The Albuquerque Tribune from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 11

T1IE ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE PageB3 Saturday January 1 2000 Knight in shining armor rides off to win heart Southern Miss shuts down CSU in wild day of bowl action 7-jrwrW') tsS 1 1 ft 'vli -VY ond Alabama native to letter for the Wolverines brother told me to follow my he says what I For a couple of years Knight second-guessed his decision In his first two seasons he caught only 10 including fora: against Alabama as a freshman in the Outback Bowl and he considered transferring to a school closer to home After meeting with Carr Knight decided to stay put both happy about the decision has meant a tot to die younger players because a tremendous role model" Can says "At first impression a very quiet and laid-back guy yet a fire in his bel-ly He wants to be the best He competes hard every day and has made an awful tot of big plays for In his final two seasons Knight made 78 receptions for 1369 yards This year he averaged 2 1 3 yards per catch and scored six touchdowns all in the final seven regular-season games last game could be a busy one because die Wolverines will like ly have to throw to win Alabama ranked second in die nation in rushing defense and allowed only 31 yards per cany one has run the ball against them" Care says For defense die challenge will be to stop foe run Senior running back Shaun Alexander die SEC player of die year has scored 50 touchdowns for Alabama and wants to cap his career with one last big game love classic games and I think this is going to be Knight says Knight is the youngest of 13 children and some of his siblings have tickets for the game But his parents planned to watch on TV from their home in Sylacauga a town of 1250 in die middle of the state not that small just Knight says return home this summer with a degree in history He hopes to play in the NFL and considers his four years at Michigan a success came here a he says "and I'm leaving a ByStevenWIne THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MIAMI Michigan senior receiver Marcus Knight concludes his collegiate career tonight against Al- abama die team he rooted for growing up an Alabama guy at heart but a Michigan man if you can understand that" he said For many Alabamans to attend Michigan is beyond understanding There will be divided loyalties in his hometown of Syla-cauga Ala when die eighth-ranked Wolverines (9-2) face the fifth-ranked Crimson Tide (10-2) in the Orange Bowl Aiabama offered Knight a scholar ship and his older brother Damien Jeffries played for Alabama was tremendous pressure on Michigan coach Lloyd Carr says But the Crimson Tide were on NCAA probation at the time and Knight liked the academic opportunities at Michigan So he opted for Ann Arbor becoming only die sec Marti HumphwyTh Associated Prats Southern Josh Gulley celebrated with his mother Myra Gulley after the Golden Eagles beat Colorado State 23-17 hi the Liberty Bowl on Friday night In Memphis Tenn Cockerham was really a running back in a body So they stacked up to stop elusive playmaker and also stuffed Thomas Hamner whom Gophers coadi Gkn Mason hailed as having as goodayearasHeistnan Trophy winner Ren Dayne in an upset in fee Sun Bowfl on Friday in El Paso Without their running game working die 12tb-ranked Gophers were rattled and Oregon capitalized The victory came with 1:32 left when Keenan Howry made a sliding lftyard catch of a pass from Joey Harrington capping an 87-yard drive that featured a fourth-arid-li conversion with three minutes left The defoise limited Cocker-ham who had rushed for more than 100 yards four times dus season to 26 yards an the ground and Hamner to just 64: yards on 20 carries Iinfoacker Dietrich Moore sealed the victory for die Ducks (9-3) by sacking Cockerham and forcing a fumble in die The sixth straight victory made Mike Beltotd die first Oregon coach with two nine-victory seasons and also denied foe Golden Gophers (8-4) then first ninowin season since 1905 ft also providedameure of comfort for die Rio-10 whose teams were 0-3 in bowls afler foe league entaeda spotty regular season sorted out The Heisman? He went from die front-runner to not receiving enough votes to even get an invitation to the Heisman festivities in New York When he takes die field at foe Superdome in Tuesday national championship Sugar Bowl game against Virginia Tech he will be a man cm a mission Tve been through said Warrick who still managed to lead the Seminoles in receiving this season with 71 catches for 934 yards a remarkable 1038 yards per game average a championship would do a lot THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Southern Mississippi could manage only a field goal in the second half of the Liberty Bowl Thanks to Adalius Thomas and his defensive teammates it was enough to hold off Mountain West Conference co-champion Colorado State Thomas had three sacks in the second 1 halfas the Golden Eagles shut out CSU in the final two quarters to preserve a 23-17 victory Friday in Memphis Tenn for their