TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A shootout in Florida’s capital city in which “dozens and dozens of shots were fired” left one dead and eight wounded, and police shot one of three suspects who were later detained, authorities said.
Tallahassee police officers responding to reports of the shootout in the parking lots of a liquor store and restaurant Saturday night saw a man fire into a crowd and then run toward a fast-food restaurant. They followed him and eventually shot him at least three times, Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell said at a Sunday morning news conference. The suspect was not seriously wounded and was taken into custody, Revell said.
“These officers ran toward this amazing amount of gunfire as it was occurring,” Revell said. “They were rendering aid in the parking lot as it was occurring. There were dozens and dozens of shots that rang out.”
Police had extra patrols out Saturday night because of large crowds in town for Florida A&M University’s homecoming and a Florida State home football game.
Authorities are still investigating what led to the shootout.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan State President Samuel Stanley called actions by Spartans players involved in a postgame melee with members of rivalry Michigan’s team “unacceptable” and said Sunday those involved would be held responsible by coach Mel Tucker.
“I’m extremely saddened by this incident and the unacceptable behavior depicted by members of our program,” Stanley said in a statement. “On behalf of Michigan State University, my heartfelt apology to the University of Michigan and the student athletes who were injured.
“There is no provocation that could justify the behavior we are seeing on the videos. Rivalries can be intense but should never be violent.”
The scuffle broke out in the Michigan Stadium tunnel out after fourth-ranked Wolverines beat the Spartans 29-7 Saturday night. Social media posts showed at least three Michigan State players pushing, punching and kicking Michigan’s Ja’Den McBurrows in and near a hallway that does not lead to either locker room.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Saturday that a second player, who he did not identify, was also attacked and that one player was injured and might have a broken nose.
“Two of our players were assaulted,” Harbaugh said. “I saw on the one video. 10 on one. It was pretty bad. It needs to be investigated.”
Tucker said in a tweet Sunday that his program will cooperate with law enforcement and the Big Ten in any investigation.
“As Spartans, our program has a responsibility to uphold the highest level of sportsmanship. While emotions were very high at the conclusion of our rivalry game at Michigan Stadium, there is no excuse for behavior that puts our team or our opponents at risk,” Tucker said. “In complete cooperation with law enforcement, the Big Ten Conference and MSU and UM leadership, we will evaluate the events in Ann Arbor and take swift and appropriate action.”
University of Michigan Deputy Police Chief Melissa Overton said an investigation is underway in partnership with Michigan State police, and Michigan’s athletic department and football program.
“Coach Tucker will be holding the players involved responsible, and our football team and university will be cooperating with all related investigations by law enforcement and the Big Ten Conference,” Stanley said.
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Celebrating Young Man With Mobile Phone Winning Prize And Showered With Gold Confetti In Studio
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Feeling lucky? Try your hand at these five, free-to-enter travel contests, all of which could have you traveling somewhere fun in no time. This fall, there is a lot to look forward to in the travel space from loyalty program promotions to hotel-branded contests that could give you an experience of a lifetime.
All of these travel-themed giveaways only take a few minutes to enter, and you never know when it might be your turn to win.
Choice Hotels giving away Atlanta fall football trip
Win a football getaway this fall with Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels
For that ultimate game day experience, Comfort by Choice Hotels is giving away tickets to the 2022 College Football Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 3. Between now and Nov. 12, enter to win two tickets to the big game plus a two-night stay at the Comfort Inn & Suites Peachtree Corners, and $3,000 to cover flights and meals. Fans can also enter three additional times by using the hashtag #ComfortSweepstakes on the brand’s Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels. To enter for a chance to celebrate the end to college football season, visit the brand’s sweepstakes website.
Southwest and Chase to send teachers on vacation
Three lucky teachers will receive an all-expenses-paid “edu-cation.”
Chase
Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards from Chase have launched a travel contest that allows people (students, parents and fellow teachers) to nominate well-deserving teachers for learning-inspired trips. Between now and Nov. 9, nominations can be made through the contest website. Three winners will receive an “edu-vacation” to one of five places like Chicago, Maui, Nashville, Palm Springs or Washington, D.C. Seven runners-up will receive a prize, too: 30,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards that they can redeem for a free trip on Southwest. Like the credit cards, it’s a great way to rack up a bunch of points, and this could be the perfect gift for the best teachers among us.
Holland America celebrates 150 years with free cruise
Half Moon Cay island, Bahamas – December 2, 2019: Holland America cruise ship Eurodam docked at sea … [+] near the Bahamas
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Between now and March 31, 2023, Holland America is holding a sweepstakes to give away a free cruise for two to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Potential sailings include seven to 21 day cruises to Europe, Alaska, Mexico or the Caribbean among other places in a Vista or Signature Suite. To enter, the cruise line created a special website where potential winners complete an easy form. In addition, between now and Nov. 15, the cruise line has lowered the deposit on cruises in 2023 and 2024 by half and is also offering a $150 credit and free shore excursion for Alaska sailings departing Vancouver.
Andaz West Hollywood and Terminal B trip giveaway
Terminal B creates bespoke scents around different destinations from the world and labels them with … [+] that city’s familiar airport code.
Terminal B
The World of Hyatt-participating Andaz West Hollywood and travel-themed candle maker are hosting a social media contest that will award one lucky winner with a special getaway. By following both brands on Instagram and liking the giveaway post, one winner will receive a two-night stay in an Andaz WeHo Penthouse Suite with Hollywood Hills views and a Terminal B candle. Andaz hotels around the world each create a bespoke fragrance that highlights scents and flavors from that destination. Keep the candle for yourself or share it with a loved one as the perfect stocking stuffer for the holidays. The deadline to participate is Nov. 7 with the winner announced a few days later.
Minute Suites Home Run contest
Victory banner hanging from buildings in the financial district of downtown San Francisco at the … [+] World Series Parade for the San Francisco Giants – National League Champion of Major League Baseball on November 3, 2010.
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Act fast to enter this home run giveaway from Minute Suites. The deadline to enter is by the end of the day on Nov. 1. Lucky winners will be chosen from those that can guess how many games will be played during the World Series. Minute Suites specializes in offering private rooms for napping or working in airports around the country. The brand is hosting the giveaway in honor of the two teams playing in the World Series hailing from cities that have Minute Suites locations in their airports (Philadelphia and Houston). There are four prizes with the grand prize option being a $100 Visa gift card and two hours in a Minute Suites location.
PITTSBURGH — Luca Stanzani threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Owen Glascoe then completed the 2-point conversion with a toss to Michael Love and Long Island beat Duquesne 50-48 in double overtime Saturday.
Duquesne’s Ayden Garnes blocked Michael Coney’s 24-yard field goal attempt with 1:25 left in regulation, and with 24 seconds to go, Coney missed a 52-yard attempt to force the extra sessions.
Stanzani was 22 of 27 for 346 yards passing with four touchdowns and an interception. The Sharks (1-7, 1-3 Northeast Conference) erupted with four touchdowns in the third quarter for a 35-21 advantage. It marked the Sharks first-ever, four-touchdown quarter since joining the FCS ranks in 2019.
The Sharks entered the contest with a 10-game losing streak that started Nov. 6, 2021 with a 34-26 home defeat against the Dukes. Since moving to the FCS level, Long Island has posted a record of 5-27.
Joe Mischler threw for 414 yards and five touchdowns but had three interceptions for the Dukes (2-6, 1-3).
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ATLANTA — Vince Dooley, the coach who carried himself like a professor and guided Georgia for a quarter-century of success that included the 1980 national championship, died Friday. He was 90.
The school announced that Dooley died peacefully at his Athens home in the presence of his wife, Barbara, and their four children. No cause of death was given.
Dooley was hospitalized this month for what was described as a mild case of COVID-19, but he pronounced himself fully recovered and ready to attend his regular book-signing session at the campus bookstore before an Oct. 15 game against Vanderbilt.
Dooley had a career record of 201-77-10 while coaching the Bulldogs from 1964 to 1988, a stretch that included six Southeastern Conference titles, 20 bowl games and just one losing season.
He is the fourth-winningest coach in SEC history, trailing only Bear Bryant, Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban.
After retiring from coaching, Dooley continued as the school’s athletic director, a job he held from 1979 until 2004. He built a program that achieved success over a wide range of both men’s and women’s sports.
The field at Sanford Stadium was dedicated in his honor during the 2019 season.
“It was a great experience and a moving day,” Dooley said after the ceremony, which he shared with his wife. “I’m thankful for all the people that were a part of making it happen, and all the people that shared in this, which is the greatest thrill. The players, family, cheerleaders, the band, the managers, the trainers, some very special people of the Bulldog nation.”
Dooley was the second prominent member of Georgia’s storied football history to die in the past two weeks.
Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Charlie Trippi died on Oct. 19 at the age of 100.
Dooley’s death came just one day before Georgia, the defending national champion and ranked No. 1 in the nation, faces one of its biggest rivals, the Florida Gators, in the annual “Cocktail Party” game at Jacksonville, Florida.
Dooley dominated that series during his coaching career, going 17-7-1 against the Gators. The most famous victory came in 1980, when Lindsay Scott hauled in a 93-yard touchdown pass from Buck Belue in the closing minutes.
The improbable 26-21 triumph propelled the Bulldogs to a perfect season and their first consensus national title.
Dooley lived long enough to see another. Georgia won it all last season, beating Alabama in the national title game.
Dooley withstood the pressure of winning at a football-mad SEC school during an era when Bryant ran a powerhouse program at Alabama. Dooley won over skeptics early on, using a trick play to upset the defending national champion Crimson Tide 18-17 in the 1965 season opener.
The following year, Georgia won the first of his SEC titles. By the time Dooley stepped down from coaching at age 56, he was one of only 10 NCAA Division I-A coaches to win 200 games.
Stoic in his demeanor and elegant with words delivered in a Southern drawl, a renaissance man who dabbled in horticulture, studied Civil War history and wrote numerous books, Dooley had his greatest run of success after landing a running back from tiny Wrightsville, Georgia.
Hershel Walker.
During Walker’s three years between the hedges, the Bulldogs went 33-3, won three straight SEC titles, captured their only undisputed national title and nearly won another in 1982.
Dooley was a graduate of Auburn, one of Georgia’s most hated rivals, and had no head coaching experience when he was hired by the Bulldogs at the age of 32.
It was not a popular hire, as Dooley often noted through the years.
“My qualifications were such there’s no way I would’ve hired myself,” Dooley conceded in a 2014 interview with the school newspaper, The Red & Black.
No one was complaining by the end of his reign.
Dooley once described coaching as a “series of crises,” adding that he could draw upon plenty of experiences on and off the field.
There were low moments, to be sure.
Near the end of his reign as athletic director, the men’s basketball program was caught up in a scandal that led to the resignation of coach Jim Harrick and resulted in the Bulldogs removing themselves from the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
Dooley’s four-decade stay ended unceremoniously. He was forced into retirement after a nasty spat with then-university President Michael Adams in 2004.
