SOUTHEAST ROUNDUP : Alabama Closes In on Title With Victory

Siran Stacy ran for 149 yards and Gary Hollingsworth passed for 151 Saturday as fifth-ranked Alabama moved closer to its first Southeastern Conference championship since 1981 with a 23-10 victory over Mississippi State at Birmingham, Ala.

Stacy scored from the eight-yard line and Martin Houston from the one, and Philip Doyle kicked three field goals as Alabama improved to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the SEC. Mississippi State is 4-4 and 1-4.

Mississippi State’s Joel Logan kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it 7-3 in the third quarter and, after Alabama took a 23-3 lead, Jerrod Young scored with less than two minutes left.

Alabama is 60-11-3 against the Bulldogs, including victories in 31 of the last 32 games.

The Crimson Tide, with conference games remaining against Louisiana State and Auburn, needs to win one of them to at least tie for the title. Victories in both would give Alabama the championship outright.

After Mississippi State’s Mike Roley punted to the Alabama one-yard line in the first quarter, the Tide moved 99 yards in 17 plays, scoring on Stacy’s run on the first play of the second quarter.

Stacy, whose longest run was nine yards, ran for 53 yards in nine carries on the drive and added had another 13 on a reception. Mississippi State forced Alabama to punt from its 32, but a personal foul penalty on the play kept the drive alive.

After Reggie Stewart recovered a fumble by Stacy at the Alabama 42 in the second quarter, the Tide’s rush forced a bad pass on fourth down from the 32.

Alabama defensive back John Mangum intercepted a Tony Shell pass in the first half, giving him 15 interceptions for his career. That tied him with Harry Gilmer for second place in school history, behind Jeremiah Castille’s 16. The Tide has intercepted at least one pass in 15 consecutive games.

Auburn 10, Florida 7--Reggie Slack threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Shayne Wasden on fourth down with 26 seconds left as the 12th-ranked Tigers beat the No. 19 Gators to keep their SEC title hopes alive at Auburn, Ala.

The touchdown came after Florida’s defense, ranked No. 1 in the nation, had held Auburn in check for most of the game. Emmitt Smith, the nation’s leading rusher, had put the Gators ahead with a five-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

But Auburn, unable to cross midfield for more than half of the game, rallied for Win Lyle’s 47-yard field goal in the third quarter and Slack’s pass to Wasden as the Tigers climbed to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the SEC.

Florida, trying to overcome the recent dismissals of Coach Galen Hall and starting quarterback Kyle Morris, fell to 6-2 and 3-2. Fifth-ranked Alabama leads the conference with a 5-0 mark and two league games remaining, the last against Auburn on Dec. 2.

Smith, leading the nation with 161.1 yards per game rushing, was held to 86 in 27 carries.

Virginia Tech 18, Vanderbilt 0--Freshman Mickey Thomas kicked a school-record six field goals, and the Hokies’ defense, ranked third nationally, gave up only 146 total yards in a nonconference game at Blacksburg, Va.

Thomas broke the record of five field goals set by Don Wade in 1981 and tied by Chris Kinzer in 1986. Thomas also set a school record for points by kicking, breaking the record of 17 held by Wade and Kinzer.

Thomas, who did not miss an attempt Saturday, had made 13 of 16 field-goal attempts before the game.

Virginia Tech (5-3-1) held Vanderbilt (1-7) to 30 yards rushing and 116 yards passing. The Hokies went into the game allowing an average of 76 yards rushing and 160 yards passing.

Georgia 37, Temple 10--Preston Jones’ 73-yard scoring pass to Rodney McCoy and John Kasay’s 49-yard field goal late in the first half sparked the Bulldogs to a nonconference victory at Athens, Ga.

Georgia (5-3) was struggling with a 10-7 lead before McCoy got behind the Temple defense, making the catch at the Owls’ 30-yard line and sprinting untouched to the end zone with 1:06 left in the first half.

A Temple fumble with nine seconds left in the half enabled Kasay to stretch the halftime lead to 20-7 with the second of his three field goals.

It was the ninth loss in a row for the winless Owls, who held a 7-3 lead in the first quarter after Jamie Dimond’s one-yard run.

Kentucky 31, Cincinnati 0--Chris Tolbert returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown and the Wildcats turned two Cincinnati turnovers into scores to win at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky (5-3) got its first break when Doug Houser recovered quarterback Glenn Farkas’ fumble at the Cincinnati 19-yard line. Four plays later Freddie Maggard passed two yards to Steve Phillips for a 7-0 lead with 6:36 left in the first quarter. Cincinnati dropped to 1-7-1.