COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 3 : SOUTHEAST : Georgia Hands Holtz His Second Loss, 24-9

South Carolina finally scored the first points of the Lou Holtz era, but not enough to beat No. 12 Georgia.

Quincy Carter threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Edwards, Jasper Sanks rushed for a career-high 130 yards and linebacker Kendrell Bell led a swarming Bulldog defense in a 24-9 victory over the Gamecocks Saturday night at Athens, Ga.

The Gamecocks, 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the Southeastern Conference, were shut out in Holtz’s debut and went nearly three quarters against Georgia (2-0, 1-0) without scoring.

Courtney Leavitt finally erased the string of zeros with a 28-yard field goal with 2:58 left in the third period. The Gamecocks scored their first touchdown on Phil Petty’s eight-yard pass to Carlos Spikes with just over three minutes remaining.

No. 4 Florida 58, Central Florida 27--Doug Johnson connected with Travis Taylor for three of his four touchdown passes and the Gators (2-0) scored seven touchdowns before halftime at Gainesville, Fla., as they prepared for next Saturday’s showdown with defending national champion Tennessee.

If the convincing showing against an outmanned team from Central Florida (0-2) was any indicator, the Gators are ready.

Or at least a lot better than they were in their opener.

Johnson, who had an interception returned for a touchdown in a 55-26 victory over Western Michigan the previous Saturday, looked sharp, completing 15 of 23 passes for 271 yards, all before the starters came out after the first half.

No. 21 Alabama 37, Houston 10--Shaun Alexander had three touchdowns and the Crimson Tide scored three times in just over seven minutes in an impressive victory over the Cougars at Birmingham, Ala.

The Tide (2-0) struggled early at Vanderbilt in its opener, trailing in the fourth quarter before rallying for two late touchdowns in a 28-17 victory.

Auburn 30, Idaho 23--Ben Leard completed 16 of 19 passes for 165 yards and a pair of first-half touchdowns and Rusty Williams rushed for two scores to lead Auburn to the victory at Auburn, Ala.

The Tigers (2-0), playing in their 1,000th game, narrowly escaped with the win against a heavy underdog for the second consecutive week.

Mississippi State 13, Memphis 10--Pig Prather’s interception with 48 seconds left sealed Mississippi State’s victory after Memphis failed on a game-tying field goal with six minutes left at Starkville, Miss.

The Tigers (0-2) had a final chance, but Travis Anglin’s long pass was intercepted by Prather, a former fullback who dove to make the catch at the seven-yard line. Mississippi State (2-0) then ran out the clock.

LSU 52, North Texas 0--Rondell Mealey ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns and freshman Domanick Davis ran for 109 yards and a touchdown as the Tigers (2-0) rolled at Baton Rouge, La.

Vanderbilt 34, Northern Illinois 31--Jimmy Williams scored on a 65-yard punt return with 1:41 left as the Commodores (1-1) overcame a 25-point second-half deficit for a victory over the 17-point underdog Huskies (0-2) at Nashville, Tenn.

Mississippi 38, Arkansas St. 14--Romaro Miller threw three touchdown passes as the Rebels overcame an early scare to defeat the Indians at Oxford, Miss.

Kentucky 45, Connecticut 14--Dusty Bonner threw for four touchdowns and ran for one as the Wildcats (1-1) overcame early struggles to beat the I-AA Huskies (0-2) at Lexington, Ky.