Dooley never left Athens and remained a fixture around the football program, often sitting in on news conferences conducted by the last coach he hired, Mark Richt, and the current coach, Kirby Smart.
Coaching ran in the Dooley blood, for sure.
Vince’s younger brother, Bill, was the head coach at North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Son Derek held the top jobs at both Louisiana Tech and SEC rival Tennessee.
When Derek returned to Athens as the Volunteers’ coach in 2010, Vince knew he couldn’t pull against his son, but he didn’t want to be seen rooting against the Bulldogs in their own stadium.
So he stayed at home, watching the game on television as Georgia romped to a 41-14 victory.
“In a perfect world, I’d rather him be farther away and not in the same conference,” Vince said. “But it is what it is. We’ll make the make the best of it. I am very proud of him.”
At Georgia, Dooley coached a plethora of standout players — from Bill Stanfill to Scott Woerner to Rodney Hampton. But his most famous recruit was undoubtedly Walker, a running back who possessed an almost supernatural combination of bruising power and sprinter’s speed.
Walker made his mark in his very first college game, running right over Tennessee defensive back Bill Bates for a touchdown that helped the Bulldogs rally for a 16-15 victory.
“My god, a freshman!” longtime Georgia radio announcer Larry Munson screamed over the air.
Walker rushed for 1,616 yards and 15 touchdowns that season, but the Bulldogs’ national title hopes appeared doomed when they trailed Florida 21-20.
Then Belue and Scott hooked up on perhaps the most famous play in school history. Thanks to another memorable call by Munson, the game would forever be known as “Run, Lindsay, Run.”
Georgia capped its 12-0 season with a 17-10 win over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to clinch the national championship.
That season would be the pinnacle of Dooley’s career, though the Bulldogs nearly won another national title two years later. Walker won the Heisman Trophy and Georgia was ranked No. 1 heading into the Sugar Bowl after an undefeated regular season.
But No. 2 Penn State captured the championship with a 27-23 victory in what turned out to be Walker’s final college game. He bolted for the upstart U.S. Football League after his junior season.
Walker is now running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. Locked in a tight battle with incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, Walker received the endorsement of his former coach in a recent ad.
While Georgia’s run of three straight SEC championships ended in 1983, the Bulldogs capped a 10-1-1 season with a 10-9 upset of Texas — a game that Dooley would still look back on with pride years later.
Best known for his coaching accomplishments, Dooley took pride in running an athletic program that was among the nation’s best in a wide range of sports.
“The greatest satisfaction from being director of athletics comes from working toward the goal of putting a program together in which all the sports have an opportunity to compete at the highest level,” he said.
From tennis to swimming, gymnastics to baseball, the Bulldogs won 19 national championships under Dooley. He was inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
Dooley was born into an athletic family in Mobile, Alabama, on Sept. 4, 1932. After graduating from McGill High School, he went to Auburn on a football scholarship and played basketball.
Dooley was an outstanding defensive back and captain of the 1953 team, a year in which he also played in the College All-Star Game. He graduated from Auburn in 1954 with a degree in business management before serving in the Marine Corps for two years.
In 1956, Dooley became an assistant coach at Auburn and was freshman coach at the school for three seasons before being named head coach of Georgia shortly after the end of the 1963 season, taking over a program in disarray after three straight losing years under Johnny Griffith.
Twenty-five years later, Dooley was carried off the field after his final game, a 34-27 victory over Michigan State in the Gator Bowl.
Survivors include his wife and their children: Deanna, Daniel, Denise and Derek.
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Retired AP Sports Writer Tom Saladino contributed to this report.
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Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and find his work at https://apnews.com
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RALEIGH, N.C. — For the second straight home game, North Carolina State found itself down double figures after halftime. And just as before, the 24th-ranked Wolfpack responded with grit and resilience.
First-year quarterback MJ Morris threw for three second-half touchdowns to help N.C. State rally from 18 points down in the third quarter to beat Virginia Tech 22-21 on Thursday night.
“The kids just don’t quit here,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said.
Morris took over for starter Jack Chambers to lead an unexpected comeback for the Wolfpack (6-2, 2-2 Atalntic Coast Conference), who trailed 21-3 after Grant Wells’ 20-yard TD keeper with 4:02 in the third quarter.
Instead, N.C. State somehow found a way to make its biggest comeback since rallying from 27 down to beat Maryland in 2011. It also marked the Wolfpack’s second comeback from a double-digit deficit after halftime this month, going back to a rally from 17-3 down at the break against Florida State on Oct. 8.
This one was arguably more critical for a team that had been reeling offensively since losing quarterback and preseason ACC player of the year Devin Leary to a season-ending injury in the Florida State victory. But after looking like every yard was a struggle, Morris and the Wolfpack started pushing the ball downfield and connecting to suddenly change momentum.
“There was a lot of things going in my head, but the one thing I tried to focus on was doing my job for the team,” Morris said.
It started with a 35-yard deep throw from Morris to Thayer Thomas with 1:42 left in the third. Morris followed with a 7-yard score to Trent Pennix early in the fourth, then hit Thomas again on a short throw that the receiver cut up the middle of the field and scored from 18 yards out with 7:38 mark.
After its veteran defense forced a three-and-out, the Wolfpack kept the chains moving on a final drive that ate up the last 5:35 to seal the win.
Thomas finished with 10 catches for 118 yards and the two scores for the Wolfpack.
Wells ran for two scores and hit Kaleb Smith for an 85-yard score in the third for the Hokies (2-6, 1-4).
“To me, you’ve got to have a closer’s mentality in the fourth quarter,” first-year coach Brent Pry said. “You’ve got to play your absolute best. we just needed a play or two to change the outcome. And we’ll get there.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Virginia Tech: This one will be difficult to get past for the Hokies, who looked on their way to ending the Wolfpack’s 14-game home winning streak and giving Pry his first road win in four tries. Instead, the offense that suddenly found success attacking the Wolfpack’s veteran defense sputtered when it needed a big drive and the defense gave up three straight TD drives.
N.C. State: The Wolfpack went through a bye week with a chance to tweak the offense to better suit the strengths of Chambers in the wake of Leary’s loss. But Morris also got plenty of reps and soon proved the more effective passer as the Wolfpack needed to get more aggressive down big — and it worked.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
N.C. State, which peaked at No. 10 this year, could fall out of the AP Top 25 with Sunday’s next poll after struggling to beat a two-win team. Then again, another impressive show of resilience could stand out for voters.
HOME STREAK
N.C. State has now won 15 straight home games since losing to Miami in 2020. That put the Wolfpack within one of tying the program record set from 1972-75 under Lou Holtz.
PENALTY PROBLEMS
The Hokies had 13 penalties for 69 yards. That included being flagged 10 times for false starts, with five coming in the first quarter alone.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech: The Hokies return home to face Georgia Tech on Nov. 5.
N.C. State: It’s a rematch of last year’s instate Atlantic Division thriller when No. 10 Wake Forest visits Raleigh on Nov. 5.
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Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap
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By the Nielsen company’s count, 7.8 million people watched Amazon Prime’s coverage of last Thursday’s NFL game between New Orleans and Arizona. But Amazon says no, there were actually 8.9 million people watching.
So which is it?
You’ll have to judge for yourself. After each of its Thursday night games this season, Amazon has publicly contradicted Nielsen in this manner, one of the boldest challenges ever to a company that for generations has monopolized the count of people watching programs on television.
Neither company is saying the other is wrong, but neither is backing down, either. The result is confusion, most notably for advertisers.
Nielsen, as it has for years, follows the viewing habits in a panel of homes across the country and, from that limited sample, derives an estimate of how many people watch a particular program. That number is currency in the media industry, meaning it is used to determine advertising rates.
Amazon, in the first year of an 11-year contract to stream Thursday night games, says it has an actual count of every one of its subscribers who streams it — not an estimate. The games are also televised in the local markets of the participating teams, about 9% of its total viewership each week, and Amazon uses Nielsen’s estimate for that portion of the total.
“We wouldn’t put out our number if we weren’t comfortable that it was accurate,” said Jay Marine, vice president of Amazon Prime Video and head of its sports department.
Through six weeks, Nielsen says the Thursday night games have averaged 10.3 million viewers. Amazon says the average is 12.1 million. Amazon’s estimate has been bigger than Nielsen’s each week.
“I don’t at all believe that Amazon’s numbers are not right,” said Connie Kim, Nielsen spokeswoman. “And I don’t believe that our numbers are not right.”
Since different methodologies are being used, it’s no surprise that there are differences in the estimate, she said.
“It’s going to take a little time,” Kim said. “As it evolves it should be one number. But we’re not quite there yet.”
Ratings landscape changing rapidly
For now, ad prices for the Thursday games are set using Nielsen’s numbers. But Amazon clearly has an incentive to let clients know that it believes more people are actually watching.
“You have to remember that this is new — new for Nielsen and it’s the first time there’s been actual data for an event like this,” Marine said.
The dispute has clear implications for the future. Streamers haven’t had much incentive for measurements of daily viewing to be publicized, in part because people don’t watch their shows the same way as broadcast television, and they haven’t needed numbers verified from a third-party source for advertisers.
But with Netflix about to introduce advertising, that can all change very rapidly. And if other companies develop technology that can measure viewing more precisely, the precedent has now been set for publicly disputing Nielsen’s numbers.
In prime time last week, NBC was the top-rated network, averaging 5.1 million viewers. CBS had 4.7 million, Fox had 4 million, ABC had 3 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 950,000 and Telemundo had 880,000.
TBS was the most-watched cable network, averaging 2.85 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.68 million, Fox News Channel had 2.26 million, MSNBC had 1.09 million and TNT had 1.05 million.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina opened strong with 17 points in the first six minutes — sparked when Xavier Legette took the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown — then held on to beat Texas A&M 30-24 on Saturday night.
The Gamecocks (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and turned a fumble and interception deep in Aggies territory into 10 more points and a 17-0 hole for Texas A&M (3-4, 1-3) just over five minutes in.
It’s the first time the Gamecocks have beaten the Aggies since the SEC made them their Western Division rival in 2014 and the first time they’ve won four in a row since 2013, shaking off a 48-7 loss to No. 1 Georgia in the third game of the season.
“A month ago, I was asked if this team quit. That look like this team has quit?” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said.
MarShawn Lloyd ran 18 times for 92 yards and had both of South Carolina’s touchdowns in the second half to keep Texas A&M from climbing back in it.
Spencer Rattler was 12-of-25 passing for 168 yards for South Carolina.
“We never quit. We keep fighting. That’s what we are about,” Rattler said.
Devon Achane ran 20 times for 99 yards for the Aggies. Hayes King was 17-of-32 passing for 178 yards, with a touchdown and an interception before leaving with an injury to his throwing shoulder in the fourth quarter. Coach Jimbo Fisher said he kept Hayes out of the rest of the game as a precaution.
Freshman Conner Weigman filled in and threw for 91 yards but neither of his two final Hail Mary tries made it to the end zone after Texas A&M recovered an onside kick at midfield with nine seconds left.
