6B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, September 18, 1995
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Sanders fumbles for first time in
three years as Lions drop to 0-3
Associated Press
Barry Sanders' first fumble in three
seasons set up Arizona's final scoring
drive and the Cardinals overcame a 17-
6 deficit anddefeated the Detroit Lions,
20-17, Sunday.
Dave Krieg passed to Anthony
Edwards with 2:31 remaining for the
go-ahead score. The second fumble by
Sanders, who had touched the ball 803
times without a mistake, ended the Li-
ons' last chance.
Sanders carried 24 times for 147
yards, including a 47-yard touchdown
run for Detroit (0-3). But his fourth-
quarter fumble was recovered by
Arizona's Terry Irving, giving the Car-
dinals the ball at their own 31 with 5:06
remaining.
Nine plays later, on fourth-and-10 at
the Lions' 24, Krieg threw atouchdown
pass to Edwards. Krieg's 2-point con-
version pass to Frank Sanders gave the
Cardinals the 3-point lead.
Seahawks 24, Bengals 21
Dennis Erickson got his first NFL vic-
tory Sunday as the Seattle Seahawks
found some offense and downed the
previously unbeaten Cincinnati
Bengals, 24-21.
Held to a pair of touchdowns in their
first two games, the Seahawks had 406
yards in offense thanks to Rick Mirer's
passing and Chris Warren's running.
Seattle hung on to win when Doug
Pelfrey missed a 49-yard field goal in
the closing minutes.
Mirer completed 21 of 30 passes for
279 yards and two touchdowns with
one interception. Warrenpickedup 110
yards on 24 carries, including an 11-
yard touchdown run.
Cincinnati tried to rally as Jeff Blake
threw his second touchdown pass, a22-
yarder to Carl Pickens with 3:18 left.
He also had an 88-yard scoring pass to
Darnay Scott in the first quarter.
The Bengals (1-2) drove 76 yards in
a dozen plays in 3:46 for their third
touchdown.
Blake completed 22 of 42 passes for
286 yards and two touchdowns with
one interception.
Broncos 38, Redskins 31
John Elway threw a 43-yard touch-
down pass to rookie Rod Smith on the
final play of the game and gave the
Denver Broncos a 38-31 victory Sun-
day over the stunned Washington
Redskins.
With the game about ready to go into
overtime tied, 31-31, Elway took the
snap on a fourth down with 6 seconds
left. He dropped back, then stepped up
to avoid the rush and found Smith at the
goal line. He leaped and beat the
Redskins' Darrell Green to the ball.
The 35-year-old Elway now has his
the 35th fourth-quarter comeback of his
career.
Brian Mitchell's kick returns and Gus
Frerotte's three TD passes pulled the
Redskins (1-2) into a tie, but the Bron-
cos went 80 yards in eight plays in the
final 67 seconds to steal the game.
Elway completed 30 of 47 passes for
327 yards and two TDs.
Mitchell had five kickoff returns for
188 yards and a punt return for 52 more.
The Broncos (2-1) scored on four
straight possessions in the first half,
the last a disputed touchdown, for a
24-14 halftime lead. Washington fell
to 1-2.
Rams 31, Panthers 10
The St. Louis Rams spoiled Carolina's
inaugural home game Sunday by forc-
ing seven Panther turnovers and turn-
ing four of those into 24 points on the
way to a 31-10 victory.
A crowd of 54,060 watched the game
in the 76,000-seat Memorial Stadium
on the campus of Clemson University,
about 145 miles from Charlotte.
The Rams are 3-0 for the first time
since 1989, which also was the last year
the franchise made the playoffs. The
expansion Panthers fall to 0-3.
Ineffective starter Frank Reich was
replaced in the second quarter by Jack
Trudeau, who didn't have any better
luck. Late in the third quarter, top draft
pick Kerry Collins entered the game -
and was intercepted on his first play by
Torn Dorn, who returned it 27 yards
for a touchdown.
Chargers 27, Eagles 21
Junior Seau and Andre Coleman proved
to be the problem for the Philadelphia
Eagles Sunday, not Randall
Cunningham.
Seau scored on a 29-yard fumble
return and Coleman returned a punt 88
yards for a score as the San Diego
Chargers rallied from a 14-0 deficit
with a 17-point explosion in a 3:11 span
for a 27-21 victory over the Eagles.
