College Football - Football Betting

2005-11-01T16:47:00.000-08:00

South Carolina Gamecocks

Oct. 29
South Carolina 16 ... Tennessee 15---college fotball ---
Josh Brown connected on a 49-yard field goal with 2:45 to play to give South Carolina the win, and Steve Spurrier his eighth win in 11 games against Phil Fulmer. Tennessee RB Arian Foster ran for 148 yards and a touchdown, but he lost a fumble on what appeared to be a sure scoring drive. Tennessee held a 12-7 lead helped by the first of two James Wilhoit field goals, but South Carolina came back in the fourth quarter starting with a five-yard Sidney Rice touchdown catch. Rice also made a 19-yard scoring grab in the first quarter. Tennessee only gained 99 yards through the air.---college fotball ---
Player of the game: South Carolina WR Sidney Rice caught eight passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns. ---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 22-36, 242 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Mike Davis, 16-61. Receiving: Sidney Rice, 8-112, 2 TD
Tennessee - Passing: Erik Ainge, 9-21, 65 yds---college fotball ---
Rushing: Arian Foster, 25-148, 1 TD. Receiving: Robert Meacham, 6-44
What to take away from this game: It's impossible to understate just how big this win over Tennessee was. Blake Mitchell was cool under fire, while Sidney Rice once again showed that he's one of the SEC's top receiving stars. The defense kept the struggling Vol passing game from getting on track thanks to Ko Simpson and the suffocating secondary; there simply weren't places for the UT QBs to throw. The ten penalties were too many and the run defense didn't do much against Arian Foster, but that's nitpicking in a win like this. It really does appear that a bowl game is possible with games left against Arkansas, Florida and Clemson just needing one more win.---college fotball ---
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Oct. 15---college fotball ---
South Carolina 35 ... Vanderbilt 28---college fotball ---
Sidney Rice made his third touchdown catch of the game with 1:41 to go, and then the Gamecock defense held on for dear life as Vanderbilt got down to the USC 20 before stalling on four in completions. Syvelle Newton did a little of everything for the Gamecocks with a ten-yard touchdown run and two touchdown passes, but he was knocked out with an Achilles' tendon injury. Vanderiblt got a 13-yard interception return for a touchdown from Cheron Thompson, a 41-yad touchdown pass to Earl Bennett, and two Cassen Jackson-Garrison touchdown runs with a six-yard dash with 3:55 to play in the game tying it at 28. In a losing cause, Vandy's Earl Bennett caught 16 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown.
Player of the game: South Carolina WR Sidney Rice caught eight passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns. ---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 15-27, 221 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Syvelle Newton, 15-80, 1 TD. Receiving: Sidney Rice, 8-132, 2 TD
Vanderbilt - Passing: Jay Cutler, 27-49, 339 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT---college fotball ---
Rushing: Jay Cutler, 11-25. Receiving: Earl Bennett, 16-204, 1 TD---college fotball ---
What to take away from this game: Just when it looked like South Carolina was going to get the spark needed to go on a run to possibly get bowl eligible after beating Vanderbilt, it loses Svvelle Newton taking a playmaker out of the mix the team couldn't afford to lose. Fortunately, Sidney Rice has grown into an excellent go-to receiver, and QB Blake Mitchell didn't play too poorly. The pass defense has to be significantly tighter against Tennessee next week than it was against Jay Cutler, who threw for a career high 338 yards. ---college fotball ------college fotball ---
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Oct. 8---college fotball ---
South Carolina 44 ... Kentucky 16---college fotball ---
Up 17-16 midway through the third quarter after Kentucky PK Taylor Begley missed an extra point following a 12-yard Rafael Little touchdown run, South Carolina cranked out 27 unanswered points helped by Blake Mitchell's second touchdown pass of the game to Sidney Rice and a 19-yard fumble return for a touchdown from Ko Simpson. Mitchell started off the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run, but couldn't get the offense moving consistently until the second half. ---college fotball ---
Player of the game: South Carolina S Ko Simpson made 13 tackles, one interception, and returned a fumble for a score.---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 23-34, 277 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Daccus Turman, 18-81, 1 TD. Receiving: Sidney Rice, 8-125, 2 TD
Kentucky - Passing: Andre Woodson, 11-17, 90 yds---college fotball ---
Rushing: Rafael Little, 28-120, 1 TD. Receiving: Scott Mitchell, 4-25---college fotball ---
What to take away from this game: The defense did a wonderful job generating consistent pressure on Kentucky QB Andre Woodson, but it had a rough time getting much from the run defense early on. The offense finally woke up under Blake Mitchell, who proved how necessary he is to the attack, getting hot when he had to in the second half. It was the first SEC win of the season for Steve Spurrier, and it needs to be the start of a good run with Vanderbilt coming up next week. A bowl game is still very possible as long as the team plays like it did in the second half this week. ---college fotball ---
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Oct. 1---college fotball ---
Auburn 48 ... South Carolina 7---college fotball ---
Auburn cranked out the first 48 points of the game with two touchdown runs from Kenny Irons and Brad Lester and a 15-yard Brandon Cox touchdown pass to Ben Obomanu. South Carolina, without starting quarterback Blake Mitchell, looked overmatched from the start only getting on the board late in the fourth quarter on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Sidney Rice. USC only managed 199 yards of total offense.
Player of the game: Auburn LB Travis Williams made 11 tackles, half a sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and forced one fumble. ---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Antonio Heffner, 15-23, 133 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Daccus Turman, 9-43. Receiving: Syvelle Newton, 5-29---college fotball ---
Auburn - Passing: Brandon Cox, 19-29, 245 yds, 1 TD---college fotball ---
Rushing: Brad Lester, 13-53, 2 TD. Receiving: Kenny Irons, 4-40---college fotball ---
What to take away from this game: The offenses woes are understandable considering the injury to QB Blake Mitchell, but why is the defense struggling so much? It couldn't stop anything Auburn tried to do, and didn't disrupt Tiger QB Brandon Cox's rhythm all game long. With the lightweights on the schedule (Kentucky and Vanderbilt) coming up, now is the time the offense has to find a running game to count on and has to get some sort of consistency in the passing game. ---college fotball ---

Sept. 24---college fotball ---
South Carolina 45 ... Troy 20---college fotball ---
Blake Mitchell threw two touchdown passes before leaving with an injury, and Antonio Heffner ran for a one-yard score to give South Carolina a 21-0 lead, but needed an 11-yard fumble recovery for a score from Brandon Isaac to finally put the game out of reach. Daccus Turman ran for a nine-yard score, and Michael Flint caught a 43-yard touchdown pass the make the score look more impressive than the game actually was. Leodis McKelvin returned the kickoff following the Heffner score for a touchdown, and Greg Whibbs kicked two 32-yard field goals for the Trojans. ---college fotball ---
Player of the game: South Carolina QB Blake Mitchell completed 11 of 14 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. ---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 11-14, 177 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Mike Davis, 19-78. Receiving: Sidney Rice, 5-91, 1 TD---college fotball ---
Troy - Passing: Carl Meadows, 12-30, 99 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT---college fotball ---
Rushing: Joel Whinghter, 14-102. Receiving: Smokey Hampton, 2-35
What to take away from this game: So how hurt is Blake Mitchell? The South Carolina QB showed he can rip apart lousy defenses like Troy's, but he's needed for the meat of the SEC season coming up. Antonio Heffner was solid in relief, but Mitchell has the experience needed to give the Gamecocks a chance against Auburn. Mike Davis ran well, but he didn't crank out big runs; more of a running game would be nice. ---college fotball ---
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Sept. 17---college fotball ---
Alabama 37 ... South Carolina 14---college fotball ---
Alabama rolled up 338 yards on the ground and held the ball for more than 37 minutes in the blowout win, Brodie Croyle ran for a 15-yard touchdown to start the scoring, and he put the Tide up for good on a 46-yard scoring strike to Keith Brown. Ken Darby ran for a 22-yard score in the third quarter and Jamie Christensen added three field goals to keep the Tide rolling. South Carolina was able to manage a one-yard Mike Davis touchdown run and a six-yard scoring pass to Sidney Rice in garbage time. ---college fotball ---
Player of the game: The entire Alabama offensive line deserves credit. RB Ken Darby ran 20 times for 145 yards and a touchdown.---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 20-38, 173 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Carlos Thomas, 1-36. Receiving: Sidney Rice, 5-74, 1 TD---college fotball ---
Alabama - Passing: Brodie Croyle, 12-21, 115 yds, 1 TD---college fotball ---
Rushing: Kenneth Darby, 20-145 1 TD. Receiving: Keith Brown, 3-91, 2 TD---college fotball ---
What to take away from this game: You knew the clunker had to be coming at some point. South Carolina's offense isn't good enough yet to carry a game by itself, so the inability of the defense to plug the holes and get Alabama's offense off the field meant an ugly blowout. Playing Troy next week should help work out some of the kinks before the Auburn game, but teams are going to run and run and run until the Gamecocks prove they can consistently stop someone. There has to be a running game to help take some of the heat off, but that's not likely to come any time soon. ---college fotball ---
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Sept. 10---college fotball ---
Georgia 17 ... South Carolina 15 ---college fotball ---
An earlier missed extra point forced South Carolina to go for two following a four yard touchdown pass to Sidney Rice with just under seven minutes to play. Gamecock QB Blake Mitchell had an open receiver, but was under pressure and overthrew him. Georgia got a 15-yard touchdown run from D.J. Shockley and a five-yard scoring dash from Thomas Brown, but struggled to finally put Steve Spurrier's team away. South Carolina got its first score on a 42-yard interception return for a touchdown from Johnathan Joseph, but failed to convert on the extra point. The Bulldogs outrushed the Gamecocks 238 to 43.
Player of the game: Georgia RB Thomas Brown ran 20 times for 144 yards and a touchdown. ---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: South Carolina - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 22-34, 236 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Mike Davis, 8-38. Receiving: Daccus Turman, 7-30---college fotball ---
Georgia - Passing: D.J. Shockley. 8-17, 112 yds, 2 INT---college fotball ---
Rushing: Thomas Brown, 20-144, 1 TD. Receiving: Bryan McClendon, 3-46---college fotball ---
What to take away from this game: South Carolina showed it can play with the big boys. Georgia is good enough to win the SEC title, but the Gamecocks hung in there and almost pulled off the shocker in as tough and emotional road game as it might face this year. With a little more experience, QB Blake Mitchell will make the throws need to win a game like this in crunch time, but he showed good poise and excellent grit making plays in the face of the speedy Georgia defense that made Boise State's star QB Jared Zabransky look horrible. There needs to be more of a running game to help him out.

