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Wake-Up Call: McCluster speaks up, takes off

The Associated Press

Mississippi's Dexter McCluster, a Largo native, routinely had Tennessee defenders chasing him vainly Saturday afternoon.

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By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2009

The Wake-Up Call greets you each weekday with news, views and a few Tampa Bay area sports offerings to anticipate for the day and night. We encourage suggestions and contributions.

Good morning!

Friday night, with the Ole Miss Rebels in their final hours of preparation before facing Tennessee, Coach Houston Nutt sought an extra surge of motivation.

He summoned senior running back Dexter McCluster (Largo) to address the team.

And McCluster delivered.

"I was feeling it," McCluster said of his speech at the team meeting. "I'm really not the type of person to get up and talk in front of a lot of people, especially the team. I like to lead by example on the field.

"But last night, I felt I had to get up there and let them know how much I wanted to win this game. I told them we can win out. I challenged the offense and said that if we can have all 11 going 110 percent on every play, we can't be stopped."

Saturday afternoon, it was McCluster, a 5-foot-9, 170-pounder, who couldn't be stopped.

He rushed for a school-record 282 yards - the 11th-highest total in SEC history - and four touchdowns (runs of 15, 23, 32 and 71 yards) in a 42-17 victory against Tennessee.

Tennessee has been playing football for 113 seasons, but no one has rushed for more yards against the Vols than McCluster.

"Guys had angles on him and never even touched him," Vols coach Lane Kiffin said.

"He changes direction like nobody I've ever played against," Vols defensive tackle Dan Williams said.

McCluster did it all in front of the man who recruited him to Ole Miss, Ed Orgeron, who is now assistant head coach at Tennessee.

Additionally, McCluster finished with 324 all-purpose yards, breaking the school record set of 321 by Deuce McAllister in 1999. Sunday, McCluster was named National Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Foundation.

Here are the top 15 single-game rushing efforts in SEC history:

1. 321 - Frank Mordica, Vanderbilt vs. Air Force (22 rushes), 1978.

(tie) 321 - Darren McFadden, Arkansas vs. South Carolina (34 rushes), 2007.

3. 316 - Emmitt Smith, Florida vs. New Mexico (31 rushes), 1989.

4. 307 - Curtis Kuykendall, Auburn vs. Miami (33 rushes), 1944.

5. 299 - Moe Williams, Kentucky vs. South Carolina (40 rushes), 1995.

6. 294 - Chuck Webb, Tennessee vs. Ole Miss (35 rushes), 1989.

7. 291 - Shaun Alexander, Alabama vs. LSU (20 rushes), 1996.

8. 290 - Bo Jackson, Auburn vs. SW Louisiana (23 rushes), 1985.

9. 284 - Bobby Humphrey, Alabama vs. Mississippi State (30 rushes), 1986.

10. 283 - Herschel Walker, Georgia vs. Vanderbilt (22 rushes), 1980.

11. 282 - Dexter McCluster, Ole Miss vs. Tennessee (25 rushes), 2009.

12. 272 - Moe Williams, Kentucky vs. Cincinnati (40 rushes), 1995.

13. 267 - Bob Davis, Kentucky vs. Washington & Lee, 1937.

14. 265 - Herschel Walker, Georgia vs. Ole Miss (41 rushes), 1981.

15. 257 - Jerious Norwood, Mississippi State vs. Houston (24 rushes), 2005.

"For 170 pounds, he's special," Nutt said. "He can make the first one miss. He has game-breaking speed. As you can see, he won't just run out of bounds on a long run - he'll cut back against the grain and separate to get it in the end zone."

Ole Miss (7-3, 3-3 SEC) was ranked as high as No. 4 in the Associated Press poll this season, but has since disappeared from the national view. But the Rebels are very much in line for a New Year's Day bowl game - and they are definitely on the radar of Tampa's Outback Bowl.

The Outback generally takes a team from the SEC East, but the field is getting slim. It includes Georgia (6-4, 4-3), Kentucky (6-4, 2-4), South Carolina (6-5, 3-5) and Tennessee (5-5, 2-4).

LSU (8-2, 4-2) is projected for Orlando's Capital One Bowl. Even if Ole Miss loses against LSU next Saturday, it can defeat Mississippi State in the regular-season finale to finish 8-4.

And that might make the Rebels too good to resist for the Outback.

McCluster would have no problems with finishing his college career in the Tampa Bay area.

