WVU to take on Norfolk State in second game of 2011 season

Morgantown, WV -- When West Virginia takes on Norfolk State on Sept. 10 in Milan Puskar Stadium, it will likely be the Mountaineers' least important game of the season. It could be Norfolk State's biggest game, though. The Spartans have one game against a higher-division foe, and that's West Virginia.

The Mountaineers won't start with a lower-division opponent for the first time since the 2007 season, when they faced Western Michigan (The Mountaineers haven't faced a team from an automatic qualifier conference since 2005, when they faced Syracuse).

The biggest question isn't whether WVU will overlook Norfolk State when the two teams get together. The question will be, however, if the Mountaineers do overlook the Spartans, will it matter?

Norfolk State went 6-5 last year ...


Videographer: nsuathletics; Big East 2010 Game: NSU at. Rutgers Highlights.

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Rutgers RB Casey Turner Transfers to Florida A&M

Promising running back Casey Turner of Jacksonville, Fla., who did not play as a true freshman last year, announced his decision to transfer to Florida A&M.

Turner, a highly regarded 5-11, 190 pounder, never got the chance to play because of persistent groin problems. Turner redshirted in 2010 after suffering a groin injury before the season opener with Norfolk State.

He rushed for 2,232 yards and 31 touchdowns as a high school senior and was viewed as Rutgers' running back of the future. Coming out of Edward H. White High School, he was timed in 4.45 seconds for the 40-yard dash and rushed for 1,950 yards as a junior. Turner was ranked as a 3-star running back by Rival.com.

He committed to Florida International in the fall 2009, committed to Rutgers in December (2009) and then committed to North Carolina in January 2010. He flipped back to the Scarlet Knights the night before signing day.

Turner is expected to compete for the starting running back position vacated by Rattlers' graduating senior Phillip Sylvester.

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FAMU to visit USF for football in 2011, 2015

First meeting with FAMU in 2005 attracted 43,122 fans to Raymond James Stadium, the second largest home crowd in USF Bulls history.

TAMPA, FL - Florida A&M will travel to Tampa to play the University South Florida in football in 2011 and 2015. USF announced today it has finalized its 2011 schedule, which also includes a visit by Texas-El Paso.

The Rattlers and Bulls will meet Sept. 17 at Raymond James Stadium, while the Miners will visit Sept. 24. USF will pay $400,000 to Florida A&M for the meeting, while UTEP will receive $650,000, according to contract figures provided by USF. FAMU, an NCAA Division I-AA team (FCS), will get $450,000 for 2015 game.

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View Full Press Conference Video: Bulls Complete 2011 Slate with FAMU and UTEP - GoUSFBulls.com—Official Athletics Web Site of the University of South Florida

Yipes! Southern faces top-ranked Connecticut in NCAA

They all gathered at a restaurant on Coursey Boulevard to celebrate a championship, eat some food and find out where they’ll play in the big dance. Yet as the Southern women’s basketball team watched ESPN on Monday night, waiting to learn their first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament, their banquet room erupted well before the Jaguars saw their school name on the TV screen, paired with Connecticut — the No. 1 team in the nation, winner of 72 straight games and the reigning national champion.

The first eruption, in fact, came when ESPN revealed Tennessee, the No. 1 seed in the Memphis Bracket, and its first-round opponent. It wasn’t Southern. It was Austin Peay. That left the Jaguars to wonder if they’d somehow earn a No. 15 seed, thereby avoiding the mighty Huskies. Minutes later, the second eruption came when ESPN unveiled Duke, the No. 2 seed in the Memphis Region, and its first-round opponent — Hampton, champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. That left the inevitable. That led to the third and final eruption from the room. It came when SU saw its name next to UConn, top-seeded team from the Dayton Region.

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Texas Southern Football to Play at UConn in 2010

The University of Connecticut football team had a hole in its schedule for next season when Northeastern abruptly dropped its football program this month. Texas Southern has filled the vacancy. The Huskies will host FCS Texas Southern, out of the Southern Athletic Conference, on Saturday, Sept. 11, a week after a season-opening game at Michigan. It will be the home opener at Rentschler Field for the Huskies.

