Corpus Christi Caller-Times from Corpus Christi, Texas • 29

i i wwwxallercom Corpus Christi Caller-Times Vj l) December 8 2001 College Football Printers leads TCU to bowl game bid Horned Frogs player rushes passes for TDs in 14-12 win over Southern Mississippi Heisman may be Finalists Dorsey Harrington Crouch too close to call and Grossman all have strong numbers By Ralph Russon Associated Press HATTIESBURG Miss -Casey Printers ran for a touchdown and threw a touchdown as TCU beat Southern Mississippi 14-12 on Friday night to earn a bowl bid The Homed Frogs (6-5 4-3 Conference USA) closed the regular season with two straight victories to earn a spot against Tfexas in the galleryfumiturecom Bowl in Houston on Dec 28 The Golden Eagles (6-5 4-3) lost their final two games and will miss the 'postseason for the first time in five years Printers was IS for 31 for 274 yards ran for 28 yards and was at his best on third-and-long Six times he converted on third-and-5 or longer four on passes and twice running Adrian Madise caught six passes for 177 yards and a touchdown for the Homed Frogs who beat C-USA champ Louisville two weeks ago to keep their bowl hopes alive Jeff Kelly was 20 for 37 for 224 yards and a touchdown in his final game for Southern Miss but threw three second-half interceptions in TCU territory The final one came with 33 seconds left and the Golden Eagles driving On a second-and-5 from the TCU 32 wobbly passed sailed high over the middle and hit Kenneth Hilliard in the chest Hilliard bobbled the ball before catching it while lying on his back at the 14 second pick came Heisman Trophy candidates by the numbers Passing Comp Att Int Yds TO By Richard Rosenblatt Associated Press NEW YORK Best athlete? Best career? Best stats? Best team? The Heisman Tfeophy means many things to many voters and why this race has been one of the more unpredictable in the 67-year history of the award Four quarterbacks Ken Dorsey Joey Harrington Eric Crouch and Rex Grossman are the finalists for college top individual award which will be presented Saturday night at a midtown hotel For the first time the Heisman will not be presented at the Downtown Athletic Gub because the building was damaged in the Sept 11 terrorist attacks Each finalist has attributes worthy of Heisman consideration but none has the perfect package that stamps him as the favorite opinion Harrington who led Oregon (10-1) to its best regular-season record was asked this week to handicap the rest of the field 11 you going to give the award based on a career? Absolutely give it to Harrington said on numbers this year you give it to Rex Early in the season people were saying Crouch gets the award because the best player on the best team If still the case you give it to There are no voting guidelines set by the DAC which simply asks its 924 voters to select the College Football Player of the United starter including 11-0 this year with a trip to the Rose Bowl to play for a national championship A solid season for Dorsey Dorsey was solid but unspectacular in throwing for 2652 yards with 23 TDs and nine interceptions always been my belief that the Ileisman isn't just an individual he said it's given to who people think is the best player in the country But at the same time he's the best player because his team played well and the people around him played Not even a handful of awards easier this week could make the Ileisman picture clearer Grossman was chosen The Associated Press Player of the Year on Wednesday On Thursday Dorsey won the Maxwell Award as the top all-around player and Crouch took the Davey O'Brien quarterback award and the Walter Camp Award as the nation's most outstanding player The tightest Heisman race' was Bo 45-point win over Chuck Long in 1985 The last close three-player race was 1995 when Ohio State's Eddie George won over Nebraska's Tommie Frazier and Florida's Danny Wuerffel Twice before Heisman winners did not receive the most first-place votes Notre Dame's Paul Iiornung in 1956 and Oklahoma's Billy Sims in 1978 The winner is determined on points with voters listing three choices Three points are awarded for a first-place vote two for a second and one for a third Eric Crouch QB Nebraska Rushing Alt Yds TO Totals 203 1115 18 Ken Dorsey QB Miami Comp Totals 184 Rex Grossman QB Florida 2001 Comp Totals! 