3n Daily - SportsMonday - October 18, 1999 - 5B S STr~ kFF ICKS All picks made against the spread. Home teams in CAPS. PENN STATE (-11.5) vs. Ohio State Michigan State (-2) vs. PURDUE WISCONSIN (-15) vs. Indiana Minnesota (-2.5) vs. ILLINOIS NORTHWESTERN (-4.5) vs. Iowa NOTRE DAME (-7.5) vs. Southern Cal RICE (-7.5) vs. San Jose State VIRGINIA TECH (-11.5) vs. Syracuse Alabama (-3.5) vs. MISSISSIPPI FLORIDA STATE (-33) vs. Wake Forest Florida (-17) vs. AUBURN Georgia Tech (-17) vs. DUKE TEXAS A&M (-31.5) vs. Kansas ARIZONA (-22) vs. Texas-El Paso Best Bet Last week Overall (Best'Bet) T.J. Berka Ohio State Michigan State Indiana Minnesota Northwestern Southern Cal Rice Virginia Tech Alabama Wake Forest Florida Georgia Tech Texas A&M Arizona Georgia Tech 7-7 (0-1) 44-37-.3 (1-5) Rick Freeman Penn State Michigan State lndiana Ilinois Northwestern Notre Dame Rice Virginia Tech Missis'Ippi Wake Forest Florida Georgia Tech Texas A&M 5-9 (1-0) 41-40-3 (3-3) Josh Kleinbaum Andy Latack Penn State Ohio State Michigan State Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Notre Dame San Jose State Virginia Tech Mississippi Florida State Auburn Georgia Tech Kansas Texas-El Paso Michigan State 7-7(0-1) 37A4-3 (1-5) Michigan State Wisconsin Minnesota Northwestern Notre Dame Rice Syracuse Alabama Florida State Florida Georgia Tech Texas A&M Arizona 5-9(1-0) 42-39-3(24) Wideout Chris Daniels had 21 catches for 301 C yards to show up Michigan State's Plaxico Burress and lift Purdue to a 52-28 victory. Ale PHOTO byBoilersb State jailbreak halted BIG TEN- Penn State shuts down Buckeyes STATE COLLEGE (AP) - Eric McCoo slipped enough tackles to gain a career-best 211 yards and set .up 10 points in leading No. 2 Penn State to a 23-10 victory over No. 18 Ohio State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions (3-0 Big Ten, 7- 0 overall) had two field goals blocked, fumbled in the end zone for a Buckeyes TD and had trouble scoring from inside the Ohio State 5-yard line. Ohio State (1-2, 4-3) was outplayed as the Lions held the Buckeyes to just 143 yards while piling up 422 them- selves. Ohio State quarterback Steve Bellisari was sacked eight times and completed just seven of 21 passes for 78"yards with an interception. Penn State linebacker Lavar Arrington had 2 1/2 sacks against Bellisari. Bellisari missed a play near the end of the game after taking a vicious hit to the upper chest from Arrington with 2:23 left. McCoo carried nine times for 121 yards in the first half as the Nittany Lions took a 13-10 lead at intermis- sion. He finished with 22 carries for 211 yards, and also caught four pass- es for 47 yards. Penn State starting quarterback Kevin Thompson left the game in the second quarter after being blind sided in the end zone. He had a slight shoul- der separation and his status for next week's game against Purdue is uncer- tain. No. 17 WISCONSIN 59, INDIANA 0: Ron Dayne ran for 167 of Wisconsin's school-record 705 yards of total offense as No. 17 Wisconsin steam- rolled Indiana. Dayne, who had just 17 carries and sat out the entire second half, became the fourth player in Division I history to record four 1,000-yard rushing sea- sons. He ran for two touchdowns, includ- ing a 57-yard rumble late in the sec- and quarter that put Wisconsin (3-1, 5-2) up 38-0 at halftime in its home- coming game. Indiana's depleted defense was "helpless 'against Wisconsin's strong ground attack, and freshman quarter- By Rick Freeman Daily Sports Editor WEST LAFAYETTE - The only time Plaxico Burress got a step on Michael Hawthorne the Purdue corner- back paused to leapt up and batted away a sure touchdown pass as easily as the 20th-ranked Boilermakers shooed off the Spartans' talk of a national title and an undefeated season with a 52-28 vic- tory on Saturday. Purdue's secondary - often over- shadowed on the offense-first Boilermakers - wanted to silence another kind of talk, too. "The Michigan State Spartans are a team that does a lot of trash talking," said junior