The big plays by the Chargers (2-1),
which came at the end of the second
period and the start of the third, turned
the game around and gave them control
with a 24-14 lead.
Cunningham, benched last week amid
trade rumors, played well enough to
keep his job, completing 23 of 40 for
196 yards and three touchdowns.
He recovered from a sore right shoul-
der to lead the Eagles (1-2) on an 80-
yard drive that ended with a 3-yard TD
pass to Ed West that cut the San Diego
lead to six with 1:30 left in the third
quarter.
But San Diego's defense held and the
Chargers gave the ball to Natrone
Means, who rushed for 87 of his 122
yards in the second half despite sprain-
ing his left ankle in the third quarter.
Jets 27, Jaguars 10
Boomer Esiason led the New York Jets
to a 27-10 rout of the Jacksonville Jag-
uars Sunday.
Afterbeing blown out in their opener
and blowing a big lead last week, the
Jets(1-2)found ateam they couldhandle
in the expansion Jaguars (0-3).
Esiason found rookie Wayne Chrebet
for a touchdown on the first drive of the
game, then connected with rookie Kyle
Brady for another score on their open-
ing series of the second half. He also
threw a TD to Charles Wilson, who was
acquired in a trade late in the preseason.
Hugh Douglas, like Brady a first-
round draft pick, had three sacks in the
first half, and cornerback Otis Smith
picked off his third pass in as many
games.
Esiason moved into 14th place on the
career TD pass list with 213. He was
27-of-43 for 296 yards. Linebacker
Bobby Houston recovered two fumbles.
Backup tight end Fred Baxter had six
receptions for 99 yards, his first catches
of the season.
The Jaguars, losers in close games
against Houston and Cincinnati, never
were in this one.
Browns 14, Oilers 7
A little defense from Stevon Moore, a
little offense from Vinny Testaverde
and the Cleveland Browns had a little
victory Sunday over the Houston Oil-
ers.
Moore, a cornerback, intercepted
three passes by backup starter Will
Furrer in the first half, helping the
Browns get off to a 7-0 lead. And
Testaverde rallied from a poor first half
with a 35-yard touchdown pass to
Michael Jackson with 9:17 to play, giv-
ing Cleveland a 14-7 victory.
The Oilers (1-2) tied it with Furrer's
4-yard touchdown pass to Haywood
Jeffires, who made a leaping catch with
defender Don Griffin hanging on his
waist with 2:43 gone in the fourth quar-
ter.
Testaverde,whohitonly 2-of-11 first
half passes, needed only three minutes
to give the lead back to the Browns.
Furrer was booed in the first half but
hung in there for 22-of-41 passes for
258 yards and four interceptions. The
Browns moved to 2-1.
Falcons 27, Saints 24, OT
Morten Andersen kicked the winning
field goal Sunday at the Superdome,
just as he had done so many times in the
past. This time, however, his 21-yarder
gave the Atlanta Falcons a 27-24 over-
time victory against the New Orleans
Saints.
Andersen, who now has 22 game-
winning field goals in his career, made
the winning kick eight times for the
Saints (0-3) against the Falcons before
jumping to the NFC West rival prior to
training camp in a salary dispute.
Atlanta (2-1) setup the overtime when
another former Saint, Craig Heyward,
pounded in for an 8-yard touchdown in
the fourth quarter and Jeff George hit
Terance Mathis in the end zone for the
two-point conversion to tie it at 24.
George was sacked seven times, in-
cluding once when he had to be helped
from the field in the fourth quarter. He
completed 26 of 39 for 286 yards and
two touchdowns and was intercepted
twice.
George set up Andersen's game-win-
ner with a 21-yard pass to Mathis.
It's the first time the Saints have
opened 0-3 since 1980 when they fin-
ished 1-15.
Jim Everett completed 29 of 43 for
370 yards and three touchdowns. He
was sacked three times.
Chiefs 23, Raiders 17, OT
James Hasty returned an interception
64 yards for a touchdown 4:27 into
overtime to give the Kansas City Chiefs
a 23-17 win over the Oakland Raiders
Sunday.
It was the second week in a row that
Kansas City (3-0) came back from a
fourth quarter deficit to win in over-
time.
The Raiders (2-1) dominated forthree
quarters and led, 17-7, entering the
fourth period. They suddenly fell apart,
however, and lost for the 11th time in
their last 12 games with the Chiefs.