259 Joey Harrington QB Oregon Comp Totals 186 The athlete part? Crouch the only finalist who runs first and passes second has his own take first thing is their athleticism and their throwing the football and stacking up the yards and being successful for their he said time I see these guys on TV I get a little jealous because they are throwing the ball quite a Crouch I he betil athlete? Crouch produced a school-record 7915 yards at Nebraska and his 59 rushing TDs are the most by a I-A quarterback In leading the Huskers to an 11-1 record this year he ran for 1115 yards and passed for 1510 Naturally Huskers coach Frank Solich says his guy is the best athlete ask anybody played against him and they will tell you the- same thing: They'd rather play against anybody else in the country than Eric Solich said The excitement factor counts too In 1999 Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick was probably the most electrifying AmucuTOd re Quarterback Major Applewhite wM start for Texas hi the Holiday BowL the end of the last game and he gives us momentum going into the Washington game probably would have been best for next year to just let Chris go ahead and play in that null i-H NHDWl HMSOMpprS Jin HMQr VMS 20 for 37 wM 224 yards in the Gotdsn loss to Tans lack moments after Southern Antoine Cash sacked Printers in the end zone for a safety that made the score 14-12 TCU late in the third After Jason interception ended a Southern Miss drive at the TCU 14 Printers and Madise combined on highlight-reel touchdown that gave the Homed Frogs their first lead early in the third quarter Printers fired a high spiral deep down the sideline to a streaking Mddise who cradled the ball with his right hand shed a defender and cruised the distance for a 74-yard score that made the score 14-10 Brant Hanna had a chance to give Southern Miss the lead with 3:11 left in the game but his 45-yard field goal fell short and to the right your best football game in the championship game? I expect our team will do that" No 2 Tennessee (10-1) is not just playing for its third SEC title in five years The Vols also can earn the right to face top-ranked Miami in the Rose Bowl where an even bigger championship will be at stake Fulmer' doesn't want his team thinking about the run for the roses just yet "I totally and completely understand that you have to climb that mountain one step at a he said "Our next step our total focus is on this game is to play our very best game and have no regrets" Dfvison I-AA playoffs: Montana football coach Joe Glenn is a little worried about Sam Houston State's ability to score quickly and often "Sam Houston State can score-a lot of points and' they can score them Glenn said "Just look at last week Late in the game when it was tied (31-31) they went 65 yards in four plays to set up the winning field No 13 Sam Houston State (10-2) beat No 15 Northern Arizona 34-31 in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs while top-ranked Montana (12-1) rallied from a 13-0 halftime deficit to beat No 14 Northwestern State 28-19 going to have to take some Glenn said "We're going to have to bum them before they bum The two teams will play for the first time at noon Saturday but they have common opponents Montana beat Northern Arizona 38-27 and Sam Houston beat Northwestern State 30-14 "As far as I can tell going to be a close game" Glenn said But Montana has the edge when it corned to experience The Grizzlies are in the playoffs for the ninth straight year which includes the 1995 national championship while Sam Houston is in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years Then the whole thing about the weather seen snow maybe two or three times" said Sam Houston wide receiver Jonathon Cooper "They called it snow down here in Texas but in Montana call it ice'We know it will be Sam Houston coach Ron Randleman said he's coached one other game in Montana beating Montana State 26-23 in Bozeman in 1991 "It was a beautiful September day up Randleman recalled "I'm sure it's going to be different this The weather forecast for Saturday in Missoula is 36 degrees with little chance of snow Momentum is reason Applewhite is starting coach Brown indicates performance against Buffaloes is deciding factor player and wound up third in the Heisman voting as a freshman Harrington might have that category wrapped up Three times he brought Oregon back in the fourth quarter for victories said this many many times before" Ducks coach Mike Bellotti said is one of the best if not the best to ever play here and ever play Odds against Grossman Grossman is fighting Heisman history No sophomore has ever won the award and only 13 juniors have finished first most recently Charles Woodson in 1997 Grossman whose Gators went 9-2 had awesome numbers too 259 of 395 for 3896 yards 34 touchdowns and 12 interceptions thought I had a pretty good he said offense looked good at times The two losses are all we can think about right now but we're going to try to move on" And then Dorsey who played on a team loaded with fellow future NFL stars His selling point? 