FOOTBALL SENIOR BOWL : North Does the Same as South--but Does It 41 Points Better

MOBILE, Ala. —  Coach Buddy Ryan of the Philadelphia Eagles said others would have to explain how the North beat his South team, 41-0, in the 41st Senior Bowl game Saturday.

“They ran the same offense we did,” Ryan said. “They ran the same defense we did. They scored 41 points. We scored none. You explain it.”

The explanation was simple enough.

Louisiana State’s Tommy Hodson passed for 91 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter and Penn State’s Blair Thomas ran for 137 yards in 11 carries and caught two passes for 19.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but the South probably practiced too hard,” said Thomas, named the game’s most valuable player. “They got a little fatigued.”

Thomas wanted to convince NFL scouts that he has recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him for the 1988 season.

“I proved I could make the cuts I used to make,” he said.

“His performance speaks more eloquently than anything else,” said Kansas City Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer, who directed the North squad.

It was the first shutout in Senior Bowl history and the victory cut the South’s series lead to 20-18-3.

Hodson, who completed eight of nine passes in the first quarter, led the North to a pair of 79-yard scoring drives on its first two possessions and his team went on to take a 34-0 halftime lead.

The first touchdown came on a 12-yard pass from Hodson to Thomas and the second score was a one-yard pass from Hodson to Oregon State’s Pat Chaffey.

The North stretched its lead to 21-0 in the first quarter when Penn State’s Sherrod Rainge returned an interception 37 yards to the South 32, setting up a 14-yard touchdown run by Darrell Thompson of Minnesota.

Thompson scored on a two-yard run with 2:04 left in the half, capping a 77-yard drive in which Kirk Baumgartner of Wisconsin Stevens Point completed four passes for 45 yards and Thomas contributed a 20-yard run.

The North defense then set up another quick touchdown before halftime.

Michigan State’s Travis Davis deflected a pass that was intercepted by Andre Collins of Penn State, who handed the ball to Rainge, who returned the interception 11 yards to the 10. Baumgartner hit New Mexico’s Terance Mathis for the touchdown.

The North added its final score with 1:48 left in the game when Baumgartner threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Mathis.

The North defense, led by West Virginia linebacker Renaldo Turnbull, had five sacks of Auburn’s Reggie Slack and one of Florida State’s Peter Tom Willis.

“We dug ourselves a hole early and just couldn’t recover,” Slack said.

William & Mary’s Steve Christie missed field goal attempts of 37 and 38 yards for the South.