He is finishing with a flourish. After being used sparingly at running back through much of the season, McCluster now has 100-yard rushing efforts in his last three SEC games (including 123 against Arkansas and 186 against Auburn).

"If we asked him to play cornerback, he'd do it," Nutt said. "If we asked him to play right guard, he'd do it. He'll do anything necessary for us to win."

Even if it requires a record-setting rushing performance.

Harvey paces UCF

McCluster wasn't the only former Largo Packer to thrive in Saturday's games.

University of Central Florida sophomore running back Brynn Harvey rushed 35 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns - on runs of 1, 41 and 7 yards - to pace the Knights past the No. 13-ranked Houston Cougars 37-32.

It was the first time UCF defeated a ranked team from the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Harvey has 818 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. Note: UCF had only eight rushing touchdowns as a team in 2008.

Kyles hits century mark again

Middle Tennessee running back D.D. Kyles (Armwood) registered his third consecutive 100-yard rushing game with a 177-yard effort in Saturday's 34-17 win against Louisiana-Lafayette.

The last Blue Raider back to have three straight 100-yard rushing games was Dwone Hicks, who had five in 2002.

Kyles has rushed for 427 yards in the past three games.

"Every time I get the ball, I feel like I'm getting better and better," Kyles said.

Vanzant starts for Butler

Shawn Vanzant (Wharton) started for Butler University's men's basketball team in Saturday's 73-62 victory against Davidson. Vanzant had 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting. He played 30 minutes.

ACC visits the Sun Dome

For the ninth time since the Sun Dome opened in 1980, the University of South Florida Bulls will face an ACC team at home.

The Bulls, who opened with a 67-61 victory at SMU on Friday night, take on the Virginia Cavaliers tonight at 7:30.

USF is 5-3 in the previous eight home games against ACC teams.

• Duke 83, USF 72 (Dec. 2, 1980) - The Sun Dome dedication ceremonies overshadowed the second game at Duke for a then-unknown head coach - guy named Mike Krzyzewski.

• USF 77, Wake Forest 66 (March 14, 1985) - Wake Forest played without suspended star Kenny Green and the Bulls made sure that Muggsy Bogues wasn't a factor.

• Maryland 87, USF 81 (Jan. 20, 1991) - Bulls blow a 17-point halftime lead and waste a 31-point effort by Radenko Dobras.

• USF 92, Florida State 88 (Dec. 20, 1991) - Bulls feed off emotion of Sun Dome sellout (10,411) to beat an FSU team coming off victory at North Carolina.

• USF 65, Florida State 63 (Dec. 11, 1993) - Chucky Atkins wins it on final-second jumper; FSU dual-sport star Charlie Ward in New York to collect his Heisman Trophy.

• USF 70, Florida State 68 (Jan. 31, 1998) - Bulls prevail on Brian Lamb's two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining.

• USF 66, Florida State 55 (Jan. 8, 2000) - Bulls close with a 16-3 run.

• Florida State 78, USF 74 (Jan. 1, 2001) - FSU's first Sun Dome win since Dec. 16, 1989.

In the Sun Dome era, USF is 15-14 at home against teams from BCS conferences (excluding the Big East, of which USF is a member). That's 2-0 against the Big 12, 2-0 against the Pac-10, 3-4 against the Big Ten and 3-7 against the SEC (including a 3-5 mark against the Florida Gators).

Two NL rookies to watch

The National League Rookie of the Year award will be announced today. The Tampa Bay area has two prime candidates in Florida Marlins left fielder Chris Coghlan (East Lake) and Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen (Fort Meade).

Birthday wishes

Happy birthday to former Bucs wide receiver Lawrence Dawsey, who now coaches that position at his alma mater, Florida State University. Dawsey used to work on Jim Leavitt's staff at USF. Today, Dawsey turns 42.

The Answer Man

Here's the answer to Thursday's trivia question:

When Robinson last defeated Plant in football (19-10 on Nov. 5, 2005), the starting quarterbacks were junior Marcello Trigg for Robinson and sophomore Robert Marve for Plant. Both players went on to capture the Guy Toph Award, emblematic of Hillsborough County's top senior football player.

Monday trivia

Here's our daily sports trivia question, featuring a Tampa Bay/Florida spin. Try your luck by commenting below.

Emmitt Smith has the University of Florida's single-game rushing record with 316 against New Mexico in 1989. Who holds FSU's single-game rushing record?

Check for the answer in Tuesday's Wake-Up Call.

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