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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune COLLEGE FOOTBALL Sunday, D 3, 2000 DIVISION I-AA PLAYOFFS = #1 Oklahoma 27, #8 Kansas State 24 HealthyMiller Leads Montanato Semifinals Sooners withstand late Wildcat surge THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Oklahoma is more than OK — the Sooners are perfect and on their way to the Orange Bowl to play for the national championship. dosh Heupel threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as No.1 Oklahoma completed a perfect regular season with a 27-24 victory over No.8 Kansas State in the Big 12 title game on a chilly Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium. The Sooners (12-0), the nation's only major unbeaten team,will get a chance for their first national title since 1985 when they play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3, most likely against defending champion Florida State (11-1), Oklahoma andFlorida State were first and second in last week’s Bowl Championship Series standings and, based on computer projections, seemed certain to remain .hat way today whenthefinal rankings are released and the BCSofficially announces its bowl matchups. “For us to talk about a naHone Secae wehad to .” Sooners Coach Bob Stoops faa. “So this was more like a season game and that’s the way we embraced it. I’m proud of our guys. This win defines our Jim Barcus/TheAssociated Press Kansas State quarterback Jonathan Beasleydivesinto the end zonein the Big 12 Championship. season.” Heupel,in his final Heisman Oklahoma 27, Kansas St. 24 Trophy Kansas St. ‘Oktahoma push, season-high three interceptions, completing 24 of44 passes for 220 yards. The Sooners’ de- fense held the Wildcats to just 239 yards — 185 yards below their average. “I chink our defense may have been the story of the game,” Stoops said. “It was pretty special. You hold them to 239 yards for the day? That’s pretty strong.” 0107 7-24 3771-27 First Quarter OU-FG Duncan 33,7:16. Quarter ip egeel Janen 1454, (S—FG Rheem22,7 QU—Heupel 7 run (Duncan kick), 5:54, KS—Locket 58punt rtum (Rheem Kick), 3:29 (OU—Woofok 17 pass from Heupel (Duncan Kick), 1424, OU-FG Duncan 46, 125 KS—Morgan 16 pass from Beasley (Rheem Kick), 006. A-T0.655, NEWARK,Del. — Nagy threw for 266 yards Appalachian St. 17 and two touchdowns and W.-Kentucky 14 Delaware scored 28 points - BOWLING GREEN, offturnovers. Ky.—Jerry Beard rushed Nagy, who completed for 104 yards and Joey 18 of30 passes, became the Hoover ran for two first Blue Hens player to A back ontop in the Southeastern Conference. The No. 7 Gators pummeled Auburn for the second time in seven weeks, with Rex Gross- man throwing four touchdown passes for a 28-6 victory Satur- day in the SEC championship game. Ernest Graham gave Florida (10-2) a lethal ground-air attack, rushing for a career-high 169 yards, and the Gators’ ball- hungry defense came up with three critical turnovers in the first half. Florida wonits sixth conference title in 10 years but the first since 1996, when the Gators also claimed the national championship. “It’s nice to get carried off the field again,” Coach Steve Spurriersaid. No. 18 Auburn (9-3) had a successful year just by winning the SEC Westafter two straight losing seasons. The Tigers were denied their first conference championship since 1989. in the Sugar Bowl, didn’t quite Auburn’sdefense to the Florida scout team after the first meet- match theefficiency of its 38-7 ing. While that provided plenty victory over Auburn on Oct. 14. That day, the Gators reached the end zoneontheir first five possessions to turn the game quickly into a laugher. But Auburn neverseriously threatened in the rematch, doomingitself with two fumbles and aninterception before halftime. The Tigers will settle for a spot in the Citrus Bowl, their first New Year's Day appearancesince 1995. Grossman,selected the most valuable player, was 