second Liberty Bowl win in dure years Thomas also had eight tackles and broke up a pass The 16th-ranked Golden Eagles (9-3) spent die first half getting a fed fix Colorado State (8-4) uid an offense led by running bade Kevin McDougaL the coaches came and told me to just said Thomas who led Southern Miss with nine sacks during die regular season just started going and finding die ball and making Thomas seemed to be everywhere and he needed to be as the Golden defense spent nearly 19 minutes on the field in the second half Even so McDougal who averaged 116 yards per game gotjust 17 of his 59 yards in die half The Rams finished with 268 yards total ofiense their second-lowest total of die season They got 1 16 yards after halftime Southern Miss managed only 187 total yards The Golden Eagles were the eigfidi-stingiest defense during the regular season Southern Miss led 20-17 at halftime and managed only a 25-yard field goal by Brant Hanna midway through the Colorado Stale had one last chance to the final two minutes with two downs fiomdie Southern Miss 24 Matt Newton threw incomplete on third down and Southern Miss safety Leo Bames knocked away a fburtbind-3 jpass with 1:15 toplay' Southern spefearm blocked a punt and recovered it fixatouchdowa The loss makes Colorado State 24 in bowl games but coach Sonny Lubick a a nanoeci a contract extension peioreinc game was pleased with what he saw from a team that won its final five I games in the regular season v' Most of the action took place inawild first half The first two punts were blocked as was an extra point There were three turnovers and two TDs on i fourth down Soudiem Miss led even though the offense score a point Aintil 26 seconds remained in die half It was die highest-scoring first half since die 1972 Liberty Bowl when Iowa State and Georgia Tech combined for 38 points Independence Bowl V1 Mississippi 27 Oklahoma 25 Mississippi proviits football fens widi a New Eve to remember The Rebels afler seeing a21-3 halftime lead slip away drove fora game-winning field goal in the final 2: 17 Friday night to Oklahoma at die Independence Boldin Shreveport La Les 39-yard field goal as time expired gave die Rebels (84) their second straight victtxy in this bowl and then fourthstraightpgstseasanvicbxy Warrick looks make up for a ByMarkBlaudsdiun BOSTON GUOBE NEW ORLEANS Warrick wishes it could be different He wisb- eshe could find a time machine step back force months and undo what was done He And that bothers him Haunts him even not a bad he said made a mistake I paid die But we live in a judgmental world Perception is reahty and the percep- tkm which sticks for now is not of an I All-American wide receiver who stayed at Florida State for his senior season and got his degree but of foe out-of-control athlete of foe who has his hands out with a look cm his face The evidence say those making character assessments is not disputable Peter Warrick went on a shopping spree fit department store in Tallahassee earlier this season He purchased $41238 worth of merchandise He paid $2140 But there was no discount Not even close Warrick was caught arrested and plea bargained his way into a conviction that brought no jail time but punished him nevertheless i Gone was foe Heisman Trophy for which Warrick was the overwhelming preseason favorite But even more important for the 6-foot 190-pound senior gone was his reputation Instead of respect Warrick was ridiculed Florida fantraveling to The Rebels had closed out the regular season with three-point losses to Georgia and Mississippi State games in which they failed to hold fourth-quarter leads It appeared the sine might happen this time after Oklahoma (7-5) scored its third touchdown ofthe second half to take a 25-24 lead But the Rebels rebounded) win Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel was 39-of-53 for 390 yards all Independence Bowl records and led two scoring drives in the third quarter) pull Oklahoma within 21-18 InsighLcom Bowl Colorado 62 Boston College 28 offense really one-dimensionaL It just seemed thi way against Rretra The Buflatoes rushed fix 365 yards with Cortlen Johnson accounting for 201 simultaneously running out the clock and still scoring enough to embarrass the 25 th-ranked Eagles Friday in the Insightxom Bowl in Tucson ft was toe sixth consecutive postseason victory for Colorado (7-5) the longest active streak in die country and the first for coach Gary Barnett who tost twkx in the Rose Bowl as coach at Northwestern Sun Bowl Oregon 24 Minnesota 20 The Oregon Ducks knew that Billy to Sugar Bowl as a way to season of disrespect ridicule TUBsaay 6 pjiu Florida State (110) vs Virginia Tech (110) Vf- 1 KOATOharme) Gainesville for die annual game vs Florida State had bags hang-' fog out of foeir trunks in amodc sahrte to Warrick He became foe poster child for pampered spoiled athletes What people saw was die Warrick who at first fluffed off the incident by 'Saying was not like I shot foe He served a two-game suspension while his legal problems were being DON! 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