ICYMI: Miami Embarrasses Sloppy Va. Tech

It wasn't exactly a prime time performance for the Virginia Tech Hokies at home.

The University of Miami came into Lane Stadium Thursday night and pounded the hapless Hokies 30-6 behind Duke Johnson's 249 yards rushing and 2 TD's.

Va.Tech fumbled on their first three possessions of the 2nd half, already down 24-0, which means they pretty much never had a chance.

Really there isn't much else to add about this game. The ACC, outside of Florida State isn't much of a playoff factor. The win did move the Hurricanes to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC, while Tech falls to 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC.

The only impact may be to Ohio State who the Hokies inexplicably were able to beat earlier in the season. The worse Va. Tech plays the worse the loss looks to the Buckeyes who are trying to overcome their horrible Big 10 schedule and slip into the playoff.

Here are your highlights from ESPN.com:

Josh Childress With the Nasty Flying Elbow

Yeesh! We always wondered what happened to former Atlanta Hawk and Phoenix Suns player Josh Childress. Or the NBA player formerly known as the guy with Kid in Play's hair.

A few years ago Childress took a big money offer and left the NBA to play in we believe Greece.

Well, Josh appears to be working his way around the globe as he's now in Australia's National Basketball league, with even bigger hair and playing for the Sydney Kings.

He also appears to have found a bit of a temper.

Check out this video of Childress getting knocked down by a strong, but legal pick from Jesse Wagstaff of the Perth Wildcats.

Childress did not like the play. So much so that he sprang up from the floor and delivered a full speed flying elbow/clothesline to Wagstaff's face.

And yes, he was tossed from the game...

OSG High: Another School FB Season Canceled From Hazing

((HT: MyFoxPhilly))

The HQ told you last week about the Sayreville (NJ) program that had its season yanked out from under itself because of a massive hazing situation by senior leaders upon freshman players.

Now, a program in suburban Philadelphia is following suit.

Central Bucks (PA) West High is marching through those same steps on the eve of Homecoming. Their varsity and junior varsity team's schedules, as well as the coaching staffs associated, have been suspended

Superintendent David Weitzel released a statement on the Central Bucks School District website:

“Based on all available, verified information gathered from an ongoing internal investigation into allegations of improper conduct by numerous Central Bucks West football team members, and the failure of the coaching staff to properly supervise activities, swift and firm action is absolutely necessary.”

Here's the story from CB West
FOX 29 News Philadelphia | WTXF-TV

ABC6 describes one of the alleged hazing activities- the "sugar cookie."

Bruce Pearl Crashes Lecture Hall at Auburn: Complete With Entrance Music

((ht: cbssports.com))

Anything to get a butt in a seat, right?

We give nothing but props to new Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl, he is a master at drumming up grass roots support for his teams.

He proved it with some crazy ideas when he was at Tennessee which included going shirtless and painting himself orange.

Pearl didn't do that at Auburn--yet.

He's got his work cut out for him at a place and a conference where hoops are pretty much an afterthought.

With that in mind, check out what happens during this elaborate prank/skit at ironically a college lecture about marketing and branding.

The build is a bit slow as an odd person or two wanders into the room seemingly lost. Then about 2 minutes in, everybody storms the doors, cheerleaders, Aubie, the band--everyone.

Intro completed, that's when Pearl walks in and gets his ovation.

Hey, why not, it works for wrestlers :)

Well played Auburn, well played...

The Dirty Dozen and Bottom of The Barrel: Who's With Me?

No, despite there only being four undefeated teams, it ain't over yet--

We're about to hit the homestretch in the College Football season...otherwise known as November. And there are still plenty of hurdles even the undefeated teams will have to clear. 

We know that the SEC West appears to be the best conference in all the land, but will any of those teams have enough left to beat Georgia in the SEC title game?

Casey

And we know that Notre Dame may or may not have gotten jobbed in Tallahassee, a game we secretly hoped both teams would lose...alas, that was not possible.

But enough of that, there's pickin' to be done....

Last week, so 11-3 ain't bad...right? And we called the West Va. win. That makes us 78-16 on the season. (We don't pick the spread...not that smart)

But anyway...

To quote the late, great Casey Kasem....it's "On with the countdown"....

THE DIRTY DOZEN

1) Florida State 7-0. Yeah SEC fans, I said it. They are still #1. Not necessarily because they are the best team, but they will run the table. No guarantees anyone else in the FBS can do that. And more importantly...