quarterback Drew Brees, who threw for five touchdowns and 509 yards. Actually, Brees completed eight pass- es that went for touchdowns. One, a bomb to Vinny Sutherland, was called back on a chop-block penalty. Three plays later, Brees was'hit by safety Richard newsome as he threw, and the ball ended up in the hands of linebacker T.J. Turner. No Boilermaker was any- where near him ta negligible drawback of the spread defense). Some time later, Turner scored, and freshman T.J. Duckett scored the two-point conversion to make the score 28-14. The Spartans looked unstoppable on their first drive - a 10-play, 91-yard masterpiece, capped by an 19-yard touchdown pass to Burress. Michigan State quarterback was 21-of-33, and threw four interceptions. The Spartans were penalized for more yards (101) than they gained on the ground (44). "It was a definite lack of concentra- tion and focus on our part" said Burke, who threw four interceptions. After the first play of that drive - Burke's only touchdown Burress left the game hurt. replays showed a Purdue player scraping his cleat down the sophomore wide receiver's side. Hawthorne, who expressed disdain for Burress' talk after the game, said he was unaware of what happened. "I don't know. I turned my back and he ended up hurt," Hawthorne said. The Boilermakers answered with four scoring drives of their own - two of which were the result of turnovers in the Spartans' territory. Chris Daniels, who may have had the worst game of his career two weeks ago at Michigan Stadium, had his best one Saturday. He caught 21 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns, including a 51-yarder where he beat Spartans' sixth- year senior cornerback Amp Campbell, who came up limping after the play. "Yeah, and all I'll probably remember will be that one drop," a beaming- Daniels said afterward. The 301 yards was a new Purdue record, as was the 21 catch mark, which came two receptions short of the NCAA record. The Spartans lost to Purdue for the third straight time, but this game meant the most to Michigan State by far. Eager before the game to prove these were not a old, inconsistent Spartans, Nick Saban lamented the possibility that his players may have gotten big heads after the game. "People started talking about the Heisman Trophy, and about an undefeat- ed season and the Big Ten champi- onship'" said the Spartans' fifth-year coach, who has yet to coach in a January bowl game. "We'll see how they respond to this, and that will say a lot about their maturity." Hawthorne already has plenty to say on that subject. Specifically about Burress. "Every time he gets up after a big play, he slaps his chest like no one else has any heart, like he's the greatest thing to ever happen to football." Hawthorne, too, noticed that the Spartans were bubbling with "chitter- chatter," Fine by him. "I love it. If you don't talk trash, I don't like you," he said. "I'm like, 'can we get a new receiver here?"' He'll get his wish next week, when Penn State, the only remaining undefeat- ed team in the Big Ten comes to Ross- Ade Stadium, where the Boilermakers are 15-1 since Joe Tiller became their AP PHOO Ohio State quarterback Steve Bellisari was on the run all day against Penn State. His offense could barely move the ball in the Buckeyes' 23-10 loss. back Brooks Bollinger was 9-of-10 for 162 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game with a minor hip bruise in the second quarter. The Hoosiers (2-2, 3-4) lost star defensive end Adewale Ogunleye for the season last week with a knee injury. MINNESOTA 37, ILLINOIS 7: Thomas Hamner rushed for 184 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Billy Cockerham added another 100 yards rushing. Illinois (0-3, 3-3) lost its third game in a row and its sixth straight home- coming game before a crowd that started to leave in the third quarter after the weather became rainy and the game appeared decided. Minnesota (2-1, 5-1) scored on three straight possessions within eight minutes in the