Jeff Burton's pit crew works on his car during Saturday's Nationwide race at Homestead. (NASCAR / Getty Images)Jeff Burton has a reputation for driving clean and is known as the mayor of the garage for his thoughtful comments on a wide range of subjects.
Jordan Anderson"This is an amazing accomplishment and I'm very proud to have him as the team captain and leader in the classroom and in the pool,'' said Auburn coach Brett Hawke. "He is a fantastic kid and is very deserving.''
DeWayne Reed goes high to match his career-high 24 points (Todd Van Emst photo)DeWayne Reed, Frankie Sullivan and Earnest Ross combined for 60 points and 10 3-pointers to lead Auburn to a bounce-back 80-65 win over IUPUI in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach on Saturday night.
Kyle Busch wins the Nationwide race and the series title at Homestead. (NASCAR / Getty Images)Kyle Busch had just enough at the end of Saturday night's Nationwide Series season-ending Ford 300 to hold off Carl Edwards and take the victory.Points were expected to be scarce when Samford hosted Elon in Southern Conference football action on Saturday at Seibert Stadium.
The top two defenses in the Southern Conference -- Elon is fifth nationally in the FCS while Samford is 12th - were allowing only 29 points a game combined coming into the contest.
Unfortunately for Samford, Elon also possesses the second-best offense to go along with its league-best defense while the Bulldogs are among the bottom half in offense. The combination proved too much for Samford as Elon earned a 27-7 victory on Senior Day.
Samford (5-6, 3-5) stayed close for a half, trailing only 10-0 at intermission, but the Phoenix (9-2, 7-1) dominated the second half and particularly the third period.
"The second half to me was a disappointing half of football," said Samford coach Pat Sullivan. "We just didn't play well the second half, but give them credit. They're very good."
The inability of Samford's offense to generate yards, and more importantly time for its defense to rest, resulted in Elon's third quarter supremacy when the Phoenix scored 14 points to put the game away with a 24-0 lead. The Bulldogs managed only 14 third-quarter yards while the Phoenix held the ball 10:37 to Samford's 4:23.
The Bulldogs had four possessions in the quarter with a pair of three-and-outs and a one-play drive that resulted in an interception. Samford's lone scoring drive started on the final two plays of the third period.
"They're as good as advertised," said Samford senior running back Chris Evans, who ran for 99 yards on 19 carries in the game, but got only 12 yards on three carries in the third period. "They put us on a lot of three-and-outs and they kept us out of the end zone until late in the game. They just stopped us."
Part of Elon's offensive superiority came from Terrell Hudgins, who's the top FCS receiver in the nation and set two records on Saturday. With 11 catches for 144 yards and one touchdown, the 6-foot-2 Hudgins picked up his 27th career 100-yard game for a new Division I record. His second quarter 10-yard scoring catch gave the senior his 33rd game with a touchdown reception, which is an FCS record.
Samford quarterback Dustin Taliaferro completed 16-of-28 attempts, but few resulted in substantial gains as he was harassed most of the day and sacked four times. He netted only 126 yards and 50 of those came on a second-quarter completion to Riley Hawkins.
Bryce Smith led the Samford defense with 14 tackles.
GREENVILLE, N.C. — Dwayne Harris caught eight passes for 108 yard and two touchdowns and added a 99-yard kickoff return for a score to lead East Carolina to a 37-21 win over UAB on Saturday.
Harris, who finished with 254 all-purpose yards, caught touchdowns passes of 23 and 39 yards. His kickoff return for a TD came in the fourth quarter.
Joe Webb was 19-for-27 for 247 yards passing, including two fourth-quarter touchdowns and an interception for the Blazers (5-6, 4-3). Webb also had 132 yards rushing.
The Pirates (7-4, 6-1 Conference USA) can clinch the conference East Division title with a win next weekend over Southern Mississippi.
Patrick Pinkney, who went 20-for-25, passed for 250 yards and three touchdowns for East Carolina. Darryl Freeney had seven catches for 118 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown catch late in the third.
The Pirates built a 23-3 lead by forcing two turnovers and outplaying the Blazers on third and fourth down.Harris' 23-yard touchdown catch on the first possession of the game came on third-and-10, but the Blazers failed to convert any of their three third downs in the first half. UAB also missed a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter, and Webb was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the East Carolina 19 in the second quarter.