And nobody has been able to do that. This Week: BYE

2) Mississippi State 6-0. The bye last week had to help them because they came off 3 straight tough games. And are now everyone's darlings. But unless they shore up the pass defense (last in FBS), Alabama will beat them in a couple weeks. This Week: vs. Kentucky, Our Pick: Miss St. 38, KY 17

3) Ole Miss 7-0. We're still in shock to Mississippi teams are in the top 3. That may very well be a sign of the apocalypse. Their achilles heel is offense, the O is inconsistent, but a strong D more than makes up for it. The next 2 weeks will determine how big the Egg Bowl will be. This Week: at LSU, Our Pick: Ole Miss 24, LSU 23--close call

4) Alabama 6-1. Today's lesson: Don't make Nick Saban angry. You won't like Saban when he's angry. He and the Tide went all Hulk on Texas A and M and now they get Saban's work partner Coach Kiffykins returning to the scene of one of his crimes. Already it's been fun. This Week: at Tennessee, Our Pick: Bama 45, Tenn. 23

5) Auburn 5-1. Somehow these guys always fly under the radar. Sure, they got beat by Miss. St. but they are dangerous. Very dangerous. We suspect they will have a voice in who goes to the SEC title game and the playoff. This Week: vs. South Carolina, Our Pick: Auburn 41, S.Carolina 27

6) Oregon 6-1. We put the Duckies here only because we think the Pac 12 is better than the little 10. They are likely to be a playoff team, but we don't think they are better than anyone ranked ahead of them. IMO. But I could be wrong. This Week: at Cal, Our Pick: Oregon 51, Cal 31

7) Michigan St. 6-1. Your best of the Little 10. And they are pretty good. But Oregon did beat them. And playing in the 10, they aren't going to be pushed too hard. The only test: 3 weeks from now they play Ohio St. This Week: vs. Michigan, Our Pick: Mich St. 38, Mich 27

8) Georgia 6-1. Another dangerous team with a history of shooting themselves in the foot. If indeed they get Todd Gurley back, they become scary good. The D has improved each week. With Gurley and Chubb, they just play keep away. The only test left--vs. Auburn in November. This Week: BYE

9) Notre Dame 6-1. This is one of their better, tougher teams. They should have beaten FSU, but didn't. But they are Notre Dame, they'll get love. The pass defense needs work, but Everett Golston has been outstanding. And no roadblocks ahead. This Week: BYE

10) TCU 5-1. Outside a Gary Patterson brain fart, they have been the best of the Big 9(12). The D hasn't been great, but QB Trevonne Boykin has been a revelation. And the reason the Horned Frogs are scary good on offense. This Week: vs. Texas Tech, Our Pick: TCU 48, T-Tech 31

11) Kansas State 5-1. If not for a bad Field Goal kicker, they beat Auburn and are undefeated. And yes, Bill Snyder is a wizard of some sorts, he just keeps producing good teams in the middle of the Kansas plains. This Week: vs. Texas, Our Pick: K-State 31, Texas 21

12) Ohio State 5-1. It took the Buckeyes a couple weeks to find their footing, but they have. Outside Mich. St, they are the only other serious threat in the Little 10. JT Barrett has been a revelation, and for the Urbanator, that's all he needs. This Week: at Penn St., Our Pick: tOSU 38, Penn St. 27

THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL:

Oy, there's only one NO WIN team left here (SMU). What ever are we to do? Too many of our past lists have had multiple no win teams on it. But hey, maybe that just means everyone is getting better.

Or not....

5) Georgia St. 1-6. The Panthers should never have jumped to the FBS as fast as they did. They were not ready. And are now just everyone's cupcake game. They are playing their polar opposite this week, who waited until they were ready to jump. And now are scaring everyone. This Week: vs. Ga.Southern, Our Pick: Ga.Southern 43, Ga.State 21 (was there doubt?)

4) Idaho 1-6. Yay! The Vandals stole a game. Even though it was last week, it's not enough to get them off the Barrel--yet. They still can't stop the run. Though they should be able to manage it this week. This Week: BYE

3) Troy 1-6. There was hope for the retiring Larry Blakeney after a win. Then they play Appalachian State and got annihilated. So, the misery continues. They do have games with Ga.State and Idaho left, so there is hope. This Week: at South Alabama. Our Pick: S.Alabama 31, Troy 27

2) Miami OH 1-7. Oh how some things never change. They too finally won a game, but have done nothing with that momentum. At all. No defense and little offense, means you often will lose. This Week: vs. Kent State, Our Pick: Kent St. 37, Miami OH 36

1) SMU 0-6. Pity the poor Mustangs. They've been shut out twice and hit double figures in points once. That folks, is not good. And things aren't getting any better. This Week: vs. Memphis, Our Pick: Memphis 43, SMU 6

For you SMU fans--

Really? Fresno State Hoopster Drains 5 Straight Half Court Shots

((ht: cbssports.com))

Okay, dropping 5 straight shots from half court in Basketball is not as easy as Fresno State guard Cezar Guerrero makes it look.

Really, it isn't.

