Wake Forest upsets Wildcats for 2nd straight year

Last September, the Wildcats came to Groves Stadium ranked 13th after winning the Big Ten and going to the Rose Bowl. Wake Forest, struggling for years near the Atlantic Coast Conference cellar, scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns for a 28-27 victory.

This time, the Demon Deacons needed no late-game heroics, thanks in large part to Kuklick's passing and Wake Forest limiting the Wildcats to three-and-out on three of their first four possessions in each half.

Kuklick finished with 273 yards on 23-of-33 passing in Wake Forest's opener. He was nearly flawless on the Demon Deacons' three TD drives in the second half, completing 15-of-19 for 183 yards and two scores.

Northwestern cut a 17-point deficit to seven on Tim Hughes' second touchdown pass to Brian Musso, this a 5-yarder with 73 seconds left, but the Demon Deacons recovered the onsides kick and ran out the clock.

No. 7 North Carolina 23, Indiana 6

Chris Keldorf's hectic offseason was followed by an inauspicious opener for No. 7 North Carolina.

The senior quarterback, coming off back and ankle surgery and a weight loss of 30 pounds, threw three interceptions Saturday in the Tar Heels' 23-6 victory over Indiana.

However, the team's struggling passing game was bailed out by tailback Jonathan Linton, who gained a career-high 121 yards on 22 carries. The North Carolina defense had five first-half sacks and limited the Hoosiers to two field goals in Cam Cameron's first game as Indiana coach.

Keldorf, who had only five passes intercepted in 338 attempts last season, threw two in the first half and was benched on the team's third series in favor of Oscar Davenport.

North Carolina kept Indiana bottled up most of the first half with five sacks and limiting the Hoosiers to 49 yards. Defensive end Greg Ellis had one of those quarterback hits, breaking Marcus Jones' career record with 24 1/2 sacks.

The Tar Heels didn't do much better offensively in the opening 30 minutes as Linton had 62 of the team's 94 yards.

Southern Mississippi 24, Illinois 7

Jamaal Alexander intercepted two passes, returning one 21 yards for a touchdown, as Southern Mississippi defeated Illinois 24-7 Saturday to ruin Ron Turner's coaching debut.

Southern Miss (1-1) also played excellent defense last week but lost 21-6 to No. 2 Florida. By comparison, Florida, the 1996 national champion and top point producer, beat Central Michigan 82-6 Saturday.

The Golden Eagles had a much simpler task this time - stop an Illinois (0-1) team that has struggled offensively for years. The firing of Lou Tepper and the hiring of former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Turner couldn't keep the Illini from losing their opener for the fifth consecutive year.

Six of the last seven Illinois coaches have lost their debuts.

Harold Shaw had 127 rushing yards for Southern Mississippi, which also spoiled the coaching debuts of Alabama's Gene Stallings in 1990 and Georgia's Jim Donnan in 1996.

The Golden Eagles held Illinois to 133 yards and six first downs in the first three quarters, built a 24-0 lead and went on to post their first victory in 41 years against a team north of the Ohio River.

Alexander helped limit Mark Hoekstra to 165 passing yards and broke open the game with 5:32 left in the third quarter by picking off Hoekstra's pass and going untouched for the touchdown to make it 17-0.

Alexander's second interception, with 6:51 to play, set up Shaw's 1-yard scoring run.

Hoekstra finally got the Illini on the board with 2:53 left, connecting with George McDonald-Ashford on a 22-yard TD pass.

Illinois' Robert Holcombe ran for 91 yards, breaking the school's career rushing record. He has 2,943 yards, surpassing Thomas Rooks (2,887 yards from 1982-85) and Jim Grabowski (2,878 from 1963-65).

In the first half, Southern Miss had an edge in almost every statistic but managed only Tim Hardaway's 20-yard field goal with 7:10 to play. Illinois didn't get a first down until 6:20 remained and didn't cross into Southern Miss territory until the final play from scrimmage.

The Golden Eagles opened the second half with an 80-yard drive, capped by Lee Roberts' passes of 34 yards to Sherrod Gideon and 26 yards to Brandon Francis for the score.

AP PHOTO
It was deja vu for Northwestern as the WIldcats once again lost to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. Demon Deacon wide receiver Thabiti Davis celebrates after his team defeated Northwestern for the second time in two seasons.

09-08-97