The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 42

FemiW'' yijSqnq 4 ny yiry 9v vnnwMHw p6 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL MEMPHIS SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16 1997 COLLEGE FOOTBALL Southern Miss secures Liberty bid C-USA schools have since refused to schedule Southern Miss in foot- ball are well aware of the issue with the Mississippi schools" Ehrhart said Real Men Do Something About It Latest Non-surgical treatments Effective in most cases Medicare most insurance accepted For a Confidential Appointment Call Today (901) 755-1571 or 1-888-MENSMED From Our Southern Mississippi accepted a bid Saturday to play in the Liberty Bowl its first postseason berth since 1990 but the Golden Eagles wont know for a few weeks who the opponent will be A Southern Miss matchup between Mississippi State or Ole Miss is a "very realistic if the Big East does not have four bowl qualifiers the executive director said is looking very strong We have had conversations with Ole Miss and Mississippi Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart said while attending Southern 33-0 victory over Houston we look for the most entertaining matchup for the The Liberty Bowl which will be played Dec 31 in Memphis matches the Conference USA mao uqmrv-bmi aufiowoiv oh kmr "The cellular customer you liave called is outside the coverage area Way RANG! By Alan Spearman Memphis receiver Richie Floyd fumbles sfter being hit by two Louisville defenders The Rashad Holman returned the fumble 70 yards for a TD BLUFF CITYi ItiKtUlkliSHIflMJrATKtS LAND 1810 Geftwal at 1-240 Mwnphla TN MEMPHIS POSTGAME Tigers 21 Cards 20 LoutavNIe 14 0 8 0 20 Memphle 7 0 0 14 21 LOU Moreau 10 run (Hubert kick) MEM 20 pass from Oden (Cando kick) LOU Holman 70 fumbte return (Hilbait kick) LOU -HHbart 33 FQ LOU Hllbort 20 FQ MEM Dodson 30 pass from Oden (Cando kick) MEM Bazemote 23 return of blocked punl (Cando kick) A 15243 LOU MEM First downe 10 15 Ruaheemuds 40-223 36-53 Passing 150 108 Comp-AtMnt 20454 1540-1 Return Yards 55 40 PunteAvg 5-298 7-324 Fumbleeloat 3-2 2-2 Penalties-Yards 13-121 7-71 Time of Pose 32:36 27:24 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING LouisviUe Moreau 24-158 Roundtree 1042 Gordon 3-0 Redman 2-2 Williams 1-2 Memphis Amok! 21-69 Dodson 1-5 Riley 1- (-2) PT Jonoa 1-(-7) Oden 12-(-12) PASSING LouisvUle Redman 2035-0-150 Memphis Oden 15-29-1-188 RECEIVING LouisviUe Green 8-78 Montano 4-28 Gordon 3-14 Jackson 3-6 Boyd 2-9 Moreau 1-12 Roundtree 1-12 Memphis Dodson 7-101 Floyd 4-47 KendaU 2-20 Powers 1-11 Carr 1-9 Gamebreaker After allowing Louisville 300 yards In the Drat three quarters the Memphis defense was able to limit the Cardinals to 82 fourth-quarter yards and no points Stopping the of on four downs when It took over at midfield with 3:54 left set up the blocked punt by Don Hasel-wood that Jeff Bazemore scooped up at the 23 and ran In for a game-tying touchdown saw Donnie come off dean and block It with his left hand" Bazemore said thought Jeran (Bums) wss going to pick up but It bounced my way The ball hasn't bounced our way much this season but It did that time" By the numbers 77: The number of points opponents hsve scored off Memphis turnovers this season Louisville scored Its two first-half touchdowns off errors 9: The number of consecutive passes Tiger quarterback Bernard Oden completed to start the game His first incompletion didn't come until six minutes remained In the second half 241: Memphis's yards of total offense lowest since the season opener when Mississippi State limited the Tigers to 204 2549: Career passing yards for Oden ranking fifth In school history Oden has 2112 this season For the defense Tiger defensive back Don Haseiwood blocked the punt 1 that led to the game-winning 1 score deflected another punt and broke up a fourth-down pass intended for I bn Green with 45 seconds left Haseiwood also finished with a game-high 11 tackles Notes of coach Rip Scherer announced before the game that-Junior receiver Darrlua 'Boo' Blevina and freshman wideout Al Sermon have been suspended indefinitely due to violations of team policy Scherer would not comment on what led to the suspension Blevins has played three seasons with the Tigers at fullback and receiver Sermon a red shirt freshman from Daytona Beach Fla had appeared In four games and made his first career reception last weekend at Tutane Bernard Oden broke Steve Matthewe's single-season record of 2084 passing yards when he completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Damien Dodaon in the fourth quarter Oden with 2112 yards became the aecond quarterback In