SOUTHEASTERN ROUNDUP : Granger Is Sharp in Texas A&M; Win

Texas A&M;’s Jeff Granger needed to settle his nerves against Louisiana State, so he completed his first three passes.

It must have worked, because the sophomore quarterback went on to throw for 196 yards and one touchdown and rush for another score as the seventh-ranked Aggies beat LSU, 31-22, Saturday at Baton Rogue, La.

It was A&M;’s first victory in Tiger Stadium since 1975.

“I settled down and my confidence was getting better,” Granger said after the second start of his college career.

“He came into the stadium with fire in his eyes,” Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum said of Granger, who struggled in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic at Anaheim before leading the Aggies to a 10-7 victory over Stanford. “I expected him to play well.”

Texas A&M; took the lead for good in the final minute of the third quarter when Terry Venetoulias kicked a 44-yard field goal.

Granger completed 13 of 26 passes for 196 yards. He had one pass intercepted.

No. 9 Alabama 25, Vanderbilt 8--With wide receiver and kick returner David Palmer held out for disciplinary reasons, the Crimson Tide got four field goals from freshman Michael Proctor and easily won this Southeastern Conference game at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

“The field goals helped the team out a lot because we got points out of the drives,” said Alabama quarterback Jay Barker, who completed 14 of 27 passes for 185 yards.

Proctor kicked three field goals longer than 40 yards and was just short from 52 yards. He also made a 32-yarder in the fourth quarter to seal the victory and set a school record for most field goals by a freshman.

Palmer, a sophomore who accounted for 1,113 total yards in 1991, was held out of the game by Coach Gene Stallings because he was arrested for drunk driving during the off-season.

“I felt like he needed to miss the first game,” Stallings said. “I hated to do it, but I thought that was in the best interest of David.”

Last year, the kicking game was a problem for Alabama, which got only one field goal longer than 40 yards during an 11-1 season. Proctor exceeded that total in the first quarter, ending the Tide’s first three drives with field goals of 46, 43 and 42 yards.

Vanderbilt shocked the sellout crowd of 70,123 with a fake punt on its first possession. Punter David Lawrence completed a 41-yard pass to Robert Davis to put the ball on the Alabama 17.

That turned out to be the longest offensive play of the day for the Commodores, who fumbled the ball right back to Alabama. Vanderbilt had turnovers on its first four possessions and gave up a late touchdown on an interception return.

Alabama has won eight in a row against Vanderbilt and 30 of 32 since 1960.

No. 14 Georgia 28, South Carolina 6--After watching his team turn the ball over three times in the first half, Bulldog Coach Ray Goff thought the 14th-ranked Bulldogs got away with a lucky win at Columbia, S.C.

Garrison Hearst and Mack Strong ran for touchdowns of 49 and 59 yards the Bulldogs came back from a 6-0 halftime deficit.

“We had too many turnovers in the first half,” Goff said.

The game drew 75,060, the largest crowd ever for a South Carolina game.

No. 22 Tennessee 38, Southwestern Louisiana 3--Heath Shuler and Jerry Colquitt each connected on a long touchdown pass as they competed for the starting quarterback job in a winning effort at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee spotted the Ragin’ Cajuns a 3-0 lead five minutes into the game, then posted 24 second-quarter points and scored the first two times they had the ball in the second half.

Shuler threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Cory Fleming and 51 yards to Craig Faulkner, and ran for a score from six yards out.

Colquitt threw a 40-yard scoring pass to Aaron Hayden as the Vols rolled up 460 yards to 166 for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Tennessee was coached by Phillip Fulmer, fulling in while Johnny Majors recovers from heart bypass surgery.

Mississippi 45, Auburn 21--Cassius Ware’s 91-yard fumble return for a touchdown stopped a third-quarter Auburn comeback and helped Ole Miss to a surprisingly easy Southeastern Conference victory at Oxford, Miss.

The season-opening victory was the 500th in Ole Miss history and ended a nine-game losing streak to Auburn.

Kentucky 21, Central Michigan 14--Pookie Jones passed 38 yards for a touchdown and ran one yard for another as the Wildcats won at Lexington, Ky.

Kentucky appeared to have the game under control when Damon Hood raced around left end from the three for a 21-3 advantage with 3:25 left in the third quarter.

But Central Michigan put a scare in its Southeastern Conference foe with 11 points in the fourth quarter.