South Florida turns attention to Big East
TAMPA, Fla. -- As far as Matt Grothe is concerned, No. 10 South Florida is starting all over.
The Bulls (5-0) tore through their nonconference schedule, climbing into the top 10 for the second time in school history. To stay there, they'll likely have to do what they've never done -- win the Big East.
The quest begins Thursday night against Pittsburgh (3-1).
"We look at the season like we are 0-0 now," Grothe, USF's dual-threat quarterback, said. "It is good to be 5-0 at this point, but if we don't win this one, it's not a good start to the Big East. It will be a good challenge for us."
USF is coming off its most complete performance of the season, a 41-10 rout of North Carolina State. Pitt has won three straight following a season-opening loss.
"We are playing a very good team," coach Jim Leavitt said. "They have won three in a row, and with the game on Thursday night, there's not a lot of time to prepare. We know it is going to be a great challenge. It's a whole different mentality now as we head into the conference schedule."
South Florida figures to have its hands full containing a pair of Pitt running backs LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling, who have combined 580 yards and seven touchdowns rushing. McCoy had seven 100-yard games as a freshman in 2007, and is coming off a season-best 149 yards in a victory over Syracuse last week.
"Both are different types," Leavitt said. "They work extremely hard and it will be a great challenge for our defense."
South Florida may be without All-American defensive end George Selvie, who missed last Saturday's win at North Carolina State and has been limited in practice this week because of a right ankle injury.
Craig Marshall filled in for Selvie last week and had a sack, a forced fumble and his first career interception.
Pittsburgh is preparing as if Selvie will play.
"He's got tremendous speed," Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt said. "He's a great player and our guys know that. We've got to account for him and know where he's at."
Wannstedt is just as concerned about Pitt's defense, allowing 306.4 yards per game, finding a way to slow Grothe and the South Florida offense.
"We need to continue to play smart," Wannstedt said. "The last time we played down there, we made a lot of mistakes and took key penalties. We need to improve on third-down conversions. We haven't done a good job the last two weeks in third-and-short, and that's going to be a key in this game."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Oregon St looking for another upset of USC
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- If there's any message that can be imparted to Oregon State in its preparation for top-ranked Southern California, it's that no team is invincible.
It worked for the Beavers the last time the Trojans visited Corvallis, in 2006. Oregon State upset then-No. 3 USC, ending the Trojans' 38-game regular-season winning streak.
Before that game, receiver Sammie Stroughter -- inspired by the story of David and Goliath -- passed out small stones to his teammates.
"The lesson can be learned -- no matter what people think, or what the pick is, or what the perception is -- it's all about playing the game. It's been proven time and again across the country: USC hasn't fallen into the trap, but it isn't about the best team always winning," Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. "We have seen that numerous times through the first three weeks of the season. It is about the team that plays best Thursday night, and that is where our opportunity lies."
There's inspiration elsewhere for the Beavers, too. Last season the Oregon State upset then-No. 2 California 31-28 on the road. And then there's the all-time Pac-10 shocker from last season, when Stanford beat USC at home, 24-23.
Still, Oregon State (1-2) has quite task when USC (2-0) visits Reser Stadium on Thursday night
The season didn't start well for the Beavers. They lost twice, at Stanford and Penn State, before returning home for a victory over Hawaii.
Oregon State does have weapons on a steadily developing offense. Quarterback Lyle Moevao leads the Beavers, who top the Pac-10 in passing offense averaging 307.3 yards a game.
Diminutive running back Jacquizz Rodgers had 110 yards rushing against Hawaii, and is the leading freshman rusher nationwide with an average of 87.7 yards per game. Stroughter, who caught eight passes for 127 against USC in 2006, is back after missing most of last season with a kidney injury.
USC has shown little vulnerability, rolling to decisive victories at Virginia (52-7) and then at home against then-No. 5 Ohio State (35-3).
Quarterback Mark Sanchez, who earned Pac-10 player of the week honors after both games, has thrown seven touchdowns. The offensive strengths continue at tailback, with Joe McKnight, C.J. Gable, Stafon Johnson and Allen Bradford.
"It is pretty crazy. This is the first time I have ever had four running backs in the game plan," Oregon State defensive end Slade Norris said. "You can't scheme for every one of them, you just have to take whoever comes out there and just play football."
