SOUTHEASTERN ROUNDUP : Florida Dominates Mississippi State, 34-21

Shane Matthews passed for 351 yards and three touchdowns and Errict Rhett rushed for 143 yards and scored on a seven-yard pass reception to lead Florida to a 34-21 victory over Mississippi State in a Southeastern Conference game before 72,943 at Gainesville, Fla.

The 17th-ranked Gators improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC.

Florida’s offense produced 567 yards in 94 plays, but had two fumbles returned for touchdowns.

“I think most of you can tell this team has got a chance for a big year if we can eliminate those few bad plays that are happening each week,” Florida Coach Steve Spurrier said.

“We did have some stupid plays, but I really believe our players played with a tremendous amount of effort. . . . When bad things did happen, nobody put their head between their legs and nobody started pointing fingers.”

Matthews completed 27 of 42 passes and also scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak. Rhett, in his second college start, carried the ball 25 times and was the main reason Florida was able to build a 2-1 advantage in time of possession (39:40 to 20:20).

But as effective as the Gators’ offense was, the defense was better. Mississippi State was held to 58 yards in the second half and finished with 19 yards net rushing in 21 attempts.

“It was a disappointing game,” said Bulldog Coach Rockey Felker, whose team had a two-game winning streak stopped in falling to 2-2 and 0-2.

“Last week (against Southern Mississippi) we were able to move the ball, but Florida’s defense caused problems for us,” Felker said. “They applied a lot of pressure and did a good job of keeping us off balance.”

Matthews bounced back from a subpar performance against Furman with touchdown passes of seven yards to Rhett, six yards to Kirk Kirkpatrick and 18 yards to Ernie Mills. Arden Czyzewski also kicked field goals of 45 and 46 yards.

“Shane had a little bit of a hip pointer and came in there and had a gutsy performance. He played super,” Spurrier said. “He missed a few here and there, but he hit for a bunch too. I think he is getting better each week.”

Mississippi 31, Tulane 21--Randy Baldwin broke a 41-year-old Mississippi single-game rushing record as he ran for 241 yards and two touchdowns in 17 carries in a nonconference game at Oxford, Miss.

Baldwin, who had only 80 yards in the first three games, opened the scoring on his first carry by capping the Rebels’ first possession with a 26-yard run. The senior ended it with a 67-yard scoring run down the left sideline in the fourth quarter.

Mississippi (3-1) overcame five turnovers. Tulane is 2-3.

Georgia 19, East Carolina 15--Chuck Carswell’s punt returns of 14 and 55 yards set up 10 fourth-quarter points at Athens, Ga., as the Bulldogs (3-1) posted their third consecutive comeback victory.

Carswell, who sat out the 1989 season with a neck injury, set up a 51-yard touchdown drive with his 14-yard return and his 55-yard set up a 20-yard field goal by John Kasay.

Freshman Garrison Hearst capped the 51-yard touchdown drive on a one-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

For East Carolina (2-3), quarterback Jeff Blake had two touchdown pass plays to Luke Fisher, covering 69 and 14 yards.