Sept. 1
South Carolina 24 ... UCF 15 Instant Analysis
South Carolina can out cocking and firing with an early 14-0 lead on two Blake Mitchell touchdown passes highlighted by a 49-yard strike to Noah Whiteside. But the Gamecock offense slowed down and UCF toughened up fighting its way back from a 24-3 deficit before failing short late stalling on the goal line. Steven Moffett threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mike Walker for the Golden Knights early in the fourth quarter.
Player of the game: South Carolina QB Blake Mitchell completed 18 of 23 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns and ran twice for 17 yards---college fotball ---
Stat Leaders: UCF - Passing: Steven Moffett, 27-39, 259 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT---college fotball ---
Rushing: Kevin Smith, 14-44. Receiving: Mike Walker, 9-105, 1 TD
USC - Passing: Blake Mitchell, 18-23, 331 yds, 3 TDs
Rushing: Blake Mitchell, 2-17. Receiving: Mike Davis, 3-80
What to take away from this game: While the play of QB Blake Mitchell was encouraging, it has to be disturbing how the Gamecock offense only managed 47 rushing yards on a UCF defense that isn't nearly as tough as the SEC D's coming up. What's just as big a problem is how much Mitchell got hit. He's not the biggest quarterback, and he showed he's tough and can make the right reads and decisions, but he won't last long if he continues to take shots like he took against the Golden Knights. ---college fotball ---
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2005 Schedule ---college fotball ---
Sept. 3 – UCF 1-10, 0-8 in Conference USA) – Offense: UCF was 114th in the nation in total offense and 113th in scoring struggling all season to get anything going. The main problem was the offensive line that started three true freshmen and two sophomores, but the positive is that they're all back with a year of experience. There has to be some consistency at quarterback with Steven Moffett needing to be a bigger playmaker. The top running back (Alex Haynes) and top two receivers (Luther Huggins and Tavaris Capers) are gone, but they'll be easily replaced.---college fotball ---
Defense: The defense didn't get any sort of pass rush and was crushed by injuries in the secondary. Now the issue is a very, very raw linebacking corps. The line should be the strength with experience, size and depth. A shutdown corner has to emerge and the young safeties have to make plays right away. Someone has to get to the quarterback after only generating 14 sacks.---college fotball ---
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Sept. 10 – at Georgia (8-3, 6-2 in SEC) – Offense: For all of last year's talent, Georgia's offense wasn't nearly as dominant as it should've been. That should change this year with an interesting mix of players. The running game will be one of the nation's best as long as the passing attack can be merely adequate. D.J. Shockley takes over the quarterbacking job providing experience and plenty of mobility and excitement. What he doesn't have is Fred Gibson or Reggie Brown to throw to. Fortunately, the backfield is five-deep in great runners while the line, led by Max Jean-Gilles, will be among the nation's best. ---college fotball ---
Defense: This will still be one of the nation's best defenses despite the loss of DE David Pollack, LB Odell Thurman and FS Thomas Davis. However, many of the great players on potential have to come through with big seasons and that starts up front with Kedric Golston and Gerald Anderson. Both are on the verge of being among the SEC's top tackles, but they haven't proven they can do it for a full season. The secondary will be tremendous with three starters returning. The most interesting area is the linebacking corps with good number two options for each spot and the return of Tony Taylor. The only real concern is finding one sure-thing pass rusher. The hope is for Quentin Moses to be the man.---college fotball ---
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Sept. 17 - Alabama (8-3, 5-3 in SEC) – Offense: The Bama offense was humming on all cylinders early on last year before the injuries struck. Starting QB Brodie Croyle and starting RB Ray Hudson were lost for the season with knee injuries forcing the team had to scramble. Behind a great offensive line and the running of Ken Darby, the Tide offense became a pure running attack and was successful, but not explosive. Now there are concerns with the ground game as Darby is trying to get over an injury problem with a hernia and three redshirt freshmen are getting the starting call on the line. Croyle is back along with a receiving corps waiting to break out. If the line comes through and Darby is ready to roll, everything will be fine.---college fotball ---
Defense: Nine starters return to a defense that finished last season number two in the nation in total defense and seventh in scoring allowing 15.75 points and 245.5 yards per game. Only injury can prevent a repeat as the D gets even better with Wallace Gilberry taking over a full-time role at defensive end and the linebacking corps reshuffling to be even more productive. The secondary doesn't have any All-Americans, but it'll be in the team photo of the nation's best. The only thing missing is depth in the back seven.
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Sept. 24 - Troy (6-5 overall, 5-2 in Sun Belt) – Offense: The Troy offense was 113th in the nation averaging 284 yards per game, and 75th in scoring averaging 23.8 points per outing. Don't expect much of an improvement with the loss of top quarterbacks Aaron Leak and D.T. McDowell, leading receiver Jason Samples, most of the line, and worst of all, 1,000-yard workhorse back DeWhitt Betterson. Carl Meadows takes over at quarterback and should be solid, but unspectacular. The backfield will see a rotation with several runners getting a shot, while the receiving corps should be better with the emergence this spring of Gary Banks along with James Earl Cray.---college fotball ---
Defense: Even with only four returning starters, expect more of the same from the nation's 16th best defense with a great group of athletes and defenders. There isn't an 11th pick in the draft like Demarcus Ware, but there are several great players to build around, particularly in the linebacking corps led by Bernard Davis and Leverne Johnson. Johnny Faulk isn't big and isn't all that fast, but he's a fantastic all-around corner ready for another huge season. Four new starters step in up front, but three are seniors and the fourth, end Kenny Mainor, is a star about to explode. The only concern is a change over in coaches losing coordinator Vic Koenning to Clemson. New co-coordinators Ricky Logo and Jeremy Rowell will try to keep things going.---college fotball ---
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Oct. 1 – at Auburn (9-2, 6-2 in SEC) – Offense: This should be an interesting year for the Auburn offense. All the talk will be about the loss of QB Jason Campbell and running backs Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown, but there's enough talent coming back to expect another good year. This wasn't always the most explosive attack last year, and that could change with one of the nation's best receiving corps and a backfield full of home-run hitting speed. The line will be fine with All-America talent at the tackles. So it all comes down to the quarterbacks. If Brandon Cox is ready to handle the pressure, the offense will be fine. If he struggles, the attack won't be pretty.---college fotball ---
Defense: All eyes will be on new defensive coordinator David Gibbs and if he can keep Auburn number one in the nation in scoring defense and in the top five in total D. As a former secondary coach for the Denver Broncos, Gibbs will be a big help to the defensive backs; the one area that needs a bit of help after losing Carlos Rogers and Junior Rosegreen. The front seven will be tremendous with a frighteningly good front four and an emerging linebacking corps. This will be an aggressive defense that'll crank out around 40 sacks helped most by ends Stanley McClover and Quentin Groves.---college fotball ---
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Oct. 8 – Kentucky (2-9, 1-7 in SEC) – Offense: The offense went from bad to worse as last season went on. Outside of the 51-point outburst against Indiana and the 37-31 loss to Tennessee to close things out, the Cats averaged just over ten points per game failing to score more than 17 in nine of the 11 contests. There's hope for a major improvement with the return of receivers Tommy Cook and Keenan Burton from injury and the emergence of big Andre Woodson at quarterback. There are plenty of backs to handle the workload, but the line has to be far better than it was last season.---college fotball ---
Defense: Time and again the defense was put in horrible positions last season thanks to a lame offense, but it rarely came up with a big stop on its own against teams with a pulse. The biggest problem was a run defense that got ripped apart for 225 yards per game. Things might not be appreciably better losing top tackler Jon Sumrall from the linebacking corps with a neck condition that forced him to retire, and now needing some true freshmen to play key roles. The line should get to the quarterback, but there are still concerns about how it'll hold up against the run. The secondary is solid led by star safety Muhammad Abdullah.
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Oct. 22 - Vanderbilt (3-8, 1-7 in SEC) – Offense: The offense had problems putting points on the board against Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky much less LSU and Georgia, but there's potential with the return of quarterback Jay Cutler and his top three targets. The problem will be with the running game losing Norval McKenzie to graduation and Kwane Doster to a tragic shooting. There's size to run the ball, but little pop operating behind an offensive line that'll need time to jell.---college fotball ---
Defense: The defense couldn't stop the run and have problems stopping offenses from moving the ball, but it wasn't bad at keeping points off the board only allowing 26 points per game. There's hope for a better season with a good linebacking corps, promising safeties, and experience on the line. A pass rush has to develop and there has to be better play from the cornerbacks.---college fotball ---
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Oct. 29 – at Tennessee (9-2, 6-2 in SEC) – Offense: The Tennessee offense was impressive last year considering the concerns at quarterback and the question marks at receiver. The freshmen quarterbacks came through with huge seasons, the receiving corps grew into a strength, and the offense got better and more explosive as the year went on. Now the attack should be downright nasty with one of the best groups of receivers the Vols have ever had, a burgeoning star quarterback in Erik Ainge, another great quarterback option in Rick Clausen, and a back in Gerald Riggs Jr. who will put up huge numbers. The line is a concern if injuries hit, but the starting five should be strong.---college fotball ---
Defense: Eight starters (and that doesn't include LB Kevin Simon) return to a defense that will be among the best in America. If Simon's injured knee is fine, the front seven will finish among the top five in America and will be one of the leaders in sacks and quarterback hurries. The secondary finished last in the SEC last year, but there will be a big turnaround with the freshmen starters of last year now seasoned veterans. The cornerbacks will be outstanding with former safety Jason Allen a sure Thorpe Award candidate.---college fotball ---
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Nov. 5 – at Arkansas (6-5, 4-4 in SEC) – Offense: The offense was better than originally expected thanks to the running game and the steady leadership of QB Matt Jones. Now Jones is off being a receiver/tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but there's enough returning experience to hope for even more from an attack that averaged close to thirty points per game. The receiving corps, led by 6-6 Marcus Monk, should make the new quarterback shine early. Robert Johnson has the inside line on the starting gig, but Alex Mortensen and Cole Barthel will still have a shot this fall. The ground game will be devastating with De'Arrius Howard and Peyton Hillis operating behind one of the SEC's best lines.
Defense: Sensing a change was needed to the nation's 76th ranked defense, Arkansas lured defensive coordinator Reggie Herring away from NC State and its number one defense. If nothing else, this will be an athletic, fired up defense switching to a 4-3 with several young, talent prospects being given big chances. Receiver Anthony Brown is expected to be the team's most dangerous pass rushing end, a slew of true freshmen will serve as reserve linebackers, and there isn't a lights-out corner. Even so, expect an overall improvement along with plenty of movement on the depth chart before the opener.---college fotball ---
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Nov. 12 - Florida (9-2, 6-2 in SEC) – Offense: Urban Meyer has always produced big-time offenses, but the NFL isn't exactly stocked with former Utah Utes (other than Alex Smith) and Bowling Green Falcons. Now he has some big-time talents to work with and the results are expected to be nothing less than incredible. QB Chris Leak appears to be ready to handle the responsibility of leading the new spread attack, even if he's not the perfect fit for it. The receiving corps should explode with Dallas Baker, Andre Caldwell and Chad Jackson all explosive home run hitters. If RB DeShawn Wynn can play up to his talent level, the backfield will be a strength. The starting five on the line will be great.---college fotball ---
Defense: Attack, attack, attack. Co-defensive coordinators Greg Mattison and Charlie Strong are going to bring the noise from all angles in an aggressive scheme to better utilize the great overall team speed. The first team should be great with the only potential hole at cornerback on the other side of Demetrice Webb, but the hope is for JUCO star Reggie Nelson to fill the void if Vernell Brown can't get the job done. The front seven is full of productive, active players that should be able to get into the backfield on a regular basis.---college fotball ---
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Nov. 19 - Clemson (6-5, 3-5 in ACC) – Offense: Former Toledo offensive coordinator Rob Spence will take over for Mike O'Cain after the Tiger attack finished 110th in the nation in offense and averaged a mere 21.45 points per game. The key will be an improvement on the line as the talent is there in the backfield and the receiving corps, even with the loss of top pass catcher Airese Currie, to see a night-and-day improvement. QB Charlie Whitehurst has to rebound after a lousy season, but he needs time to throw. The running game will be better with the expected emergence of RB Reggie Merriweather as a star for a full season.
Defense: New defensive coordinator Vic Koenning should be able to keep things rolling after a fantastic 2004. Plenty of experience returns, but there are some huge losses hurt most by the departure of LB Leroy Hill and CB Justin Miller. The run defense should be solid with a good front four and solid, deep linebacking corps. Even with the early defection of Miller to the NFL, the secondary will be good if CB Sergio Gilliam can play well right away. CB Tye Hill and FS Jamaal Fudge will be among the ACC's best.---college fotball ---
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2005-10-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Keys to the Big GamesWeek Six, Oct. 15Florida vs. LSUBy John Harris
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a. Mince-meat – So, Gator defense, you’ve popped in the Tennessee-LSU film. What did you notice? Well, when the Vols defensive line wanted to take over, they did. When they did, all four guys were able to get some heat on LSU QB JaMarcus Russell, and you know the rest. That being said, the key to the Gator defense this week is going to be DE Jeremy Mincey. The Gators dearly miss DE Ray McDonald getting heat off of the edge, as he was one of the quickest DL in the nation getting off of the ball. But, with McDonald on the shelf with a busted knee, Mincey has stepped up to take over as the key pass rush threat. ---college football---
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He’s registered 6.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks on the year and needs to be just as active on Saturday against the LSU offensive line as he was against Mississippi State. Mincey is a beast and is one of those guys that never stops. His motor has to continue to run against the LSU offensive tackles. He may not get sacks or stats, but he must force Russell to move. Rush high and force Russell to step up into the void and have to get back out to make a clean throw. Then, Mincey can attack from behind. No matter how Mincey can get into the Tiger backfield, that’s goal number one from his position this weekend in Baton Rouge.---college football---