Bills 20, Colts 14
Jim Kelly bounced back from the worst
game of his career and directed the
Buffalo Bills on two first-half touch-
down drives as the Buffalo Bills held
off the Indianapolis Colts, 20-14, Sun-
day.
Kelly, directing the no-huddle of-
fense, completed 19 of 35 passes for
201 yards and surpassed 30,000 career
passing yards with a 15-yard comple-
tion to tight end Lonnie Johnson in the
third quarter. Last week, he completed
a career-low four passes in a victory
over Carolina.
With the score tied, 14-14, Steve
Christie's 35-yard field goal with 7:10
left in the third quarter gave the Bills
the lead. Christie added a 38-yarder
with 4:27 left after a penalty wiped out
a previous miss.
Buffalo also scored on Thurman Tho-
mas' 2-yard touchdown run and full-
back Carwell Gardner's fumble recov-
ery in the end zone.
Kelly's yardage gives him 30,058 in
135 NFL games, making him the fourth-
fastest to throw for more than 30,000
AP PHOTO
Barry Sanders coughs up the ball during the Lions' 20-17 loss to the Cardinals. The fumble, which was Sanders' first in three
seasons, led to Arizona's game-winning drive. Sanders also fumbled later in the game. Previous to the turnovers, he had
touched the ball 803 times without giving it up.
yards in his career. Kelly also had 9,842
yards in two years in the USFL.
Marshall Faulk, who gained 47 yards
on 15 carries, scored on a 13-yard run in
the first quarter and an 18-yard catch in
the second quarter. The Colts were held
scoreless in the second half.
Packers 14, Giants 6
Brett Favre threw touchdown passes to
Mark Ingram and Robert Brooks and
the Green Bay Packers' defense made it
stand up Sunday in a 14-6 victory over
the winless New York Giants.
The loss marked the first time coach
Dan Reeves has started a season 0-3.
The Giants' bumbling offense rarely
threatened, although they had a chance
at the end. Dave Brown brought the
Giants to the Packers' 22, but Mike
Prior's interception with 15 seconds
left sealed the victory for Green Bay (2-
1).
Favre finished 14 of 25 for 141 yards
and no interceptions.
49ers 28, Patriots 3
Steve Young turned his duel with Drew
Bledsoe into a one-sided affair with
plenty of help from his defense.
Young threw three touchdown passes
and ran for another score Sunday as the
San Francisco 49ers dominated .New
England, 28-3, and left Bledsoe still
looking for his first TD pass of the
season.
Bledsoe was sacked four times and
missed a series in the first half with a
sore left shoulder after being hit by
linebacker Ken Norton while throwing.
He also fumbled after being sacked by
Lee Woodall and was intercepted twice
by Merton Hanks, ending second-half
drives that had advanced to at least the
San Francisco 25.
Woodall came up with a third inter-
ception of Bledsoe with just under eight
minutes remaining, setting up Young's
3-yard touchdown pass to Derek Loville
with 5:33 remaining.
Young, whose other two scoring
passes went to Jerry Rice, ended the day
29 of42 for 284 yards, shaking off a bad
start which saw him intercepted by
Vincent Brown on his first pass.
Bledsoe completed only five of his
first 16 passes, finishing 22 of 51 for
241 yards and three interceptions.
San Francisco moved to 3-0, the Pa-
triots fell to 1-2.
Bears 25, Buccaneeers 6
The Chicago Bears ruined the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers' home opener Sunday,
intercepting two passes and blocking a
punt within a two-minute span of the
third quarter to pull away to a 25-6
victory.
Jeremy Lincoln returned one of the
interceptions 32 yards to set up Robert
Green's 7-yard touchdown run. An-
thony Marshall blocked Reggie Roby's
punt four plays later, picked up the ball
and ran 11 yards for a TD that broke
open the game slightly over three min-
utes into the second half.
Chicago (2-0) had four interceptions
and sacked Trent Dilfer twice before
Tampa coach Sam Wyche benched the
second-year pro with 10 minutes re-
maining.
Kevin Butler kicked first-half field
goals of24, 37 and 22 yards. The Bears,
capitalizing on the sixth of Tampa Bay's
seven turnovers, put the finishing,
touches on the victory with Butler fourth
field goal with 3:13 to go.
It was a disappointing day for the
Bucs (1-2), who honored Hall of Famer
Lee Roy Selmon at halftime.
Cowboys 23, Vikings 17
The Dallas Cowboys weren't super
Sunday night, just good enough to win
again.