Coach Johnnie Cole's Texas Southern Tigers went 6-5 this season and expects to lose only four starters heading into the 2010 season.

UConn has tried to have a single FCS game on the schedule every year and was playing regional FCS teams including Rhode Island, Maine, and Hofstra in recent seasons. Northeastern was due to be next, but ended up folding instead. Hofstra also dropped its football program. Schedules are set years in advance and the Huskies had to struggle to find a team with an open date and willing to go on the road early in the season. UConn’s non-conference schedule for 2010 is at Michigan, at Temple and home against Texas Southern, Buffalo and Vanderbilt.

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Rutgers 42, Texas Southern Tigers 0

Rutgers' defense comes up big in 42-0 victory over Texas Southern

It’s easy to look at Rutgers’ dominant defensive performance Saturday and pooh-pooh it because it came against an overmatched Texas Southern team, and not, say, Pittsburgh. But it’s not David Rowe’s fault that Texas Southern was Rutgers’ opponent. So Rowe won’t make any apologies for his first career interception, which he returned 56 yards for his first college touchdown in Rutgers’ 42-0 demolition of Texas Southern Saturday on Homecoming Day at Rutgers Stadium. Instead, Rowe will focus on the fact that his play, which opened the scoring, got the Scarlet Knights off and running to the easy victory that will serve to prep them for this Friday’s visit by 5-1 Pittsburgh.

“I saw the quarterback’s eyes go that way, I just jumped the corner route and I looked to my left I saw a whole bunch of blockers, so I figured I could get into the zone,” Rowe said. “When the defense puts the first points on the board, it’s kind of like the defense set the tone.” In a game where the biggest question going in was how quarterback Tom Savage would look in his first action since suffering a concussion against Florida International Sept. 19, the Rutgers defense made a statement that it is playing a whole lot better than it did in that embarrassing season-opening loss to Cincinnati. The RU defense held Texas Southern to 147 yards in total offense, including minus-3 yards rushing. Rutgers also piled up seven sacks — the most they have recorded in a game since they had seven against South Florida in 2007 — and forced four turnovers.



The Morning After: Breaking down Rutgers' 42-0 victory over Texas Southern

A GLORIFIED SCRIMMAGE

Yes, that’s all this game amounted to. But with an important game coming up Friday against Pittsburgh, it was important to get everybody on the field after a weekend off and run through the plays and get tuned up. Tom Savage returned to action for the first time since suffering a concussion Sept. 19 against Florida International. Savage (14-for-21, 150 yards, one TD) looked fine in everything he did in his three quarters-plus of action. He connected on a 53-yard pass to Mohamed Sanu in the first series of the third quarter that was wiped out by a holding penalty, and he ran six times for 32 yards. He had one 28-yard run in the second quarter where he passed up an opportunity to run out of bounds or slide to avoid the hit. Instead he kept going until he was tackled. He also was sacked twice and hit hard on several of his runs, but appeared fine.

ABOUT THAT DEFENSE

David Rowe’s 56-yard interception return for a touchdown was the Scarlet Knights’ fourth defensive touchdown on the season, and gave them a three-game streak in which they have scored at least one defensive touchdown. Texas Southern did a bunch of spread formation, empty-backfield stuff, with lots of no-huddle. But the Rutgers defense was not confused. It gave up a few medium-range passes early on, but had seven sacks, forced four turnovers, and surrendered just 126 yards.

Sidelights: Rutgers routs Texas Southern for 600th victory - NCAA College ...


Excerpts:
Rutgers scheduled the bottom of the SWAC and MEAC as part of its 12-game slate for this season. The Scarlett Knights beat Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Howard University 45-7 on Sept. 12. The positive for Texas Southern was that it got a $400,000 payday to come to the birthplace of college football. Rutgers played the first college game against Princeton in 1869. The Scarlet Knights are now 600-591-42 in their 140-year history. They are the 38th FCS school to win 600 games. Texas Southern will forever be in Rutger's football history as the 600th win. The NCAA allows Football Bowl Subdivision schools to count only one victory over an FCS opponent (Howard and Texas Southern) toward the six-win minimum to qualify for a bowl berth.