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b. Where’s Chris Keomeatu when you need him? – It’s very easy to look at how well an offense operates and misunderstand what the real key actually is. Case in point, last year’s Utah team had big time skill players – Alex Smith, Paris Warren and Steve Savoy, but what they also had was an offensive line suited for the Mike Sanford/Urban Meyer offensive game plan. Guys like Keomeatu were quick, nasty and could ‘fit’ nearly every facet of the Ute offense. Why is that a key to the game for the Florida-LSU game? Well, it’s the Florida offensive line that has been a thorn in the side for the Gator offense. ---college football---
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As much as Chris Leak isn’t quite the right fit for the ‘spread’ option, he’s not the real problem. What people miss the most in a coaching change is that it can typically take two to three years to get complete synergy in the offensive line, especially when the scheme changes as it did this season. So, whether it’s the new expectations, new pass protection schemes or just flat out lack of ability, the Gator offensive line hasn’t gotten the job done yet. ---college football---

In the Tennessee game, it wasn’t until the Vol DL wore down in the second half that the Gators protected Leak in the passing game. In the Bama game, the Tide front seven was all over the Gator QB from jump. That’s music to LSU DT Kyle Williams and Claude Wroten’s ears. They can create havoc anywhere, anytime and with the Gators struggling to protect Leak, the Gator offensive coaching staff must make some protection adjustments to help the OL against the talented LSU DL. If not, well, let’s just not go there.---college football---
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c. Street football is all you need – Growing up, if you were a football fan, you played some kind of backyard football or street football, if you were really tough. That’s where you learned to play, and it was easy. You’d huddle up with your three or four buddies, pick your man and cover him all over the field or street. Of course, on the street you probably ran him into the mail box, but we’ll look past that transgression for now. But, the key was that you ‘stuck’ your man all the way down the field. Where ever he went, you went. ---college football---
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Then, you threw some simple zone coverages in there. Hey, you cover short, Joe will cover middle and you’ve got long. Simple, right? Right? Well, where did it all go astray? You get to college and you have eight thousand different coverages, and then if you get a certain formation, you do this, if you get motion, you get this, but if the motion guy is the TE, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA. Can’t I just cover him or stay in that zone? That’s exactly the point for the LSU secondary. Throughout the first half of the season, the Tigers have blown more coverages and left more receivers wide open than any team in America, it seems. ---college football---
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If it wasn’t for some key drops against Tennessee, the Vols wouldn’t have needed OT to win. Against Mississippi State, the first Bulldog touchdown came on a blown coverage. Now, there’s no telling how difficult new DC Bo Pelini’s coverage scheme is, but for some reason, it’s not getting through to his charges. So, what do you do? You go back to street football. You ‘stick’ him and only him. Or, you play a simple zone. LSU is too talented on defense to not just let their athletes play, but thus far this season, they seem to have not figured out who to cover. So, take that away and keep it simple. Street football simple, if you will.---college football---
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Conclusion – It’s hard to figure these two teams out. From a talent standpoint, there are very few teams in the nation that have the raw talent these two teams have. But, it truly seems as though both teams have had trouble adjusting to new coaching staffs and different schemes. LSU’s secondary has struggled mightily, and the Florida OL has done the same. Florida has not played exceptionally well against the cream of the SEC crop, and the loss to Alabama may linger for a while. ---college football---
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LSU hasn’t looked that much better, and didn’t put away the Vandy game until late in the fourth quarter. The team that’ll win is the one that can find consistency and an identity on offense the quickest. LSU is probably closest to doing that, so the Tigers are the call this weekend. LSU – 24 vs. Florida – 21

2005-10-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

Instant AnalysisLouisville vs. West Virginia, Oct. 15By Matthew Zemek
----collegefootball----
Louisville made a comeback for the ages against West Virginia on the basketball court last March.On the football field, turnabout was a very delicious bit of fair play... and revenge... for Mountaineer fans of all ages.When the Cardinals led West Virginia 24-7 with less than nine minutes to play in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Big East battle, the South Florida Bulls had already lost to lowly Pittsburgh. That result from Western Pennsylvania made this contest all the more important for both teams, as they competed for the top spot in their conference. But what that result also suggested was that the Cardinals simply could not handle negative momentum. ----collegefootball----
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If USF wasn’t good enough to beat the Panthers, one would be particularly justified in saying the Cards’ 45-14 loss in Tampa a few weeks ago was more a product of Louisville’s mental weakness than the Bulls’ overall quality.West Virginia reaffirmed and re-exposed that weakness on Saturday, while establishing a good reputation of their own.In a game that was all about momentum, Louisville’s 51-minute dominance evaporated in a black-and-gold avalanche, as the inspired running of Steve Slaton and the resourcefulness of backup QB Pat White, along with a brilliant and ballsy onsides kick ordered up by Rich Rodriguez, wound up overwhelming the Cardinals in a three-overtime classic.For most of the game, West Virginia’s lack of a vertical passing game crippled the home folks against the Cardinals’ defense, which was able to key on stopping Slaton and then pin its ears back in third and long situations.----collegefootball----
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And while Louisville’s potent offense didn’t run wild, Brian Brohm and Michael Bush made timely plays to give Bobby Petrino’s crew a 17-point bulge entering the home stretch. The Cards had wilted in the face of a South Florida onslaught weeks earlier, but a three-possession lead meant that Louisville had only good energy on its side... and its sideline. West Virginia, meanwhile, seemed destined to lose another high-profile home contest because of its lack of offensive balance.But then White, brought in for the injured Adam Bednarik, conjured up some Mountaineer magic. He and the rest of his teammates still relied on the ground game, but White was nevertheless able to engineer a touchdown drive midway through the fourth quarter, when West Virginia had no remaining margin for error.----collegefootball----
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White’s 17-yard scamper on a 4th and 10 from the UL 28 was instrumental in cutting the Cards’ lead to 24-14. But that was just the beginning. Rich Rodriguez then made the coaching call of the year in the Big East Conference.With his team having newfound momentum, the natural decision would have been to kick the ball long and have a rejuvenated defense get the ball back. An onsides kick risked giving Louisville a short field that, with the Cards’ offensive potency, could have quickly translated into a 31-14 deficit and, ultimately, the ballgame.----collegefootball----
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But the Mountaineers’ main man remained undaunted. He went ahead with the kick, and sure enough, his boys recovered. After another run-dominated drive brought West Virginia within one possession, the screws tightened even more on the Louisville sideline, as a trickle of negative energy began to build into an avalanche of anxiety and tightness for the visitors from Bluegrass country.----collegefootball----
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Three plays and two lost yards later, the Cards’ suddenly impotent offense trudged off the field in favor of their punting unit. The hits just kept on coming in these final, frantic minutes of regulation, and all of them were delivered by the Morgantown men.Yet again, the Mountaineers—though trailing—were able to storm downfield and score without benefit of a passing attack. A ground-hugging drive—kept alive by White on a daring and determined 4th down conversion from the UL 15—hit paydirt and tied the score on a power rush by Slaton in the game’s final minute. ----collegefootball----