The loss puts even more pressure on Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, whose team started the season ranked No. 6. The Aggies seem to play just under the level of their opponents, losing by six to South Carolina, four to No. 6 Alabama and three to Appalachian State
“We have good players. We’re right there, It’s not like we’re getting ran out of the stadium,” Fisher said. “We’ve just got to find a way to make a play or two — all the sudden you will get over the hump. It’s just the way it goes.”
With a contract through 2031 paying him $9 million a year, Fisher’s job likely isn’t in jeopardy. However, losing to South Carolina has been bad for several SEC coaches. Phillip Fulmer for Tennessee in 2008, Will Muschamp in 2014 and Dan Mullen in 2021 all lost their jobs shortly after losing to the Gamecocks.
BEAMER’S CRYSTAL BALL
Before the win earlier this month over Kentucky, Beamer told his staff he felt like South Carolina was going to recover its first fumble of the year in a key moment. It happened on the first play, the Gamecocks scored a TD the next down and never trailed.
Beamer told his coaches before Saturday’s game he expected a big special teams play would make the difference. Ligette began the game with his kickoff-return touchdown.
“Maybe I just need to keep speaking it into existence whatever I want to get done,” Beamer said.
FALSE START FRENZY
Texas A&M had eight penalties and all of them were false starts after starting a new center. Fisher said the noise at Williams-Brice stadium and miscommunication caused most of them.
“The guys got to listen on the road. We shouldn’t have had anything like that,” Fisher said.
THE TAKEAWAY
Texas A&M: Plenty of people expected the Aggies to challenge Alabama in the SEC West this season. Instead, it looks like a struggle to get to six wins and a bowl game. A win over UMass is probable. After that the Aggies need two wins out of four games — Ole Miss, Florida, at Auburn and at LSU.
South Carolina: Gamecocks fans chanted “Beamer Ball” during a late-game timeout in appreciation of second-year coach Shane Beamer. The Gamecocks only need to beat Missouri or Vanderbilt in the next two weeks to make a second straight bowl. And with the win, South Carolina has beaten every team in the current SEC.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M: The Aggies host No. 7 Ole Miss next Saturday.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks host Missouri next Saturday.
On Saturday, Clemson turned the ball over four times, trailed by as much as 14, benched its starting QB and won. That, Dabo Swinney said, is the headline.
Got it?
No, don’t ask about that quarterback controversy. It doesn’t exist. Figment of your imagination. Swinney is essentially Kevin Bacon at the end of “Animal House,” standing in the midst of a stampede and yelling, “All is well!”
Swinney spent the entire offseason hyping DJ Uiagalelei, despite his struggles in 2021. The coach has spent the first seven weeks of this season dishing out one “I told you so” after another, including as recently as last week, when he called doubts of Uiagalelei “embarrassing” and a product of “the world we live in now.”
And when Clemson was trailing by 10 and Uiagalelei coughed up his third turnover of the game midway through the third quarter, Swinney came with the hook.
Why? Swinney believed freshman Cade Klubnik could give the offense a spark, and the move worked. Clemson scored on three of its next four drives. Sure, Klubnik completed just two passes in the game, so his inspiration was more Rob Schneider in “The Waterboy” than Bill Pullman in “Independence Day.” But hey, a win is a win.
In the aftermath, Swinney emphatically assured Clemson fans that Uiagalelei is still the starter as the Tigers, now 8-0, head into an off week with their ACC Atlantic Division crown all but assured. They will not play another ranked opponent this year.
play
2:26
Clemson switches quarterbacks in the second half and overcomes four turnovers to beat Syracuse 24-21.
But Swinney is right. The world is a cold, callous place, and so we must also ask the bigger question: Is this an 8-0 team capable of winning a national championship?
Before last season, the answer might have been an emphatic, “Yes!” After all, we’d seen Clemson shrug off mediocrity before and still keep winning. Look back at Swinney’s first national title in the 2016 campaign. That season, the Tigers struggled against Troy, only beat NC State because of a missed chip shot as time expired and lost to Pitt. But Deshaun Watson still found Hunter Renfrow in the back corner of the end zone at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium in the title game against Alabama, and no one needed to remember those regular-season struggles after that.
But then 2021 happened, and despite its 10-3 finish Clemson was clearly vulnerable. The wins were less destiny than they were rugged determination. That is commendable but perhaps not sustainable.
Clemson needed double overtime to get past Wake Forest and nearly coughed up a big lead a week ago against Florida State. And if not for Syracuse‘s utterly mind-boggling decision to put Sean Tucker into witness protection Saturday — “I felt like he was the one guy who could flat-out beat us,” Swinney said afterward — there’s every reason to think this might be more 2021 than 2016.
And yet, is this question any different from the ones posed at Oregon or Alabama or Michigan and on down the line?
The Ducks demolished UCLA on Saturday and established themselves as the clear front-runner in the Pac-12, but does that matter when they’ve already been curb-stomped by Georgia in the opener?
Should we forget the way the Bulldogs demolished them way back when if the recent data points are far more impressive? Do we need a rematch of a game that was over by the end of the first quarter? It’s complicated.
Ole Miss offered the SEC an alternative to the Crimson Tide, but LSU sent the Rebels scurrying on out of Louisiana like a crawdad in a steam pot, as Brian Kelly would say.
But Lane Kiffin’s crew will still get its shot at Alabama, and if it should win, wouldn’t the Rebels be a playoff team? It’s complicated.
Or how about those Crimson Tide? Nick Saban likely spent this week of practice like Jigsaw, planning ever more sadistic dilemmas for his team to maneuver, but the rat poison was successfully expelled from Alabama’s system with a 30-6 win over Mississippi State. Yes, the Tide have appeared vulnerable against Texas and A&M and lost to Tennessee, but does anyone really think Alabama can’t be a playoff team? Well, it’s complicated.
Despite the easy win, Alabama finished with just 290 yards of total offense — its lowest production in an SEC game since 2014.
Are we sold on Tennessee? Has Georgia just been easing into the season like it’s a warm bath? Is Michigan a fitting adversary for Ohio State?
Max Duggan wasn’t perfect Saturday in the 38-28 TCU win, but he was exceptional when he had to be, and the Horned Frogs’ ground game pounded away at Kansas State until the Wildcats finally gave way. TCU has been tied or behind in the second half of each of its last three games, including against Kansas State’s backup QB on Saturday, all of which might underscore just how narrow the margin is for the Horned Frogs, but it’s a line they’ve yet to cross. Does that make TCU a playoff team? Well, it’s complicated.
If we’re nitpicking, we’ll find nearly all teams left wanting. In other words, it’s all complicated.
But Swinney isn’t nitpicking. Well, sure, he picked a few nits with his starting quarterback Saturday, but bygones are bygones now. The point is, Clemson won. So, too, did Alabama and Oregon and Penn State and Oklahoma State. Their chase continues.
In the end, Clemson is 8-0, one of just six teams (Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU) left with a zero in the loss column.
And when it comes time for the committee to pick nits and split hairs, that zero looms awfully large because winning every game is the one way to erase all the complications and make the committee’s decision simple.
Nix, Ducks roll past UCLA
We would like to issue a formal apology to Bo Nix. He is not the reason Auburn fans spent four years beating their heads against a wall, shouting “Make it stop! Make it stop!”
Nix bested UCLA 45-30 with a brilliant performance Saturday, completing 22-of-28 passes for 283 yards and five touchdowns. He ran for 51 more yards. He electrified a fan base that remains blissfully unaware of all the pain he once helped inflict in his old life.
Yes, the numbers at Auburn seemed to suggest Nix was at the root of the problem, but as Mark Twain said, there are lies, damned lies and statistics, and Nix’s numbers were the most insidious of lies.
Yes, we watched Nix struggle in his Oregon debut as the Ducks were steamrolled by Georgia, but that was an unfair sample. It was like starting fresh at a new high school with a chance to finally fit in with the cool kids, only to bump into an old classmate at the mall. Georgia knew Auburn Bo Nix too well.
But look past all that. Look at what Nix has become now that he’s clear of Auburn, past Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin and … boy, it feels like there were six or seven other coaches in there, too. Oh, sure, Nix was an Auburn legacy and a five-star recruit, but The Plains has eaten up better men than that. But after years of tumult, Nix finally realized that this relationship was toxic, that he had to move on. Nothing in Taylor Swift’s discography captures the emotion of this breakup.
And when Nix left, he got as far away as he could go. And at long last, he was free.
Nix has Oregon at 6-1 and undefeated in Pac-12 play. Despite that brutal opener against Georgia, the Ducks have miraculously forced their way back into playoff conversation. Nix’s performance Saturday helped the Oregon fan base fully exorcise one of its demons, forcing Chip Kelly to return, defeated, to the sad suburban condo with the empty pool that we all assume he lives at.
What happened at Auburn was inevitable. Nix just happened to be playing QB at the time, like the activities director on the Titanic. So, consider this Nix’s “Good Will Hunting” moment. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.
Eight is enough
Over the summer, Mario Cristobal wanted to assure the public that Miami was serious about winning and didn’t need any gimmicks to get the job done. So, Cristobal said, no more turnover chain.
Big mistake.
The turnover chain was not a gimmick. It was a sacred relic, and its destruction has signaled the end times in Coral Gables.
Duke annihilated Miami 45-21 on Saturday, as the Hurricanes coughed up the football eight times.
Eight. Times.
Now, it’d be easy enough to chalk up all the turnovers to the simple fact that Miami is a very bad football team. But that would be like suggesting there are so many “Fast and Furious” movies because Vin Diesel is America’s greatest living thespian. Both things are true, but those facts alone cannot explain such prolific output.
No, for Miami there can be but one obvious culprit: Cristobal angered the football gods, and he must now go on a mythic quest, through corridors haunted by the ghosts of Al Golden and Randy Shannon, scale the unconquerable mountains of the ACC Coastal Division and survive an epic freestyle battle with Uncle Luke to retrieve the turnover chain and return it to its rightful place on Miami’s sideline.
Quinn Ewers has had some rough moments this season. His car was towed. He hurt his shoulder. He had to watch Oklahoma play for an entire game. But Saturday was his rock bottom.
Ewers completed just 19 of 49 throws and tossed three interceptions in Texas’ 41-34 loss at Oklahoma State.
The Pokes were playing with a battered offensive line, but Spencer Sanders still delivered some critical throws, tossing two touchdowns, while Jaden Nixon showed he could’ve run over Texas’ defense wearing bedroom slippers.
It was a huge bounce-back win for Oklahoma State after blowing a late lead against TCU last week. The Cowboys are 6-1, and Sanders has firmly established himself as either the best bad QB or worst good QB in the country.
After the Longhorns lost twice without Ewers earlier this season, Saturday’s defeat can at least remove any linger “What if” debates and allow Texas to completely turn its attention to keeping trick-or-treaters safe from monkey attacks this week.
Iowa finally benched Spencer Petras on Saturday, after he managed just eight completions — six to his team, and two to Ohio State. But honestly, benching isn’t enough salvation for Petras. It’s time Quarterback Protective Services steps in and removes him from his home. He deserves to run free on a farm upstate.
