Southeast Roundup : Takeaways Give Auburn Victory Over Kentucky

Auburn’s James Joseph rushed for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns, but the Tiger fullback made 2 plays that aren’t in the playbook.

Joseph picked up two fumbles, one to after a Kentucky interception, and seventh-ranked Auburn held off the Wildcats, 20-10, in a Southeastern Conference game at Auburn, Ala.

“The big play he made was when they intercepted the pass and he goes in there and takes the football,” Dye said. “That was a big, big play in the ball game.”

Joseph got the ball back for Auburn on that play in the third quarter with the Tigers leading, 17-3.

Auburn’s Greg Staples made another crucial play in the fourth quarter, when he intercepted a pass in the end zone with Kentucky (1-1) threatening to tie the game.

“It’s just a tough loss when you play that hard,” Kentucky Coach Jerry Claiborne said. “The defense made some good plays. We had a couple of good goal-line stands.

“(Auburn has) some excellent football players. They probably took us a little bit lightly.”

Auburn Coach Pat Dye said that wasn’t the case. “Y’all (reporters) took them lightly, not us.”

Joseph, who gained just 59 yards last season before a season-ending injury in the third game, had touchdown runs of 1 and 33 yards to help Auburn build a 17-0 lead early in the second half. But Kentucky quarterback Glenn Fohr directed the Wildcats on a comeback bid that was stymied in large part by an interception and two fumbles in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers were holding a 17-10 lead when Freddy Weygand fumbled a punt and Kentucky’s Mark Sellers recovered at the Auburn 8. Staples’ interception came two plays later.

Auburn put the game away in the closing minutes when Doug Huntley recovered a fumbled punt at the Kentucky 15 to set up Chris Dickinson’s second field goal, a 26-yarder that built the Tigers’ lead to 10 points.

Kentucky scored on Ken Willis’ 43-yard field goal with 8:02 left in the third quarter. Then Fohr converted a series of crucial third-down plays as Kentucky drove 60 yards to score on Alfred Rawls’ 1-yard dive to make it 17-10.

Georgia 38, TCU 10--The eighth-ranked Bulldogs’ run-oriented offense surprised the Horned Frogs with 145 passing yards during the second quarter of the rout at Athens, Ga.

The Bulldogs (2-0) held a 7-3 lead before exploding in the second period, when quarterbacks Wayne Johnson and Greg Talley connected on 7 of 8 passes.

Johnson, who scored Georgia’s first touchdown on a 37-yard run, set up the second score with a 43-yard pass to Keith Henderson before Rodney Hampton ran 11 yards for the touchdown.

Talley, a redshirt freshman, relieved Johnson and connected on a 40-yard pass play to Arthur Marshall. One play later, tailback Tim Worley hit Troy Sadowski on a 9-yard scoring pass.

Talley made it 28-3 only 1:20 before halftime when he connected on a 13-yard scoring toss to Sean Hummings.

Duke 31, Tennessee 26--Anthony Dilweg passed for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns to Clarkston Hines as the Blue Devils knocked off the Volunteers at Knoxville, Tenn.

Dilweg completed his first 10 passes and finished with 19 of 30. Hines caught 6 passes for 112 yards, including touchdowns of 26, 18 and 15 yards, the last one giving Duke (2-0) a 3-17 lead in the third quarter.

Tennessee (0-2) rallied for three fourth-quarter touchdowns on long drives capped by a short run by Reggie Cobb and two scoring passes from Jeff Francis to Thomas Woods. Cobb gained 182 yards in 28 carries.

Florida 27, Mississippi 15--Emmitt Smith gained 109 yards in 20 carries and Stacey Simmons returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdowns to lead the Gators past the Rebels at Jackson, Miss.

Simmons’ kickoff return to open the second half gave Florida (2-0) a 10-0 lead after Ole Miss (1-1) twice held the Gators inside the 5-yard-line in the first half.

Vanderbilt 24, Mississippi State 20--Reserve quarterback John Gromos hit Boo Mitchell on a 50-yard scoring pass play with 5:36 left and the Commodores stopped two Bulldog drives in the last three minutes at Nashville, Tenn.

Mississippi State’s Mike Davis hit Johnny Moore with an apparent game-winning touchdown with 35 seconds left, but officials ruled Davis stepped out of bounds before the catch.