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College football briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 25, 2000

Simms shines at QB in Texas rout

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas' young guns are all grown up.

In a game of personal and team redemption in an up-and-down season, sophomore Chris Simms remedied unfulfilled expectations with his best game against the Longhorns' biggest rival.

Simms passed for 383 yards and three touchdowns, all to freshmen receivers, in the No. 12 Longhorns' 43-17 victory over No. 22 Texas A&M on Friday.

Simms was a perfect 8-for-8 passing for 234 yards and threw all of his touchdowns in an explosive third quarter in which the teams combined for 37 points.

After a season in which he bounced in and out of the starting lineup and had more interceptions than touchdown passes coming into the game, the son of former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms got the start because Major Applewhite was hobbled by a knee injury.

"This year's been ups and downs and bumps and bruises," Simms said. "I knew I had to learn from everything that was happening. It was part of growing up. Today was a real big redemption"

SEC

ARKANSAS 14, NO. 24 LSU 3: Quinton Caver returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown on LSU's first play and Robby Hampton's fourth-down completion set up another for host Arkansas. Despite constant rain, the Razorbacks never committed a turnover and played the field-position game to the hilt.

Arkansas is bowl eligible. Now, the Razorbacks must find a bowl with a vacancy. The most likely prospect might be a bowl without a Southeastern Conference tie-in such as Las Vegas on Dec. 21 or the Galleryfurniture.com at Houston on Dec. 27. The SEC provides teams for seven bowl games, but there are eight league teams with at least seven victories each. Because of that, it seems unlikely that Arkansas would wind up in one of the seven bowl games ahead of a team with a better record.

Pac-10

ARIZONA ST. 30, ARIZONA 17: Mike Barth kicked three field goals and ran 13 yards for a touchdown on a fake field-goal play as visiting Arizona State gave Bruce Snyder one more game as Sun Devils' coach.

The Sun Devils snapped a three-game losing streak and advance to a bowl game, probably the Oahu Bowl, where Snyder will coach the team a final time. He was fired last week after nine seasons at the school.

Arizona lost its fifth straight, its longest losing streak in one season since 1958. Dick Tomey, 62, ended 14 seasons as coach by resigning moments after the loss.

Big East

PITT 38, WEST VIRGINIA 28: Pittsburgh is going to only its second bowl game in 11 years, and the surprise is how the Panthers got there -- by land rather than by air.

The host Panthers overcame four interceptions by two quarterbacks with a big day on the ground as Kevan Barlow ran for 272 yards and four touchdowns.

The Panthers beat the Mountaineers for the first time since 1997 -- the last time they went to the bowl -- and spoiled Don Nehlen's last regular-season game as West Virginia's coach.

Mountain West

BYU 34, UTAH 27: LaVell Edwards went out a winner. Brandon Doman scored on a 4-yard run with 23 seconds remaining, lifting visiting BYU in the last game of Edwards' 29-year coaching career.

State

FAIRFIELD 38, JACKSONVILLE 16: Running back Matt Costanzo ran for a career-high 218 yards in the first college football game played at Disney's Wild World of Sports complex. Jacksonville quarterback Scott Brickley completed 30 of 48 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown, but it was not enough to overcome five turnovers.

WAC

TCU 62, SMU 7: LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 175 yards and scored a touchdown as TCU scored four touchdowns in the last nine minutes of the first half to turn a 3-0 game into a blowout. Tomlinson topped the 2,000-yard rushing mark, making him just the eighth player to do it in a season. Tomlinson also joined former Texas star Ricky Williams as the only players to have 2,000 yards in a season and 5,000 in a career.

Conference USA

EAST CAROLINA 14, SOUTHERN MISS 9: Kelly Hardy scored for the defense and David Garrad threw a touchdown as visiting East Carolina won in muddy conditions. The Pirates broke a four-game losing against Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles lost three of their final four regular-season games.

Nation

MISSISSIPPI STATE: The No. 23 Bulldogs were thinking Sugar Bowl. Now they are hoping Independence Bowl. Beset by injuries, the Bulldogs' late season swoon has cost them a shot at playing in the SEC title game and a marquee bowl. Mississippi State dropped its second straight game Thursday night, falling 45-30 to Mississippi.

TCU: LaDainian Tomlinson topped the 2,000-yard rushing mark, making him just the eighth player to do it in a season. With a 3-yard gain on his fifth rush against Southern Methodist, Tomlinson also joined former Texas star Ricky Williams as the only players to have 2,000 yards in a season and 5,000 in a career.

VIRGINIA TECH: The school is offering coach Frank Beamer more than $1-million a year to stay amid reports that other schools are interested in hiring him. School president Charles Steger gave university counsel permission to reopen talks with Beamer or his agent. Beamer's 10-year contract pays about $750,000 a year.

WAKE FOREST: Quarterback C.J. Leak plans to sit out the 2001 season so he can fully recover from a dislocated knee that forced him to miss most of this season. "I was optimistic I'd be back in spring practice next year, but I'll have to deal with it," Leak said.

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