Even after Petras was benched, things didn’t get better for the Hawkeyes. Alex Padilla completed just five of 10 passes for 32 yards and an interception, essentially assuring Iowa’s QB depth chart is just the two Spider-Mans pointing at each other meme.
How bad was it?
Iowa was 1-of-13 on third-down tries.
Iowa had six turnovers. (Miami can expect a thank-you card from coordinator Brian Ferentz this week.)
Iowa averaged 2.2 yards per run and yet the QBs were so bad the Hawkeyes still chose to run it 35 times.
There’s only one logical solution to Iowa’s offensive woes at this point. It’s time for Kirk Ferentz to fire his son and hire Jeff Bowden.
Under-the-radar play of the week
If you missed the ending to Stanford vs. Arizona State, we understand. Watching that game was punishment for shoplifting in several states. And perhaps fittingly, the final moments were every bit as unfortunate as a matchup between two bad teams would suggest.
Trailing 15-14, Arizona State chucked a Hail Mary throw down the sideline on fourth-and-19, which appeared to be hauled in by Elijhah Badger to set up a game-winning field goal with just seconds remaining.
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0:52
Arizona State falls to Stanford in the final seconds as Emory Jones has one foot out on the 4th-and-19 catch that would have set up a game-winning field goal.
Upon replay review, however, the call was overturned, with officials saying Badger had a toe out of bounds on the catch, allowing Stanford to snap a 10-game conference losing streak.
Under-the-radar game of the week
Rhode Island and Monmouth put on a marathon Saturday, playing seven overtimes before the Rams emerged with a 48-46 win. Not since the famed Texas A&M-LSU epic has a college football game between two teams no one cared about gone on so very, very long.
The game featured seven ties and four lead changes. Monmouth QB Tony Muskett — who also may have been a character on “Bonanza” — threw for three touchdowns. Rhode Island QB Kasim Hill threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns, including a 73-yarder to Marques DeShields with 3:23 remaining to tie the game at 35, but he also tossed three picks.
In the first OT, both teams traded touchdowns. Both went scoreless in the second frame. Then it went to 2-point tries, and the Rams and Hawks stayed even through four more frames. In the seventh OT, Rhode Island broke up a pass in the end zone, and Hill completed his throw to Ed Lee to secure the win.
Sadly, Jimbo Fisher’s nephew was not able to attend, so this seven-OT game did not end with fisticuffs, and frankly, we cannot truly embrace seven overtimes unless someone wearing khakis starts taking swings at complete strangers.
We hate to be the ones to bring this up, but it needs to be said: Liberty is 7-1.
We know, we know: When quarterback Malik Willis left, we all hoped we could safely stop paying attention to the Flames. But somehow, they’ve kept winning, including a 41-14 stomping of BYU on Saturday behind 213 rushing yards from Dae Dae Hunter.
Liberty’s lone loss came on a missed 2-point try against 6-1 Wake Forest.
Liberty has won with three different starting QBs.
Liberty is — deep breaths — good.
Is it possible Hugh Freeze is fueled by the country’s anger at him, like the emperor in “Star Wars?” (We also assume that if Twitter existed in a galaxy far, far away, Palpatine would slide into Obi-Wan’s DMs to complain about rebel criticisms too.) There’s simply no keeping the guy down (even when he is literally kept down).
So, do we need to take Liberty seriously? The only acceptable answer is yes. To embrace Freeze is to take away his power. Or, if not that, maybe Iowa should hire him.
Heisman Five
Even in a week in which three of the nine remaining undefeated teams lost, there wasn’t much room for shake-ups at the top of the Heisman hopeful list.
Tee Martin won a national championship at Tennessee. UT Martin, on the other hand, struggled badly at Tennessee on Saturday. The Skyhawks had no answers for Hooker, who averaged more than 11 yards per throw and tossed three more touchdowns.
Exposure to the Hawkeyes’ offense took its toll on Stroud, who struggled through the first half, but thankfully Ryan Day was able to perform a full Iowa exorcism (it involves spewing creamed corn instead of pea soup) and Stroud rebounded with four second-half TD throws.
Young did all he could to pull Alabama over the finish line last week against Tennessee, but we were still worried he might catch some strays from Saban during practice this week. Thankfully, he survived, and he returned with another strong day, throwing for 249 yards and two touchdowns in the Tide’s 30-0 win over Mississippi State.
Wake is 6-1 after drubbing Boston College, and in the lone loss, Hartman had six touchdown passes. He nearly matched that total Saturday, throwing for five touchdowns and running for a sixth in the win. Hartman now has the third-most passing TDs in ACC history (93), trailing only Tajh Boyd and Philip Rivers, all despite also working part time as a 1920s mafia hit man.
No. 2 Sam Hartman, Wake
Really good balance between clean lines and fullness of the beard. Worked better before he cut his hair though. He looks like a shampoo commercial model now rather than last year’s Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Borderline elite, 4.5 stars pic.twitter.com/sRh8c0Urfy
The most college football thing to happen Saturday
We talk often about the plague of #CollegeKickers, with flubbed chip shots invariably costing teams a needed win on an almost weekly basis. Long-snappers, on the other hand, tend to fly below the radar.
Unfortunately for Weber State‘s Grant Sands, his Saturday will be remembered for a long time.
Sands snapped the football over the punter’s head and out of the back of the end zone for a safety four times against Montana State on Saturday, handing the Bobcats eight points in a game that Montana State ultimately won 43-38.
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0:41
Weber State is on the wrong end of the record books as it surrenders four safeties on errant special teams snaps.
Big bets and bad beats
Miami has been favored to win four times this season. The Hurricanes are now 1-3 in those games after a miserable eight-turnover loss to Duke on Saturday. Miami has now lost as a 25.5-point favorite to Middle Tennessee, a 10-point favorite to Duke and a four-point favorite to North Carolina. The Hurricanes’ lone win as a favorite came against Virginia Tech, after they failed to cover a nine-point spread in a 20-14 victory.
Clemson trailed Syracuse 21-10 at the half on Saturday, which was just about the perfect spot for the Tigers — or at least for sharp bettors. The Tigers were -9.5 in the second half, and they covered that number easily, outscoring the Orange 17-0 in the final two frames. That makes Clemson coach Dabo Swinney 11-2 against the second-half spread in his career when trailing at halftime.
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Gavin McCusker threw for a touchdown and got decisive score on the ground, leading Merrimack to a 31-25 victory over Sacred Heart on Saturday.
McCusker, who threw for 124 yards, including a 20-yard TD pass to Pat Conroy, scored on a 2-yard run with 15 seconds left in the third quarter. Midway through the fourth quarter the Warriors’ Jared Dunn blocked a Sacred Heart punt and Lliam Davis capped the scoring with a 37-yard field goal.
Trailing 31-25, Sacred Heart had two remaining possessions. Sam Renzi missed a 27-yard field goal with 5:22 remaining and later time ran out with the Pioneers at the Merrimack 27-yard line.
Shayne Butler’s 42-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Warriors (6-2, 4-0 Northeast Conference) a 21-6 lead early in the third quarter. Highlighted by a safety and a 68-yard touchdown pass from Marquez McCray to Kenneth Womack, Sacred Heart (4-3, 2-1) scored the next 19 points to take a 25-21 lead.
Marquez completed 20 of 37 passes for 315 yards with a touchdown and interception. Grant Malik rushed for 97 yards and Rob DiNota had 120 receiving yards for the Pioneers, who had a 464-298 advantage in total yards.
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Making the turn. Yes, that’s a golf term. But today, it is also apropos as it pertains to college football. For, as evidenced by all the teams with records of something-and-something that add up to at least a half-dozen games played, and as proven by the fact that the leaves in the trees are now the same brown and red hues as Nick Saban’s face at Neyland Stadium last weekend, the 153rd season of the greatest sport on Earth has just crossed over the halfway point.
Whenever someone makes the turn on the links, they usually swing through the clubhouse and the 19th Hole, where a group of Judge Smails-looking gentlemen are leaning on the bar, overserved, watching college football and declaring who is the best, worst and in between that the game has to offer. They have those conversations amid shelves of dusty trophies commemorating member-guest tourney champs, closest-to-the-pins and holes-in-one.
So, with that true making-the-turn spirit in mind, allow us to pour a glass of amber liquid and hand out some brass and particle board hardware from the local trophy shop, as we present our 2022 ESPN.com Midseason College Football Awards.
The Peyton Manning October Heisman Award
Hendon Hooker, Tennessee. No one ever had a bigger lead in the midseason Heisman Trophy race than the original Tennessee Sheriff did in 1997, but as we know now, Manning finished second in December, just as fellow Vols Hank Lauricella, Johnny Majors and Heath Shuler did before him. Hooker outdueled reigning stiff arm king Bryce Young in Neyland Stadium, but when the ballots are cast at season’s end, Hooker will still have to overcome Vols’ Heisman history and also the recent history of guys winning the game but losing the trophy. See: Deshaun Watson vs. Lamar Jackson (Clemson 42, Louisville 36 in 2016). Then again, Hooker and his team would 100% take Watson’s ’16 consolation prize right now. Celebrating a natty in January.
Side note: Hooker should receive bonus points because he wrote a children’s motivational book with his brother, NC A&T QB Alston Hooker, during the offseason. Side note No. 2: Could someone please remove all the energy supplements from RGIII’s kitchen cabinet?
The Guy You’d Most Want With You in One Those Weird Mall Escape Rooms Award
Tre’Shaun Harrison, WR, Oregon State. Harrison only has three touchdown receptions this season, but whenever he hauls one in, it’s a big one, the latest being the game winner vs. Stanford two weeks ago. But his best effort was a 17-yard screen grab against Fresno State when he managed to emerge from eight would-be Bulldog tacklers like he was Boba Fett emerging from the Sarlacc pit.
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0:35
Tre’Shaun Harrison bounces outside on a screen pass and goes 17 yards for an Oregon State touchdown.
The David Blaine ‘Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’ Award
Texas A&M. The Aggies started the season ranked sixth in the AP Top 25 and have since vanished quicker than my brother-in-law when the waitress puts the dinner check on the table. That exit from the poll began Week 2 after A&M was stunned at home by Appalachian State and the Aggies are now 3-3, spared a 2-4 record only by way of a doinked end cap would-be game-winning field goal by Arkansas back in Week 4. The Aggies’ disappearing act comes with so much power that it even rubbed off on the team that derailed them.
Honorable mention: Appalachian State. The Mountaineers beat A&M, hosted College GameDay and won a last-second thriller over Troy but have been 2-2 since and are mired in the middle of the Sun Belt East. Still, they are ahead of Marshall and Georgia Southern, both of whom have battled the .500 line after knocking off Notre Dame and Nebraska on the same day App State beat A&M.
