Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Alabama colors The Swamp Crimson with overtime win

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Sunday, October 3, 1999

Alabama colors The Swamp Crimson with overtime win
Missed extra point costs No. 3 Gators in war with Tide
By Eddie Pells
Associated Press

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Alabama coach Mike DuBose knows all about second chances. Now kicker Chris Kemp does, too.
   Kemp got a second chance at an extra point in overtime to lift No. 21 Alabama to a 40-39 victory Saturday, snapping No. 3 Florida's 30-game winning streak at The Swamp and putting the tumult that has overrun the Crimson Tide (4-1, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) on the back burner.
   Kemp got his second chance after Bennie Alexander of Florida (4-1, 2-1) jumped offsides following Shaun Alexander's 25-yard touchdown run on the first play of Alabama's overtime possession.
   He nailed it, high and straight through, providing the difference, just moments after Florida kicker Jeff Chandler's conversion attempt flared wide right.
   Once the kick went through, Alabama players gathered at the 35, where the Gator logo is painted on the field, jumping and dancing as the Crimson Tide band played its fight song long and loud.
   Reporters and Alabama state troopers swarmed DuBose as he headed to the locker room, victorious and apparently secure again in a job that seemed all but lost just two weeks ago.
   Fifteen minutes later, the celebration raged on, with several Alabama players coming out of the locker room for the first visiting-team celebration at Florida Field since 1994, when Terry Bowden and Auburn beat Florida 36-33.
   The Gators went on offense first in overtime and scored when Doug Johnson hit Reche Caldwell for a 6-yard touchdown. Chandler jogged on for the kick, but missed, marking the second time in a year Florida has missed a key chip shot in overtime.
   Chandler took over the kicking job last year when Collins Cooper missed a short field goal in a 20-17 overtime loss to Tennessee.
   Like that loss, this one severely hinders Florida's shot at a national title, although the SEC title still seems within reach. Florida still owns the tiebreaker over Tennessee and could play in the SEC title game - against Alabama, possibly - by winning the rest of its conference games.
   Of course, it was more than a missed extra point that did in Florida.
   The Crimson Tide scored 17 points off three Gators turnovers, including a touchdown after the most critical mistake of the game.
   After Florida took a 33-26 lead on Johnson's 14-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson late in the fourth quarter, the Gators forced a punt. But Jackson muffed the catch and the Tide's Marvin Brown won a battle at the bottom of the pile to give Alabama the ball at the Florida 22.
   On fourth-and-2, Alexander burst through the Florida line for a 13-yard score to extend a wild evening of football.
   Alexander furthered his Heisman Trophy candidacy, finishing with 106 yards rushing, 94 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Quarterback Andrew Zow threw for 336 yards and two scores. Receiver Freddie Milons caught 10 passes for 119 yards to become the first Alabama receiver to surpass 100 yards in consecutive games since Ozzie Newsome in 1977.
   As usual, Florida put up big numbers - 449 yards - but the one it couldn't overcome was just 18:38 in time of possession.
   In a display that would have impressed Bear Bryant as much as it would have shocked him, Alabama's wide-open style helped the Tide run 81 plays to just 52 for the Gators and score with a Spurrier-like frequency.
   The exhausted Florida defense was no match for Alabama as the game wore on and it was Zow - not Johnson - moving his team at will.

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