Louisville edges Southern Mississippi in Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl
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Justin Burke threw for a pair of touchdowns and Jeremy Wright scored on a 95-yard kickoff return Tuesday night to help Louisville beat Southern Mississippi, 31-28, in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Burke tossed scoring passes to 11 yards to Cameron Graham and 10 yards to Josh Chichester while the Cardinals (7-6) erased a 14-point first-half deficit, then produced a go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter.
Austin Davis threw 205 yards and two touchdowns to become Southern Mississippi’s career TD pass leader, moving ahead of Brett Favre with 53 in three seasons for the Golden Eagles (8-5).
Wright’s long kickoff return made it 28-all early in the fourth quarter. Chris Philpott’s 36-yard field goal gave the Cardinals their first lead with 6:30 remaining.
| Kelly coach of the yearIn just his second season leading Oregon, Chip Kelly is taking the second-ranked Ducks to the national championship game on Jan. 10 against No. 1 Auburn — and for that he was voted Associated Press coach of the year Tuesday.Kelly received 24 votes from the 60-member AP football poll panel to beat out his Bowl Championship Series title game counterpart, Gene Chizik of Auburn, who received 17 votes.Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh was third with five votes, Texas Christian’s Gary Patterson — last year’s winner — and Mark Dantonio of Michigan State each received three votes. Getting one vote apiece were Nevada’s Chris Ault, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Mike Haywood of Miami (Ohio), who took the top job at Pittsburgh last week.The Ducks led the nation in scoring during the regular season with 49.3 points per game. They were second in total offense with an average of 537.5 yards a game. USC gains recruits |
USC Coach Lane Kiffin announced that two more junior college players and another early high school graduate would enroll in January and participate in spring practice.
Offensive lineman Jeremy Galten of San Mateo Junior College, linebacker Dallas Kelley of Chaffey College and long snapper Peter McBrIde of Chaparral High in Paradise Valley, Ariz., will join six other early enrollees that Kiffin announced last week.
—Gary Klein
Spartans lose receiver
Michigan State will be without leading receiver B.J. Cunningham for the Capital One Bowl after he suffered a broken foot in practice.
The school says Cunningham hurt himself Saturday and had surgery the next day. The junior is expected to recover in time for spring practice. The seventh-ranked Spartans face 15th-ranked Alabama in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1.
Cunningham led the team with 50 receptions during the regular season, for 611 yards and nine touchdowns.
Treatment for Syracuse Punter
Syracuse punter Rob Long will undergo post-operation treatment after doctors found malignant cells in a brain tumor removed a week ago.
Coach Doug Marrone said Long plans to be at the Pinstripe Bowl when Syracuse plays Kansas State on Dec. 30 at Yankee Stadium. Treatment will begin after the New Year.
Long said in a statement released by the university that “we remain optimistic and positive toward a favorable outcome.” An MRI exam performed Dec. 2 revealed the tumor.
Long finished his Syracuse career second on the school’s punting average list at 43.3 yards per punt. That ranks ninth among active punters in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
This season, Long averaged 43.8 yards, second in the Big East Conference.
Vols report violations
Tennessee reported secondary violations to the NCAA after discovering 36 student athletes were given special treatment at the Knoxville bar where a fight involving Volunteers football players broke out in July.
Tennessee athletics officials began investigating possible extra benefits after the owners of Bar Knoxville said following the July 9 bar brawl that Vols athletes were not required to pay cover charges on Thursday nights when some other patrons were charged between $5 and $10.
According to a report by Tennessee, the bar permitted other patrons to enter free of charge, but Tennessee found the policy was an NCAA violation because “the benefit was not advertised or provided to all UT students.”
None of the athletes received more than $70 in benefits and each paid their share of benefits to a charity.
The report by Tennessee also determined that Bar Knoxville owners Allen and Sandy Morton were not donors to the Vols athletics programs.
Tennessee’s football, basketball and baseball programs are the subject of an ongoing NCAA investigation.
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