SOUTHEASTERN ROUNDUP : Florida Will Play for SEC Title

Florida earned a berth in the Southeastern Conference championship game for the second consecutive year, then walked off the field without celebrating on Saturday.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s a nice accomplishment,” Gator Coach Steve Spurrier said after a 52-0 rout of Vanderbilt that extended the nation’s second-longest home winning streak to 23 games. “I guess we’re just hoping to take some pictures later on.”

Florida, ranked No. 8, plays at home against No. 2 Florida State next week before a Dec. 4 rematch of last year’s SEC title game against Alabama.

“I think anyone would give us a chance (to beat Florida State) because we are playing here in the Swamp,” Spurrier said. “We obviously play a lot better here.”

Florida, 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC, held Vanderbilt (4-6, 1-6) to 225 yards.

Terry Dean threw touchdown passes of 18 and four yards to Aubrey Hill and scored on an option pass from wide receiver Chris Doering before being benched in the second quarter.

Danny Wuerffel connected with Jack Jackson on a 19-yard touchdown pass play to make the score, 31-0 at halftime. Dean returned late in the third quarter and passed 12 yards to Charlie Dean for a score.

“I don’t know what we’ll do about the quarterback position,” Spurrier said. “I guess I’ll have to re-evaluate and grade the tape from the game.

“We will see how they do in practice and probably go with the one that seems the sharpest.”

Ed Robinson of Florida returned one of the six fumbles the Commodores lost 48 yards for a third-quarter touchdown.

Florida protected the shutout by stopping Vanderbilt on downs at the Florida 11 with 4:32 left.

Dean, who sat out last week’s victory over South Carolina because of a sprained shoulder, completed 11 of 22 passes for 128 yards. Wuerffel, who replaced Dean as the starter in September only to lose the job last month, was 11 of 21 for 115 yards.

Vanderbilt’s Ronnie Gordon completed nine of 24 passes for 81 yards. He had two passes intercepted.

Tony Jackson was the Commodores’ leading rusher with 57 yards in 12 attempts.

“I didn’t expect anything like this. I thought we would play a good game,” Vanderbilt Coach Gerry DiNardo said.

“This is another year where we don’t reach our goal (a winning season), and it’s disappointing. But you deal with it and continue to stay the course and have confidence in the overall plan. This is a temporary setback.”

Louisiana State 24, Tulane 10--LSU moved to within one victory of ending its bowl drought with the victory at Baton Rouge, La.

LSU (5-5), which last made it to a bowl in 1988, needs to beat Arkansas on Saturday to earn a spot in the Carquest Bowl. Vanderbilt, the only other team that could have qualified from the SEC, lost to Florida.

Since a 2-5 start, LSU has beaten its biggest rivals--Tulane and Mississippi--and upset then-No. 5 Alabama to put itself in bowl contention.

Tulane (3-8) has not beaten LSU since 1982 and is 1-19-1 in the last 21 games at Death Valley.

Robert Toomer opened the scoring with a two-yard run in the first quarter. Senior Harold Bishop caught his first touchdown pass, a three-yarder from backup Chad Loup that made the score 17-0 with 8:50 left in the third quarter.

Tulane scored when Craig Randall connected with Wil Ursin for an 11-yard touchdown pass play on fourth and seven with 4:24 to play. Ryan Thomas recovered the onside kick at LSU’s 37 and a pass-interference penalty put the ball into range for a 33-yard field goal by Bart Baldwin.

LSU recovered the next onside kick. Germaine Williams scored on a four-yard run with 30 seconds left.