Tiger history to top 2000 yards passing In a single season when he completed a 19-yard pass to Richie Floyd late in the first half Matthews set his record In 1993 Memphis was penalized for excessive celebrating after it blocked Jeremy Boreeth'a punt late In the fourth quarter and returned the ball in the gamewinning score Scherer said he didn't Bee why flags were thrown but said officials should fallow players to show some emotion following a big play For the second straight home game fans at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium booed the Tigers Against Houston this month the boos had tallowed a draw play on thlrd-and-46 from the Memphis 15 As the Tigers left the field at halftime Saturday they were booed trailing 14-7 In an error-filled first half After the game Scherer and embattled Louisville coach Ron Cooper spoke at midfield "I Just told him I really respected the Job he was doing" Scherer said By PNI Stukenborg season because of the head-to-head outcome and did the same this year in already extending the early bid to Southern Mus Ole Miss (5-3 before playing Saturday night at Tulane) has twice played in the Liberty Bowl in the past decade beating Air Force in both 1989 and 1992 Mississippi State (7-2) lost to Air Force in the 1991 Liberty Bowl The Southeastern Conference has tie-ins to put five teams in bowls and Mississippi State is in strong contention for one of those spots Ole Miss would likely have to win two of its last three games for a postseason berth Ole Miss and Mississippi State play in a regular season finale Nov 29 in Starkville Southern Miss last played Ole Miss in 1984 and played Mississippi State since 1990 two SEC determined march to the end zone The Tigers answered on the ensuing posssion The 74-yard drive ended on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Oden to Dod-wno tightroped down the left sideline after making the grab But Memphis quickly gave back the points with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter Oden hit Richie Floyd in the right flat and Floyd fumbled as ne tried to gam additional yardage Rashad Holman scooped up the loose ball at the Cardinal 30 and followed a wall of blockers 70 yards down the left sideline for the touchdown and a 14-7 lead Louisville increased its advantage to 17-7 early in the second half again being the recipient of a Tiger turnover On the of third play of the half pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Bud Herring at tne Tiger 38 Six plays later Hilbert booted a 33-yard field goal VI thought we had it in the sai a Louisville defensive back John Fuqua almost knew it for a To reach reporter Phil Stu-kenborg call 529-2543 E-mail: stukenborggomemphiscom Louisville senior safety John Fuqua hard to handle all this and prepare for a game hear things here and there about how they are trying to get him out but my way of thinking is if going to do it then do it back the man Senior defensive end Kendrick Gholston said people understand that the losses are not fault outside our football family knows how good he Gohlston said this is also a business and not my lace to speak on what should Cooper said there are many reasons why he should be allowed to serve out his contract one really understands what goes on between the players and he said wish everyone could have been in the locker room after the game to see what the players said to listen to what the managers and trainers said They know a lot of been done is what was best for this To reach reporter Brian Douglas call 529-2360 E-mail: douglasscrippscom champion and the No 4 team from the Big East The possibility remains however that the Big East will not have four teams with the six 1-A victories required for a postseason berth Southern Miss (7-3) which closes its regular season at Memphis next Saturday can do no worse than tie for the C-USA title with Tulane The Golden Eagles defeated Tulane 34-13 on Oct 25 If the two teams end up in a tie for the title Liberty Bowl officials get the choice of who they want Last year Southern Miss and Houston tied for the inaugural C-USA title and Houston went to the Liberty Bowl after a 56-49 overtime victory against the Golden Eagles Ehrhart said that Liberty Bowl officials took Houston last that we were going to play our tails off these next two weeks just like we have every game this Memphis which ends its season Saturday at home against Southern Mississippi hid to play without receiver Boo Blevins who was suspended indefinitely this week for a violation of team policy The Tigers were held to 241 by one of the owest-ranked defenses including 53 rushing Oden completed 15-of-29 passes for 