotte Hornets finally have become the championship bout in Las Ve- team the owners envisioned with the addition of gas. 17C center Alonzo Mourning. State South Carolina Sunday, November Sports 15, USC's fun ride ends Close loss to Gators fails to quench spirit Game statistics, 6C Woods' job safe, 6C By DAVID NEWTON Sports Writer GAINESVILLE, Fla.

No curtain calls by coach Sparky Woods. No post-game antics or promises by freshman quarterback Steve Taneyhill. No talk about bowls by anybody. South Carolina's winning streak ended at four Saturday, 14-9 against No. 11 Florida in front of 84,777 fans at sun-splashed Florida Field.

But it was a fun ride while it 1: lasted for the Gamecocks, who started the season 0-5. And it almost didn't end. Taneyhill, amidst a chant for him to cut his long, blond hair, pulled the Gamecocks within five on a 79-yard drive with 3:04 left. He had a chance to win it on the last play, a hitch-and-go pass. But tailback Mike Reddick fumbled near midfield, keeping the Gators' hopes for an 1 SEC Eastern Division title alive.

Florida, 7-2 and 5-2 in the SEC, will earn a spot in the league's inaugural Championship Game, probably against Alabama, with a victory at Vanderbilt next week. VOITORD USC, 4-6 and 3-5, will play out its season against archival Clemson. "They probably out-played us, out-hustled us, and they definitely out-tackled us," said Florida coach Steve Spurrier after his team's sixth straight win. "But somehow or another, we held them to nine points. I don't know how it happened, but it happened.

"And somehow or another we scored 14 and the game ended. We are very fortunate." Taneyhill, who lost his first game as a starter, agreed. "I didn't think this was the second-best team in the SEC," he said. "Alabama definitely is the leadSee USC, 7C Jamie Francis The State Wofford Shawn Graves exults during ceremony retiring his jersey as his mother, Rose Marie Pee, watches. unmatched about a million memories for the Terriers and coach Mike Ayers.

But Graves' excellence extends far beyond his 5,128 yards rushing and 72 touchdowns, the 25 games with more than 100 yards rushing, the six games with more than 200 or even the colossal 323 yards on Sept. 15, 1990. His off-the-field performances are more worthy of admiration. "The way he gives of himself, the effect he has talking to youngsters, is bigger than anything he's done in football," Ayers said Saturday. "He captivates them; they're hanging on every word.

His importance Visionary France would love double dose of drama TV: ESPN at 12:30 p.m. culmination of the closest Winston Cup Auto racing notes, 11C points chase in history, and the final race of By JIM McLAURIN its greatest champion. Sports Writer Richard Petty, the quiet man from HAMPTON, Ga. Randleman, N.C., who has come to be known Big Bill France must be looking down on simply as "The King," will be ending a Atlanta Motor Speedway from up there career that is one of the most remarkable in somewhere and smiling. "This," he must be all of sports.

thinking, "is what it's all about." Petty has won 200 races, nearly twice as In 1949 when France dreamed up the many as anyone else, in a career that spans idea for racing stock cars, he wanted to three and a half decades, and will go out make it the most competitive and with seven season championships to his entertaining racing in the world. He wanted credit. heroes and excellence. Petty won't win this championship, but The 1992 Hooters' 500 was just what someone in the Petty clan could have a say France, who died this year, had in mind. crowd of 200,000 is expected to see the See Race, 11C A 1992 Linda State Gators' Jack Jackson makes catch as Jerry Inman closes.

Tigers say bye to bowl hopes Maryland offense proves too strong in 53-23 whipping Game statistics, 8C Tigers fall flat, 8C By MARK R. McCALLUM Sports Writer Graves SPARTANBURG His something-to-rememberme-by performance fell far short of his spectacular standards, but shed no tears for Shawn Graves. His place in South Carolina's college football lore is indelibly stamped, and nothing can diminish his performances both on and off the field. The little man from Marion stands alone, and don't expect to find his equal anytime soon. Sparky Anderson's observation on Johnny Bench is appropriate today; don't embarrass anyone by comparing him to Bench.