The Cole Trickle ‘Remember Me?’ Award
TCU.As A&M has dropped out of the preseason top 10 like a brick on a pile of molten marshmallows, it has been replaced in those lofty rankings by a former Southwest Conference rival in the Horned Frogs. TCU received precisely zero preseason AP Top 25 votes and was picked to finish seventh in the 10-team Big 12. Now it is 6-0, ranked No. 8 and, according to ESPN’s FPI machine, has a 23.6% chance to win the conference, second to only Texas at 55.1%. The Frogs travel to Austin on Nov. 12.
Honorable mentions: Tennessee, Syracuse, Illinois (wow, wearing orange seems to be working well, doesn’t it?), the Pac-12, Tulane, Chip Kelly.
The Donnel Pumphrey Offensive Player We Should Be Making a Bigger Deal Out of Than We Are Award
Chase Brown, RB, Illinois. Named for the former San Diego State running back who in 2016 set the NCAA FBS single-season rushing mark and somehow everyone figured out a way to cheapen and/or ignore it. The 6-1 Fighting Illini are receiving plenty of props for their defense and another Big Ten running back, Michigan‘s Blake Corum, is garnering the Heisman hype. But Brown is the nation’s only 1,000-yard back, with 1,059 yards over seven games, and has yet to be held under 100 yards in a game.
Honorable mention: Kyle Vantrease, QB, Georgia Southern. Dude has thrown for 2,512 yards, second only to Washington‘s Michael Penix Jr. Quick reminder: These aren’t your granddad’s triple option-running Eagles. Clay Helton is in charge in Statesboro and he brought his USC offensive playbook with him.
The Jaylon Ferguson Defensive Player We Should Be Making a Bigger Deal Out of Than We Are Award
Jackson Mitchell, LB, UConn. Named for the former Louisiana Tech defensive end who in 2018 set the NCAA career sacks record and everyone, again, somehow figured out a way to ignore it. Chances are you haven’t been paying attention to the turnaround that’s happening in Storrs, but the Huskies have three wins, which already matches the combined total from their past two seasons. The anchor of that effort is Mitchell, who has 88(!) tackles. He has four double-digit efforts in eight games and a combined 35 over three weeks against a triumvirate of AP Top 25 teams in Syracuse, Michigan and NC State.
The Ricky Bobby ‘I Don’t Know What to Do With My Hands’ Sideline Interview Award
Mike Leach on weddings. The Pirate has had the Mississippi State Bulldogs moving up and down the field all season, sitting 5-2 and spending most of the year ranked. But everyone knows that Leach’s best work is when he is in a football situation and doesn’t actually talk about football. Anyone who has ever gotten married and/or has kids who are getting married knows that there are zero lies in what he had to say to SEC Network’s Alyssa Lang after MSU’s huge Week 5 win over Texas A&M.
No football coach has stronger opinions on weddings than Mike Leach
After we talked about the win, I got some advice straight from the source..
The Tim Gunn Rock the Runway Best Special Uniform Award
BYU vs. Notre Dame, Oct. 8.This has been the season of blackouts when it comes to one-off uniforms, from North Texas flipping the Mean Green and UCF‘s “Space U” to Oklahoma‘s “Unity” threads and Rutgers with the “Dark Knights.” But no one has pulled off the combination of complementing its school’s signature look with a swath of black like BYU did when it countered Notre Dame’s all-white Shamrock Series fit for their matchup in Vegas. The Cougars even employed a UFC fighter and a magician to help with the reveal.
The Bugo Hoss/Guiccy Knock-off Clothing Brand Award
Gardner-Webb. The Runnin’ Bulldogs are an Under Armour school and have always had an underrated look. Trust me. I grew up there. When they go all-white on the road it looks amazing. But during their Week 3 showdown with Mercer, at least one player appeared to be wearing some Blunder Armor britches picked up at the outlet mall in nearby Gaffney, South Carolina.
Eugene PD. With the Cardinal down 45-17 at Oregon, I swear if you listen closely enough you can hear the googly eyed “Charlie Brown Christmas Special”-looking Stanford Tree saying to this Eugene, Oregon, police officer, “I know y’all love trees around here, but please, just put me out of my misery already.”
The Bette Midler ‘But Enough About Me. Let’s Talk About You. What Do You Think of Me?’ Award
John Daly on ‘Marty & McGee’. I co-host this little show Saturday mornings on SEC Network and we got off to a tipsy start during Week 1 and we’ve been stumbling along ever since. Plus, this clip brings us back to the making the turn/19th Hole theme we started with. Enjoy the second half of the season y’all.
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Thousands of police officers from around the country gathered in a stadium in Connecticut on Friday for a joint funeral for two officers who were shot to death in an apparent ambush.
The service for Bristol officers Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy was set to be held at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field — the University of Connecticut’s 40,000-seat stadium in East Hartford. Major highway closures were announced for the processions of the two officers from funeral homes to the stadium.
DeMonte, Hamzy and Officer Alec Iurato were shot on Oct. 12 in what police believe was an ambush set up by a 911 call made by the shooter, Nicholas Brutcher. Iurato, who survived a gunshot wound to his leg, struggled to get behind a police cruiser and fired a single shot that killed Brutcher. Brutcher’s brother, Nathan, also was shot and survived.
At the time of the shooting, DeMonte was a sergeant with 10 years experience on the force and Hamzy was an officer for eight years. They were promoted posthumously to lieutenant and sergeant, respectively.
Mourners including many police officers from New England and beyond streamed into the stadium hours before the service.
Sgt. Greg Dube of the New Hampshire State Police said it was important to show support in large numbers after such a tragedy.
“We’re all family,” he said. “We definitely feel their pain. The best way we can show our respect is in strength in numbers.”
“I might not have met them, but I understand it could have easily happened to me or my colleagues. You just can’t take any day for granted,” Dube said.
Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting. A preliminary report said Nicholas Brutcher fired more than 80 rounds as he attacked the officers from behind. The state inspector general also said in the report that it was evident Iurato’s deadly use of force on Nicholas Brutcher was justified.
Calling hours for Hamzy on Wednesday drew hundreds of people, while a private wake for DeMonte was held Thursday.
We’ve reached the midpoint of the 2022 college football season, and some new faces — both teams and players — have navigated their way to the front of the line.
Tennessee is unbeaten and ranked No. 3, the Vols’ highest in-season AP ranking since 2001. Ole Miss also is unbeaten and the No. 7 Rebels have won 11 straight regular-season games dating back to last year. TCU and UCLA cracked the AP top 10 this week. It’s the highest ranking for the Horned Frogs (No. 8) since 2017 and the highest for the Bruins (No. 9) since 2015.
The fresh faces extend to ESPN’s midseason All-America team, which includes only five players who were on our preseason team. Alabama, Ohio State and Tennessee each placed two players on the team. Overall, the 26 players selected on offense, defense and special teams come from 23 teams:
Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud are special players, but Hooker gets the nod. The sixth-year senior has been the heart and soul of Tennessee’s resurgence. He’s third nationally among Power 5 quarterbacks in total offense (350.7 yards per game) and has accounted for 18 touchdowns with just one interception, and he’s done it without his most accomplished receiver (Cedric Tillman) for much of the season.
The 5-foot-8, 210-pound Corum is a dynamo. Opposing defenses know he’s going to get the ball, and it doesn’t matter. He just keeps piling up the yardage. Corum has 666 of his 901 rushing yards in his past four games and has rushed for an FBS-leading 13 touchdowns. He leads all Power 5 running backs with 11 runs of 20 yards or longer and is averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
One of Robinson’s many specialties is making defenders miss. Pro Football Focus has him No. 1 among Power 5 backs when it comes to creating missed tackles. The 6-foot, 222-pound junior, who is a carryover from our preseason team, also catches the ball like a wide receiver. He’s the only FBS player to have more than 700 rushing yards (780) and 200 receiving yards (239). He has 11 total touchdowns, including 10 on the ground, and has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of his past five games.
When has Ohio State not been loaded with talented receivers? Emeka Egbuka and Harrison have formed an explosive one-two punch with Jaxon Smith-Njigba slowed by a hamstring injury. Harrison, a 6-4, 205-pound sophomore, is tied for second among Power 5 players with nine touchdown catches and is averaging 17.3 yards per catch. He has the most targets (46) without a drop in the Power 5, according to Pro Football Focus.
Hyatt has been one of college football’s most compelling stories and also one of the nation’s most improved players. He torched Alabama with a school-record five touchdown catches and has 10 touchdowns for the season. The 6-foot, 180-pound junior has elite speed and has been much more consistent in every area of his game. He had made just two career starts prior to this season and has stepped in for the injured Tillman as the Vols’ go-to receiver.
Johnson’s move from guard to left tackle has been a big reason Ohio State’s offense has been as explosive as ever. The Buckeyes rank first nationally in scoring offense (48.8 points per game) and have given up just three sacks. The 6-6, 310-pound Johnson, one of the three offensive linemen who also made our preseason team, hasn’t allowed a sack since the 2020 season, and his tackle cohort on the right side, Dawand Jones, also is a top NFL prospect.
This is Broeker’s third straight season as a starter, and he has blossomed as the Rebels’ starting left guard after playing left tackle as a sophomore and junior. Lane Kiffin’s offenses always run the ball effectively, and the 6-5, 315-pound Broeker has been a mauler. Ole Miss is third nationally in rushing (271.4 yards per game), and Quinshon Judkins and Zach Evans have made a living running behind Broeker.
One of college football’s most experienced and dominant interior offensive linemen, the 6-4, 320-pound Schmitz has 29 career starts. The sixth-year senior has helped clear the way for Mohamed Ibrahim, who is fourth nationally in rushing yards per game (138.8). Schmitz’s 91.2 run-block grade, according to Pro Football Focus, leads all other centers by a wide margin. Schmitz is a carryover from our preseason team.
After starting 11 games at center a year ago, Avila shifted to left guard this season. He’s the unquestioned leader of the TCU offensive line and has played his way into being a top NFL prospect. A 6-4, 330-pound senior, Avila has made starts during his career at center, guard and tackle. His play in the interior of the TCU offensive line has helped the unbeaten Frogs move into the top 25 nationally in both rushing and passing offense.
The Wildcats have struggled, but Skoronski continues to play his left tackle position as well as anybody in the country. The 6-4, 315-pound junior has been a fixture in the Northwestern lineup since his true freshman season in 2020, when he stepped in for Rashawn Slater. Skoronski, who also made our preseason team, has the footwork and strength to play anywhere on the offensive line, but he has excelled at tackle.
There are a lot of good tight ends to choose from. Utah’s Dalton Kincaid and Georgia’s Brock Bowers are both having big years, but Mayer has been the most complete tight end to this point. He leads Notre Dame in catches (33), receiving yards (351) and touchdown catches (five). The 6-4, 265-pound junior is a good runner after the catch and more than holds his own as a blocker.
The transfer from Georgia Tech has been invaluable for an Alabama offense that has had to rely far too much on Young. Gibbs is the only FBS player with more than 600 rushing yards (635), 200 receiving yards (268) and 150 return yards (164). He has five rushing touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns and is one of those players who looks like he’s going to score every time he touches the ball.