The Trojans are just as loaded on defense, led by Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing at linebacker and Taylor Mays and Kevin Ellison at safety. USC has the second-best overall defense in the country, allowing just 197 yards a game. They lead the country in scoring defense after giving up just 10 points this season.
USC, however, will be without cornerback Shareece Wright, who will miss several games due to a hairline vertebra fracture suffered in the Ohio State game.
Coach Pete Carroll had said Wright was being disciplined after being charged with felony resisting a police officer earlier this month, but would have played against Oregon State had he been cleared medically. Wright will be replaced by Josh Pinkard, a fifth-year senior who missed most of the 2006 season and all of last year because of knee injuries.
Back in 2006, USC fell behind early against the Beavers but rallied behind USC quarterback John David Booty.
Booty Steve Smith for a 2-yard score to close the Trojans within 33-31 against the Beavers. With 7 seconds remaining, the game came down to the 2-point conversion and Oregon State's Jeff Van Orsow batted down Booty's pass to seal the win. USC was hurt by four turnovers.
Carroll said the explanation for an upset is difficult to pinpoint.
"Whether that's focus, preparation, whatever it is, it's just circumstances, that's the mystery we're always trying to figure out in sports. Sometimes you have to get out of your own way and sometimes you have to overcome where you are and what they're doing and all that. Then it's always the combination, too, of those things," he said.
Oregon State hasn't played a No. 1 since a 28-20 loss to USC on Nov. 6, 2004, memorable because the game was played in thick fog. The Beavers have only once knocked off a top-ranked team -- back in 1967 when the so-called "Giant Killers" beat the O.J. Simpson-led Trojans 3-0.
USC has lost two of its last three games in Corvallis, but overall the Trojans have a 58-9-4 advantage in the series dating back to 1914.
While it remains to be seen whether Stroughter passes out stones again to his teammates, Riley's guidance before game time will be basic.
"The first message and the last one will be the same," he said. "Go compete."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
E. Stroudsburg coach Douds nears PSAC wins record
Quick, name the Pennsylvania college football coach climbing a career wins list who has spent decades at the same university.
The one not named Joe Paterno.
He's East Stroudsburg coach Denny Douds, who is a victory away from having the most wins in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference history. He could claim the mark Saturday if his Warriors (3-0) beat Shippensburg at home.
Douds has a career mark of 212-140-3 in 35 seasons as East Stroudburg's head coach. He is tied on the Division II conference's victory list with former Millersville coach Gene Carpenter, who had 212 wins from 1970-2000.
Douds has tried to keep things low-key this week, even through all the hype about the milestone.
"It means last week we beat Clarion, but this week we're trying to beat Shippensburg," Douds said in a phone interview when asked what the record means to him.
The 67-year-old coach said he might dwell on the milestone "some day, when you get to sit back and smell the roses."
Apparently, that's not happening any time soon. Douds has said he'll stop coaching when the job is no longer fun.
"I don't think he's ever going to give it up," linebacker David Pacchioni said. "He enjoys it too much."
Douds' resume is already chock full of accomplishments.
Going into the season, Douds was tied for eighth on the career wins list for active college football coaches, including FBS and lower-division schools. He's in select company on that list, which is topped by three Hall of Famers: John Gagliardi at Division III St. John's, Minn.; Florida State coach Bobby Bowden; and Paterno.
The 81-year-old Paterno, whose 43 seasons at Penn State are a record for head coaching longevity at one school, said Douds is close to some of the veteran assistants and administrators in the Nittany Lions program.
"Good guy, good coach," Paterno said Tuesday before his weekly news conference at Beaver Stadium.
The Warriors have won nine PSAC titles and three NCAA playoff appearances under Douds, including a berth in the national semifinals in 2005.
Born in Indiana, Pa., Douds played college ball at Slippery Rock, playing as both an offensive lineman and nose tackle.
His college coaching career began at West Virginia, where Douds spent 1965 as a graduate assistant and got to know Bowden, then an assistant coach for the Mountaineers. Douds moved on the next season to become an assistant coach at East Stroudsburg before getting promoted to defensive coordinator in 1968. He assumed the head coaching job in 1974.
He stayed, despite opportunities to move on to bigger programs.
"This is a level I thoroughly enjoy coaching at. You can have an impact on the kids you're coaching with -- on the field, in the classroom," Douds said. "It's more than a game just played on Saturday afternoons around here."
