SOUTHEASTERN ROUNDUP : Arkansas Rebounds, Breezes to Victory

Talk about ups and downs. Arkansas Coach Joe Kines and his players had them the past week.

“These young men went through every emotional state, and they responded well tonight,” said Kines, whose newly inherited Razorbacks beat South Carolina, 45-7, Saturday night at Columbia, S.C., in a game featuring two new members of the Southeastern Conference.

“I believe we went from an all-time low to an all-time high. We really accomplished a lot this week despite everything seeming to move at double speed.”

One week ago, Kines was defensive coordinator at Arkansas and Jack Crowe was the coach. Then came a 10-3 loss to The Citadel, an NCAA Division I-AA school that wasn’t expected to win, much less at Fayetteville. Crowe was fired by Athletic Director Frank Broyles.

Under Kines, Arkansas rebounded against South Carolina (0-2).

“I think the key to the game was our defense,” said Kines, whose team held South Carolina scoreless until a late, fourth-quarter drive. “We set the tone on the first play with a sack.”

Orlando Watters returned an interception and a punt for touchdowns, and Jason Allen passed for 178 yards and two touchdowns for Arkansas.

While scoring almost at will early in the game, Arkansas limited South Carolina’s offense to 23 yards in the first half.

No. 4 Florida 35, Kentucky 19--Shane Matthews resumed his assault on Florida’s record book, passing for 340 yards and four touchdowns as the Gators opened the season by defeating the Wildcats at Gainesville, Fla.

Matthews, the two-time SEC player of the year, completed 28 of 47 passes.

It marked the 13th time in 24 starts that Matthews has thrown for three or more touchdowns in a game. He also moved past John Reaves on the school’s all-time touchdown list with 55, one behind Kerwin Bell’s SEC-record 56.

The victory was the 11th straight in conference play for the defending SEC champions and improved Florida’s conference record under Steve Spurrier to 14-1. Kentucky (1-1), winless in seven SEC games last season, has lost 10 conference games in a row.

“The story is very simple,” Kentucky Coach Bill Curry said. “Florida has phenomenal skill athletes with a world of talent and experience.”

No. 8 Alabama 17, Southern Mississippi 10--The Crimson Tide got 383 yards on offense to only 54 for Southern Mississippi and led in first downs, 19-3, but still had to struggle to win at Birmingham, Ala.

Alabama (2-0) lost two of six fumbles, had nine penalties, most of them on possession downs, and trailed, 10-7, in the third quarter.

The Crimson Tide’s Tommy Johnson scored early on a 73-yard pass off a fake punt and also recovered a fumbled punt at the Southern 20 to set up a third-quarter field goal.

Chris Anderson, the game’s leading runner with 67 yards in 15 carries, scored the deciding touchdown from the one in the final quarter.

Southern (1-1) scored its touchdown early in the third quarter when James Singleton deflected a pass and Bobby Hamilton intercepted and ran 18 yards to make it 7-7.

Mississippi 35, Tulane 9--Russ Shows passed for two touchdowns and ran for two as the Rebels defeated the Green Wave at Oxford, Miss.

Shows completed 19 of 26 passes for 195 yards. His touchdown passes went 26 yards to Germaine Kohn and one yard to Marvin Courtney. Shows also scored on a one-yard keeper and a two-yard bootleg.

Kohn, who caught four passes for 62 yards and a touchdown against Auburn last week, duplicated those numbers against Tulane. He also returned a punt 57 yards for the Rebels’ last touchdown with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

Vanderbilt 42, Duke 37--Eric Lewis’s six-yard touchdown run with 3:51 remaining capped an 80-yard drive and lifted the Commodores over the Blue Devils at Nashville, Tenn.

Duke (1-1) tried to rally one last time in a game that saw the lead change five times. But the Commodore defense shut the Blue Devils down when Aaron Smith intercepted Tom Prince’s pass with 2:43 left to preserve the victory for Vanderbilt (1-1).

Auburn 55, Samford 0--In another matchup between a Division I-A team and one from Division I-AA, the Tigers won easily at Auburn.

Auburn, which lost to Mississippi, 45-21, in its season opener, was never threatened by Samford (1-1), a small Baptist university in Birmingham that reached the I-AA semifinals last season.

Auburn had 405 total yards.