St. Lucie News Tribune from Fort Pierce, Florida • 31

INSIDE MONDAY NOVEMBER 27 2000 SPORTS Basketball Golf Tamils NFL 3 Collage Football IJSMIJI patflRflSgcyM -yNBpTB wttofc-eleteAABKawbites iisg miivm JIWo lBGFKBjW rAm i rfifcfi-4PrirM iaAMGahataMbMiGimiiie srfbWMMMMili eesfiGsmi iri MM DOLPHINS 17 COLTS 14 MOD Bucs batter beat Bills Tampa Bay keeps playoff hopes alive rips Buffalo 31-17 Chris Harry OMANOO SENTINEL '4 TAMPA For the Tfcmpa Bay Buccaneers this one was about refusing to give in not to the pain' not to the moment and certainly not to the Buffalo Bills John Lynch had been ruled out of Sunday's game because of a dislocated shoulder yet there was the Bucs' Pro-Bowl strong safety knifing through Buffalo's offensive line and smothering a ballcarrier for a second-quarter loss Lynch said a crossroads game" There was linebacker Derrick Brooks slamming quarterback Rob Johnson to the ground then climbing to his feet and racing 40 yards across the field to hit Johnson's receiver for one of the most spectacular (and hard-earned) personal fouls ever witnessed had been winning and not gaining ground on Brooks said loss last week at Chicago put everyone on And there were the Bucs -their backs to the NFC playoff wall beating the Bills 31-17 on Sunday before a rain-drenched Raymond James Stadium crowd of 65546 that watched the home team overcome its ineffectiveness with desire and opportunism was a very tough Tampa Bay Coach Tony Dungy said it was a great Tailback Warrick Dunn carried 20 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns giving the Bucs their first 100-yard rusher this season and helping the offense offset season-lows of 180 total yards and just 66 net yards passing Defensively the Bucs surrendered 433 yards but sacked Johnson six times and limited the Bills to just two touchdowns Warren Sapp whose critical remarks last week of offensive coordinator Les Steckel made for a controversial pre-game storyline finished with two sacks to give him a team record and his teammates a franchise record 49 for the season And not to be outdone were Ibrnpa special teams as Karl Williams returned a punt 73 Th Associated Pmm 1 O'S I Miami Oronde Gadsden right hauls in the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in Indianapolis interception sets stage for Miami comeback and Huard delivers with TD pass to Gadsden TM ASSOCIATED PMU The Road Ahead Dec 3 at Buffalo 1pm Dec 10 Tampa Bay 1 pm Dec 17 Indianapolis 4:15 pm Dec 24 at New England 1 pm Inside JETS PREVAIL: The New Yofk Jets rode their stingy defense and surprisingly good passing game to a victory over the Bears to stay within a game of the Dolphins for the AFC East lead Turn to BUCSD8 tant offensive players That left it to Huard who won five of six games last year in place of the now-retired Dan Marino But he threw for just 128 yards and threw three interceptions after Fiedler was injured in a loss to the Jets The Colts took the lead on two TD passes from Manning to Marvin Harrison one from 28 yards in the first quarter and another from 8 yards The first came on their first possession of the game the second on the second play of the final period to take a 14-10 lead Indianapolis seemed to be on the way to the win when it got the ball with 8:24 left It nibbled 4 'A minutes off the dock led by Edgerrin James who carried 26 times for 118 yards But on third-and-7 instead of running to eat up time and set up a field goal Manning threw deep over the middle Marion got in front of Jerome Pathon and grabbed the ball threw it behind Jerome and the safety was right said Manning who was 16-of-34 for 209 yards The Dolphins started from Turn to DOiPHINSDS INDIANAPOLIS Yes even Peyton Manning is human The Miami defense made sure of that The Dolphins remained in control of the AFC East by beating the Colts 17-14 on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 1:10 left from backup quarterback Damon Huard to Oronde Gadsden The 86-yard drive that ended in the winning score was set up by Brock Marion's interception of an ill-advised third-down pass by Manning with just under three minutes to go And the Miami defense with Zach Thomas back at middle linebacker after missing five of the last six games held the Colts to their lowest point total of the season and Manning to his second-lowest yardage total 209 have a lot of pride in our