first half - separated only by three Illinois three-and-outs - to go up 17-0 early in the second quarter. The Gopher defense, ranked fourth in the nation entering the game, kept the Illini from closing the gap by breaking up passes, stopping the run, grabbing an interception to halt a lengthy Illinois drive in the second quarter and sacking quarterback Kurt Kittner three times at crucial junc- tures. NORTHWESTERN 23, IowA 21: Zak Kustok scored on a keeper on fourth- and-2 with four seconds left. It was the first Big Ten victory for Northwestern (1-3, 3-4) since Nov. 15, 1997, when they beat Iowa (0-3, 1-5). But it wasn't a pretty win, as the Wildcats blew a 16-0 halftime lead and barely moved the ball in the sec- ond half. The win also was marred by the loss of receiver Sam Simmons, who broke his collarbone in the first half and will miss the rest of the seasop. The Wildcats trailed 21-16 when they got the ball back with 2:37 left. Kustok, playing in just his third game after suing the NCAA to regain some of his eligibility, moved Northwestern to the Iowa 10 with completions of 18, 16 and 11 yards. Damien Anderson then rushed for nine yards. The Hawkeyes then stuffed Anderson twice, once for a 1-yard loss, and Kustok's pass to Ian Miller was incomplete. That brought up fourth down, and Kustok optioned to the right side and ran in untouched. 'M' SCHEDULE SEPT. 4 NOTRE DAME W, 26-22 BIG TEN STANDINGS SEPT. 11 SEPT. 18 SEPT. 25 Oct. 2 OcT. 9 Oc. 23 Oc. 30 Nov. 6 Nov. 13 Nov. 20 AT RICE W, 37-3 AT SYRACUSE W, 18-13 AT Wisc. W, 21-16 PURDUE W, 38-12 AT MICH. ST. L, 31-34 ILLINOIS AT INDIANA NORTHWESTERN AT PENN STATE OHio STATE Team Penn State Michigan State Wisconsin Michigan Minnesota Purdue Indiana Ohio State Northwestern Illinois Iowa Big Ten 3 0 3 1 3~ 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 22 1 2 1 3 0 3 0 3 Overall 7 0 6 1 5 2 5 1 5 1 5 2 3 4 4 3 3 4 3 3 1 5 THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS Purdue 52, Michigan State 28 Penn State 23, Ohio State 10 Wisconsin 59, Indiana 0 Minnesota 37, Illinois 7 Northwestern 23, Iowa 21 NEXT WEEKEND'S GAMES Illinois at Michigan Indiana at Iowa Michigan State at Wisconsin Ohio State at Minnesota Penn State at Purdue WHO'S LEFT? With a limited number of New Year's Day bowl spots for Big Ten teams, the last month of the season should provide for some entertaining, down-to-the- wire competition. Here's who each of the contenders still have to play: Penn State (3-0 Big Ten, 7-0 overall): at Purdue, at Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, at Michigan State Michigan State (3-1, 6-1): at Wisconsin, Ohio State, at Northwestern, Penn State Wisconsin (3-1, 5-2): Michigan State, at Northwestern, at Purdue, liowa Michigan (2-1, 5-1): Illinois, at Indiana, Northwestern, at Penn State, Ohio State Minnesota (2-1, 5-1): Ohio State, Purdue, at Penn State, Indiana, at Iowa Purdue (2-2, 5-2): Penn State, at Minnesota, Wisconsin, at Indiana Top 25 rFlorida State prevails after slow start; Hokies make statement TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Chris Weinke threw two touchdown passes to Atrews Bell and Sebastian Janikowski kicked four field goals Saturday night as top- ranked Florida State shook off a lethargic first half to defeat Wake Forest 33-10. Florida State led 9-3 at halftime as Janikowski kicked field goals from 31, 34, and 52 yards. He added a 32-yarder in the fourth quarter. Florida State scored the game's first touchdown 4:17 into the third quarter when Bell caught a 16-yard pass from Weinke to give the Seminoles a 16-3 lead. The duo hooked up again on a 9-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the third period as Florida State built its lead to 23-3. Following a fumble recovery by Florida State's Tommy Polley, the Seminoles took a 30-3 lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter when Anquan Boldin ran in from two yards out of the quarterback position. No. 4 VIRGINIA TECH 62, No. 16 SYRACUSE 0: Any thought of another