After being down 17 and ----collegefootball----seemingly out of the game, a resurgent Mountaineer crew—aided by momentum and given life by their coach’s superb decision-making—had managed to take the game into overtime, where a two-point conversion by White ultimately made the difference after six touchdowns on six possessions. In the first 51 minutes, West Virginia had scored but seven points. In nine timed minutes and three overtime possessions, the Mountaineers rang up 39 to stun the Cardinals and seize control of the Big East race.----collegefootball----

So while Louisville reaffirmed itself as a team that can’t handle negative momentum, West Virginia—on a day they’ll remember in Morgantown for years—established itself as a team that maximizes positive momentum as well as anyone in recent college football memory. For Don Nehlen (honored at halftime for his acceptance into the College Hall of Fame) and the rest of Mountaineer Nation, this special afternoon had all the resonance and significance of Jeff Hostetler’s and Major Harris’ greatest exploits. Along with other great moments in Mountaineer football history, this triumph over the Cardinals is very likely to land the black and gold in a prime-time January bowl game.----collegefootball----

2005-10-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hit upsets Boston College coach
O'Brien wants review of chop block on star defender Kiwanuka

Associated Press

BOSTON - Boston College coach Tom O'Brien said Sunday he will ask the ACC to review a late hit on Mathias Kiwanuka so they can tell him "if that's the way we're going to play football in this league." - College Football -

"I don't want to prejudge what the ACC should do," O'Brien said a day after Boston College beat Virginia 28-17. "I just think it's a situation they need to look into." - College Football -

Kiwanuka, the preseason conference defensive player of the year, and defensive lineman Al Washington will be allowed to play in Saturday's game against Wake Forest despite being ejected against Virginia, O'Brien said. - College Football -

The score was 7-7 early in the third quarter when Virginia offensive lineman Brad Butler chop-blocked Kiwanuka after the whistle. - College Football -

Washington retaliated and was ejected; Eagles linebacker Brian Toal hit Butler one play later and drew a personal foul. Kiwanuka was ejected in the fourth for trying to exact his revenge.

Around the nation

COLORADO: The Buffaloes climbed into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in more than two years. They play Saturday at No. 2 Texas.

GEORGIA: Coach Mark Richt said Sunday linebacker Tony Taylor is out for at least two games with a sprained ligament in his left elbow, and defensive tackle Gerald Anderson might miss one game because of headaches stemming from a concussion. - College Football -

OKLAHOMA: Adrian Peterson is expected to play next week at Kansas, coach Bob Stoops said, one day after the tailback was limited by a sprained right ankle in a loss to Texas.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Defensive end Josh Johnson was arrested Sunday and charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct after a fight in the city's Five Points bar and restaurant area, The (Columbia) State reported. He has been suspended from the team indefinitely.

UCLA: The No. 12 Bruins have their highest ranking since October 2001.

WEST VIRGINIA: Freshman running back Jason Gwaltney, who has 186 yards rushing this season, will miss a minimum of four weeks with a sprained knee ligament. - College Football -

2005-10-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Football player tackles Hodgkin's

By PATRICK SCHMIEDT

LANDER -- Brody Knell is invincible. For an 18-year-old with a girlfriend on his hip, a starting position on the football team locked down and college recruiters waiting around the corner, his attitude is not surprising. But that aura is only bolstered by the fact that he beat cancer.

Not only that, he beat Stage IV Hodgkin's. By the time Brody was 12, the cancer had already spread from his lymph nodes into his lungs and abdomen. - College Football -

Maybe it's because Brody's cancer has been in remission for five years, and he's come out healthy on the other side. Maybe it's because Brody is so used to telling the story. Maybe it's because Brody is having a tremendous senior season for Lander's football team.

His reasons are his own. But one thing is clear: Satisfied just to be alive doesn't describe Brody Knell. - College Football -

For him -- and seemingly for his friends and family -- the cancer was an inconvenience more than it was a threat. Hodgkin's meant less time for snowmobiling, less time for basketball. It meant more time on the road between Lander and Denver, more time stuck in a hospital when he could be at home.

Hodgkin's wasn't a threat to Brody's mortality. It wasn't a disease that might take away his life.

Turns out he was right. - College Football -

But he still thinks about it.

"Just about every day. They say it's a slim to none chance (for relapse) after five years. ... But still, it scares you," he said.

He has learned how to live without his thyroid, which was more or less killed by the radiation treatment. He has adapted to his tendency to cramp up, and he has figured out how to keep his fingertips and toetips warm in the winter when they chill, an after-affect of his cancer treatment.

Brody's desire is for his story to touch others. He wants kids who are going through a similar situation at a similar age to be able to look up to him for inspiration. - College Football -

He is proud of how he fought off a cancer that was close to taking his life. So is his dad.

If the poster on the wall of Bailey Tire in Lander doesn't make it clearly obvious, Bruce Knell is one proud papa. The poster shows a strong young man, standing 6-foot even and a chiseled 190 pounds, posed in the black-and-green jersey his team wears. - College Football -

The father-son bond was strong from the get-go. Brody's mother left when Brody was still in diapers. The bond only strengthened in the year Brody went from healthy boy playing football to emergency-room trips to the hospital, and back again to football.

The cancer came without warning. One day, while taking off Brody's shoulder pads after football practice, Bruce Knell noticed some lumps on the side of his son's neck.

"They actually got snagged. When I tried to pull his shoulder pads off of him, they hit these lumps," he recalled. - College Football -

At first, doctors thought it was an infection and tried to treat it with antibiotics. But an oncologist in Riverton gave a different opinion.

The cancer itself was rare for a 12-year-old host. American Cancer Society statistics say there are about 8,000 new Hodgkin's cases every year in America, usually in people 15-25 or older than 55. Only about 10-15 percent of the cases affect those under 16.

Brody remembers his dad stopping by South Elementary to tell him the news.

"I could see my dad on the far end of the playground come out of the building, and I seen his face," Brody said. "I just came up running to him, I was like, 'Dad what's going on? I have it, don't I?'" - College Football -

He went through chemotherapy for eight months and went through another six weeks of radiation therapy. The family lost count of how many times Brody was life-flighted out of Lander. It might have been four times, or six. Maybe more.

"We almost lost him a couple times, and somehow, it wasn't his time," Bruce said. "And he got better."

The treatment took its toll on Brody's young body. Aside from the hair loss and the almost complete loss of energy, the most obvious physical change was in his size. When he started his treatment, Brody weighed 105 pounds. Eight months later the scale said he lost one pound.

"An entire year, when they're supposed to be gaining all the weight, not only did he not gain weight but he lost a pound over the year," Bruce said. - College Football -

But less than a year after his diagnosis, Brody was playing football on his seventh-grade team in Lander. He started lifting weights and developing the athleticism that would turn him into one of Class 4A's most versatile players.

He has played a variety of positions for Lander. On offense, he was a quarterback as a sophomore, earned all-state honors as a tight end last season and now holds the slotback position. On defense, he has played cornerback, safety and linebacker. Heading into tonight's game against Star Valley, Brody is second in Class 4A in receiving yards and eighth in rushing yards. - College Football -

"I feel comfortable putting him on the field in just about any position and knowing he'll do a good job for us," said Steve Simpson, Lander's head coach.

Even though he has bounced around at several positions for the Tigers, Knell's dream is to play quarterback in the NFL. He said he's drawing interest from scouts not for his legs but for his arm.

"My main goal is to be a quarterback," he said. "It's always been my dream. I can throw the ball 78 yards with a regular football." - College Football -

Simpson said it hasn't always been easy, but, much like during the cancer treatment, Brody has always responded to the situations he's put in.

"He's always held his chin up high and always done what we asked him to do," he said.

Copyright © 1995–2005 Lee Enterprises

2005-09-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

College football notebook: Ohio St. tight end receives hate mail

By Seattle Times news

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State tight end Ryan Hamby has received a couple of hate letters since dropping a sure touchdown pass during the Buckeyes' loss to Texas last week.

Cutting over the middle into the end zone, Hamby was open when Justin Zwick's pass bounced off his chest and into the air. Hamby had a second chance to grab it but was slammed by a defender just as the ball touched his hands. - College Football -

A touchdown would have given Ohio State a 10-point lead in the third quarter. The Buckeyes ended up settling for a field goal and eventually lost 25-22 to Texas.

"I can't think about it too much because we still have a lot of football to play," he said as the ninth-ranked Buckeyes prepared for Saturday's game with San Diego State. "I'm not going to lie. I think about it some times. But you've just got to move on." - College Football -

A senior from Cincinnati, Hamby said he had a sleepless night after dropping the pass.

"I just came open and, I don't know, it all happened so fast," he said. "I knew I caught the ball and it got knocked out of my hands. I was kind of laying there thinking, 'Man, I wish that didn't happen.' But it's part of life and you've got to deal with it." - College Football -

Hamby declined to discuss the content of the letters, calling them "dumb things."

Pivotal weekend for Sunshine State powers

The state of football in Florida will become much clearer Saturday.

Florida, Florida State and Miami each play pivotal conference games against nationally ranked opponents. Last season, for the first time since 1982, no team from the Sunshine State finished ranked among the nation's top five. The Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes are all back in the top 15, with a chance to show they deserve to be there this week.

The sixth-ranked Gators, with new coach Urban Meyer, open their Southeastern Conference season against No. 5 Tennessee. No. 8 Florida State faces No. 17 Boston College, welcoming the Eagles to the Atlantic Coast Conference. No. 13 Miami is at No. 20 Clemson, where coach Tommy Bowden has the Tigers off to a 2-0 start. - College Football -

The Volunteers have won three of their past four games against Florida in a series that consistently has gone a long way toward determining the SEC East race.