Emmitt Smith overcame a rare fumble
with a 31-yard touchdown run in over-
time to give the Cowboys a 23-17 vic-
tory over the Minnesota Vikings.
Smith broke through a huge hole on
the left side and outran Charles Mincy
to the end zone marker just 2:26 iptp
overtime.
The run stunned the Vikings (1,2-),
who tied the game with 30 seconds left
in regulation on an 8-yard pass from
Warren Moon to Cris Carter. But the
Cowboys (3-0) won the coin toss and
needed just five plays to end the game.
Smith finished with 150 yards on 20
carries for his third straight 100-yard
game.
LSU holds on for upset of No. 5 Auburn; USC rambles past Houston
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. - Troy
Twillie capped a big night for LSU's
defense by intercepting a pass in the
end zone as time expired Saturday and
the Tigers upset No. 5 Auburn, 12-6,
Saturday night.
LSU (2-1 overall, 1-0 Southeastern
Conference) limited Auburn (2-1, 0-1)
to 274 yards and two field goals.
But Auburn had one last chance, with
Patrick Nix moving the Tigers to the
LSU 11 in 14 plays. Nix stopped the
clock by downing the ball with 4 sec-
onds to play. Then, on fourth-and-3;
Twillie intercepted the pass in the end
zone.
Auburn, second in the SEC in of-
fense and averaging 8.1 yards a play,
had scored 17 touchdowns in its first
two games. But the Tigers managed
only 18 first downs, three in the first
half.
Stephen Davis, who averaged 6.3
yards a carry in Auburn's first two
games, gained 76 yards on 14 carries.
LSU had lost four straight and five of
six to Auburn. It was the first time since
1988 that Auburn and Alabama were
beaten on the same day. Arkansas
stunned No. 13 Alabama, 20-19, Satur-
day afternoon.
No. 6 USC 45, Houston 10
Brad Otton, splitting time at quarter-
back, threw for four touchdowns and
Keyshawn Johnson caught two scor-
ing passes Saturday night as No. 6
Southern California overwhelmed
Houston, 45-10.
Otton threw for scores the first two
times USC had the ball and the heavily
favored Trojans (2-0) were in com-
mand the rest of the way against the
Cougars (0-3).
Johnson finished with eight catches
for 176 yards, with a touchdown re-
ception of 57 yards on the Trojans'
first play from scrimmage and an-
other scoring grab of 26 yards.
Otton played the first and third quar-
ters, then sat while Kyle Wachholtz
was at quarterback in the second and
fourth.
USC coach John Robinson used the
same rotation in the Trojans' opening
45-7 victory over San Jose State.
E. Michigan 51, UNLV 6
Rick Granata and Mike Scott ran for
two touchdowns apiece Saturday as
Eastern Michigan beat UNLV, 51-6, in
a game that appeared even on paper.
Eastern Michigan (2-1) gained 210
yards on the ground and 223 in the air,
compared with 194 and 233 forUNLV
(1-2). The Eagles controlled the ball
for 26:16 to the Rebels 34:47.
Granata, who ran for 30 yards on
seven carries, scored on a 1-yard run in
the first and another 1-yard run in the
second. Justin Ventura added a 42-yard
field goal as the Eagles took a 17-0 lead
into halftime.
UNLV's only scores came on third
quarter fields goals by Marshall
Mathews of 47 and 46 yards.
Mathews also missed a47 yard field
goal try.
Savon Edwards, who led the Eagles
with 104 yards on 18 carries, scored
on an 11- yard run in the third.
Eastern Michigan scored three times
in the fourth quarter. Charlie Batch,
who gained 223 yards while complet-
ing 15 of23 passes, hit Bristol Greene
for a 20-yard TD pass.
Jerome Adams gained his only
ground of the game on a 1-yard touch-
down run. The two-point conversion
pass failed. Mike Scott added a 32-
yard scoring run, his longest run of
the game, with 3:25 left in the game.
Scott had 74 yards on six carries
UNLV used three quarterbacks in the
game. Starter Jared Brown was 7 of 16
for 47 yards but was intercepted twice.
Jason Davis was 11 of 29 for 160
yards and Kevin Crook was 3 of 4 for26
yards.
The 25,009 on hand was the largest
crowd ever in Rynearson Stadium,
surpassing the record of 24,622 who
saw Eastern Michigan play Central
Michigan Oct. 27, 1990.
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