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Attendance: 50,169@ Rutgers Stadium, Piscataway, NJ

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Texas Southern at Rutgers "Homecoming"
Slideshow: Rutgers 42, Texas Southern 0

SPECIAL FEATURE: Connecticut Governor Calls Jim Calhoun Salary Tirade 'Embarrassing'

Connecticut governor Jodi Rell is the latest person to weigh in on the Jim Calhoun salary controversy, and the governor said Tuesday that she found Calhoun's response to a question about his status as the state's highest-paid employee "embarrassing." Said Rell of Calhoun's answer to a question about his salary, "I think if Coach Calhoun had the opportunity right now, he would welcome a do-over and not have that embarrassing display."

Rell, whose salary is $150,000, wouldn't directly answer whether she believes Calhoun should take a pay cut. Calhoun declined to answer when the Hartford Courant asked him about the governor's comments. Calhoun was asked at a weekend press conference about getting the biggest paycheck in a state that is currently running a deficit, and before the questioner could even finish asking, he interrupted with "not a dime back." He then lectured the questioner about the revenue that his team generates, and told the questioner to shut up.

Although the questioner (a political activist who got to the press conference with a photo pass) didn't conduct himself in a very professional manner, the underlying question is a legitimate one, and Calhoun is wrong to suggest that his own salary is above being questioned. Rell is right to call his response embarrassing.



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If there was ever a case for a salary rollback, Jim Calhoun should be at the top of the list. I wonder what percentage of his former basketball players earned their degrees and make over $100,000 annually? This guy is a $2 million dollar jerk!

-beepbeep

DSU can't keep up with Notre Dame's Harangody

Photo Gallery: Delaware State 58, Notre Dame 88

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Luke Harangody had 20 points and eight rebounds and Ryan Ayers added 18 points, leading No. 12 Notre Dame to an 88-50 victory over Delaware State on Saturday night. Notre Dame dominated inside, outscoring the Hornets in the paint 32-10 with a 41-24 rebounding advantage. Delaware State tried to slow Notre Dame's high-scoring offense with its slow, deliberate offense, but had minimal success because the Hornets couldn't slow Harangody.

Harangody was 7-of-8 from the floor for 16 points in the first half to lead the Irish to a 39-21 halftime lead. The Irish used a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 29, then continued to pull away for most of the rest of the game. Kyle McAlarney added 14 points for the Irish (8-2). Kris Douse and Marcus Neal led Delaware State (2-13) with 11 points each.

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UConn Women's Volleyball Swings Back with 3-0 Win Over Florida A&M

FAMU Lady Rattler Jovana Blazeski.

Florida A&M vs Connecticut Box Stats (Sep 13, 2008)

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The University of Connecticut women's volleyball team defeated Florida A&M 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-17) on Saturday morning at the MSU Showcase in East Lansing, Mich. With the win, the Huskies improve to 6-2 on the season as the Rattlers' drop to 2-6. Annie Luhrsen (Wheaton, Ill.) led the Huskies with 28 assists, five kills, seven digs and five block assists. Luhrsen added five service aces for a team-leading 24 on the year. Freshman Jordan Kirk (Plano, Texas) had 10 kills for UConn as she moves her season's mark to a team-high 81 kills.

UConn put up impressive hitting numbers against the Rattlers, as they hit over .300 percent in all three sets. Florida A&M finished the match with a -.035 hitting mark. Chauntay Mickens (Germantown, Md.) had a stellar outing for the Huskies with 13 kills in 24 attempts, a .500 hitting percentage. Teammate Lauren Lamberti (Cary, Ill.) contributed with four kills and four digs in the Huskies' win.

Florida A&M was led by Maria Gomez with eight kills and three digs while Jovana Blazeski had 10 digs and two solo blocks.

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