Tuipulotu has been one of the most disruptive defenders in the Pac-12 after earning first-team all-conference honors as a sophomore. The 6-4, 290-pound Tuipulotu is athletic enough that he can do a little bit of everything. He leads all FBS defensive linemen with 12.5 tackles for loss and leads all Power 5 defensive linemen with seven sacks.
A dominant pass-rusher on the interior, Kancey had 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack against Georgia Tech and heads into the second half of the season with a total of 8.5 tackles for loss and three sacks while generating six quarterback hurries. The 6-foot, 280-pound Kancey has also freed up other teammates to make plays because he’s constantly facing double teams and crushing the pocket.
Chris Klieman’s Wildcats (5-1) are contending in the Big 12 and their defense has led the way. They’re ranked 14th nationally in scoring defense (16.7 points per game), and the 6-4, 255-pound Anudike-Uzomah has picked up right where he left off a year ago. He has 6.5 sacks (11 last season) and two forced fumbles (six last season), and his constant pressure off the edge has fueled Kansas State’s stifling defense.
Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr. returns interception 25 yards to the house.
Alabama used Anderson a little differently in the loss to Tennessee, and he didn’t have big numbers, but he’s still one of the most feared defenders in college football and a player who must be accounted for on every play. The 6-4, 243-pound junior, the final carryover from our preseason team, is tied for sixth nationally with 10.5 tackles for loss, including five sacks. He has nine quarterback hurries, an interception return for a touchdown and blocked a field goal attempt in the 1-point win over Texas.
Campbell is a fierce leader and competitor and has been one of college football’s most productive defenders from his middle linebacker position the past two years. The 6-5, 246-pound senior has 63 tackles, including three for loss, and recorded a safety in Iowa’s 7-3 win over South Dakota State. Campbell’s presence in the middle is a big reason the Hawkeyes have held opponents to just two rushing TDs this season.
Pace didn’t have to look far for his new home, and his transfer from Miami (Ohio) has paid dividends for both him and Cincinnati. After opening the season at outside linebacker, the 6-foot, 235-pound senior has created havoc from his middle linebacker position and is tied for the FBS lead with 12.5 tackles for loss, including five sacks. He’s been remarkably consistent with an average of 10.3 tackles per game.
The Alabama transfer — and a player the Tide could use right now on defense — moved to inside linebacker at Arkansas and has been a force for the Hogs. His defensive coordinator, Barry Odom, says the 6-5, 233-pound junior is playing at an “elite” level, and Sanders’ numbers back up those words. He has 7.5 tackles for loss, including 6.5 sacks, and has forced three fumbles. He ranks fourth in the SEC with 63 total tackles.
Phillips has started every game since he came to Utah, including all five games during the 2020 shortened season when he was a freshman. During that time, Phillips has developed into one of the top corners in the country and is tied for the FBS lead with five interceptions this season. He had interception returns for touchdowns in back-to-back games earlier this season against Oregon State and UCLA.
Wherever the ball is, you’ll find Forbes. He’s one of the best cover cornerbacks in the country and already has five interceptions this season to add to the three he had a year ago. The 6-foot, 180-pound junior has returned two of his interceptions for touchdowns this season against Texas A&M (33 yards) and Kentucky (59 yards) and has five pick-sixes in his Mississippi State career.
It’s no secret how much talent the Dawgs lost on defense to the NFL last season, and they’ve also been hampered by injuries to some key players. But Smith’s consistency and experience have been vital to a Georgia defense that ranks second nationally in scoring defense (9.1 points per game) and third in total defense (247 yards per game). The 5-11, 195-pound senior has three tackles for loss, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
Illinois and Bret Bielema have something special brewing in Champaign, and it starts with a defense ranked first nationally in scoring defense (8.9 points per game). The Fighting Illini (6-1) have been especially hard on opposing passing games. They’ve allowed just two touchdown passes and collected 12 interceptions. Martin is part of a safety tandem along with Kendall Smith that has been terrific. Martin is second on the team in tackles (33) and has also intercepted two passes.
There’s perfect, and then there’s Christopher Dunn. He’s 14-of-14 on field-goal attempts and hasn’t missed an extra point this season. Eight of Dunn’s field goals have been from 40 yards or longer. The Wolfpack (5-2) would have a third loss had it not been for Dunn making all four of his field goals in the 19-17 win over Florida State. He kicked a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter of that game and the go-ahead 27-yarder with 6:33 to play.
Baringer has been booming footballs seemingly forever in the Big Ten. He started his career at Illinois and is now in his sixth collegiate season. It’s been his best to this point, as he leads the country with a 51.4-yard average (the only FBS punter over 50 yards). He’s had seven of his 30 punts downed inside the 10-yard line and has a long of 70 yards, the best in the Big Ten this season.
Garror, a fifth-year senior cornerback, is the only FBS player with two punt returns for touchdowns. Garror had an 83-yard return for a score in the Ragin’ Cajuns’ opener against Southeastern Louisiana and took one back 69 yards for a touchdown against South Alabama. Garror is averaging 18.4 yards on 13 returns, and he also had a 34-yard return to set up a touchdown against Eastern Michigan.
LOS ANGELES — A lawsuit alleging the NCAA failed to protect a former University of South California player from repeated concussions is nearing trial in a Los Angeles court, with a jury seated Thursday in what could become a landmark case.
The suit filed by Matthew Gee’s widow says the former USC linebacker died in 2018 from permanent brain damage caused by countless blows to the head he took while playing for the 1990 Rose Bowl winning team, whose roster also included future NFL star Junior Seau.
Of the hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits brought by college players against the NCAA in the past decade, Gee’s is only the second to head toward trial and could be the first to reach a jury.
The issue of concussions in sports, and in particular, has been front and center in recent years as research has discovered more about long-term effects of repeated head trauma in problems ranging from headaches to depression and, sometimes, early onset Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.
“For years (the NCAA) has kept players like Matthew Gee and the public in the dark about an epidemic that was slowly killing college athletes,” Alana Gee’s lawsuit said. “Long after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological conditions that could slowly strangle their brains.”
The NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, said it wasn’t responsible for Gee’s tragic death, which it blamed on heavy drinking, drugs and other ailments.
“Mr. Gee used alcohol and drugs to cope with a traumatic childhood, to fill in the loss of identity he felt after his playing days ended, and to numb the chronic and increasing pain caused by numerous health issues,” NCAA lawyers wrote in a court filing.
A 2018 trial in Texas led to a swift settlement after several days of testimony by witnesses for the plaintiff, the widow of Greg Ploetz, who played defense for Texas in the late 1960s.
In 2016, the NCAA agreed to settle a class-action concussion lawsuit, paying $70 million to monitor the medical conditions of former college athletes, another $5 million toward medical research and payments up to $5,000 toward individual players claiming injuries.
The NFL has been hit with similar suits and eventually agreed to a settlement covering 20,000 retired players providing up to $4 million for a death involving chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries.
Lawyers said they expected NFL payouts to top $1.4 billion over 65 years for six qualifying conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
Gee, 49, was one of five linebackers on the 1989 Trojans squad who died before turning 50. As with Seau, who killed himself in 2012, Gee’s brain was examined posthumously and found to have CTE.
The defense has sought to exclude any testimony about Gee’s teammates, and the NCAA said there was no medical evidence Gee suffered from concussions at USC.
Two ex-teammates, however, testified at depositions about blows they routinely took in an era when they were told to hit with their heads.
Mike Salmon, who played defense at USC and went on to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills, said he distinctly recalled Gee and other linebackers being “out of it” during hard-hitting practices.
“Matt hit like a truck,” Salmon said. “I saw him quite a bit coming back to the huddle. You could tell … he wasn’t all there.”
“It was our job to make helmet-to-helmet contact in the ’80s,” Gene Fruge, a former nose-tackle testified. “There was no question about it. That was your job, to explode the man in front of you.”
The NCAA, which required schools in 2010 to have a concussion protocol, said it gave them “state-of-the-art” information about head injury risks known at the time Gee played. It said long-term effects of head injuries weren’t well understood then.
Gee’s lawsuit said the debilitating effects of concussions and other traumatic brain impacts have been known for about a century, first from studies of “punch drunk” boxers and later from findings in football and other contact sports.
“The NCAA knew of the harmful effects … on athletes for decades, they ignored these facts and failed to institute any meaningful methods of warning and/or protecting the athletes,” the lawsuit said. “For the NCAA, the continued expansion and operation of college football was simply too profitable to put at risk.”
After graduating in 1992, Gee was cut by the Los Angeles Raiders in training camp. He married Alana, his college sweetheart, and they had three children as he ran his own insurance company in Southern California. For 20 years, he lived a “relatively normal” life, the suit said.
But that began to change around 2013 when he began to lose control of his emotions, the lawsuit said. He became angry, confused and depressed. He drank heavily. He told a doctor days would go by without him being able to recall what happened.
When he died on New Year’s Eve 2018, the preliminary cause of death was listed as the combined toxic effects of alcohol and cocaine with other significant conditions of cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis and obesity.
Joseph Low, a Los Angeles lawyer for clients with traumatic brain injury who is not involved in the case, said drug and alcohol abuse can become a symptom of brain injuries as those suffering try to self-medicate, particularly as they deteriorate.
Blaming Gee’s death on substance abuse will not shield the NCAA from evidence showing he had CTE, which is not caused by drugs and alcohol, Low said.
“The whole discussion about drugs and alcohol isn’t going to get it done for them. That’s a distraction,” Low said. “It’s really a disgusting way to do character assassination. It’s what you call defense strategy 101.”
UCLA coach Chip Kelly is facing his former school this weekend.
Never have the stakes been this high.
No. 9 UCLA plays at No. 10 Oregon this Saturday in a game that will likely narrow the Pac-12’s College Football Playoff chances to two teams.
Kelly lost the first two games against Oregon, the team he led to the 2011 BCS national championship game, but takes a much better team with him to Autzen Stadium this year.
“It’s always special going back there, it’s a special place in my life and there’s a lot of great people there that had a profound impact on my life,” said Kelly, Oregon’s coach from 2009-12. “But I’m not playing the game. We’re totally focused.”
The Pac-12′s first top-10 matchup since 2018 will keep one Pac-12 team alive in the CFP push and likely eliminate the other.
UCLA (6-0, 3-0 Pac-12) is the conference’s lone undefeated team and is coming off a bye after beating No. 15 Utah. Keep their roll going and the Bruins could work their way up to a top-four spot in the CFP.
The Ducks (5-1, 3-0) were crushed 49-3 by top-ranked Georgia in their opener, but have scored at least 40 points in five straight games since. Oregon would have to win out and hope a one-loss Pac-12 team will be good enough to get into the CFP.
No. 12 Southern California also would have to win out to hopefully get a playoff look.
The What to Watch rundown for this week of college football, presented by Regions Bank:
BEST GAME
No. 8 TCU at No. 7 Kansas State. The Big 12’s best defense faces its best offense with first place on the line.
The Frogs (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) have the offense, averaging 526.7 yards and 45.8 points per game. The Wildcats (5-1, 3-0) have the defense, holding opponents to 16.7 points per game.
