SOUTHEAST ROUNDUP : Georgia Rushes Past No. 20 Florida, 17-10

Rodney Hampton scored two touchdowns in a three-minute span of the second half Saturday as Georgia overcame a sluggish start and upset No. 20 Florida, 17-10, at Jacksonville, Fla.

Hampton outrushed Florida’s Emmitt Smith, 121 yards to 106, and had touchdown runs of 10 and two yards to lift the Bulldogs to a 17-7 lead with with 3:54 left in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs, 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference, held Florida to a 24-yard field goal by John David Francis the rest of the way to win for the 14th time in the last 18 meetings.

Florida, a last-minute loser to Auburn a week ago, was hoping to stay in the running for a Jan. 1 bowl game but fell to 6-3 and 3-3 before a neutral-site crowd of 81,577 at the Gator Bowl.

Ben Smith led the Georgia defense with two of the Bulldogs’ three interceptions of quarterbacks Donald Douglas and Lex Smith. Georgia also recovered a fumble and stopped Florida twice on downs to kill third-quarter scoring threats.

Auburn 38, Louisiana Tech 23--Alexander Wright scored two touchdowns and set up another with a 73-yard kickoff return as the No. 12 Tigers scored 28 points in a 2:30 span in a nonconference game at Auburn, Ala.

Darrell Williams also scored twice for the Tigers (7-2), who trailed 10-7 at the end of the first quarter. Louisiana Tech, which completed its first season of NCAA Division I play, dropped to 5-4-1.

Williams, who rushed for 106 yards in 17 carries, ran 36 yards for his first touchdown with 9:54 remaining in the half to put the Tigers ahead to stay.

Tennessee 52, Akron 9--Three Tennessee players threw touchdown passes and Chuck Webb ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns as the No. 11 Volunteers won at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee, of the Southeastern Conference, improved to 7-1. Akron, an independent, ended its season at 6-4-1.

Volunteer quarterback Andy Kelly threw touchdown passes of 40 yards to Thomas Woods and 22 yards to Greg Amsler.

Amsler, a fullback, also threw an option touchdown pass of 37 yards to Vince Moore, and reserve quarterback Sterling Henton passed 72 yards to Woods for another score.

The Vols set a school record with 588 yards of total offense.

Kentucky 15, Vanderbilt 11--Mike Thomas scored on an eight-yard run in the fourth quarter and Albert Burks stopped a late Commodore drive to lead the Wildcats at Nashville, Tenn.

Kentucky, 6-3 overall and 2-3 in the SEC, mounted a 12-play, 46-yard drive that ended in its only touchdown with 8:04 to play. The Wildcats snapped a 15-game road losing streak in the conference.

Vanderbilt (1-8 and 0-6) had two passes intercepted and lost two fumbles as the Commodores lost their seventh consecutive game.

Mississippi State 27, Tulane 7--Freshman Todd Jordan passed for one touchdown and engineered two other scoring drives to spark the Bulldogs in a nonconference game at Starkville, Miss.

Jordan, making his first start of the season, completed nine of 18 passes for 105 yards. His touchdown pass was a 22-yard play to Chris Firle in the second quarter.

Mississippi State improved to 5-4; Tulane dropped to 3-7.