Florida State and Miami opened the season against each other on Labor Day with a 10-7 Seminoles victory that didn't do much for the image of either team. - College Football -

2005-09-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

College Football: Taking the heat
Mendenhall accepts blame for BYU's failings in the season's first football game

By Patrick Kinahan
The Salt Lake Tribune

PROVO - Bronco Mendenhall had a simple explanation for why one of Brigham Young's defensive linemen lined up offsides three times in the first game.
"It reflects coaching," said the new BYU head coach.
Trying to get an edge, defensive end Manaia Brown had his helmet past the line of scrimmage in Saturday's game against BostonCollege. - College Football -
Instead of pointing fingers, Mendenhall shouldered the blame.
As he always does.
Blunt and candid during interviews, Mendenhall takes full responsibility for his program. He speaks the truth, as he sees it, without deflecting consequences.
"What I've found is if you tell the truth, it saves you so much time trying to remember what you said to people," Mendenhall said. "The starting point is to be honest and straightforward."
Mendenhall's head coaching debut was disappointing, as the Cougars lost 20-3. BYU's new offense fizzled, scoring the field goal only after a blocked punt provided field position deep in BostonCollege territory. - College Football -
Serving as his own defensive coordinator, Mendenhall has little input on BYU's offensive plays. His one big decision came on a fourth down, when BYU punted late in the game on BC's 36-yard line.
The home crowd responded with a chorus of boos. Asked about it after the game, Mendenhall explained his rationale but quickly admitted it was a mistake.
"For some coaches, it's kind of a ploy, where they're going to be the martyr," said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, a former Division I head coach. "But I think with Bronco, it's real. If something goes wrong he's not going to blame somebody else."
At times over the previous three years, Mendenhall's predecessor, Gary Crowton, struggled to convey his message. - College Football -
After BYU lost to Stanford two years ago, he explained the decision to pass late in the game by saying he wanted to win by nine points rather than two.
Crowton's intent for his team to remain aggressive got buried in the translation. So far, even in defeat, Mendenhall has expressed himself well.
"When he talks, you can sense he really believes what he's saying," said Fred Skousen, BYU's advancement vice president. "There's not a phony bone in him. It's refreshingly honest.
"He's a very smart person, and you can sense that. He doesn't get tongue-tied."
In today's climate, a head football coach does much more than diagram plays. He becomes the face of a program, wearing almost every hat imaginable.
Without any training, Mendenhall has sold his vision to the public.
"He realizes the importance of the public relations function," Skousen said. "I liken him a little bit to [former Utah and current Florida coach] Urban Meyer. He understood that his job was not only to present a winningfootball program, but to sell that to the community, to the fans, to the outside world. I sense Bronco understands the importance.
"Bronco really catches what the expectations are from a whole host of constituents. His job is to communicate to those constituents." - College Football -
At BYU, the football coach also serves as a representative of the LDS Church. Some would argue the coach ranks among the most visible LDS Church members in the world.
Mendenhall willingly embraces his role but admits he underestimated BYU football fanatics.
"They want to know everything about the program," he said. "I hadn't anticipated them wanting to be as involved, and wanting to know, and as interested in our program."
Mendenhall also has been a hit with reporters, who appreciate his honesty. Losing, as Crowton discovered after his first season, could strain the working relationship.
A potential glimpse into the future occurred when BYU players faced hard questions after Saturday's game. Several players were asked about some of Mendenhall's game decisions, a line of questioning he may not have appreciated. - College Football -
"These players are asked to respond to some pretty tough questions," he said. "I'm not sure it's appropriate to ask a player about a coach's decision."

2005-08-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

College football: All eyes on Spurrier

By The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — It's game week again for Steve Spurrier.

After two disappointing seasons in the NFL, another one away from coaching and nine, hype-filled months since taking the South Carolina job, the head ball coach (Spurrier's preferred nickname these days) returns tocollege football when the Gamecocks face Central Florida on Thursday night.

"There's a little bit of excitement and certainly I'm looking forward to it," Spurrier said. "But still, this game's about our players against their players. I know sometimes we coaches get too much in the spotlight of the game."

There's no doubt who will be the focus of this one.

Ever since Spurrier succeeded Lou Holtz in November, South Carolina fans have been giddy with expectations of the "Cock-n-Fire" offense, future Southeastern Conference championships andcollege football domination, like it was at Florida for 12 seasons under Spurrier.

Gamecock fans have bought a record number of season tickets (62,618) — and that's despite an offseason where the school was hit with an NCAA probation and saw several players dismissed after running afoul of their new coach.

Right tackle Na'Shan Goddard says he can't escape the grocery store around town without someone asking him what it's like to play for Spurrier.

"I've never been around nothing with this much hype," defensive end Orus Lambert said. "It's the first game, so everybody wants to see Coach Spurrier return to the sidelines."

But Spurrier's not so sure what he'll find when he does.

He was walking with four of his offensive linemen recently and was pleased with their size and conditioning.
"I said, 'Dang, we've got big, strong, good-looking offensive linemen. How come they're not blocking as well as I hope?' " Spurrier recalled. "I'm trying to figure that out."

There could be a lot of head-scratching this season for Spurrier. His quarterback, sophomore Blake Mitchell, hasn't started a game. He will start first-year tailbacks Mike Davis and Bobby Wallace. The most reliable receiver so far, according to Spurrier, is Kris Clark, a senior who has nine catches in hiscollege career.

"I think our fans are expecting some good things in the future," Spurrier said. "I don't know if they expect a turnaround right away. I do think we have a team that's got a chance to do some good things this year. Now whether or not we achieve that, we've got to wait and see."

Once the game starts, Spurrier says he'll return to his familiar mind-set of running the offense as he has successfully done before.

Central Florida was 0-11 last season under coach George O'Leary — yes, that George O'Leary — and comes in with the nation's longest losing streak at 15 games.

"What we know about them is they had a tough, struggling year last year, but that year is history," Spurrier said.

What is also history, for Gamecocks players at least, are South Carolina's struggles of the past few seasons. The team that missed out on bowl games the last three years under Holtz — twice going 5-7 and last year turning down a bid as punishment for a brawl with Clemson — has a new energy and direction.

"We can't wait to get out there," Levey said.

2005-08-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Nittany Lion Football Team Recognized By AFCA in Graduation Rate Survey

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; August 24, 2005 - Penn State has been recognized by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) for the Nittany Lions' 87 percent graduation rate in the AFCA's annual Academic Achievement Award tabulation.

The honorable mention citation marks the 15th time the Nittany Lions have been recognized by the AFCA in the 19 years they have been eligible.

Penn State was one of 25 Division I-A institutions to be recognized for having a graduation rate of 70 percent or better for student-athletes who were freshmen during the 1999-2000 academic year. The survey analyzes academic progress of the class over a five year period.

Coach Joe Paterno's program previously received honorable mention notice from the AFCA in 1998-99, 2001-02-03. The Nittany Lions also were cited in 1985-87-88-89-91-92-93-94-95, when Penn State was a member of the College Football Association, who conducted the graduation survey at the time. In 1996 and '97, Penn State was not a CFA member, but had a graduation rate of better than 70 percent. The AFCA is in its eighth year of presenting the award.

Duke and Northwestern had the highest graduation rate among freshmen enrolling in 1999-2000 to share the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award. The only other Big Ten institution besides Penn State that received honorable mention distinction was Iowa.

Among the 103 Division I-A institutions that participated to the survey, the graduation rate for the Class of 2004 was 58 percent.

The recognition by the AFCA is the latest success in a long line of academic achievement for members of Paterno's program:

Entering his 40th season as head coach, Paterno's squad returns 18 starters and 31 letterwinners for the 2005 campaign. Penn State will play six bowl teams this season, including five at home: Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Cincinnati. The Nittany Lions open the season September 3, hosting South Florida at 3:30 p.m. in Beaver Stadium.

Penn State will again open the season with "Penn State Football Eve presented by Sheetz," to be held the evening of Sept. 2, with festivities starting at 6:00 p.m. outside Beaver Stadium. Stadium gates A & B will open at 7:00 p.m., the Blue Band will perform and the team will attend, with the event capped by fireworks.

GoPSU Sports.