17-for-26 for 238 yards with one interception. He has shared playing time with senior Jesse Palmer much of the season. But Spur. rier followed through with his planto start the redshirt freshman andstick with him; Palmer was onthefield for only two plays. “You can stay in there a long time if you play well and do what you're supposed to do,” Spurrier said. “Rex is an excellent passer. Hopefully, he will get a lot more knowledgeable. “They're an excellent foot- If he gets it all down,he has ball team,” Coach Tommy Tuberville said. “They whipped us achanceto be pretty good some day.” pretty_good again.” Grossman compared of bulletin-board fodder for the Tigers, it had no impact on.the rematch. Auburn fumbled onits first possession and Floridacapitalized. On third-and-goal from the 10, Grossman threaded a touchdown pass to Reche Caldwell through a crowd of defenders. Florida 28, Auburn 6 0330-6 Auburrr 4770-2 Florida First Quarter Fa—Caidwall 10 pass from Grossman (Chandler hick), 13:00 Fla—Caldwell 66 pass from Grossman (Chander Wack), 242 Second Quarter Fla—Gatiney 27 pass rom Grossman (Chander fick), 8.19 Aub—FG Duval 44,000 Third Quarter Aub-—FG Duval 21, 943 f 12 pass from Grossman (Chan der hick)517 A-T3A27. ‘Au Fa 19 First downs 2 28120 Rustes yards 191 208 Passing 23432 Compt ot 1726-1 19 Rum Ye 6 45 PuntsAvg S412 32 Fubles-Lost 42 19 Penaties-Yards 861 3149 Time of Possession 211 LEADERS RUSHING—Aubum, Evans 4, Gara an ewe ie ia, Graham 19-169; Giespar 11-45; Grossman {minus 23). PASSING—Aubum, Leard 17-90-1-158, Klein 619-150, Florida, Grossman 17-26-1-238. ere 46,Dera 4.2, ‘Green 3-25, Robinson 3-24, 2221, Wills 1-10, Worthy 1-10, Carter 1-6,irae. Caldwell 381, ane Haugabrook 2-0, Ha 1aCaen (minus: MAC Marshall 19, W. Michigan 14 Marshall W. Michigan First Quarter Mat—FGJenkins 20,941 SecondQuarter Mar—FG Jenkins30,451 3 1006-19 0 077-14 ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Division Il DAVIS, Calif. — Eric Miller passed for 385 yards and five’ touch- ‘Semifinals as Bloomsburg beat California-Davis 5848 on Saturday in the NCAA Division I semifinals. Bloomsburg (12-2) will face Delta State (13-1) next Navy senior Chris Lepore will tap his selective memorytofomost “All I'm going to remember is we beat Army,” said Lepore, who had an interception and a fumble recovery. “We wanted to go out on top.” Navy found theideal way to end its perfectly awful season, taking advantage of five turn. overs and getting a solid per- formance from Brian Broadwater in a dramatic 30-28 victory SPECIAL TOTHETRIBUNE ST. GEORGE Dixie State College tried to give away Sat urday's 15th annual Dixie Rotary Bowl — and nearly succeeded. The Rebels lost four fumbles in the second half, but a yard field goal by Travis Blackwell with twoseconds left Third Quarter | WMU—Neal 22 pass trom Welsh (Sent ik), 0:47 WMU—Bush 41. pass from Welsh (Selent lit) ‘Mar—Cooper 29 pass from Leftwich (pass fale), 614 24816 Mar 1252 3 3-70 First downs. 18 22-86 31 6372 4 60 3113 Come-Att-int Bw tum Yards Pants-Avg. Fumbles-Lost PenaltiesYards Time of Possession 264 1 632 31 315 aa LEADERS RUSHING—Marshall, Wallace 19-79, Leftwich ig Carey 2.2, Team 3mirus 17), W. 67, Woods4-21, Seteer2-7, Welsh52, fen Leth 45058 Welsh 23:34-1-264 Peale 78 Foye 674 Georgia Southern (11-2), had 146 yards on 32 carries. It was his 10 consecutive’ 100-yard game in I-AA playoff games. Delta St. 34 i North Dakota St. 16 Championship ‘At Braly Municipal Stadium Florence, Ala. Delta State, Miss. (1341) vs, Bloomsburg, Pa. (12-2),2p.m. touchdown | s and ran for another score leading Delta State (13-1) to the Division II national championship game. Lamar Gordon ran for 140 yards and a touchdown for North Dakota State (12-2). Gordon surpassed 2,000 yards rushingfor the season. The Statesmen scored twolate touchdownsin a span of 32 seconds. DIVISION Ill PLAYOFFS Hardin-SimmonsSurvives Late Trinity Comeback ‘THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS ABILENE, Texes — Melvin Dudley blocked Roy Hampton's fourth- Division Ill Quarterfinals Games ML Union, Ohio 32, Wittenberg, Ohio 15 — Widener quarterback Mike Granato threw for 415 yards and six touch- downs. Granato threw four TD passes to Mike down passto the end zone as time expired as Hardin-Simmons held off 38, Tity, Texas 90 Coleman while completing 22 of 28 passes. Wid- ener amassed 647 yards of Trinity of Texas 33-30 on Semifinals total offense and 30 first , Dec. 9 to Springfield's 17. Mount Union (12-0) vs. Widener (12-1) downs Jim Jones added three St. John's (12) vs. Hardin-Sinmons touchdowns for Widener face St. John’s of Minne- (120) Saturday in the NCAA DivisionI quarterfinals. The Cowboys (120) the semifinals. After Josh McCasland connected with Joseph Lemberg on 63-yard Hardin-Simmons a 33-23 lead, Trinity (103). responded with a 10-play, ‘77-yard driveto get within three. St. John’s, Minn. 21 Central, lowa 18 Knights. Navylost the ball twice and PELLA, lowa Tom Linnemann threw for 223 yerds and a pair of had a field goal and a punt blocked. But the Midshipmen and caught eight passes nevertheless won a second touchdowns as St. John’s of Minnesota advanced to the NCAA Division III semifinals. St. John’s held Central to 20 yards offense in the third quarter, and then took the lead with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter on Linnemann’s Tyard pass to Nate Kirschner. Widener 61 Sprirgfield 27 SPRINGFIELD, Mass. for 197 yards. Mount Union 32 Wittenberg 15 ALLIANCE, Ohio — Chuck Mooreran for 147 yards and two touch- downs for Mount Union. Wittenberg (1241) scored on its first play, with Anthony Crane throwing an 80-yard touchdown pass to Mike Aljancic. But Mount Union (12-0) charged back, scoring 26 straight points. straight game in. the series for thefirst time since 1982-83. “It was almost like momentum got caught in the middle a coupleof times and didn't know which way to go,” Navy coach Charlie Weatherbiesaid. fumble as Navy comerback Marcus Jackson (17) looks to recover in Navy's second straight win over Army, 30-28. with 42 seconds remaining to defense stepping up at just the get a last chance, after the Hawks had taken a 15-14 lead right time, nc.xe was more ex: citing thai this,” said Coach Greg Croshaw, whose teamis 10-4 in the bow! game. with 3:02 left to play. Doug Smith hit Bryan Molen for 9 yards and spiked theball with “It was as ugly a Rotary Bowl game as I've seen,” 24 seconds remaining, He threw Croshaw added. “Then, suddenly, a miracle comes out of then Junior Mahe, a forgotten somewher I can say is, Harper College of Illinois at Hansen Stadium. “We might have had bigger wins in our history but, as far as to Edwards’ in his final BYU: Utah game, Dixie held on Dixie neededa rally similar fourth cown at its 31-yard line ( NAIA PLAYOFFS Nick Wass/The Associated Press Army quarterback Joe Gerena (7) tries to regain control of his key guys on both *ffense and ‘LaVell who?'” ‘ or better in all 41 of the games he has played for CLEVELAND,Miss. — Delta St, Miss. 4, North Dakota St, 16 Josh Bright threw two Bloomsburg,Pa. 8, UC Davis 48 The Pennsylvania school game atFlorence, Ala. With 4:48 left, Miller added a 2-point converconnected with Tierell sion and another touchJohnson on a 15-yard down.Davis (12-1) had led touchdown pass to put by as manyas 19 points in Bloomsburg ahead 49-48. the third quarter. Ww Saturday. Looking for their first win since last year’s Army-Navy game, the Midshipmen (1-10) built a 20-point lead late in the third quarter and held on to beat the bumbling Black gave them a 17-15 victory over ‘ Peterson, a junior who has rushed for 100 yards os Late Field Goal Lifts Dixie toIts 10th Rotary BowlWin BY MIKE TWITTY in PaulsonStadium. 