(1) USC 27, Washington 24 — Southern Cal nearly laid an egg, but managed to avoid getting upset unlike the six others that faced that fate this weekend, downing a tough Washington squad, 27-24. Stafon Johnson ran for 122 yards and a touchdown and Chauncey Washington added 106 yards and a score in the win.
(2) LSU 34, Tulane 9 — Tulane played extremely tough for the first half, pinning the LSU offense to a one point lead, 10-9. But LSU put up 24 unanswered points in the second half to pull away from the Green Wave, 34-9. Matt Flynn of LSU threw for 258 yards and one INT, while running back Charles Scott tallied two TDs and rushed for just 53 yards.
(3) Oklahoma 24, Colorado 27 — Kevin Eberhart kicked a career-long 45-yard field goal as time expired to send Colorado past the stunned Sooners in Boulder. This was the Buffaloes’ first win over a top-five team since Dec. 1, 2001, when they bested Texas in the Big 12 title game. Auburn 20, (4) Florida 17 — Florida became the second to lose by a last second field goal, getting stunned by visiting Auburn 20-17 at “The Swamp.” Freshman Wes Byrum kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Tigers to their win.
(6) California 31, (11) Oregon 24 — Justin Forsett ran for 101 yards and another two scores, and Nate Longshore completed 28 of 43 passes for 285 yards and two scores for the Golden Bears effort in downing 11th-ranked Oregon, 31-24.
All box scores courtesy of Yahoo! Sports. Additional information compiled from outside sources.
The morning after the Metropolitans jumped up off the mat to go one more round…
The loss to the Royals ended the Indians’ hope of getting home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs; San Diego clinched a tie for the wild-card spot despite a late loss to the Brewers; the Angels received a fine effort from Kelvim Escobar and the Metropolitans live to see at least one more day with a drubbing of the Marlins.
Angels 3, A’s 2 — After missing a start with shoulder inflammation, starter Kelvim Escobar returned to where he left off, allowing five hits and one run in six innings — striking out four and walking two — to earn his 18th victory, 3-2.
Yanks 11, O’s 10 — Shelley Duncan homered to cap a 10-run fourth inning, and a host of New York Yankees backups feasted on Baltimore Orioles pitching in an 11-10 victory.
Twins 4, Red Sox 6 — After missing the division-clinching celebration on Friday because he left soon after the game and avoided watching the Yankees-Orioles game, J.D. Drew connected for a go-ahead, three-run homer in the Red Sox 6-4 triumph over Minnesota.
Pavlik KOs Taylor in 7th round to claim WBC belt (AP/SI.com) Far behind on points after absorbing a brutal beating in the second round, Kelly Pavlik cornered Jermain Taylor and stunned him with a hard right to the jaw, then sent him down with a flurry of lefts and rights to win in Atlantic City, N.J.
Pittsburgh’s Wilson leaves field after collision (ESPN News) Shortstop Jack Wilson suffered what appeared to be a severe concussion after colliding with second baseman Matt Kata just beyond the infield dirt on a ground ball.
Ole Miss sprinter found murdered (ESPNU) Mississippi sprinter Rodney Lydale Lockhart was found shot to death Saturday at his apartment near the Ole Miss campus.
Duke president apologizes to falsely accused lax players (AP/CNN) “Given the complexities of this case, getting the communication right would never have been easy. But the fact is that we did not get it right, causing the families to feel abandoned when they were most in need of support. This was a mistake. I take responsibility for it and I apologize for it.” – Duke University President Richard Brodhead, speaking at the Duke Univ. School of Law school.
U.S. goalie Soto tossed from team (AP/SI.com) Coach Greg Ryan, with the support of the team’s 20 members, booted unhappy goalie Hope Solo from the Women’s WWC team before their third-place game against Norway.
The legend of Scott Boras (The FanHouse) TFH provided a quick glimpse of ESPN: The Magazine’s profile of agent Scott Boras and how he met soon-to-be free agent Alex Rodriguez back in ‘92.
The Pam Ward Chronicles: Week Five (Awful Announcing) The best quotes from week five of the college football broadcasts, courtesy of Awful Announcing.
The morning after the Fightin’ Phils reach a pinnacle of sorts…
The Red Sox ended the Yankees’ 10-year reign as AL Eastern division champions; Cole Hamels pitches lights out for the appropriately named Fightin’ Phils; the Indians continue their quest to attain the American League’s best record and the Chicago Cubs shut the door on the Milwaukee Brewers.
Twins 2, Red Sox 5 — The Red Sox knocked off the Twins 5-2 and in the process, knocked off the Yankees and won the AL East.
Yanks 9, O’s 10 (10 innings) – Alex Rodriguez hit his 54th homer, drove in four runs and scored twice against the Baltimore Orioles. But a rare blown save by Mariano Rivera sent the Yankees to a 10-9 loss.
Indians 5, Royals 3 — C.C. Sabathia survived line drives off each wrist — both hit by Mark Grudzielanek — and earned his 100th career victory, pitching the Cleveland Indians past Kansas City 5-3.
Angels 2, A’s 0 — John Lackey garnered his 19th victory, allowing just two hits in seven innings while striking out two walking none, in the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Oakland A’s.
News and notes while enjoying the benefits of a Saturday…
Mosley admits to using steroids (ESPN.com) “Sugar” Shane pulls the Barry Bonds defense, claims he didn’t know what he was ingesting. His statement? “I didn’t know what the hell it was.”
OSU’s Gundy claims he didn’t intend to yell (AP/SI.com) The star of the YouTube video classic for the week claims that he never meant to yell while complaining about the professionalism of columnist.