2005-08-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

UI gets pure dose of football
Hawks call hotel home for 2 weeks

They can keep their cell phones, but not their keys.
They can't drive their cars, motor scooters or anything else, and they need consent to get a ride someplace.
They're confined to the same Heartland Inn hotel rooms for two weeks, shuttled around in university vans, and their lives mainly consist of a few activities: those which are football-related, eating, and sleeping. And video games, too.
"Civilization as we know it would end if we took those away," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We'd have serious problems." - College Football -
This is life with the Iowa football team during summer training camp.
"This two-week window is about as enjoyable a time as we have as coaches because it's basically all football and very little interaction with anybody else or any other segment," Ferentz said Monday. "This is one time where we have them and they're football players, we're football coaches, and everybody understands that's how it goes. It's nice just to focus on one area for two weeks." - College Football -
The Hawkeyes are a little more than halfway through camp. They worked out nine times as a team last week and have nine practices scheduled for this week. They'll conduct their first scrimmage of the preseason this morning, allowing Ferentz and his staff to better gauge their highly contested position battles at running back and defensive line and get a closer look at their talented class of freshmen.
Ferentz said he's been pleased with what he's seen from his team up to this point. He singled out eight players who have "gotten off to a real positive start" during the first week of practices and said he likes the tempo and demeanor of the squad thus far. - College Football -
"The thing about preseason, it's a four-lap race and we've only taken a lap," Ferentz said. "Now it's just a matter of how we finish the rest of the drill. We're just getting started right now (and) we're off to a good start, which is obviously better than getting off to a bad or so-so start, but the key is how do we sustain this thing through the rest of the preseason."
Through the first week, Ferentz said he's been impressed with what he's seen from Mike Follett and freshman Ettore Ewen on the defensive line and safety Miguel Merrick. Ferentz said right tackle Ben Gates, tight ends Scott Chandler and Ryan Majerus, fullback Tom Busch and receiver Herb Grigsby have been among those who have started strong on offense.
Of that group, three stories are especially intriguing. - College Football -
Follett, a quarterback in high school who says he has changed positions seven times since joining the Hawkeyes, seems to be getting a grasp on how to play defensive end. Ferentz said if the Hawkeyes were playing today, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound senior from West Des Moines would be in a three-man rotation with sophomores Kenny Iwebema and Bryan Mattison.
"We're counting on him to get a lot of good playing time this year," Ferentz said of Follett. "First of all, he'll be the only senior in the group (of defensive linemen). To me, alone, that makes him a significant player. The other thing we need is a guy with some experience to play and play well.
"Based on what we're seeing right now, I think that's going to be very realistic for him. The bottom line is, no matter how you shake it out he is the most experienced player in that group, and you can't underestimate the value of experience and being out there in game situations."
Ewen continues to be one of the surprising stories on the defensive line. He was the last player added to Iowa's recruiting class in 2004 and was bound for Florida on an academic scholarship when the Hawkeyes signed him last summer. - College Football -
He suffered a torn ACL during training camp last year and missed all of last season and spring workouts, but is now in contention for a starting defensive tackle job.
Grigsby emerged into Iowa's plans this spring as a slot receiver, the job Warren Holloway held until he became a part of Hawkeye folklore. Grigsby has yet to catch a pass in college and is perhaps generously listed at 6-foot, 170 pounds.
"The biggest thing -- he knows what he's doing, much better than he did a year ago, certainly," Ferentz said. "He's more confident, more decisive, he's running good routes, he's catching the ball well. The only thing is, he's not a big guy. I don't know if he's cracked 150 yet."
This could be a critical week for those trying to catch Ferentz's eye. It seems to be a telling week for the Hawkeyes. They'll lift their tackling restrictions for the first time today, helping clarify the running back situation. They'll hold another scrimmage at 11 a.m. Saturday inside Kinnick Stadium, which will be open for the public. - College Football -
"This is a week of a lot of work, and it's a second week," Ferentz said. "The hotel gets old, a lot of things get old, your teammates get old. Things that were bugging them last week are going to start bugging them this week. That's all part of the process; it's a test."
Under camp rules, the Hawkeyes are subjected to a 10 p.m. hotel curfew and bed checks an hour later. Ferentz gave the team Saturday night off, backed curfew up 90 minutes and allowed the players to leave the hotel with a ride.
"Most of them used their cell phones as soon as they found out they had the night off," Ferentz said. "I think they had their sweeties waiting for them, some of the lucky guys did. We had vans going out to the mall. The younger guys wanted to go see the Coral Ridge Mall. I mean, whatever, I wasn't going to drive them." - College Football -
That meant somebody else had to drive the school vans, the ones Ferentz describes as the "kind you hose out; they're all vinyl inside."
Professional players wheel around in their BMWs and Escalades during training camp. The Hawkeyes have their school vans.
"In the pros, guys keep their cars (during camp)," Ferentz said. "A meeting's out at 9:45 and curfew's at 11 and they're out of there and shooting (back) in there at 10:55 on two tires. You're just asking for a million problems. This is two weeks where we've got 'em. Even when they have a little time, they know if they screw that up, it'll never happen again."

Iowa City Press Citizen

2005-08-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Preseason magazines can't agree on a champ
If you believe them, Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Purdue are worthy of consideration.

Buying preseason magazines is part of college football tradition, just like tailgates.
How else can you keep track of all the season-to-season changes around the country?
The slew of predictions won't mean anything once the games start, but they're all that die-hard fans have for now. - College Football -
In a survey of seven magazines, three name Michigan the Big Ten champion, two pick Iowa, one selects Ohio State and another Purdue.
Here are some of the magazines' highlights:
The Sporting News
• Quoting an anonymous "Big Ten coach" on Michigan: "They are a physical team, and they are extremely talented, but they don't show up every week. I think they're pompous, over-recruited arrogant-type kids. ... Which school has better players, Ohio State or Michigan? Michigan. - College Football -
"If you lined them up and had them run 40-yard dashes and took them into the weight room and had them bench press and power clean, yeah, they are better than Ohio State. Markedly better. The Michigan kids have more talent, but the Ohio State kids played harder.
"And to me, that's a microcosm of the two programs."
• The magazine picks Michigan State eighth in the Big Ten, but it doesn't write off the Spartans entirely. - College Football -
"The program is mired in a bowl-no bowl pattern that started in 1997," The Sporting News wrote. "To break it, the defense must make the same strides the offense did last year. At the least, a winning record and decent bowl are expected. If (Drew) Stanton stays healthy and the defense delivers, this is a dark horse in the battle for the Big Ten title."
Blue Ribbon
• One of the three in this survey that picks Michigan to win the Big Ten (three others said second, one third). - College Football -
It also ranks the Wolverines fourth nationally.
"Much of their success will depend on the continued maturation of (Chad) Henne and (Michael) Hart," Blue Ribbon, a 384-page book, wrote. "There are enough new faces (on defense) to cause concern, but this is Michigan we're talking about -- it's not like (Lloyd) Carr is plugging the holes with just anybody."
• One of four magazines out of the seven that picked Michigan State to finish eighth in the conference (the other three said fifth). - College Football -
Phil Steele
• Generally considered one of the most accurate preview magazines, Steele picks Purdue as the nation's biggest surprise team and the Big Ten champion. The Boilermakers don't play U-M or Ohio State.
• Projects Michigan for the Orange Bowl and Michigan State for the Sun Bowl.
Street & Smith's
• Picks Michigan No. 5 nationally, first in the Big Ten. - College Football -
"Considering what the Wolverines lost -- wide receiver Braylon Edwards, safety Ernest Shazor and cornerback Marlin Jackson - picking Michigan this high seems highly dubious. Quarterback Chad Henne, running back Michael Hart and wideout Steve Breaston offer enough offensively to get this team to the Rose Bowl."
• Gives Michigan State some hope with a fifth-place prediction in the conference.
Lindy's
• Ranks Michigan high nationally in several position categories -- No. 2 offensive backfield, No. 3 receivers, No. 3 offensive line and No. 4 defensive line.
• On Michigan State: "Will fight hard, but might be reduced to being spoiler again."
Athlon
• Projecting Michigan for nine victories with two "swing" games that could go either way (at Iowa, vs. Ohio State). - College Football -
• Has Michigan State with six solid victories, three losses (vs. Michigan, at Ohio State, at Purdue) and two "swing" games (at Notre Dame, at Minnesota).

Dave Dye / The Detroit News

2005-07-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Is anyone afraid of FSU anymore?

HOT SPRINGS -- It was one of the most remarkable runs in college football history: From 1987-2000, Florida State finished among the nation's top five teams in 14 consecutive years.Think about it for a moment. Scores of wannabes would, and do, sell their souls for one such season. More ambitious programs would turn cartwheels over three top-fives in a row.Consider Florida State's ACC colleagues: Since the conference's inception in 1953, only Maryland (two, none since 1955), Georgia Tech (two, none since 1990), and Miami (12) boast more than one top-five finish.The Seminoles resided among the top five long enough to establish squatters' rights. Decline was inevitable. - College Football -
The question was: How drastic would it be?As the 2005 season approaches, the answer is clear: The Seminoles' decline is subtle but undeniable.Media attending the annual ACC Football Kickoff here this week aren't so sure. By a margin of more than 2-1, they picked Florida State to win the ACC's Atlantic Division and face preseason Coastal fave Virginia Tech in the league's first championship game.I don't see it. The Seminoles have personnel and coaching issues, and face a difficult road schedule. - College Football -
Most important, they just don't scare folks anymore.Indeed, when Florida State strutted into the ACC in 1992, conference foes cowered. Accustomed to football as a quaint diversion (Buffy brings the Brie, Mandy the merlot) until basketball, they suddenly encountered a program with track-caliber speed and a take-no-prisoners attitude.Nine consecutive conference championships and two national titles later, the Seminoles ruled the ACC like Castro does Cuba.Not any longer. Florida State has lost at least one league game in each of the past four seasons, six total. This after dropping two in the first nine seasons. Five of the six recent defeats came against unranked opponents.So what happened?Well, the Seminoles forced their conference brethren to upgrade, and, at the risk of political incorrectness, legendary coach Bobby Bowden grew old. - College Football -
Oh, at 75, the wit and drive remain sharp, and few, if any, head coaches close recruiting deals as well. But Bowden isn't the game-day steward he once was, and he no longer has Mark Richt and Chuck Amato to bail him out.Richt and Amato were among Bowden's most trusted assistants, but Amato departed after the 1999 national championship season to become head coach at North Carolina State, Richt after the 2000 season to become head coach at Georgia. Each has since beaten Bowden, but neither has been sufficiently replaced in Tallahassee, especially Richt, who served as the Seminoles' offensive coordinator.Bowden enters his 30th season in Tallahassee with a combined nine returning starters on offense and defense, fewer than any ACC team and fewer than he hoped. - College Football -
Defensive tackle Clifton Dickson is academically ineligible, and quarterback Wyatt Sexton is sidelined for the season while he recovers from Lyme disease.Moreover, cornerback Antonio Cromartie is lost for the year after injuring his knee in an offseason workout.Cromartie didn't start last season as a sophomore, but he was first-team all-conference nonetheless.Absent Sexton, Florida State's quarterback depth chart begins with two redshirt freshmen: Drew Weatherford and Xavier Lee."Normally you're a redshirt junior before you play quarterback at Florida State," Bowden lamented.Finally, there's the schedule. Florida State plays at Clemson, Virginia and Boston College, not to mention Florida. - College Football -
The Seminoles hardly lack for talent (Leon Washington and Lorenzo Booker form the ACC's best running-back tandem), haven't won less than eight games during their "slump," and have finished the last four seasons ranked 15th, 21st, 11th and 15th. But picking them ahead of Boston College (conference-high 17 returning starters from a 9-3 team) seems a stretch."I'm kind of surprised," Bowden said of the media vote. "Looks like y'all haven't been reading the paper." - College Football -