Check out what happened Tuesday night as Guerrero (the small speck at half court shooting to the left basket on video) was messing around on the court

BASTA Sports: World Series Breakdown: The Royals Tie Things Up

By: Apurv Baichwal

Talk about reversing trends. After everything went so well yesterday for the Giants, they had the exact opposite results today. Instead of winning 7-1, like they did yesterday, they instead lost 7-2 today, mainly due to rookie Hunter Strickland not being able to pitch well. This loss also marked the Giants first World Series loss in seven games. The game also was the second World Series where the first two games were decided by five runs or more; the only other time this happened was when the Yankees beat the giants 8-1 in each of the first two Fall Classic games way back in 1937. The Giants offense that looked so prolific yesterday actually managed to get hits today as well, but they could not turn these hits into runs. Also, the Giants pitching was not nearly as stellar, from the starters to the relievers.

The game actually started off better than Tuesday, though. Gregor Blanco led off the game by lacing a 97 MPH fastball to right field for a home run, putting the Giants immediately up 1-0. The game looked like it would go pretty well for the Giants after this solo shot, as they went up early, something that has been key to their success all year. This leadoff home run marked the first one of its type in Giants’ World Seres history, and the 10th leadoff man in all of World Series history to knock a leadoff home run.

The Royals responded though very quickly, scoring a run in the first and second innings, bringing the score to 2-1 Royals. The Giants fought back to a tie game in the fourth, in what looked to be a pitchers duel at the time.

Pablo Sandoval led off the fourth inning with a double to center that just bounced off the Royals’ center fielder, Lorenzo Cain’s, glove and squirted to the left, allowing Sandoval to easily make it to second. Hunter Pence was unable to advance Sandoval as he grounded out, but Brandon Belt was still able to knock him in with a double to deep right field, off the wall.

Unfortunately, after the fourth inning, the Giants were unable to muster any runs, and their offense was quite quiet for the rest of the game. One interesting note for the Giants hitters is that every single starter got exactly one hit each; nobody had a multi-hit game, but everyone at least produced a small amount of offense. This should be considered a positive, as although the Giants were not able to string together their hits to score runs, they were still able to gain nine of them.


 On the other side of the game, Jake Peavy looked to be having a pretty good outing until the sixth inning. Through five innings he had only given up five hits and a walk and had only given up two runs. However, after allowing a single followed by a walk that included some very questionable command, Peavy was pulled from the game, and Jean Machi replaced him. Peavy’s final line was five plus innings with six hits, two walks, four earned runs (although two of them came after he left), and two strikeouts.

The next few pitchers didn’t do much better either, as a string of relievers all gave up hits. Machi was unable to record an out as he gave up an RBI single. Javier Lopez was the only bright spot of this bullpen as he completed his assignment and recorded on out. Hard-throwing rookie right-hander Hunter Strickland then earned the award for worst pitcher of the night as he allowed two huge hits, a two-run double and a two-run home run. Although he really gave up four runs, because of the rule about runs being assigned to whichever pitcher placed the runners on base, he was only tagged with two earned runs. Even so, he goes down in history as the second reliever in postseason history to allow five home runs in a single postseason. Strickland also managed to get into an argument with the Royals’ catcher Salvador Perez after giving up the home run due to some miscommunication about where his shouting was aimed. After Strickland was finally taken out of the game, the always trusty Jeremy Affeldt managed to record the final two outs to end the dreadful sixth inning. In total, in a single inning, five Giants pitchers combined to give up five runs on five hits and a walk, all while only recording three outs total. Basically, this inning sealed the game, as the Royals went up 7-1 and held onto this lead for the rest of the game.



Notably, however, Tim Lincecum made his first appearance of the postseason in the eighth inning. He looked great with stellar command of his pitches and pretty decent velocity. He pitched the seventh and was pitching the eighth until he left with two outs after landing awkwardly following a pitch to the plate. According to Bruce Bochy the Lincecum left with back tightness, and the injury should not be a big deal. So, he will hopefully be okay by Friday, as his 1.2 perfect innings with two strikeouts were enough to establish him as a reliable reliever for the Giants in this series even in future leverage situations, possibly instead of the extremely volatile and unreliable Hunter Strickland.



Overall, not much changed on the batting side of the game, as the Giants still got hits; they just were not able to convert them. Gregor Blanco has been heating up as well over this series, and he can hopefully continue his hot streak for the rest of the series to provide a spark at the top of the lineup. The main difference today was the Giants’ usually dominant bullpen that essentially gave up five runs all within an inning. They need to clean up their act and get back to being the dominant force that they usually are, so that Bochy can be confident that the back end of games will be safe in their hands.

This loss evens the series, and although morale may be low, the Giants are coming back to the Bay Area for three games that should be extremely exciting. They managed to split the games in Kansas City, which is exactly what they needed to do, and if they are able to take two of three at home, they should have a really good shot at taking the series. Friday’s game, at 5:07 PDT, will be a showdown between two veteran right handers: Tim Hudson for the Giants and Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals. If Tim Hudson can keep control over his pitches, the offense can string their hits together to score runs, and the bullpen can forget today’s game and be a solid force to close out game, the Giants are more than capable of winning Game 3 of the World Series and putting themselves back up on top.

-Follow me on Twitter: @abaichwal