TCU, picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll, is the conference’s lone undefeated team remaining after rallying to beat No. 11 Oklahoma State 43-40 in double overtime last week.
Kansas State, picked fifth in the preseason poll, is the only other Big 12 team still undefeated in conference play after grinding out a 10-9 win over Iowa State.
HEISMAN WATCH
Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA. USC’s Caleb Williams is getting the most Heisman hype out West, but DTR has been putting up big numbers for the only Pac-12 team that hasn’t lost.
Thompson-Robinson has thrown for 1,510 yards and 15 touchdowns with two interceptions, adding 231 yards and four more scores rushing. If the Bruins make it to the CFP, he will likely be in the Heisman conversation.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
1 — Sack allowed by Oregon, fewest in the FBS.
16 — Receptions by Utah’s Dalton Kincaid against USC last week, most by a tight end since Northwestern’s Jon Harvey had 17 against Michigan in 1982.
24 — Years since No. 25 Tulane was ranked before cracking the AP Top 25 this week.
40 — Consecutive top-5 appearances in the AP Top 25 by Alabama before dropping to No. 6 this week.
551 — Total yards per game by Tennessee, tops in the FBS.
UNDER THE RADAR
No. 6 Alabama at No. 24 Mississippi State. The poor Bulldogs seem to have a knack for playing Alabama right after a Crimson Tide loss. It hasn’t gone well.
Alabama has played Mississippi State coming off a loss three times since 2019, winning those games by a combined 71 points.
The Bulldogs also will be playing with heavy hearts following the death of freshman offensive lineman Sam Westmoreland earlier this week.
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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP—Top25
We’re officially over halfway through college football’s regular season, so what better time to check on the Heisman Trophy race than now?
After several high-profile games this past week, our Heisman watch has been turned upside down with three new faces on the list since our last check in — congrats on making the cut once again C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young.
This week, you’ll see our Heisman standings, top Heisman moments of the week, what to watch for in Week 8, plus a Q&A with Michigan RB Blake Corum.
Voting methodology: 13 voters ranked their top five candidates, with five points for a first-place vote down to one point for a fifth-place vote.
Notable: Hooker has been the breakout star of the college football season so far and his best came last Saturday against Alabama. He finished 21 of 30 for 385 yards and five touchdowns as the Volunteers beat the Crimson Tide for the first since 2006.
Notable: Stroud has been the picture of consistency this season as the No. 2 Buckeyes are off to a 6-0 start. Stroud has thrown for over 350 yards three times this season, including his last time out when he threw for 361 yards and six touchdowns against Michigan State. He’s thrown for 4+ touchdowns in four games this season.
Notable: The Crimson Tide may have taken a loss at Tennessee but Young’s return was still something to behold. He threw for 455 yards and two touchdowns while keeping Alabama in the game as Hooker was lighting up the scoreboard. Young is looking to be the second player in history to win back-to-back Heisman trophies.
Notable: The Bruins are off to the program’s best start under Chip Kelly and the success starts with the quarterback. Thompson-Robinson put UCLA on the map on Sept. 30 when he threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-32 win over a ranked Washington team. If Thompson-Robinson wants to thoroughly place himself in the Heisman conversation, a big performance in Eugene this week against Oregon will do it.
Notable: Much like Young, one of Williams’ best performances of the season came in loss. The Trojans fell late to Utah this past week but Williams threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns in the 43-42 defeat. He also ran for 57 yards against the Utes.
Heisman odds: +800
Others receiving votes (total points in parentheses): Blake Corum, RB, Michigan (8); Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina (3)
Q&A with Blake Corum
After Michigan’s 41-17 win over Penn State in Ann Arbor, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and Chris Grandstaff talked with Corum about his season and the Heisman.
ESPN: Reggie Bush has attended your last few games [as a Fox analyst]. What have your interactions been like with him?
BC: I’ve become really cool friends with Reggie the last couple weeks. I talked to Reggie after every game. The respect is mutual. Reggie is one of the best running backs ever, especially when you talk about college, he killed it. He told me what he thought about my cutting ability and what type of running back I am. He said I’m one of the best. He is the best, so getting those words from him meant a lot. I talked to them after the game yesterday, and then when he was leaving, the police were escorting their cars, and I was walking out with fans, and he saw me, he rolled his window down [and said], ‘Keep being great.’ Then he told me, ‘You’re the best running back in the nation.’ That meant a lot. If I’m able to win the Heisman like Reggie, it would be a blessing.
ESPN: Did you see Charles Woodson at the Penn State game?
BC: Yeah, I’ve met Charles Woodson a couple of times. I talked to him before the game, he came up to me. Desmond Howard, I’m really cool with him. I know a bunch of guys who used to play here.
ESPN: Obviously those two guys won the biggest award you can win in the Heisman. What would it mean to be in that mix and ultimately have a chance?
BC: It would be amazing, but I’m not looking too far ahead. I’m really focused on trying to get better, how can this team get better and keep winning? When you’re winning, everyone’s looking at you. Those awards that happen at the end of the season, they’re at the end of the season for a reason. I’m not going to win the Doak Walker [Award] today, I’m not going to win the Heisman today. I have to keep producing, I have to keep eating, and that’s going to take work. Obviously, it would be a blessing to be up there on that wall next to the greats. It would be a dream come true.
ESPN: Growing up, what was your Heisman Trophy memory? What player do you remember most?
BC: I don’t have too many Heisman memories, because more times than not, it’s a quarterback winning it. But when I committed to Michigan, I went on YouTube and actually looked at the [Heisman] ceremonies of Desmond and Charles. Obviously, Johnny Manziel, that was cool with the money sign, that was a big year, that was fun, everyone was rooting for him. He was a heck of an athlete.
ESPN: How do you view your role last year as opposed to what they’re asking of you this season?
BC: I look at it as Donovan [Edwards] took my role and I took Hassan [Haskins’] role. Hassan last year, he set it up for me. He got those hard yards, and then I come in and break a 50-yarder. It’s a little different now because he wasn’t really breaking too many 50-yarders. I’m still breaking some long ones, but he was getting 20-plus carries a game, really inside zone, he wasn’t going outside too much. I feel like I’m that thunder with some lightning as well. That’s what my role is. I can take the load and then Donovan comes in and does his thing, too. I was lightning last year. Now I get to the goal line, like third-and-1, I’m in as a power back. Red zone, I’m in.
ESPN: How important has it been for you to prove you can do that and still break a 60-yarder?
BC: It’s been very important. A lot of people have doubted my durability, maybe my size, it starts with my height [5-8], but at the end of the day I’m 210 [pounds], weighed in at 212 today. So the weight isn’t a problem. But being able to get 28 to 30 carries in the last four games, I feel has shown a lot to whoever may have been doubting that.
ESPN: Who have you tried to model your game after?
BC: I love Barry Sanders. He was a little before my time, so I didn’t really get to watch him on TV, but I love watching him on YouTube, just how elusive he was and how he was able to get out of cuts and get out of tackles, break tackles, not get touched. I admire his style. Then, when it comes to power, because I like inside zone, I like running up the middle, I’m not afraid of contact, so I like Marshawn Lynch. He likes getting hit, he likes hitting people. He has that thing where he says, ‘Hit ’em over and over and over again.’ I like that mentality.
ESPN: You mentioned earlier that the Heisman is often a quarterback’s award. What would it mean to win it as a running back?
BC: It would mean a lot because it is kind of like a quarterback award. Obviously, [Michigan defensive end] Aidan [Hutchinson] went last year, didn’t get a chance to win it. If I’m able to go [to New York] and win it, I don’t know what I would do, honestly. I just know it would mean the world to me. I would definitely have come back and give my offensive linemen and big ol’ present. If I’m able to win it, I don’t know what the emotions would be like. It would mean a lot, especially another No. 2 at the University of Michigan winning it. They may have to retire the jersey after that. I thought they would have already retired it after Charles, just because of the legend he is, but if someone else wins it wearing No. 2, oh man, it would be a blessing.
play
0:27
Blake Corum gets down to the 1-yard line with a 50-yard run. On the next play he finished the drive off with a short touchdown run.
Top Heisman moments this past week
1. Let’s be honest, Hooker’s entire performance against Alabama is why he’s No. 1 on the list this week. But here’s one of his many dimes from the 52-49 win.
No. 9 UCLA at No. 10 Oregon (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox)
As previously mentioned, if Dorian Thompson-Robinson is a true Heisman candidate, this will be the game to show it — until the USC matchup, of course. ESPN’s College GameDay is heading to Eugene for the game and, with both teams in the top 10, UCLA coach Chip Kelly’s return to Oregon should be one of the Pac-12’s most electric games of the season. Oh, and Oregon quarterback Bo Nix isn’t too shabby, either.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Wynton Marsalis has done just about everything in the world of music.
One thing he hasn’t, however, is team up his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with a college marching band — until now.
“I’ve never seen a jazz band like ours play with a marching band, where the actual music we’re playing is integrated into the music the band is playing,” Marsalis said during one of his many stops this week in Ann Arbor, where the Grammy and Pulitzer winner is taking part in a weeklong residency at the University of Michigan.
On Thursday, the 60-year-old Marsalis and members of the JLCO strode onto the Michigan Marching Band’s practice field to rehearse for Saturday’s show. They’ll play during the Michigan football team’s game against Penn State at the 107,000-seat Michigan Stadium.
The legendary trumpeter opened the rehearsal with a solo that was met with raucous applause from those who packed the field. Afterward, Marsalis was surrounded by band members and others who waited patiently to pose for a picture with him.
The University Musical Society, a nonprofit affiliated with the University of Michigan and one of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, brought Marsalis and his orchestra to southeast Michigan for the residency. It includes a pair of concerts at the school’s Hill Auditorium as well as masterclasses and workshops, plus a performance for K-12 students and a visit to a federal prison.
And, of course, the halftime show at the Big House.
“Hopefully, you are going to win the game. We know the music is going to be good,” Marsalis jabbed at Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel during a lecture and discussion earlier in the week at the Michigan Theater.
His personality as flamboyant as his football talent, Deion Sanders had two nicknames during his hall of fame NFL career: he was “Neon Deion” and “Prime Time.” But for his latest gig, Sanders high stepped it to Mississippi and, at age 55, he is now the head football coach at Jackson State, a historically Black university or HBCU. Sanders’ salary of $500,000 is less than 5% of what, one state over, Alabama pays its coach, Nick Saban. Yet, Jackson State might be the hottest program in America, poaching talented recruits and winning games in equal measure, powered by, yes, the style, but also the substance, of the man who now calls himself Coach Prime.
Deion Sanders had never coached in college when he agreed two years ago to try and rescue Jackson State from football irrelevance.
Jon Wertheim: Why are you here?
Deion Sanders: I truly believe with all my heart and soul that God called me collect (laugh) and I had to accept the charges…
Jon Wertheim: You picked up…You accepted the charges.
Deion Sanders: I had to accept the charges. But understanding when you accept those type of charges, it’s gonna cost you something.
Jon Wertheim: What’s it cost you?