Daily Press

2005-07-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

Labor dispute threatens D-II football season

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) - College football season is six weeks away and workouts start early next month, but a contract dispute at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities threatens to sideline all fall sports - potentially paralyzing the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.Labor disputes are all-too-common in professional sports, but union negotiators, school system administrators and PSAC and NCAA officials say they know of no other such situation in the country involving colleges. The coaches' bargaining unit is thought to be the only such union representing college coaches. - College Football -"It's very new territory for everybody," said PSAC commissioner Steve Murray, who is based in Lock Haven. "There's nobody we can go to ask for ideas on how to best handle this situation."Last month, nearly 94 percent of the union's roughly 360 non-faculty coaches voted to authorize a strike. That gives the union's executive council the ability to call a strike if recommended by the coaches' negotiating team. - College Football -The coaches have been working without a deal since June 2004. No deadline has been set, though some coaches see mid-to-late August as a possible target date for a strike. Murray said he is optimistic a deal between the union and state officials soon can be worked out. The PSAC and NCAA say they are monitoring talks, but have steered clear of the negotiations.Penn State and Pitt garner far more attention during college football season in Pennsylvania, but PSAC football still attracts a loyal following. The schools are scattered mostly in small towns across the state.Pennsylvania's four state-related universities - Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln - are not in the PSAC system and are not affected by the contract dispute. - College Football -"Just like any sport, when you have a strike, the only people that would suffer are the fans and players," said Tim Payne, owner of a sporting goods store in Mansfield, home of the conference's Mansfield Mountaineers. "Nothing good ever comes out of it."The league has produced several NFL players, including New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett and former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Andre Reed.PSAC teams have excelled in other sports as well. Last year, Bloomsburg won its third straight NCAA Division II field hockey championship, and California University of Pennsylvania won the women's basketball crown.Several coaches say they don't think administrators realize the amount of time coaches spend on the job, especially while teams aren't playing. - College Football -For instance, practice times and travel schedules must be coordinated, not to mention the actual coaching during games. Then there are duties such as monitoring academic progress and acting as a parental figure that go beyond a 9-to-5 day, said Lock Haven softball coach Kelley Green."I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck anymore. I don't think that's fair," Green said. "It's just a little bit, and I feel that coaches deserve a lot more for what we put into the university."Meanwhile, coaches are running summer camps, recruiting and performing other duties with the expectation there will be a season. Officials from both sides say there has been progress in recent weeks. - College Football -"I'm more optimistic now ... but we still have to plan to take a job action," said Shippensburg football coach Rocky Rees, a top union negotiator. "Hopefully, it will be a waste of time."System spokesman Tom Gluck said the union's strike vote was expected. The coaches' union also represents teachers at the universities, who have threatened to strike in the past.Health care costs are one of the biggest stumbling blocks in negotiations. Administrators originally proposed a 10 percent medical copay similar to the one in the faculty contract, but union officials have said the copay could eat up the entire raise for some coaches making less than $40,000 a year. - College Football -The system now is asking the coaches to pay one-half of 1 percent of their gross salary to cover health costs, with the share increasing to 1 percent in 2007."We have had tough negotiations because of a very tight budget situation facing state universities," Gluck said. The system faces a $20 million increase in paying for health care costs next year, though it is expected to only get a $10 million budget increase from the state, he added. - College Football -Pay raises and performance evaluations are other key issues. Coaches have issued a counterproposal, Rees said.Caught in the middle are student-athletes such as Jahri Evans, a 6-foot-4, 340-pound left tackle at Bloomsburg with dreams of a pro career.Evans says he will back his head coach, union member Danny Hale, even if it means losing his last year of eligibility. - College Football -"It will be totally difficult for me. I will be highly disappointed," Evans said after bench pressing 225 pounds without breaking a sweat inside a desolate Bloomsburg weight room.But Evans said he is trying to stay positive."I think it will be settled," he said. "I think there's a whole bunch of politics and stuff like that."

GENARO C. ARMAS / Associated Press

2005-07-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Play first, vote second
New BCS poll will begin after the season is four weeks old

WHAT: A new poll to replace the Associated Press poll in the BCS formula. It will be called the Harris Interactive College Football Poll.
WHO: 114 voters, to be determined although all 11 Division I-A conferences and independent teams will be represented. - College Football -
WHEN: The weekly poll will begin on Sept. 25. Ballots will not be released until the final poll.
BCS: This year it will consist of the Harris poll, the USA Today poll and six computer rankings.
NEW YORK — The Bowl Championship Series has created a new college football poll with a unique twist — games will be played before ballots are cast. - College Football -
Called the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, it will rank the top 25 teams on a weekly basis, starting Sept. 25 — four weeks into the season. Plans call for 114 voters. The panel will be comprised of former coaches, players and administrators, plus media members.
The BCS has said it would like to see the elimination of preseason polls, which some believe give highly touted teams an unfair headstart in the rankings.
“This allows for some games to be played in the current season rather than allow teams to be ranked purely on preseason expectations,” BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said Monday during a conference call. - College Football -
The season’s first BCS standings will be released Oct. 17.
The new poll replaces The Associated Press poll, which the BCS had used in its formula for ranking teams since 1998. Last season, however, the AP told the BCS it could no longer use its media poll.
In addition to the new poll, the BCS will continue to use the USA Today coaches poll and a compilation of six computer rankings — each counting for one-third of a team’s grade. The coaches will continue with a preseason ballot. - College Football -
Recently, ESPN pulled out of participating in the coaches poll.
The coaches agreed to have their final ballots made public for the first time this season. The new Harris poll will take the same approach, releasing only the final ballots.
When Texas made up late ground on California in the BCS standings last season and grabbed a spot in the Rose Bowl, Cal and Pac-10 officials called for the coaches’ votes to be made public.
The AP poll never provided a secret ballot for its voters.
“We thought it was important for there to be consistency with the two human polls,” Weiberg said. “To make the ballots public on a weekly basis during the season, we feel the focus would be on who voted for whom and detract from the games being playing.” - College Football -
Last season, the BCS standings emphasized the polls more than ever and AP voters’ ballots were scrutinized as three unbeaten teams competed for the top two spots.
Weiberg said voters in the new poll will be allowed to make their votes public at any point in the season if they choose.
“We’ve made very good progress in terms of people responding affirmatively to wanting to be part of the poll,” he said. - College Football -
The AP preseason poll will be released Aug. 20, with the first regular-season poll Sept. 6. The AP national champion will be crowned after the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4. Ballots of AP poll voters are made public all season.
Last season, Southern California and Oklahoma held the top two spots in both the AP and coaches polls in the preseason and kept those positions throughout undefeated regular seasons.
Auburn, which began the season ranked in the teens in the polls, went unbeaten but never could pass the Trojans and Sooners. The Tigers tied Oklahoma in the AP poll for one week late in the season. - College Football -
All three teams finished the regular season unbeaten and USC and Oklahoma played for the national title in the Orange Bowl. Auburn went to the Sugar Bowl, finished the season 13-0 and had to settle for a final ranking of No. 2 behind national champion USC.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said the preseason rankings put his team at a disadvantage because they had too much ground to make up in the BCS standings before games were played.
Harris Interactive Inc., a marketing company hired by the BCS last month to coordinate the new poll, is in the process of compiling a panel from 300 possible participants. Voters’ names will be made public and all 11 Division I-A conferences and independent teams will be represented in the panel. - College Football -
Each conference nominated 10 people to be placed into a pool of possible poll voters.