Virginia Tech homecoming horror was emphatically dismissed well before halftime. The Hokies allowed No. 16 Syracuse just in the third quarter. There were two aborted punts, a lost fumble on a kickoff and a gen- eral lack of effort by the defense as they let Shyrone Stith ramble for long gains up the middle. No. 7 FLORIDA 32, AUBURN 14: No. 7 Florida, who seemed to shut down on both sides of the ball after taking a 25-point lead, needed a lone-yard touchdown run by Robert Gillespie to seal a the win over Auburn. It was Florida's 70th Southeastern Conference victory this decade for the Gators (4-1 SEC, 6-1 overall) and their fifth straight win over Auburn (1-3, 3-4). The Gators were able to move the ball at will through the first half, rolling up 319 yards total offense. But five trips into the red zone ended in four field goals by Jeff Chandler and Doug Johnson was intercepted in the end zone as Florida led just 19-0 at halftime. Florida opened the second half by scoring on its first possession - a 62-yard touch- down run by Bo Carroll that extended the lead to 25-0. The Gators had just 80 total yards in the third quarter - 62 on Carroll's run. And threw for one. Hamilton, who was 23-of-34 for 324 yards, had 256 yards of offense in the first half. He completed 15 of 18 passes for 2 and two touchdowns as Georgia Tech led 28-14 at halftime. A five-yard quarterback run by Romine, a 32-yard field goal by Sims Lenhardt and an 11-yard scramble by Romine gave Duke a 31-28 lead with 13:11 left. A 22-yard field goal by Luke Manget six minutes later tied the score and set up Hamilton and Gregory. No. 9 KANSAS STATE 40, UTAH STATE 0: Joe Hall, a 300-pounder subbing for the injured David Allen, rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats past Utah State. Hall ran for 143 yards in the second half, including a 47-yard gallop after the Wildcats had taken a 26-0 lead. His six-yard run with 4:08 left in the third period put Kansas State (6-0) on top 19-0. He capped his day with a 10-yard scoring burst with 4:08 left. Allen was iniured late in the first quarter No. 13 TEXAS A&M 34, KANSAS 17 Kansas does a pretty good job of scaring No. 13 Texas A&M. For the second straight year, the Aggies had to charge from behind as quarterback Randy McCown rallied the Aggies to 21 points over a 1:50 span of the second and third quarters. "We knew if we could get a feel for the game, the momentum would carry us into the end zone," McCown said. "We wanted to establish the long ball and we were able to do that." McCown took advantage of two Jayhawks mistakes, a roughing-the-kicker penalty and a fumble, to complete two touchdown passes and run for a third score in the 21-point surge. McCown was 21-of-30 for 362 yards, with one interception. McCown also led the Aggies on a late 75- yard drive that rallied the Aggies to a 24-21 victory over the Jayhawks last season. The Aggies (2-1 Big 12, 5-1 overall) need- ed another charge to beat the 31-point under- dog Jayhawks. Kansa tO-3 .-5 hand a 10- 3l a th left DuBose. "You can't put a value on what he means to a football team in a game like this." There certainly was no argument from Ole Miss (2-2, 5-2), which entered the game ranked second nationally in rushing defense (45 yards a game). Alexander needed just six carries and a half-quarter to surpass that fig- ure. Alexander had two one-yard touchdown runs in the first half, the second capping a 99-yard drive. He added a two-yard score on Alabama's opening possession of the second half as the Crimson Tide won their third straight game since a last-minute loss to Louisiana Tech. Ole Miss trimmed a 20-point deficit with 17 straight points in the second half, but couldn't get closer and fell to Alabama for the ninth straight year. No. 14'GEORGIA 27 VANDERBILT 17: Fourteenth-ranked Georgia nearly let a hang- over turn into a loss Saturday until the Southeastern Conference's worst defense bailed out the Bulldogs. Kendrell Bell had two of Georgia's four ;nt+rr.;nn i a c rn - alf nA +e