PSAC commissioner Steve Murray praised Douds as a tireless champion of the conference, constantly trying to promote a league that often gets lost in the giant in-state shadow created by Penn State football.
It's Douds' dedication off the field that may have the biggest impact on his players, Murray said.
"I always say Denny always has his heart in the right place for his kids," Murray said. "Those kids would live and die for him over there."
Off the field, Douds' gruff, scraggly voice is offset by a friendly, grandfatherly demeanor. He is also on the faculty at East Stroudsburg as an assistant professor of sports studies.
Pacchioni said Douds has helped him control his temper on the field and to stay focused after the whistle blows. In preseason camp, Pacchioni said Douds offers daily tips on acting smart away from the field.
It's those interactions that has Douds energized to keep coaching -- milestones or not.
"It's just like climbing a ladder," Douds said. "You're always looking at the next rung."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Oklahoma State's Bryant adjusting to spotlight
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Give Randy Moss an assist in convincing Dez Bryant that Oklahoma State was the right place for him to play college football. Just don't expect the two receivers to be the same when the spotlight turns in their direction.
Bryant is far more likely to deflect the attention to his teammates than to refer to himself in the third person. He's still a bit skittish when too many cameras are pointed his way.
But now that the spotlight has found him, he'd better get used to the attention.
Bryant caught nine passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns, and also scored on a 74-yard punt return, in the Cowboys' 56-37 win against Houston on Saturday. The performance was the highest receiving total for any Bowl Subdivision player through the first two weeks and earned the sophomore National Offensive Player of the Week honors from the Walter Camp Foundation.
"Whoever was there on Saturday saw something that you don't get to see very much: a guy just dominating and having a great game at a receiving position," co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer said.
Brewer has seen a handful of those games before. He was the Cowboys' receivers coach in 2006 when Adarius Bowman became only the 11th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 300 yards receiving with a four-touchdown performance at Kansas.
He was also Moss' receivers coach at Marshall, and that became a factor when Brewer started chasing after the Parade All-American from Lufkin, Texas.
"He was a big fan of Randy Moss, which was a huge advantage for me recruiting him because I had a lot of information and tape and different things that he could lend himself to later on," Brewer said.
Bryant is making his own highlight reels now.
"Sometimes, I'll be surprised, but I know that coach (Mike) Gundy ... expects me to do things," Bryant said. "They expect all of us to do things and try to make good plays."
Bryant was hidden from the spotlight for his first year after arriving at Oklahoma State under a policy that prevents freshmen from talking to the media. By the end of the year, he was hardly a secret.
He started out slow while still catching on to the Cowboys' no-huddle, spread offense, but had his first breakout game with a school freshman record 155 yards receiving against Kansas. He followed that up with nine receptions for 117 yards and two scores in the Insight Bowl against Indiana and went into the offseason with his status as the Cowboys' receiver of the future solidified.
"He's adapted to the speed of what's going on here as opposed to what's going on in high school," Brewer said. "The best thing he's done is he's starting to take his game to another level where he can dominate his opponent in one-on-one battles. When he can do that and then learn the offense, it really makes a huge difference when he starts learning the game."
When he finally stopped being off-limits, he was a popular target at the team's media day and again after a 90-yard receiving day in the season opener -- even if he was a bit camera shy.
Trooper Taylor, the Cowboys' boisterous receivers coach, was surprised to see Bryant get called for an excessive celebration penalty after his punt return TD. After all, he said, there's "no T.O. in that guy."
"He's from a small town and he was surrounded by people that cared about him a bunch, and then he comes to Stillwater and the same things happen for him, but he's just not used to the hype. He's just still Dez, and I don't think that's such a bad thing," Taylor said.
"Eventually he'll get to the point that he's more comfortable in front of a camera or a microphone, especially if he hangs around me long enough. I think it'll rub off a little bit. But his personality is not going to change."
Eventually, Bryant figures to be as comfortable in front of the cameras as he is playing video games with the Taylor's 12-year-old son.
"He's the life of the party," Gundy said. "Dez is not necessarily going to have an issue later in life with stress, I'll tell you that. Most of us, we'll all probably have issues when we get to be about 60 because of stress. Dez is not going to be one of those."
Bryant's success Saturday will almost certainly garner him attention from another group: opposing defenses who'll be scheming to double-team him and limit his touches, particularly when no other wide receiver had a catch last Saturday.
That's part of why Oklahoma State coaches included him in the return game.