RALPH D. RUSSO
The Associated Press

2005-07-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

Searching for Lessons in Jefferson High Melee

They had been milling around for an hour in the sun, 2,000 restless, agitated teens packed onto Jefferson High's football field, waiting for the earthquake drill to end and lunch to begin. When the bell rang they rushed the gates, shoving, elbowing, knocking classmates aside.
In the crush, two black girls began tussling over a cellphone or a boy, or maybe a boy's cellphone. - College Football -
As school police officers dug them out of the center of a heckling crowd, a Latino boy launched a milk carton across the quad. It landed in a group of black football players.
"Who threw the milk carton?" one demanded, confronting the Latino boys.
"Go back to Africa!" was one shouted response.
The entire quad erupted in fights.
In that brief moment, a food fight became a race riot. And in the days and weeks that followed, racial skirmishes on this and other Southern California campuses unmasked a current of racial tension that has alarmed law enforcement and school officials. - College Football -
The Jefferson fight was over in less than 20 minutes. But for two months after that April 14 battle, Jefferson's black and Latino students faced off in spontaneous skirmishes, orchestrated beatings and at least two more large-scale melees. Twenty-five students were arrested, three hospitalized and dozens suspended or transferred. Hundreds more stayed away from classes, and those who showed up did so with fear.
"I'm scared even to go to class," said 16-year-old Keiana Scott, as she stood on the lawn outside school a few days after the second lunchtime brawl. One of only about 300 blacks among the school's more than 3,800 students, Keiana warily eyed a passing group of Latino schoolmates. "I've got to look over my shoulder every five minutes to see if somebody's about to whup me," she said. - College Football -
No Single Cause
The unrest comes at a time when Los Angeles has emerged as a national symbol of racial cooperation. A coalition of black, Latino and white voters in May elected Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles's first Latino mayor since the city's pioneer days.
But the confrontations between blacks and Latinos, which have struck campuses from the South Bay to the Inland Empire and Antelope Valley, suggest that stubborn cultural differences, racially charged gang feuds and social and economic competition can combine to cleave Southern Californians along unexpected racial lines.
"This is not just at one school, and it's not just kid stuff," said Khalid Shah, whose Stop the Violence Increase the Peace foundation has been working for years to broker truces between warring black and Latino gangs in the Inglewood area.
"There's a rise in community violence as it relates to blacks and Latinos, and that is seeping into our schools. When you start seeing large groups of one race fighting against a group of the other race, we can't, as a city, afford to ignore it." - College Football -
"You can't blame [the fights] on any one thing," said Ron Rubine, a counselor at Carver Middle School in South Los Angeles, which has had its share of black-Latino conflict. "For some kids, it's a race thing, for some it's a gang thing, for some it's a boredom thing, for some it's just loyalty to friends.
"Is it really that different with adults? If there was a fight among the staff, we'd align ourselves with the people we hang around with…. We have our public face, but look at what we do in private — the way we gossip, the things we say about other people, other groups. We look at these kids and say, 'What savages!' but we all have onus in this thing."
Rapid Escalation
A close look at the first Jefferson fight shows how racial tensions can quickly balkanize a campus — even one where peacemakers outnumber troublemakers.
Steve Bachrach teaches in the school's Film and Theater Academy, a self-contained "small learning community" on campus. He was in his classroom with students when the quad fight began. - College Football -
A student ran past the room yelling, "Food fight!" Bachrach shrugged it off. But a few minutes later another kid shouted, "Race riot — brown on black!" and several of his students bolted. Outside, Bachrach saw half a dozen kids scaling the school's chain-link fence, desperately trying to escape from campus.
Bachrach headed for the quad to retrieve his students and found one, a black girl, in a standoff with three Latino boys. She had been beaten and was in obvious pain. He ushered her back to class, where a group of her Latina classmates, all juniors, gathered to console her and press for details. "I was jumped by a bunch of … Mexicans," she said. The group, almost all of them Mexican immigrants, brushed the expletive off as anger speaking.
But across the room, a group of younger Latinas bristled. They strode over, and one angrily challenged the black girl: "Why are you disrespecting me?"
The older girls quickly intervened, ordering the others to back off. The younger girls retreated, but not before belittling their Latina classmates for having "no pride in your own people."
In the months since that first lunchtime fight, many others faced the same brutal choice: "race pride" came to trump friendships, common interests and personal history.
"Basically, I guess you can say that you had to pick sides. It was just a must," said Yessinia Rivas, 18, a senior who has since graduated. - College Football -
Her worried parents gave her advice she didn't expect: For your own protection, they said, stay away from other people. Her Latino friends demanded she declare allegiance. "Either you were with them or against them," she said.
Pressure From Peers
In an essay for the independent teen publication "LA Youth," an anonymous Latino student described being drawn into the initial fight by friends' demands that he "stand up for my family, my Mexican ancestors, and the people who worked hard so I could be here — my heritage that I'm really proud of."
"I felt good defending my race," he wrote. "I was hitting anybody I could get my hands on…. Many of my friends who knew I was involved in the fight asked me, 'Aren't you proud that our people are at war with the blacks?' … Because of that fight, I lost many friends who are African American. The whole tension between Latinos and blacks is changing the way we all think about each other." - College Football -
The lunchtime crowd at Jefferson, as at many high school campuses, typically divides by race. Latinos, who constitute nearly 92% of the student body, take the tables on the small, covered patio and gather in groups on the grass. Black students, about 8% of the student population, lounge along a low stone wall between the student store and the science building.
That kind of separation, long chronicled in post-segregation schools, doesn't necessarily signal trouble. For adolescents, membership in a "tribe" can provide a sense of belonging.
"It only becomes destructive when the groups are seen as rigid and self-enforcing," said Allan Kakassy, a teacher at Granada Hills Charter High School who has spent 37 years helping district officials develop tolerance programs.
Before the fights, "everybody was having a great time," said Eric Johnson, 17, president of Jefferson's Black Student Union. The school's student leadership group played music at lunch every Friday. "It was like our 20-minute party," Johnson said.
After the fights, students were so wary that some blacks were afraid to turn their backs on Latinos, and some Latinos avoided the student store, because getting there meant walking past blacks.
"Everything that has been said about the school is not the way it seems," said Cindy Jaramillo, a 17-year-old senior bound for UC Berkeley. She was on a visit to the college when she saw news of the disturbances on a dorm television. She had never thought of her campus as racially divided. "There was no problem," she said. "There was fighting and everything, but I think that happens at every single school. The riots turned things the other way."
Gangs Sow Fear - College Football -
Race became a factor in even the simplest endeavors. When school administrators banned white T-shirts because of the style's popularity with gangs, scores of Latino students showed up wearing brown T-shirts instead. "It was saying that we're here and that we have pride in each other and we're not going to let nobody talk stuff about us," said Daniel Rios, 14, wearing a brown T-shirt that hung to his knees. Black students struck back by wearing black.
Bachrach considered the "brown pride" display an act of intimidation, whether deliberate or not. "It was a direct threat to another population on campus. And that's not tolerable," he told his students. He followed up with a letter to their parents, explaining the racial dynamics of clothing selection.
At Jefferson — a chronically overcrowded and underachieving campus, set in a poor, often violent neighborhood — outside forces exert their own pressures. Some link the school's racial problems directly to an ongoing war between Latino and black street and prison gangs.
One of the area's largest gangs, 38th Street, is affiliated with the powerful Mexican Mafia prison gang, say Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division officers. The Mexican Mafia has spent more than a decade trying to control the drug trade from behind bars, in part by directing Latino gang members to target blacks with shootings, beatings and harassment, according to law enforcement sources and imprisoned gang members who spoke with The Times.
Police have not tied the gang directly to the campus unrest, but fear of gang retaliation is so strong among students and parents that most interviewed by reporters refused to let their names be used. - College Football -
Two years ago, according to parents and an injunction by the Los Angeles city attorney, the 38th Street gang so dominated Ross Snyder Park, a few blocks from Jefferson, that a Pop Warner football league run by black parents moved its practices to the high school's football field.
Racial tension heightened noticeably this spring, when word spread across the city that Latino gang members were plotting a Cinco de Mayo massacre of blacks in retaliation for a drug rip-off by a local black gang. According to the rumor, a Crips gang had stolen a huge cache of cocaine from Florencia 13, a large Latino street gang active in the Jefferson area. Versions spread through the Internet, sparking such citywide fear that more than 51,000 children stayed away from Los Angeles Unified schools that day.
Parents Can Have Effect
The rumor contained a grain of truth. Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators believe that in the summer of 2001, the East Coast Crips stole a truckload of cocaine, estimated at 300 kilos, belonging to Florencia. The theft ignited a gang war that still rages, said Sheriff's Sgt. Morrie Zager, who heads the department's gang unit in the Century Division.
But Zager said investigators found the Cinco de Mayo threat baseless.
"We're in the Internet age, where every teenager is online, even the thug teenagers," he said. "We didn't find anything credible to any of that stuff — and believe me, we tried to substantiate anything we could." - College Football -
Still, students and parents from Long Beach to Palmdale to Moreno Valley continue to cite the drug-theft rumor to explain campus racial tension.
"I feel like my son has a target on his back," said the mother of a black Jefferson student who was suspended for fighting with a group of Latinos he said jumped him as he left class.
"I told my son, don't start nothing, but if they pick with you, don't back down. It sounds simple to walk away, but it's not that simple. If you do, you will continue to [have to] run. So you have to fight." She shrugged. "It sounds terrible, but that's the way society is."
Many teachers and school officials say parental attitudes often prime students for friction. Tensions are particularly high between blacks and newly arrived immigrants in the neighborhoods surrounding Jefferson, once a center of black culture and pride.
The school reflects the changing demographics of inner-city Los Angeles. In 25 years, the student body has gone from 31% Latino to 92% Latino. More than half of Jefferson's Latino students are immigrants, most of them from Mexico, where only 1% of the population is black. During the 1990s, the black population of Jefferson's attendance area declined from about 34,000 to less than 22,000 while the Latino population, mostly recently arrived Mexicans, grew from 105,000 to 121,000, according to the U.S. Census.

Sandy Banks and Nicholas Shields Times Staff Writers

2005-06-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hopoi Named to Outland Trophy Watch List
UW Defensive Tackles Among 35 Players Listed

Dallas - Washington senior defensive tackle Manase Mopoi has been named to the 36-player watch list for the 2005 Outland Trophy. The list of nominees was announced by The Football Writers Association of America.
The Outland Trophy has been awarded to the best interior offensive or defensive lineman in college football since 1946. The winner is selected by the FWAA's All-America Committee, which selects the association's 25-man team and picks three Outland Trophy finalists.
Hopoi was a second-team All-Pac-10 selection for the Huskies last season. He had 54 total tackles and led the conference with 22 tackles for loss, one shy of the UW single-season record. His tackles for loss total ranked second among Division I defenders. He also had nine sacks. Hopoi has started all 36 games in his Husky career.
The 2005 Outland Trophy announcement will be on Dec. 8 in Orlando, Fla., on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show. The Outland Trophy presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee and First Data Corporation, is set for Jan. 12, 2006, in Omaha, Neb.
Oklahoma offensive tackle Jammal Brown won the 2004 Outland Trophy. Former Outland winner Ron Yary from USC (1967), will make the announcement of the 2005 winner in Orlando.
Additional Outland Trophy candidates may be added during the course of the season. Tackles, guards and centers are eligible for consideration.
Washington senior defensive tackle Manase Mopoi has been named to the 36-player watch list for the 2005 Outland Trophy. The list of nominees was announced by The Football Writers Association of America.
The Outland Trophy has been awarded to the best interior offensive or defensive lineman in college football since 1946. The winner is selected by the FWAA's All-America Committee, which selects the association's 25-man team and picks three Outland Trophy finalists.
Hopoi was a second-team All-Pac-10 selection for the Huskies last season. He had 54 total tackles and led the conference with 22 tackles for loss, one shy of the UW single-season record. His tackles for loss total ranked second among Division I defenders. He also had nine sacks. Hopoi has started all 36 games in his Husky career.

The 2005 Outland Trophy announcement will be on Dec. 8 in Orlando, Fla., on the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show. The Outland Trophy presentation banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee and First Data Corporation, is set for Jan. 12, 2006, in Omaha, Neb.
Oklahoma offensive tackle Jammal Brown won the 2004 Outland Trophy. Former Outland winner Ron Yary from USC (1967), will make the announcement of the 2005 winner in Orlando.
Additional Outland Trophy candidates may be added during the course of the season. Tackles, guards and centers are eligible for consideration.

2005 OUTLAND TROPHY PRESEASON WATCH LIST Jesse Boone, OL, Utah
J. B. Closner, C, Alabama
Daryn Colledge, OT, Boise State
Ryan Cook, C, New Mexico
Mike Degory, C, Florida
Greg Eslinger, C, Minnesota
Steve Fifita, DL, Utah
D'Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia
Orien Harris, DT, Miami (Fla.)
Manase Hopoi, DT, Washington
T. J. Jackson, NG, Auburn
Max Jean-Gilles, OL, Georgia
Davin Joseph, G, Oklahoma
Jake Kuresa, OL, BYU
Travis Leffew, OL, Louisville
Matt Lentz, G, Michigan
Dylan Lineberry, G, North Texas
Josh Linehan, G, Oregon State
Grayling Love, OT, Arizona State
Jesse Mahelona, DT, Tennessee
Nick Mangold, C, Ohio State
Garrett McIntyre, DT, Fresno State
Marcus McNeill, OT, Auburn
Dan Mozes, G, West Virginia
Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon
Ryan O'Callaghan, OT, California
Marvin Philip, C, California
Samson Satele, G, Hawaii
Jonathan Scott, OT, Texas
Mark Setterstrom, OL, Minnesota
Ben Siegert, DT, Oregon State
Gabe Watson, DT, Michigan
Andrew Whitworth, OT, LSU
Jon Wilson, C, Air Force
Eric Winston, OT, Miami (Fla.)
Rodrique Wright, DT, Texas

College Football Video

2005-06-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

College Football Video