Southeast Roundup : Vanderbilt Goes for It, Gets 24-9 Upset Win Over No. 20 Florida

Vanderbilt Coach Watson Brown wasn’t quite sure what to do, so he took a vote.

Quarterback Eric Jones took it from there, throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to Steve Kosanovich with 9:42 left and the Commodores went on to a 24-9 Southeastern Conference upset of No. 20 Florida, which lost its second straight game.

“I didn’t know what to do, so I called time out,” Brown said. “I went around to my coaches, and it was unanimous to go for it. Our defense was really playing good, so that was the reason we did that. I thought everything we tried to do against Florida was aggressive.”

Vanderbilt (3-3 overall and 2-2 in the SEC) had its lead cut to 10-9 on a 40-yard field goal by John Francis of Florida (5-2, 3-1) before starting an 80-yard drive to the winning touchdown.

The Commodores added an 11-yard run by Mark Johnson with a minute remaining after Florida turned the ball over on downs when Gator quarterback Herbert Perry was sacked by linebacker Billy Cunningham.

Perry, thrust into the starting job when Kyle Morris was injured in last week’s loss to Memphis State, completed 21 of 37 passes for 181 yards but was sacked 3 times by the Vanderbilt defense.

The Gators also played without injured tailback Emmitt Smith, averaging 125.2 yards a game.

Louisiana State 15, Kentucky 12--The No. 19 Tigers capitalized on 4 punting miscues by the Wildcats, and Tommy Hodson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tony Moss for the winning points midway through the fourth quarter of an SEC game at Baton Rogue, La.

Kentucky (2-4, 0-3) had a 6-0 lead in the third quarter but lost it after 2 errors by its kicking game. The Wildcats tried a quick kick on third and 14 at their 21, but it was blocked and Kentucky recovered for an 11-yard loss.

On fourth down, Jeff Nelson’s punt was partially blocked by Ron Sancho. After a penalty against Kentucky, the Tigers took over at the 9. Eddie Fuller ran 9 yards to score for LSU (4-2, 3-1) on the first play.

Kentucky scored on a 70-yard pass play from Glen Fohr to John Bolden and took a 12-7 lead, but Hodson’s pass to Moss put LSU ahead to stay.

Alabama 28, Tennessee 20--Murry Hill ran 55 yards for a touchdown with 1:38 left to clinch the Crimson Tide’s SEC victory over the winless Volunteers at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee (0-6, 0-4) is off to its worst start.

Hill’s run with 1:38 left to play put Alabama (4-1, 3-1) ahead, 28-12. Tennessee scored on an 11-yard pass from Jeff Francis to Alvin Harper with 13 seconds left and added a 2-point conversion.

Tennessee’s Keith DeLong, who had 19 tackles, intercepted David Smith’s pass and returned it to the Alabama 13 early in the third quarter. That set up a 23-yard field goal by Chip McCallum, cutting Alabama’s lead to 14-12.

Alabama took a 21-12 lead with 7:30 left when David Casteal scored on a 7-yard run.

Auburn 42, Akron 0--Stacy Danley rushed for 2 touchdowns and Reggie Slack passed for 224 yards as the No. 12 Tigers defeated the Zips at Auburn, Ala.

The Tigers (5-1) jumped to a 28-0 halftime lead on the strength of Danley’s scores, which capped drives of 36 and 50 yards, respectively. Akron fell to 2-5.

The closest Akron (2-5) came to scoring was when Bob Dombrowski missed a 46-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Southern Mississippi 38, Mississippi State 21--Rickey Bradley ran for 3 touchdowns and James Henry returned a punt 72 yards for another as the Golden Eagles defeated the Bulldogs at Jackson, Miss.

Bradley scored on runs of 2, 1 and 52 yards, the long run giving Southern Mississippi (6-1) a 35-14 lead in the third quarter.

Tony Shell threw scoring passes of 16 and 36 yards to Fred Hadley, and 1 yard to Jerry Bouldin for Mississippi State (1-5).

Mississippi 25, Arkansas State 22--Mark Young threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Pat Coleman with 3:01 left to lift the Rebels to victory at Oxford, Miss.

Arkansas State (2-5) went ahead just a minute earlier after recovering an Ole Miss fumble at the Rebel 14. Quarterback Earl Easley dived 1 yard to put the Indians ahead, 22-17, with 4:38 left.

Reserve quarterback John Darnell ran 4 yards for a touchdown and passed 30 yards to Coleman for another score for Mississippi (3-3).