Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 16

'V i1 B6 MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2001 SPORTS MID-ILLINOIS NEWSPAPERS Special teams kaunt Eastern in loss to UNI xx if" p-n frl Northern Iowa 10 15 14 10-49 Eastern Illinois 7 13 9 15-43 Flrsl quarter Frank Cutolo 15 pass from Tony Romo (Sill Besenhofer kick), 11:40 -ReidSeitz 8 pass from Griff Jurgens (Mac Hoambrecker kick), 6:45 -Hi Hoambrecker 45, 3:32 Second quarter Richard Carter 5 run (kick failed), 6:45 J.R. Taylor 49 run (Besenhofer kick), 5:03 Adam Benge 1 run (Hoambrecker kick), 2:33 Cutolo 39 pass from Romo (kick failed), 1:27 Daryon Brutley returned blocked PAT kick, 1:27 Third quarter Benge 1 run (Hoambrecker kick), 9:09 Gil Davis 42 pass from Romo (Davis run), 6:30 Benge 6 run (Hoambrecker kick), Fourth quarter -E Cutolo 71 pass from Romo (Scotty Gilkey pass from Romo), 14:08 Benge 3 run (Hoambrecker kick), 10:49 N-FG Hoambrecker 27, 6:58 Brandon Robinson 3 pass from Romo (Besenhofer kick), 3:27 TEAM STATISTICS Jl mm 1 i CTCTi EIU 23 UNI 231 11 11 1 52-241 First downs by rushing bypassing by penalty BY BRIAN NIELSEN T-C Sports Editor CHARLESTON Nothing was that sX'cial about Eastern's football game in which it totaled 49 more yards of offense than Northern Iowa. UNI did not need as many yards to beat the Panthers 49-43 in Saturday's NCAA Division I-AA first round playoff game. After scoring on its first possession when getting the ball at its 42-yard line. Eastern's next five possessions started at its own 17.

15, 8, 8 and 19 in a first half which ended with UNI ahead 25-20. Northern Iowa during that first half had possessions start at its 39 and 35, Eastern's 43, the UNI 46, 35 and 46 and EIU's41. teams'. EIU, coach Bob Spoo said. "If it Wasn't obvious to you it should have been.

Our defense had to play a short field. We did not play well on special teams." Spoo. who coordinates the Panthers' special teams himself, spoke during the week's preparation of UNI's highly regarded return men. Still, he was not expecting this. "I didn't think our special teams were going to play that poorly," Spoo said.

"I didn't think it would be that lopsided." Northern Iowa averaged 34.4 yards on five kickoff returns compared to Eastern's 20.4 yards on nine returns. That E1U average was much lower before Brandon Robinson broke loose for a 38-yard return in the fourth quarter. Until then the Panthers were really missing Andre Raymond, who along with his rushing and pass catching contributions ranked 16th in NCAA I-AA while leading the Ohio Valley Conference averaging 26.5 yards on 18 kickoff returns. But the nation's No. 10 all-purpose runner's season ended in the ninth regular season game when he suffered a broken leg.

"Oh. I know." Spoo said when reminded of what Raymond might have meant to this game. "You'd like to think that. He's a proven commodity. When you eliminate him you're going to detract something." Of course.