"They're going to have to punt it some time, they're going to have to kick it off some time. There's other ways he's going to touch it," Taylor said. "The kid is a competitor and he wants to win, and then it's us as coaches being able to move him around."
While its too early to compare him to the NFL single-season record holder in touchdown catches, Brewer puts Bryant in the same category as the Randy Moss he knew 10 years ago -- a receiver who puts fear in the minds of opposing defensive backs and coaches, but with "a lot of talent that's really untapped."
"He's got a chance to be as good as he wants to be," Brewer said. "He's proven that he can be a great player at this level. You want to take it from Game 1 to Game 14 and then see how you do over a season, because I think that's the true test of a great player is not just doing once. It's capability to repeat your accomplishments, much like a Michael Jordan, over and over."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
No. 24 S. Carolina looks for revenge against Vandy
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Vanderbilt has had fewer victories as sweet as last year's win at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks were ranked No. 6 at the time and the Commodores hadn't beaten a team ranked so highly in more than 70 years. Plus, Vandy ended a 14-game losing streak against coach Steve Spurrier's teams.
The Commodores go for two in a row against the ol' ball coach Thursday night.
Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson, who worked concessions at South Carolina games growing up in Columbia, downplayed any pressure on his Commodores (1-0) in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
"It's the second game. That's the way we're treating it, playing South Carolina, a quality opponent. I've said it probably 1,000 times there's no hump. We won't get over the hump if we beat South Carolina. We're going to have to play good the next week to win. I don't care who it is, we have to play well," he said.
"It'd be a nice win, a real nice win. I don't think it's going to put us on any extra special place where everybody says Vanderbilt has arrived."
The loss to Vanderbilt was the first of five straight losses to end the season for the Gamecocks (1-0).
"I had friends calling me from back home, `Hey man, what happened to y'all? Y'all was No. 6, y'all would've probably moved up," South Carolina cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said. "At the time I was like, I really don't know what happened. We just lost to Vanderbilt.
"Not to say they were just a bad team. I think we just came out thinking, `We're No. 6 in the nation, they're going to lay down for us.' But it wasn't like that."
Spurrier had never lost to Vanderbilt before while coaching Duke, Florida or South Carolina. When he accepted the Washington Redskins coaching job in 2002, he even quipped that "there are no Vanderbilts in the NFL."
But under Johnson, the team now mired in a 25-year streak of losing seasons has improved. Even Spurrier had to tip his visor to the Commodores last season after they tied a school record with seven sacks and held his offense to a pair of field goals.
"Give Vandy credit," Spurrier said. "They played outstanding defense, which they can do. They thoroughly beat us."
The Commodores are coming off a 34-13 win at Miami of Ohio.
"We go into every game expecting to win," Vanderbilt safety Ryan Hamilton said. "We weren't surprised last year."
Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson rushed 20 times for a career-high 166 yards last week, and Johnson has no plans to ease Nickson's workload even against an SEC opponent.
Spurrier has other plans.
"We'll try to make him a thrower and not let him run around too much," Spurrier said. "They only attempted 16 throws the other night, so they did most of their damage running the ball."
Chris Smelley will start for South Carolina after replacing Tommy Beecher in the Gamecocks' 34-0 win over North Carolina State last week. He guided the Gamecocks to touchdowns on all three of their fourth-quarter possessions and was 5-of-5 for 92 yards and two scores.
Johnson said it doesn't matter who starts for the Gamecocks at quarterback.
"Against Coach Spurrier, you're playing against his offense, not necessarily the quarterback," he said.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
QB Xavier Lee leaves Florida State, following departure of several other key players
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Junior quarterback Xavier Lee has left Florida State and entered the NFL draft, the latest early departure for a program rocked by an academic scandal.
Lee was 2-4 in six starts during his Florida State career. He was suspended during the season for academic reasons and did not accompany the Seminoles to Nashville, Tenn., last month for their Music City Bowl loss to Kentucky.
The school said Monday that Lee had submitted paperwork to make himself available for the NFL draft in April.
Two of his junior classmates also chose that route: Linebacker Geno Hayes, the team's second-leading tackler, and Letroy Guion, one of the Seminoles' most talented interior defensive linemen.
Guion made 31 tackles in 12 games, including 6 1/2 for loss. His departure, along with senior Andre Fluellen, leaves the Seminoles without their two most experienced interior linemen going into the 2008 season.