Deion Sanders: Lotta sleep. But I can’t say I don’t love it. I love every durn minute of it.
Deion Sanders
It doesn’t hurt that his team is durn good. The Jackson State Tigers are blazing through their HBCU football opponents: 11-2 last season, undefeated so far this season…
Watch the Tigers rack up points – led by Deion’s son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders – and you wonder how they’d fare against the football elites, the so-called Power Five schools.
Sanders took the job at Jackson State three months after George Floyd’s murder, timing, he says, that was no coincidence.
Deion Sanders: It was relevant because a lotta folks sit back on them, with Twitter fingers and talk about what they gonna do. And, and I wanted to go do it.
Jon Wertheim: Do what?
Deion Sanders: Change lives. Change the perspective of, of HBCU football. Make everyone step up to the plate and do what’s right by these kids.
Ashley Robinson, Jackson State’s athletic director, pursued rumors that Sanders might be interested in coaching; and offered him a job.
Jon Wertheim: What’s been the impact here at Jackson State since he’s arrived?
Ashley Robinson: Coach Prime was the biggest hire in college football. I’m talkin’ about Power Five level. He’s the biggest hire in college football.
Jon Wertheim: All of college football?
Ashley Robinson: All of college football, it’s no, it’s no other Deion Sanders.
Jon Wertheim: What’s Deion Sanders worth to Jackson State?
Ashley Robinson: Hoo! I don’t think I could put a number on that. I don’t think it’s enough zeroes, I mean, he’s worth a lot.
Ashley Robinson
The bump in attendance, buzz and commerce is especially welcome in a city marked by poverty. Deprivation that can be glimpsed just on the other side of the fence from the JSU football facility. The program was depressed as well. Time was, Jackson State produced four hall of fame NFL players, including running back Walter Payton; but when Sanders arrived, not one Jackson State player had been drafted in 12 years.
Jon Wertheim: What struck you about being here on this campus?
Deion Sanders: The need.
Jon Wertheim: What kinda needs are you sensing here?
Deion Sanders: You wanna start in alphabetical order or in numerical? (laughter)
Sanders was immediately confronted with the economic realities of HBCUs and with the social cleavages of Mississippi.
Jon Wertheim: What were the facilities like?
Deion Sanders: Horrible. (Laughs) And, and I’m sitting up there thinking, even to this day, how can a public high school in Texas look better than a college.
Jon Wertheim: Football facilities where you lived in Texas were better than this?
Deion Sanders: School. Forget the durn football facility. The whole durn school. That, that shouldn’t be right.
Jackson State’s old practice field was so shabby, when it rained the Tigers had to bus to a local high school. Coach Prime reached out not to a wealthy booster, but to Walmart, which built Jackson State a brand new practice field. Next, he had a new locker room built. The attention Sanders has brought to HBCU football has translated into a revenue spike for his league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Dr. Charles McClelland is the conference commissioner.
Jon Wertheim: Did you expect him to have this kind of impact on HBCUs when he came to Jackson State?
Dr. Charles McClelland: I did not, and I often say this. I’ve been around stars before. This is the first time that I’ve been around a super star. And I really didn’t realize the difference…
Jon Wertheim: What, what do you mean by that?
Dr. Charles McClelland: Well, you know, a super star can enter any room, can enter any board room Coach Prime is a business person. Coach Prime has opened up doors for the Southwestern Athletic Conference that we could not get into.
Dr. Charles McClelland
Pepsi, American Airlines, Procter & Gamble all are new sponsors of Jackson State or the conference. Call it the Prime effect. But for all the flash, Sanders is defiantly old school, even by football standards. What other head coach brings his own lawn mower to the practice facility?
Deion Sanders: I may tell you once, yeah (claps), you know that grass needs to be cut on Thursday. Okay? Now, if you don’t cut it, I’m going to go do it.
Jon Wertheim: That’s you in a nutshell right there.
Deion Sanders: I, I can’t -it’s unfathomable to me to understand that you don’t wanna do your job and you gettin’ compensated for it. That’s not the generation I came from.
Also unfathomable to Sanders: how the city of Jackson hasn’t been able to provide clean water consistently or sometimes any water at all. At one point, a documentary team caught him bathing out of necessity in a hotel swimming pool near the stadium.
Jon Wertheim: The water crisis here was a national story. Tell me specifically how that impacted your program these last few months.
Deion Sanders: Forget our program. It impacted the whole durn city. I’m not into politics but I am into people. And I just feel as though our people should be taken care of a lot better.
Jon Wertheim: Just to be clear in wealthier areas they, they did all right with their water. I wonder if there isn’t some parallels between HBCUs and resources.
Deion Sanders: Shoot, you, you know darn well there’s a parallel with HBCUs and resources. Underserved and overlooked.
Jon Wertheim: What do you do about that?
Deion Sanders: You’re here. That’s what I do about that.
As if the water crisis weren’t enough, last season Sanders was hospitalized with life-threatening blood clots that had formed in his leg.
Jon Wertheim: Did you have any idea at the time how serious this was?
Deion Sanders: No, none whatsoever.
Sanders had to endure nine surgeries. Two of his toes were amputated, a chunk of his leg was removed. He spent 23 days in the hospital and when he returned to his team, he needed help moving around.
Twice a day, his damaged leg is rubbed to get the blood flowing. A towering athlete in American sports, who once darted and dashed into the end zone, who played in two Super Bowls and one World Series. We didn’t mention that? Yeah, he played Major League Baseball, too. That man may never run again.
Deion Sanders: I had my turn. Now, I’m helping someone else dominate theirs.
Though Sanders now limps noticeably and struggles to stand for an entire practice, his ambition persists.
Travis Hunter
The entrenched college football powers are getting nervous. It’s one thing for Sanders to recruit his sons, Shilo, a defensive back, and Shedeur, the star quarterback. But heads really swiveled last winter when Travis Hunter, considered the top-ranked recruit in the country, switched his commitment to Jackson State from Florida State—where, ironically, Sanders starred in the 1980s.
Jon Wertheim: What changed your mind?
Travis Hunter: Uh, Coach Prime. He just let me know how big of an impact I can have on the people and that’s one of the things I wanted to do. I wanted to shine a light on, on our people and shine a light on HBCUs.
Jon Wertheim: ‘Our people’ you mean…
Travis Hunter: Yeah, African Americans.
Deion Sanders: What he was gonna do was normal. That’s been done. Big-time recruit goin’ to a big-time school. But a big-time recruit chooses to go to Jackson State? Oh, that changes the trajectory of so many other kids. Now, they’re sayin’, hmmm, if it’s good enough for Travis to go there and play, it may be good enough for me. So, that’s a game-changing decision that he made for so many.
Jon Wertheim: Disruption?
Deion Sanders: That’s it.
There is an undercurrent here: if the top recruits, who are predominantly African American, get a taste of the full hbcu football experience: in stadiums packed with people who look like them. It could be a powerful pull, just listen to Shedeur, Deion’s son, immediately after a lopsided home win last month.
Jon Wetheim: Tens of thousands of fans, tailgate, band. What’s it like playing a home game like this?
Shedeur Sanders: Man, it’s amazing. You see – you see all these people, it’s just real love there. Just playing at home, in Jackson, they needed us to pull it through.
Shedeur Sanders and correspondent Jon Wertheim
HBCUs are starting to think big and dream big.
Jon Wertheim: You were a good high school football player. You said you…
Deion Sanders: I was, I was a great high school player.
Jon Wertheim: You were a great high school football player. (laughs) You said you weren’t, weren’t considering HBCUs.
Deion Sanders: They never recruited me. That’s why I never considered HBCU, HBCUs just started recruiting the four- and five-star players just recently because they never thought they, they could get them. Now, they believe.
But can HBCUs compete with schools where players’ lockers are designed like first-class airplane cabins and rehab facilities feature underwater treadmills?
Jon Wertheim: Kid gets hurt here, there’s no hydrotherapy pool?
Deion Sanders: No. You– you better get in the pool with a fan and that’s about it.
Jon Wertheim: That– that’s how you do (LAUGH) hydrotherapy here–
Deion Sanders: That’s about it. Put a little fan in there with a little battery. Hope you don’t get electrocuted. (LAUGH)
JSU’s entire football budget is only $4 million.
Jon Wertheim: Ohio State, Alabama fifteen times that.
Deion Sanders: Yeah. And we came down to the final two, us and Alabama for this big lineman that we almost had a few days ago.
Jon Wertheim: How does that make you feel?
Deion Sanders: It makes me feel good because we were right there neck to neck with Alabama. And we broke (laugh). So, so what if? So y- what if? And I’m hopin’ a political figure or someone, some billionaire out there sayin’, you know, what? I’m gonna bet on Prime, man. Let me go help that program, because I just wanna see what it would be like if he had the resources these other schools would have.
The cinematic version of the story has Coach Prime sticking it out at Jackson State, as the program grows on par with those of the Power Five. The reality: it may not be long before he takes his gold whistle to a school that doesn’t need to beg for resources.
Jon Wertheim: What happens when a Power 5 school says give us a number and we’ll make it work?
Deion Sanders: I’m gonna have to entertain it.
Jon Wertheim: You are?
Deion Sanders: Yes. I’m gonna have to entertain it. Straight up. I’d be a fool not to.
Sanders says he needs to look after his assistants who are wildly underpaid by college football standards. He has ruled out one bigger leap.
Deion Sanders: It’s hard for me to coach a person that makes a lotta money that does not truly love the game that blessed me. And I don’t wanna go to jail (laugh)
Jon Wertheim: What are you goin’ to jail for?
Deion Sanders: Because I’m goin’ to jump on somebody. (laughs) I will come out at halftime with half the team.
Jon Wertheim: It’s that offensive to you…
Deion Sanders: We’re going, we’ll go in and half the team will come back out at halftime. Yeah…
Jon Wertheim: If you had a bunch of guys doggin’ it, it’s that offensive to you…
Deion Sanders: I couldn’t do it. I just challenged a walk on, I said, ‘Dude, you’re a walk-on. You’re supposed to be tryin’ to get my attention and you chillin? I say, you’re gonna be a walk off if you do that one more time. Not a walk-on. You’ll be a walk-off.
What’s the significance of winning to Deion Sanders? Let’s just say Vince Lombardi never put it quite like this.
Deion Sanders: I gotta win in every facet of life. That’s what winning is. And we… That’s our natural odor. We don’t even use cologne (claps). Baby we a winner. We smell like winning around here. When you saw us on the practice field you walked and you… when we first met, you, you could feel that you shook the hand of a winner. You felt that. I know durn well you had to call somebody, say, hey, man, I just met Coach Prime, baby. Something about him, something. He’s magnetic. I’m gonna win. But not only win, I’m gonna dominate. That’s what I do. That’s who I am.
Produced by Draggan Mihailovich. Associate producer, Emily Cameron. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Matthew Lev.
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Deion Sanders, aka Coach Prime, is altering the landscape of sports once again, this time as head football coach at Jackson State University, an HBCU looking to compete with Power Five programs.
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