Eastern still would' have had to have dealt with UNI's return game that gave the purple Panthers such good field position most of the day. "You can't blame it on the defense." EIU quarterback Tony Rushes-yards 14 3 26-139 35 22 2 386 525 4-0 3-26 Had intercepted Yards passing Total offense Punts-avg. fumbles-lost 16 0 235 476' 4- 40.5 0-0 5-53 4.7 t' A INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing IB. Taylor22-154, 1 TD; Tony Romo 415 Hi Benge 29-177, 4 TDs; Richard Carter 16 52 1 TD; Griff Jurgens 6-1 1 Mark Moottiart 1-1 Passing Romo 22-34-2-386, 5 TDs; Bill Besenhofer 1-0 Jurgens 16-29-0-235, 1 TD Receiving Frank Cutolo 1 1-217, 3 TDs; Gil Davis 4-94, 1 TD; Sfiaun Grace 2-15; Brandon Robinson 2-9, 1 TD; Scotty Gilkey 1-21; Julius Davis 1-20; Taylor, 1-10 Jake Soiiday 6-122; Ryan Hannam 4-38; Martus Mays 2-19; John Bretdenbach 1-28; Ben Sanderson 1-12; Reid Seitz 1-8, 1 TD; Moothart 1-8 KKN TREVARTHANSTAFF PI Eastern quarterback Tony Romo (17) is rushed by Northern Iowa defensive end Jason Boehkle but was able to get the ball away as part of his 22-for-34 passing day with five touchdowns and two interceptions. I-AA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE AND RESULTS Timet are CST First Remind Northern Iowa 49, Eastern Illinois 43 Montana 28, Northwestern State 19 Sam Houston State 34, Northern Arizona 31 Maine 14, McNeese State 10 Quarterfinals Maine (9-2) at Northern Iowa (10-2), 1:30 p.m.

Semifinals Dee. 15 Appalachian State-Georgia Southern winner vs. Lehigh-Furman winner, T8A Sam Houston State-Montana winner vs. Maine-Northern Iowa winner, TBA Lehigh 27, Hofstra 24, OT Furman 24, Western Kentucky 20 Georgia Southern 60, Florida ASM 35 Appalachian State 40, William Mary 27 Appalachian State (9-3) at Georgia Southern (11-1 11 am. Lehigh (11-0) at Furman (10-2).

11 a.m. Sam Houston State (10-2) at Montana (12-1), 1 p.m. Dec. 21 At Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, 4:30 p.m. tion we have now is our loss but we know further in life we'll still be friends." While disappointed, Spoo actually showed less frustration in this playoff defeat than he has in some earlier wins, including a mistake-marred 44-33 win over Tennessee Tech.

"Of Cbtlrsife there's a lot bf disappointment in something like this," the coach said. "It's been a glorious run. I'm very obviously proud of this football team." This rise to the No. 3 national ranking came just two years after the Panthers finished 2-10. "I'm so proud of everybody," senior defensive tackle Brad Metzger said.

"We came a long way from two years ago. "We've got some good young guys. Watch out for them next year." PAT kick formation and ran for the two-point conversion that brought EIU to within 32-28 in the third quarter. "It's funny how that happened," Spoo said. "I wanted to kick.

It shows how much I know." He could not argue with the results. "I just saw the opportunity so I called it," Davis said. Romo said. "We gave them a short field all day." Defensive end Lee Fiocchi still shouldered some of the blame. "The defense didn't show up," Fiocchi said.

"We didn't make the third-down plays." EIU seldom had an answer for Northern Iowa's Adam Benge who frequently broke tackles on his way to 177 and four touchdown's on 29 carries. "We knew we would have to tackle those iinys." Spoo said. "A couple of nines we thought we had them dow and we didn't." highest scoring game in O'Brien Stadium history, Eastern fell short this time in game that totaled 1,011 yards of offense, 525 of those yards by the Panthers who had 1 more yard in this game than their regular season high accumulated in a 38-10 win at Florida Atlantic. Some EIU players showed emotion, some walked away silently but others managed some laughs coming out of the locker room after a 9-2 season that included many more good times than bad. "Football is just a game," Fiocchi said.

"We realize that. The only emo- Extra points Another of Eastern's tough times on special teams came when Northern Iowa blocked Bill Besenhofer extra-point kick attempt and Daryon Brutley picked up the ball and ran it back for two points to increase UNI's lead to 25-20 with 1:27 left in the first half. Eastern converted a couple of two-point PATs in the second half. One came when tight Gil Davis, after catching a 42-yard touchdown pass, took a direct snap on a shifted 'Just a game' at Five weeks after rallying for a win over Tennessee State in the Contact Brian Nielsen a LOYOLA 80 EASTERN ILLINOIS 64 Miami unanimous No. Tennessee No.

