College Report

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Last Saturday's pivotal SEC game between Tennessee and Mississippi was moved from Oxford, Miss., to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis after a grocery store chain in the latter city guaranteed the Rebels $1 million if they would move the site. That change may have cost Mississippi the home field advantage, as the stadium-record crowd of 66,467 was just about equally divided between Vol fans wearing orange and Ole Miss zealots waving their Rebel flags.

Going in, Rebel coach Billy Brewer called it "the biggest game in Ole Miss history." That may or may not be true, but a victory would have all but wrapped up the Rebs' first Sugar Bowl trip since 1970. Alas for Ole Miss, Tennessee overcame its first-half lethargy and came away with a 22-13 victory, which is likely to propel the 6-2-2 Vols to the SEC title and the trip to New Orleans.

The Vols had a right to be flat, considering they're playing a 12-game schedule that began in August (against Colorado in the Pigskin Classic in Anaheim, Calif.) and won't end until Dec. 1 (against Vanderbilt). Plus, the Vols were coming off an emotional loss a week earlier to Notre Dame in Knoxville. But after some early sputtering the Vols' offense came together on the strength of Andy Kelly's arm (19 of 23 for 174 yards) and Tony Thompson's feet (106 yards on 23 carries). And the Tennessee defense came up with a big play at game's end when cornerback Floyd Miley, demoted to the second string after a bad game against Notre Dame, scooped up a blocked extra-point kick with 2:02 left and returned the ball 97 yards for the two points that put the game away.

"By the time I got to the 20," Miley said, "I was wondering if I had enough left to get in. I do a 4.4 40, but my teammates said I was looking pretty slow at the end."

Ole Miss fans have to be tickled with the job Brewer has done in what could be a 9-2 regular season if the Rebels beat Mississippi State on Saturday. Still, they can't be blamed for wondering how much better the team might be if Brewer used junior halfback Randy Baldwin as much as, say, Tennessee uses Thompson. The underpublicized Baldwin, who averages 6.47 yards a carry, thumped the Vols for 95 yards, but he carried only 13 times, which is about his average.

SQUEEZING THE ORANGE

The joke about the fledgling Blockbuster Bowl, sponsored by the nationwide video-rental firm, was that the Dec. 28 game in Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium figured to be so bad that it would be put out on video instead of shown to a live audience. Well, who's laughing now? Surely not the Orange Bowl folks, who suddenly face the embarrassing prospect that the new bowl in town might have more of a blockbuster game than they do.

The irony is that the Orange Bowl might have forced the Blockbuster to go elsewhere had it decided last spring to move its game to the four-year-old Joe Robbie Stadium instead of keeping it in the ancient Orange Bowl. After much debate, the Orange Bowl committee decided not to change sites, thanks in part to the City of Miami's plans to gussy up the Orange's old orchard. This was a relief to Blockbuster officials. "Now we think we can offer a better location and facilities than the Orange Bowl," said one Blockbuster Bowl insider. They also can offer a nice payoff of $1.6 million per team.

Naturally, it was assumed that the Blockbuster would have to make do with what was left over after the older bowls got through cutting all their behind-the-scene deals. Instead, the way it has shaken out, the Blockbuster's Penn State-Florida State matchup can hold its own with just about any other game, including the Orange's Notre Dame-Colorado showdown. If 8-2 Florida State ends its regular season by beating Florida this week and if 8-2 Notre Dame loses at Southern Cal, the new kids on the bowl block will really have reason to celebrate.