Florida’s Spurrier Up to New Tricks

Tired of watching his team grind, Steve Spurrier went to his bag of tricks.

Receiver Travis McGriff took a lateral from Doug Johnson and threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Travis Taylor for the clinching score Saturday in No. 6 Florida’s 22-10 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State at Gainesville, Fla.

The victory avenged LSU’s 28-21 upset in this series last year and kept Florida (5-1, 3-1 in the Southeastern Conference) one game behind Tennessee in the SEC East.

Mistake-prone LSU (3-2, 1-2) suffered its second consecutive loss.

The trick play was one of the few highlights for the Gators in a season that has become almost uncomfortable to watch with all its fumbles, penalties--and now injuries--piling up by the minute.

Jesse Palmer, who won the battle for the starting quarterback position last week, gave way to Johnson in the second quarter after suffering a broken right collarbone.

The Gators also lost leading rusher Terry Jackson because of an ankle injury. One of their best defensive linemen, Ed Chester, went out on the first play because of a dislocated knee and linebacker Johnny Rutledge left late in the game because of a concussion.

No. 20 Arkansas 23, Memphis 9--Clint Stoerner made up for a poor first half with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Michael Williams early in the third quarter in a nonconference game at Memphis, Tenn.

The Razorbacks (5-0) led at the half, 13-3, even though their quarterback completed only 11 of 29 passes. His third consecutive completion of the second half was good for the first touchdown of Williams’ career.

Memphis is 0-5.

Kentucky 33, South Carolina 28--Anthony White rushed for 108 yards and caught eight passes for 117 yards at Lexington, Ky., as the Wildcats won their first SEC game of the season.

The loss was the fifth in a row for South Carolina (1-5, 0-4).

Tim Couch completed 29 of 42 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns.

Alabama 20, Mississippi 17--Ryan Pflugner kicked a 22-yard field goal in overtime to give the Crimson Tide (3-2, 2-2) the victory at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Mississippi (4-2, 2-2) got the ball first in overtime, but Romaro Miller’s pass was intercepted in the end zone by Steve Stanley.

Western Michigan 27, Vanderbilt 24--Brad Selent kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give the Broncos a nonconference victory at Nashville.

John Markham of Vanderbilt (0-5) kicked a 46-yard field goal with 37 seconds left to tie the score at 24-24. Western Michigan (3-3) took over on its 20 and drove 61 yards in 35 seconds to set up Selent’s field goal.

Mississippi State 38, Auburn 21--Robert Bean blocked a punt and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown and also set up a field goal with an interception return for the Bulldogs (4-1, 3-0) at Starkville, Miss.

Auburn is 1-4, 1-3.