Ron Morris, Columbia State: South Carolina's Steve Spurrier says "it probably was wrong" to put assistant Ron Cooper on the spot after the victory at Kentucky.Patrick Finley, Arizona Daily Star: Pacific 10 athletic directors will meet Wednesday to discuss their policy of having conference referees officiate nonconference games.
Steve Conroy, Boston Herald: Boston College has a new kicker. Steve Aponavicius will make his debut on national TV against Virginia Tech — the first football game he ever participates in.
Carter Strickland, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia governor Sonny Perdue continued his campaign against the AJC's headline "Dogs get put in their place" by going on Atlanta's 680 The Fan (registration).
Emily Badger, Orlando Sentinel: Is support waning for Florida State's Bobby Bowden?
Gary Smits, Florida Times-Union: A terrific piece on college fight songs and how they have stood the test of time. Plus, one man's top 10 fight songs and an Internet vote to select the top song (registration).
Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: The Hlist. Indiana's kicker is a Super Starr after beating Illinois (subscription, so story is in comments).
Ed Miller, Virginian-Pilot: There's no more fun in games as the losses pile up for Virginia's Al Groh.
Jake Curtis, San Francisco Chronicle: Eleven months ago, Fresno State was on the verge of upsetting USC. Now the Bulldogs have hit rock bottom.
Bob Clark, Eugene Register-Guard: Pac-10 notebook: More on the clock issue at the end of the Washington-USC game and the plays that knocked out the starting quarterbacks in the Arizona-UCLA game.
Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News: It's clear that California is the best team in the Pac-10 at the moment.
Bill Finley, New York Times: Penn State is getting ready to face Michigan and a painful memory (registration).
1 comment:
10-10-06
The Hlist
Mike Hlas
Cedar Rapids Gazette
FIRST DOWNS
1. Super Starr: Indiana stopped its 17-game Big Ten road losing streak with its 34-32 win at Illinois.
Austin Starr made a 33-yard field goal on the game’s final play.
After the kick, Starr’s teammates chased him. He started to run toward the Hoosier fans at the other end of the stadium, but he was caught and tackled in glee.
‘‘Eventually I just gave up,’’ Starr said.
‘‘I was nervous when I saw the whole team bombarding me after I made it. Being under that pile, that doesn’t feel too good. I’m just glad I was down on the ground flat.’’
Starr said he knew the kick was good when it left his foot, but didn’t see it sail through the uprights.
‘‘(Holder) Graeme McFarland got in my face and said, ‘You just hit the game-winning field goal,’ ’’ Starr said. ‘‘I lost sight of it.’’
2. Golden: For their game against Oregon, the California Golden Bears wore glowing golden jerseys instead of their normal home dark blue.
‘‘I was thinking about these uniforms last night,’’ said Cal linebacker Zack Follett after the game.
‘‘They’re so great-looking. When we looked at them, we knew we were going to have a great game.’’
The 5-1 Bears played like the golden children of the Pac-10, bagging the previously unbeaten Ducks, 45-24.
The Nov. 18 Cal-USC game in Los Angeles could decide the Pac 10’s Rose Bowl team. The Bears haven’t played in a Rose Bowl since losing to Iowa in 1959, 38-12.
If the Hawkeyes and Golden Bears win out this year . . .
3. High Seas: Navy took to the ground to beat Air Force.
The Midshipmen, playing before 1,200 of their own in the crowd of 45,246 in Colorado Springs, completed 1 of 5 passes in their 24-17 win. But they rushed for 317 yards.
Navy has four straight wins over Air Force. Last week, Navy’s players reportedly read quotes from Air Force players calling the Middies the nation’s luckiest team.
‘‘You get tired of hearing that every year,’’ Navy Coach Paul Johnson said. ‘‘Every day you pick up the paper and read that. It gets old after a while.’’
What gets even older is when coaches manufacture bulletin-board material.
‘‘He didn’t hear it from my football team,’’ Air Force Coach Fisher DeBerry said.
4. Ball’s Game: New Hampshire’s
David Ball caught his 51st touchdown pass to break the Division I career record held by Jerry Rice in UNH’s 27-17 win over Richmond.
‘‘I’m glad it’s over with,’’ Ball said. ‘‘It’s kind of been haunting me for a while.’’
Now, Richmond is haunted.
‘‘That clip will be all over ESPN for the next week,’’ said Richmond Coach Dave Clawson. ‘‘That’s not how the Richmond Spiders want to get on ESPN.’’
FUMBLES
1. Gophers in Hole: Minnesota fell to last place in the Big Ten at 0-3 with their 28-27 home loss to Penn State. Kicker Jason Giannini missed an extra-point try in the overtime, but that wasn’t the only factor in the loss.
Gopher Dominic Jones fumbled a punt return in the first quarter to set up Penn State’s first touchdown.
Minnesota had a quarterback keeper snuffed on 4th-and-1 inside the PSU 15.
And, the Gophers failed to run out the clock at the end of the first half, and allowed the Nittany Lions to go 40 yards in two plays in the final minute for a touchdown.
Minnesota Coach Glen Mason lauded his team’s effort.
‘‘It doesn’t get any better than that,’’ Mason said. ‘‘Well, it would have been better if we had won.’’
His players were more blunt.
‘‘Same old story,’’ said senior receiver Logan Payne. ‘‘I’m getting sick of saying that.’’
2. Au-Burned: Auburn had been ranked No. 2 in the nation. Then it lost at home to Arkansas, 27-10.
‘‘We don’t have to hear the whispers, or who is ranked where, or where we are going to be ranked, the predictions, and this and that,’’ Auburn safety Eric Brock said.
‘‘It was clear today that sometimes you are not as good as you think you are.’’
Arkansas was a 15-point underdog against the Tigers.
‘‘I guess Vegas doesn’t know much about Arkansas,’’ said Razorbacks offensive lineman Steve Parker.
3. Finally!: The first two sevenovertime games in I-A history were settled by scores of 58-56 and 71-63. Saturday, North Texas beat Florida International in seven OTs by the low score of 25-22.
Denis Hopovac’s fifth field goal gave North Texas the win. He and FIU counterpart Dustin Rivest each missed four field goals in overtime.
‘‘It was relieving,’’ Hopovac said.
‘‘I should have done it a little bit earlier.’’
Someone should have.
4. Bad to the Bones: Lots of traveling trophies between teams are a bit silly. Perhaps the silliest is the newest.
Alabama-Birmingham defeated Memphis, 35-29, to win the first ‘‘Battle of the Bones’’ and a 100 pound bronze rack of ribs. That was designed to honor the reputations of two cities for their barbecue.
Observed the Memphis Commerical Appeal’s Geoff Calkins: ‘‘Memphis makes great ribs. Birmingham thinks it makes great ribs. None of that is going to be altered by a football game.’’
FROM THE PAPERS
‘‘Of course, (Damian) Sims was running through holes big enough for a John Deere tractor on a nearby corn or soybean field to drive through.’’ — Michael Pointer, Indianapolis Star. Sims rushed for 155 yards in Iowa’s 47-17 rout of Purdue. The Hlist was in attendance and saw no corn or beans growing within eyesight of Kinnick Stadium. Other than out of a visiting sportswriter’s ear.
FINAL WORD
‘‘I tell these guys . . . as long as we win, I don’t care if it’s by one point, I’m going to be happy. I lied.
I’m not happy.’’ — West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez, whose unbeaten Mountaineers had 11 penalties for 132 yards in a 42-14 win over Mississippi State.
Mike.Hlas@gazettecommunications.com
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