Thomas said Brock Marion does not intercept that ball we probably don't But Marion did so the Dolphins (9-3) remained in first place in the division a game ahead of the New York Jets and two ahead of Buffalo and Indianapolis (7-5) i 'j I i 4 i X-LJ Colts have a lot of firepower lb just give up 14 points to a team with the firepower they have extremely Miami linebacker Robert Jones said For the Colts it was the third loss in their last four games two of them cold-weather road games in Chicago and Green Bay They have to go back outside against the Jets in the Mead-owlands next week a game that is now vital to their playoff hopes The Dolphins entered the game without quarterback Jay Fiedler and running back Lamar Smith two of their most impor Around the NFL JAGUARS Jacksonville snapped a fivegame stretch of futility against the Tennessee Titans when Mike Hollis hit a 38-yard field goal with no time left Sunday for a 16-13 victory D8 SAINTS New Orleans moved Into a tie for first place in the division by beating the Super Bowl champion St Louis Rams who not too long ago were untouchable at home Df Tha Asooclated Press Miami Dolphins safety Brock Marion (31) celebrates his fourth quarter interception of a Peyton Manning pass that led to the winning touchdown In Indianapolis Sunday Despite impressive victory will lose ground in BCS poll Possibility of split national title looms if Miami is shut out of Orange Bowl game by the AP media poll A split national championship is possible if Florida State can beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and not as unlikely as you might think Since 1954 there have been 10 split national championships UM's most recent national title in 1991 was split with Washington for the 'Canes won the AP poll and the Huskies won the coaches' polL Sunday's latest AP poll shows there is a possibility it could happen Miami collected six first place votes its only six of the season and is closing the gap between itself and No 1 Oklahoma The BCS was created to avoid split national championships and uses a complex formula including strength of schedule computer rankings losses and the coaches and media polls to determine the top two teams in the country know what to say to those quarterback Ken Dorsey said earlier this week guess beating Florida State was a fluke I guess beating Virginia Tech was a fluke and I guess beating Syracuse in the Carrier Dome was a fluke I guess all our wins were a fluke If a computer came out to watch Miami Hurricanes football I might take it while widening the gap with No 3 Florida State In the past three polls Oklahoma had 70 first-place votes the Seminoles one and UM none Miami trails Oklahoma by 69 points and leads Florida State by 56 UM trailed the Somers by 93 points and led FSU by 36 point a week ago For this to work out in UM's favor the Canes would need AP to vote them No 1 ahead of Florida State should both teams win their bowl games going to try to win one of the national UM coach Butch Davis said after win Andrea Szulszteyn SOUIH ftOmPA BWMENTINEt CORAL GABLES The University of Miami has a chance to play for a national championship with or without Oklahoma's help Even though hopes to in the FedEx Orange Bowl tinge on an Oklahoma loss to Kansas State on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship game the Hurricanes can play for a national title even if Oklahoma wins because the Associated Press media poll votes for a champion The new Bowl Championship Series rankings that will be released this afternoon show UM strength of schedule ranks No 1 in the country followed by UM's No 2 and the Seminoles have virtually assured themselves of a spot in the Orange Bowl despite losing to UM 27-24 The new BCS rankings make it clear that an Oklahoma loss is the best chance for UM to face Florida State on Jan 3 for the BCS national championship If Oklahoma wins there is another national championship awarded each season one given lost ground to idle Florida State despite a 52-6 blowout against Boston College because No 1 Oklahoma had an unimpressive 12-7 win against Oklahoma State Because of the close victory Florida State is expected to gain at least two more No 1 votes in the computer polls from Oklahoma giving the Seminoles six No 1 computer rankings and further widening the gap between themselves and UM Not only that Florida mm.