's week in thechampionship touchdown pass to give cus on the game that counted their 3ist straight victory ‘Mar—Watts 44 pass from Leftwich (Jenkins kick), Navy’s 1st WinIs Big BALTIMORE When he looks back on a season that began with 10 straight losses, STATESBORO, Ga. — The running and passing of J.R. Revere kept Georgia Southern on track for its second straight Division LAA championship Saturday. Revere rushed for 94 yards, passed for 92 and ran for three touchdowns ~ and ullback Adrian Petersonran for two more as the Eagles picked up Advancesto Title Game sota Saturday, Dec. 9 in THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Georgia Souther 48 Hofstra 20 Bloomsburg Downs Davis, 6-57, 2.2, Wesley 1:26, Lockett 1-11. Okiahoma, Smith Gain 738, Woollok 2-40,Mackey2-21, downs Florida, which earned a spot milestone on a 30-yard completion to Jamin Elliott midway through the first quarter. DIVISION II PLAYOFFS Gators Give Auburn Another Beating ATLANTA — Florida is Delaware 47, Lehigh 22 12th straight game. throw for 3,000 yards in a season. He topped the CoSot giaenti 256. CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Division I-AA ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MISSOULA, Mont. — Quarterfinals Drew Miller threw for 381 Saturday's Games yards and three touchdowns to lead Montana to a 34-20 victory over Rich- Montana Richmond 20 ‘Appalachian St. 17, West. Kentucky 14 mond on Saturdayin the NCAA Division TAA Semifinals quarterfinals. Saturday, Dec. 9 Top-ranked Montana Sites and times TBA (12-1), of the Big Sky Con- Mont. (12-1)vs. Appalachian St. (10-3) ference, will face 13th- Georgia So. (11-2) vs. Delaware (12-1) seeded Appalachian State (10-3) at home next week touchdowns to lead Appain the semifinals. lachian State. Trailing 14-10 Appalachian State chewed up back who has been in- ‘five minutes with their jured for much ofthe last second driveof the second two months, completed 28 halfand Hooverended the of 41 passes and threw 10-play march with a 3 touchdown passes of 10 yard touchdown run with yards to Etu Molden, and 11:57left in the game. 65 and 20 yards to Jimmy Farris as Montana wonits for 17 yards to Josh Adams and man most of the afternoon, racedacross thefield to grab a 3@-yard receptionat the 6 with five seconds remaining. That set up Blackwell's field goal, “It's good we had our timeouts left,” said Smith, a former Hillcrest player who guided the Rebels to winsin six of their final seven games, The game was a stalemate until midway through the second quarter. Dixie drove 78 yards af ¢ a fumble recovery by Scott Young to score on a 2- yardrun by RyanFelipe, starting his first game at tailback since Kamuela Black had left the team at the end of the regu- lar season. Smith ran 2 yards for 9 14-0 lead with 11 seconds loft in the first half. Georgetown’s Win in Semis Sets Up NAIA Championship Rematch NW Oklahoma St 42 ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GEORGETOWN, Ky. Nick Ayers rushed for 137 yards and two touchdownstb lead Georgetown. to a 28-21 win over Carroll College in the NAIA semifinals Saturday. Semifinals ‘Saturday's Games Georgetown, Ky. 28, Carrol, Mont. 21 NW Okda. St. 42, Northwestem, lowa 7 Championship At Jim Carroll Stadium, Hardin County, Tenn, Saturday, Dec. 16 earned their second straight trip to the NAIA Georgotown, Ky. (13-0) vs. The Tigers championship Georgetown (13 game. will NW Oldahoma St. (13-0), TBA Northwestern (lowa)7 ALVA, Okla. Al Hunt threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score for Northwestern Oklahoma State. ‘The Rangers took a 21-0 leadin the first 13 minutes of the game. Northwestern, lowa’s Dave Perrigo became the play Northwestern Oklahoma 4-26 in last year’s final. Georgetown converted State in the championship gameDec,16 in a rematch eight of 14 third downs of last year’s title game. and outgained the Saints Northwestern Oklahoma 969-274, Carroll mustered State beat Georgetown only 77 yards rushing. ! career season NAIA single rushing leader with 2,504 yards. Jo Jo Jones of Lambuth University (Tenn.) held the old record. ‘ \ |