2 in AP poll Lath Panthers lose seventh straight APTop 25 LOYOLA 80, EASTERN 64 FT Rett TP 4 7 LOYOLA (80) Player re Toczylowski 2-7 Aguado 2-4 Sims 1-1 By The Associated Press Tennessee is closing in on playing for a national championship. The Volunteers (10-1) soared to No. 2 in the AP media poll on Sunday replacing Florida -following their 34-32 victory over the Gators at The Swamp. Miami (11-0) was No. 1 again, but this time it was unanimous after completing a perfect regular season with a 26-24 win over 3-4 0-0 (HJ 2-2 7-12 2-6 1-2 Dailey 2-7 2-4 2 1 6 Lewis 1-4.

0-0. 0 4 3 Karos 2-6 0-2 2 4 5 Riva 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 Harris 2-3 1-2 115 Dowel! 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 Franklin 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 Collins 1-4 4-4 4 2 6 Bloemer 2-5 0-0 0 2 4 Team 5 Totals 24-5214-29 22 20 64 Loyola 36 44-80 Eastern 34 30-64 3-poiat shots: Loyola 3-13 (Toczylowski 0- 2, Aouado 0-2, Yops 1-4, Hoffman 0-2. Harden 0-1, Hamilton 1-1, DMing 1-1); -Eastern 2-8 (Dailey 0-2, Lewis 1-4, Karos 1- 2). Shooting percentages: Loyola Eastern .462. Assists: Loyola 10 (Toczylowski, Hoffman, Harden 3); Eastern 19 (Dailey 9).

Teraowrs: Loyola 26; Eastern 19. Yops Hoffman Ruetter Lands Harden Hamilton 1-2 0-0 2- 2 7-8 2-2 3- 11 4-6 4-6 1 11 BY BRIAN NIELSEN T-C Sports Editor CIIAK1.KSTON Reboundiim and free-throw shoot my were obvious problems in KaMrrn's 80-64 women ba-keiball loss to Loyola dropping The Lady Panther to i -7. Solutions are not so easy. "I don't, understand why we're not a better free-throw shooting team." coach Linda Wunder mi after her EIU team missed it, of foul shots Saturday. Pam O'Connor shed some light on how Loyola outre-bounded the Lady Panthers 47-22.

including 16 offensive rebounds to EH' defensive rebounds. "It's what we do not do." EIU's junior center said. "It's definitely what we're not doing It's been that way even game 32-27 lead until the last four minutes when the Lady Ramblers surged to a 36-34 lead. Eastern regained a 38-36 edge on baskets by O'Connor and Lauren Dailey to start the second half but Loyola then went on a 13-1 tear and the Lady Panthers never recovered. Dailey had a game-high nine assists but EIU extended its worst start to a season since moving to NCAA Division I in 1981-82.

"We don't even want to talk about that," Wunder said. "We're going to keep on working to do what we need to win a game." EIU's next chance is a 7 p.m. Wednesday game at Southern Illinois. Contact Brian Nielsen at 9 5 16 Team 2 Totals 28-6021-28 47 24 80 EASTERN ILLINOIS (64) Player FG FT ReS TP Gossett 3-7 3-7 4 3 9 O'Connor 11-15 3-8 2 2 25 The Top Twenty Five teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 1, total points based on 25 points for a first place vote through one point for a 25th place vote and previous ranking: Reconl Pis Pvs 1.

Miami (72) 11-0 1.800 1 2. Tennessee 10-1 1,709 5 3. Oregon 10-1 1,624 4 4. Colorado 10-2 1,557 9 5. Nebraska 11-1 1,468 6 RRorkla 9-2 1.360 2 7.

Maryland 10-1 1,325 7 8. Illinois 10-1 1,289 8 9. BYU 12-0 1,245 10 10. Texas 10-2 1,184 3 11. Oklahoma 10-2 1,172 11 12 Stanford 9-2- 1.050, 12 13.