25-1 as a game But we need to beat Washington I want to win 11 Simms started the entire season for No 10 Tfexas (10-2) but committed four first-half turnovers in a 39-37 loss to Colorado in the Big 12 championship game: Applewhite came on in the second quarter and nearly rallied Tfexas to a win passing for 240 yards and two touchdowns Simms also dislocated a knuckle on his throwing hand on the play before he was taken out The Colorado game reopened the most controversial aspect of Brown's four years in Austin: whether to play Simms the son of former Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms or Applewhite the career passing leader Brown said he still has faith in Simms and that he will be the starter next season Each meek IHflOO driuers smitdi their car insurance to I 1 DIRE CT mm I notebook Calmus wins Butkus Award: Oklahoma senior Rocky Calmus won the Butkus Award on Friday as the nation's top linebacker "This is such an honor to win this award" Calmus said at Downtown Athletic Club "It was such a great thing lor me to be considered as one of the best linebackers in America And the two guys I was up against are great EJ Henderson and UCLA's Robert Thomas were also finalists Calmus an All-American and Butkus finalist in 2000 had 117 tackles this season He had 15 tackles for losses one interception nine pass breakups 11 quarterback hurries and two fumble recoveries He helped No 11 Oklahoma go 10-2 and earn a Cotton Bowl berth "This is just an outstanding way to honor a great young Sooners coach Bob Stoops said "Rocky has great character and is a great student-athlete I saw this in him early in his career never late never misses a practice and leads wherever he goes" Charlie McClendon LSUs win-n ingest coach dead at 78: Charlie McClendon who coached HSU'S football team to a school-record 137 victories died Friday after a long fight with cancer He was 78 Family members said he died at his home here McClendon coached at LSU from 1962-79 compiling a 137-59-7 record The Tigers had only one losing season during his tenure the longest for an LSU coach in the school's 108 years of football Despite his success McClendon was forced out at LSU because he was unable to do two things the fans wanted win a national title and beat Alabama coach Bear Bryant McClendon went 2-14 against Bryant's teams SEC Championship: Tennessee just did the unthinkable: beating the Florida Gators in The Swamp as an 18-point underdog Even so Vbls coach Phillip Fulmer scoffs at the notion that his team might be set up for a letdown in Saturday night's Southeastern Conference championship game against LSU "The last couple of days been asked how our team can get back up after a very emotional win against Fulmer said "The answer is: How can you not be excited not be emotionally charged and ready to play your hardest and By Jim Vertuno Associated Press AUSTIN Major Applewhite deserves to start his last game for Tfexas after a strong backup performance in the Big 12 championship game coach Mack Brown said Friday Speaking to reporters for the first time since he announced that Applewhite will start against Washington in the Holiday Bowl Brown praised quarterback Chris Simms and criticized some fans thought it was in the best interest of both kids and our team to go ahead and announce who would rather than wait until the team resumes practice next week Brown said the real reason that Major's going to play in this game is he had momentum at lot of people wanted to get on Brown said has dime a tremendous job Tiger Woods has hit some balls in the water is tough as nails I think have a chance to win all the games for us next year" Broun was criticized in the Tfexas media for announcing his QB decision Tliesday on the team's Web site without being available to reporters my estimation calling some press conference to announce who's going to play a position is not something that you Broun said thought it was not best fur the team to pit one kid against the other by talking about why we're going to play one over the other I made a decision I made it based on what I know and what I saw If I get into that publicly one kid is going to get hurt I'm not going to do Innda Pineda Cmwtor Call me today to find out why: 992-4955 6410SPID CaS )M 1I77-W1-43S 8 wwmAnlriiwnirnunm If l'SALONSALON IIAIK MILS FACIALS NASSAU: II Ac fysl Five Years Spoil Her at the Spa Jjfe 991-3328 Gift Orllflrnlnt Available by I'hone I I 1 I.