188 yards and the two TDs to Dodson Louisville averaging 62 yards rushing got 158 yards rushing from Frank Moreau as the Cardinals finished with 382 yards Quarterback Chris Redman completed 20-of-35 passes for 159 yards Turnovers which have plagued the Tigers in recent losses at East Carolina and Tulane nearly were the undoing again On the of first snap Oden was hit by Mike Gantous and defensive end Kendrick Gholston recovered at the Memphis 36 The Cardinals scored eight plays later converting on fourth-and-11 during the drive on a 10-yard run by Moreau Moreau broke four tackles on a will be to decide whether Jurich is prepared to buy out the remaining two years of contract one person (Jurich) knows what the future Cooper said know where I stand now just have to wait and Jurich attended the game and talked to reporters at halftime about the meeting am going to try and make a comprehensive decision that is best for the long term of the Junch said nothing personal I just have to make sure I do the right Cooper became a subject of controversy off the field last week when a Louisville television station reported that strippers had been part of Coopers annual golf function in 1996 and 1997 Cooper denied knowing about the incident on camera but told a reporter afterward there had been strippers at the of Football Outing in 1996 but they were asked to leave The reports combined with a season full of frustrations to anger and sadden many Cardinal players feel for Coach" said HiAM BUCKII UFtOtHOJUIV IfOF ANDfiCRPMNOIt4 AM MIA MC ROVER ROVER 36111 (901)743-4422 14096214227 "i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I am a current nutwcriher to The Commercial Appeal From Page D1 of lead but Memphis started its comeback early in the fourth quarter Quarterback Bernard Oden found receiver Damien Dodson alone on the right sideline for a 38-yard touchdown pass and eventually the special teams came up with their biggest play of the year The blocked punt for the TD allowed the Tigers (4-6 2-3) to overcome three turnovers that led to each of scores better to be lucky than said Tiger coach Rip Scherer gave them some opportunites but the thing most proud of is our guys just hung in Although his situation is not as grave as Scherer said this was as difficult a week as he has experienced in his coaching career He said he had to get his team focused for its final two games after a disappointing second-half collapse at Tulane last weekend in a 26-14 loss was a big win for us this has been a long Scherer said had a long meeting on Monday morning and we came to an agreement future uncertain after defeat ends season Hey Tiger fans your chance to set in the Same Just complete the form below and mail it in by the drawins date be resistered to win four tickets for premium seats at the next University of Memphis home football same Contest Rules 1 Forty sets of four tickets to be given away to each University of Memphis Tiger home football game 2 Tickets awarded will be for a specific home game no exchanges 3 Winners will be notified by telephone Tickets may be picked up weekdays 8 am to 5 pm in the Circulation Department of The Commercial Appeal 4 New entry necessary for each of six home games 5 No purchase necessary Contest entry forms available at The Commer-' cial Appeal 495 Union Ave Monday through Friday 8 am-5 pm No copy machine copies of entry form accepted One entry per envelope 6 Employees of Memphis Publishing Company and their immediate families are not eligible Home Game 6 of vs Southern Miss Sat Nov 22 (Drawing held Tuesday Nov 1 8) By Brian Douglas Tha Commercial Appeal Leaving the locker room Ron Cooper knew it may have been his last trip out as head coach Cooper held an emotional 30-minute meeting with his players Saturday following his 21-20 loss to Memphis at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium team finished a 1-10 season with a fourth-quarter meltdown when a 20-7 lead turned into defeat It was Cooper said typical of how the season had gone When he aid come out to face the media Cooper spend any time discussing why the Cardinals lost their eighth straight game He talked instead about his prospect of returning for a fourth season had a chance to coach a great team he said still have faith not sure my time is over I look forward to coaching next A meeting looms for Cooper on Tuesday with new Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich Cooper hinted that the meeting Name Address Zip Day Telephone Night Telephone Mail entry to: Tiger Ticket Giveaway to The Commercial Appeal Marketing Department MemphiTN 38101 Tte Commercial Appeal nrTnt' it -V iri '-'i Am.