Washington St 9-2 876 13 14 South Carolina 8-3 754 15 15. Virginia Tech 8-3 735 14 16. Georgia 8-3 687 16' 17. Michigan 8-3 614 17 18. Syracuse 9-3 546 18 HFresnoSt 11-2 509 21 20.

Washington 8-3 499 19 21. LSU 1 8-3 456 22 22.0hioSt 7-4 272 23 23. Louisville 10-2 216 24 24RoridaSL 7-4 148 25. Toledo 9-2 102 gory managed only four each. Loyola was able to raise its record to 4-1 despite its 26 turnovers, 16 of them in the first half in which EIU had a "It's very frustrating." O'Connor scored a game-high 25 but managed only two rebounds for an EIU team whose co-leaders in that cate- Davies reim is over at Notre Dame Virginia Tech.

With the win, the Hurricanes clinched a spot in the Bowl Championship Series' title game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 3. A win by Tennessee over LSU in the Southeastern Conference title game on Saturday would send the Vols to Pasadena Florida (9-2), which dropped to No. 6, wasn't the only top team to fall. Texas (10-2), ranked third entering Saturday's games, tumbled seven spots to No.

10 after losing to Colorado 39-37 in the Big 12 Conference title game. Oregon (10-1), with a 17-14 win over Oregon State, moved up one spot to No. 3. The Buffaloes (10-2), most likely headed to the Fiesta Bowl, jumped five places to No. 4 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, followed by No.

5 Nebraska (11-1), No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Maryland (10-1). No. 8 Illinois (10-1).

No. 9 BYU (12-0) and No. 10 Texas. In balloting by the 72 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel, Miami collected all 72 first-place votes and 1,800 points. Tennessee had 1,709 points, Oregon 1,624, Colorado L557, and Nebraska L468.

In the USA TodayESPN coaches poll the top five were the first time in school history and finished 5 "A year ago at this time, I believed that we had turned the corner under Bob, and that we were prepared to reclaim our traditional standing among the nation's elite college football programs," White said. 'Today, I can no longer say that" Davie said that after Notre Dame's Sept 29 loss to Texas White threatened to fire him during the Nov. 10 bye week if things had not turned around. But Davie said White decided the next day to give him the rest of season to redeem himself "If Notre Dame thinks they can hire someone who can come in here and do a better job of winning games than I can, that's certainly their prerogative," Davie said. SOUTH BEND, Ind.

AP) Wfcen Bob Davie was hired by Notre Dame in 1996. he got some advice from former Irish coach Ara Parseghian. "He said. 'There's a lot of things to worry about. Worry about one thing and that's Davie said.

He didn't win often enough and Notre Dame fired him Sunday, a day after the storied football program completed its second losing season in three years. The Irish lost six or more games three times under Davie, whose 35-25 record gives him the third-worst winning percentage in Irish history at J583. 'Tm the first one to stand up here and say that we may not have won as many games as what would be expected," Davie said. During his tenure, the IrishVere placed on NCAA probation for the first time. They also produced no first-team Ail-Americans and only one first-round draft pick, Luke Petitgout.

Athletic director Kevin White said that while Davie's teams have done well academically, "We also expect and intend to excel on the field, and there, unfortunately, our results and progress have been disappointing." The search for a new coach will begin immediately, White said, adding that he had a "short list" of candidates, none of whom he has contacted. The Irish went 9-2 during the regular season last year, and Davie was rewarded with a five-year contract before an embarrassing loss to Oregon State in the Fiesta Bowl The Irish started this season 0-3 for Miami, Tennessee, Oregon, Nebraska and Colorado. Miami had 59 of 60 First-place votes from the coaches; BYU, tied at No. 8, received the other. The BCS standings determine which teams play for a national title based on a formula that incorporates the AP media and coaches' polls, eight computers, strength of schedule, won-lost record and bonus points for big wins.

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