And so it is with Graves. COLLEGE PARK, Md. Aloha to the Aloha Bowl. And goodbye to any other bowl, too. After quarterback John Kaleo and Maryland's run-and-shoot offense blasted Clemson 53-23 before 25,223 fans Saturday afternoon at Byrd Stadium, the Tigers's post-season hopes shattered.

As did Maryland's record book. In the onslaught, the Terrapins tied or set 21 season or career records against the Atlantic Coast Conference's total defense leader. "Clemson's been kicking our butts for years, and we kicked the living crap out of them today," Kaleo said. Kaleo did it with his arm, not his foot. After a slow start, he battered the Clemson secondary for 418 yards and five touchdowns, both the most ever against Clemson.

Split end Marcus Badgett caught nine passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Jermaine Lewis caught five passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. "It's frustrating when pass after pass is completed," Clemson defensive back Darnell Stephens said. And the Tigers couldn't backpedal fast enough. Maryland, 3-8 and 2-6 in the ACC, scored the most points against Clemson since South Carolina scored 56 in 1975.

The Terrapins handed Clemson's its worst margin of defeat since the 1977 Gator Bowl, a 34-3 loss to Pitt. They gained 573 total yards, the third highest total against Clemson. South Carolina holds the record at 616 in 1975 and Maryland had 577 in 1984. They passed for 418 yards, the most since Pitt's Matt Cavanaugh had 387 in the 1977 Gator Bowl. And Maryland, last in the ACC in scoring defense, kept Clemson out Jim State Clemson tailback Rodney Blunt is met by Maryland's Erick Wood on Saturday.

BOB SPEAR Sports Editor He finished his Wofford College career Saturday with nine NCAA records and 23 school marks and extends far beyond the football field." It's a legacy to treasure. 'He finds a way to win' Saturday would be his day on the Wofford campus. Officials retired his jersey number in pregame ceremonies, and fans flocked from his hometown to see him work his magic one last time. In reality, every day is his day at Wofford, and, of course, the most visible are football Saturdays. He is the rare player who See Spear, 2C of the end zone for all but one series.

The Tigers managed five field goals and a gift safety when punter Dave DeArmas scampered out of the end zone with little prompting. "This was a total complete wipeout," Clemson coach Ken Hatfield said. "We've got to decide what direction we're going to go with South Carolina coming up." Hatfield said the team will meet at 4 p.m. today for that discussion. But as the final seconds ticked off with part of the crowd chanting, "60, 60, 60," Kaleo and Badgett, both seniors, embraced on the sidelines and discussed the records they had set.

Specifically. Each knew the numbers. "We always felt we couldn't be stopped, and this was a fun day for all of us," Kaleo said. "We were playing little games with the receivers, counting down (personal goals) each series." Clemson, 5-5 overall and 3-5 in the ACC, kept stopping shy of the goal line. Five times, Clemson moved inside the Maryland 17-yard line.

Four times, the Tigers settled for field See Clemson, 8C Bulldogs overwhelm VMI in high fashion State college report, 2C-3C go." By NEIL WHITE Sports Writer Allison Kulwicki Points race The six drivers who remain i in contention for the Winston Cup championship: 1. Davey 2. Alan ................3,898 3. Bill ................3,888 4. Harry Gant.

3,831 5. Kyle Petty. 6. Mark Martin. .................3,815 CHARLESTON The Citadel has fielded a football team since 1905, and never in that history had the Bulldogs won nine games.

Until now. With Saturday's 50-0 homecoming victory over VMI, The Citadel, second-ranked in Division I-AA, improved to 9-1 before 21,811, the second largest crowd in Johnson Hagood Stadium history. "Winning nine games is a great honor, especially with the tough schedule we played," quarterback Jack Douglas said. "Hopefully, we'll have five more games to The Bulldogs don't want to pat themselves on the back too much because of what's at stake in the final game of the regular season and Division I-AA playoff games looming afterwards. The Citadel moved another step closer to winning only the second Southern Conference title in school history by improving to 5-1 in the conference.

Western Carolina, 7-3 and 5-1, remains tied with the Bulldogs, whose only other title came in the 1961 season. The win sets up next week's showdown See Citadel, 3C.