South Florida stonewalls WVU 21-13 (AP/USA Today) Matt Grothe upstaged West Virginia stars Pat White and Steve Slaton for the second straight year, and rapidly rising USF proved last year’s victory over the Mountaineers in Morgantown was anything but a fluke.
ESPN none to happy with ‘Harry Potter’ Buccigross (Awful Announcing) Like Jason Blair is to the New York Times, John Buccigross is to ESPN? Anchor gets piece edited after leaking information regarding NHL’s television contract.
ESPN football guru John Clayton has the rundown on some of the latest injury news in the NFL.
By the way, we love that ESPN has gone the way of the blog in providing available video for posting. We give “The WorldWide Teaser” its fair share of criticism, but we applaud them for this move.
The Houston Chronicle’s Jose de Jesus Ortiz is reporting that the interim title that was placed upon Cecil Cooper since last month is no more as the club has decided to retain him as the permanent bench boss for the Houston Astros.
The Astros announced a press conference for 3:30 p.m. today at Minute Maid Park.
Flyers rookie Steve Downie was suspended 20 games by the NHL on Friday for his hit on Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond that gave the center a concussion.
McAmmond was taken off the ice on a stretcher in the second period of Tuesday’s preseason game. Downie received a match penalty and was automatically suspended until Friday’s hearing.
Screw proper channels! U.S. keeper Hope Solo apologized to teammate Briana Scurry via her MySpace page.
“I have felt compelled to clear the air regarding many of my postgame comments on Thursday night. I am not proud or happy the way things have come out. In my eyes there is no justification to put down a teammate. That is not what I was doing. Although I stand strong in everything I said, the true disheartening moment for me was realizing it could look as though I was taking a direct shot at my own teammate. I would never throw such a low blow. Never. I only wanted to speak of my own abilities yet also recognize that the past is the past. Things were taken out of context, or analyzed differently from my true meaning of my own words. For that I am sorry. I hope everybody will come to know I have a deep respect for this team and for Bri.”
In an online exclusive by SI.com writers Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim, boxer “Sugar” Shane Mosley stands accused of taking BALCO manufactured drugs “The Clear” and “The Cream” while training for his fight against Oscar de la Hoya in September of 2003.
Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the BALCO case, told those attending an international anti-doping conference in Colorado Springs last November of the indiscretions.
Two months before the light middleweight championship fight, Mosley, a client of the BALCO lab, began using “the clear” [THG] and “the cream” [testosterone], the designer substances that Barry Bonds, among other athletes, stands accused of using. Mosley supplemented this with doses of the blood-doping drug Erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that artificially increases red blood production.
Continued great reporting by Liosa and Wertheim, who have had their collective fingers on the pulse of this ongoing story.
News and notes while Joe Theismann preps his audition tape for an American Gladiators return…
FOX releases MLB playoff information (Awful Announcing) Want to know the FOX broadcasting team for the ALCS, World Series? Look no further than the five person pre/post-game shows.
Paul Brown Stadium officials have had it with pigeons pooping on fans while taking in a Bengals game every Sunday — and occasional Mondays.
They’ve petitioned the Cincinnati city government to get permission for stadium employees to kill the birds with an air-powered pellet rifle. In a pledge of promising fan safety, managing director Eric Brown pledges that no shooting will occur on gamedays
We loved this little passage:
Bengals officials say fan noise used to drive pigeons away during games but apparently the birds have adapted. Pigeon poop is becoming a big problem throughout the NFL, but no one has come up with a foolproof solution yet.
They haven’t found a solution for keeping their players in line, either.
After Thursday’s controversial remarks made by U.S. women’s keeper Hope Solo, coach Greg Ryan is trying to make amends with his disgruntled player.
Solo was in the midst of a 300 minute shutout string in the Cup tournament when Ryan inexplicably yanked her in favor of veteran Briana Scurry, one of the many heroes on the 1999 team that fired up a nation.
As we noted Thursday, Solo was quite vociferous after the game, telling a broadcast reporter, “”It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that.”
The morning after Micah Owings pitched and swung his way to a win…
The Cubbies lost their 10th consecutive game to the lowly Marlins and now sit atop a perilous lead in the NL Central; the Red Sox lead in the American League East dropped to just two games, thanks to a loss to the Twins and a Yankees win over Tampa Bay and the collapsing Mets lost 3-0 to St. Louis to drop into a tie with Philadelphia for first place
Twins 3, Red Sox 2 — Michael Cuddyer and Garrett Jones homered off 20-game winner Josh Beckett in his last start before the playoffs, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 5-4 victory. The win by Minnesota stymied the Sox chances of moving a step further in claiming the AL East title.
Yanks 3, Rays 1 – Rookie rookie right-hander Phillip Hughes allowed four hits in seven innings, and Jose Molina delivered a two-run single to lead the Yankees over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 3-1.
Indians 2, M’s 4 — Jose Guillen and Jose Lopez each hit two-run homers to back Cha Seung Baek’s attempt at his fourth win this season as the Mariners downed the Indians 4-2 at Safeco Field.
News and notes while the New York Mets swoon in September…
Probe: HS coach improperly recruited Samoan group (AP/ESPN) An assistant football coach at a U.S. high school led his team to a string of victories by improperly recruiting more than a dozen players from American Samoa and offering them housing, according to an investigation by local sports authorities.
The commissioner’s office has suspended Milwaukee Brewers reliever Seth McClung for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing inside at St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols on Wednesday.
Additionally, Brewers manager Ned Yost has been suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for the intentional actions of McClung after warnings had been issued to both teams earlier in the game.
Managers can’t appeal suspensions and will have to sit out tonight’s key match-up against the San Diego Padres.
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