Guion was among three dozen Seminoles players who missed the Dec. 31 loss to Kentucky for either being involved in a test-cheating scandal, poor grades, injury or violating team rules.
As a result of the scandal, more than a dozen players will be sidelined for the first three games of next season.
At 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds with a powerful throwing arm, Lee failed to reach the potential coaches and fans had hoped for during a three-year competition with Drew Weatherford.
The 22-year-old Lee completed 155 of 402 passes for 2,323 yards, 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His best game came in a loss at Maryland in 2006 when he completed 22 of 36 passes for 286 yards and two TDs with no interceptions.
He replaced Weatherford in a scoreless game against Alabama on Sept. 29 to lead the Seminoles to a 21-14 victory, throwing for 224 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Sophomore tight end Charlie Graham transferred to nearby Tallahassee Community College, where he hopes to graduate by August and later rejoin the team.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sugar Bowl chief hails city's BCS showing, says New Orleans ready for big-time again
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- While taxis lined up at downtown hotels to shuttle football fans to Louis Armstrong International Airport, the Sugar Bowl's chief executive turned his attention to the rebuilding city that hosted college football's national championship.
"The city came together in a way that makes me truly proud," Paul Hoolahan said Tuesday. "It was a challenge that was sent out to everybody top to bottom, from the shoeshine man to the person at the very top. Everybody met that challenge and I think exceeded expectations.
It's an important statement to the country the New Orleans is back and ready to perform and put on the classic big-time college events that we're known for."
When Hurricane Katrina swamped much of the city in August 2005, displacing hundreds of thousands of residents and tearing up the Louisiana Superdome, the Sugar Bowl was forced to temporarily move operations to Atlanta, which hosted the game that season.
Meanwhile, contractors worked around the clock for about nine months to get the Superdome ready for the return of the NFL's New Orleans Saints for the 2006 season. That allowed the Sugar Bowl, which started in 1934, to return to New Orleans last season as well.
The first one back in New Orleans, which also featured an LSU victory, was deemed a success, although not everything went as smoothly as Hoolahan would have liked. Back then, employers were still having trouble getting fully staffed because of a housing crunch caused by Katrina's widespread devastation.
Hoolahan said last year's event was understaffed, but that improved substantially this year. Meanwhile, the areas of the city in which the Sugar Bowl operates, from practice facilities at Tulane University in uptown New Orleans, to the downtown hotels, to the restaurants of the French Quarter, all are in arguably as good or better shape now than they were before the storm.
The BCS national championship game, which rotates among the four BCS bowl committees, gave New Orleans an opportunity to demonstrate that the images of still-rotting flood-damaged homes in some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods do not alone define the city.
Many of the historic parts of town cherished by residents and tourists alike are brimming with success stories of rebuilt homes and businesses, the results of resilient people who cared too much about a unique place to let it wither away without a fight.
On the eve of the game, Antoine's, a renowned French Quarter restaurant that has been around since 1840 and still lists menu items in French, made an exception to its normal practice of closing on Sunday nights.
It was packed for dinner with people gazing in wonder at its antique chandeliers and elaborate crown molding adorned with carved fleur-de-lis, an old symbol of French royalty that also became the symbol of New Orleans. They dined on dishes like Oysters Rockefeller, which was invented at Antoine's, indulged in desserts like baked Alaska and otherwise immersed themselves in the refined, old-world cultural richness that distinguishes New Orleans from many other places in North America.
When it was time to play football on Monday night, a Superdome-record crowd of 79,280 jammed a stadium that has never looked better.
"New Orleans did it in New Orleans style and New Orleans fashion," Hoolahan said. "It was really a litmus test, as you know, and we know the eyes of the country were on us. ... Great credit goes out to the entire community."
Yet there were still signs of the hurricane's aftermath.
Soon after the game was over, temporary workers moved in to start cleaning up the spilled beer and nacho cheese left behind.
"I think we're still going through a disaster," said Kalvin McCrimmon, cleaning up for $8 an hour. A roofer by trade, McCrimmon said many rebuilding jobs have been taken by out-of-town firms, or Latino immigrants willing to accept working conditions and pay he will not.
"Things like this game help the city. In some ways it helps me," he said, explaining that a lack of better jobs had driven him to the clean up crew for the first time. "But instead of taking the jobs we can do, we're taking what we can get."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
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