The Pirates took over possession and quickly stalled at their own 34. But UAB's Patrick Bastien was called for roughing East Carolina punter Matt Dodge on fourth down, extending the drive. UAB's defense held its ground again, but Dodge surprised the Blazers by running for 19 yards on fourth-and-6 from the UAB 47 to extend the drive one more time.
After UAB stopped East Carolina again, Ben Hartman kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the Pirates a 20-3 lead.
East Carolina extended that advantage when Hartman kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. Safety Van Eskridge set up the score, intercepting a pass by Webb and returning it 90 yards to the UAB 8 with five seconds remaining in the half.
The Blazers pulled within two scores at 30-14 after Webb's 16-yard touchdown pass to Rashaud Slaughter on the first play of the fourth quarter, but Harris answered immediately with his third kickoff return for a touchdown of the season to keep UAB at bay.
The Tide's Terrence Cody on the Iron Bowl: "It's big. It's big to go out as a Crimson Tide player beating Auburn your last year." (AP photo)
Now with the small matter of today's game against UT-Chattanooga out of the way, Alabama is free to focus on the big show.
Yes, six days from now, the Crimson Tide visits Auburn for this year's Iron Bowl.
During Alabama's postgame media interviews, it seemed more questions were asked about Auburn than UT-Chattanooga.
Of course, we'll have plenty on the blog in coming days about the Iron Bowl. In the meantime, before my own personal 24-hour rule is exhausted from today's game, here's a taste of what was said ...
Coach Nick Saban: "This will be a challenging game for us in every way. It's an important game for everybody that's involved in terms of our program here, that we do a good job of getting our players ready to play their best football. Our coaches will do whatever they need to do to get that done."
Quarterback Greg McElroy: "It's not going to be any pressure. It's just going to the same old team that we played last year. It's just another team. It can't be made out anything more than that. Obviously, they're a team that we face on yearly basis, and it's a team that we take a lot of pride in playing. ... It's a team that can't be overlooked. They're a very, very good football team. They really are."
Defensive back Ali Sharrief: "Those guys, they're going to come out and try to beat and destroy our dreams. I know everybody on this team wants to play them and win."
HUNTSVILLE --- Ulysses Banks rushed for 160 yards and scored a touchdown to lead Alabama A&M to a 17-12 victory over Mississippi Valley State Saturday.
With the win, A&M (7-4, 4-3) captured the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Eastern Division title and will play Prairie View in the championship game on Dec. 12 at Birmingham's Legion Field.
MVSU ended the season 3-8 and 1-6.
(AP photo)Alabama tailback Mark Ingram needed only 11 carries to reach 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns in today's blowout victory over UT-Chattanooga.
After that, Nick Saban decided his Heisman Trophy candidate didn't need any more.
"I'm sure we could have left him in today and he could have had a huge day, but he gained 100 yards," Saban said. "That's a good day's work when you come out with 10 minutes to go in the second quarter or whenever it was. Hopefully, that recovery will help him a little bit for what we have to get done in the future."
Ingram broke multiple tackles on touchdowns runs of 25 and 40 yards.
But he did not participate in the second half, as reserves Demetrius Goode (70 yards) and Roy Upchurch (70 yards) combined for 28 carries to dust off the victory and bring Alabama's overall total to 313 rushing yards.
The star sophomore said he enjoyed the chance to sit out it for a while, though he noted that, "You just had to go in there and take advantage of every opportunity you had, because you might not know if you might get in or sit out."
"Get in, get a good day's work, execute, have some success both in the pass and the run game, and then let other people get some playing that they, I think, deserve," Ingram said. "We all work hard every day in practice. I'm happy for all the players that got to go in and show what they've got."
Ryan Perrilloux set Jacksonville State records in his final game, a win over Eastern Kentucky at JSU. (Jacksonville State / Steve Latham)JACKSONVILLE -- Ryan Perrilloux passed for 191 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 115 yards and a score, setting Jacksonville State single-season records in a 34-26 win over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday
Calvin Middleton rushed for two touchdowns for the Gamecocks (8-3, 6-1 Ohio Valley Conference), who finished with the best record in the league but are not eligible for postseason play because of academic progress rate penalties.
Perrilloux, who leads the nation in passing efficiency (172.58), set single-season school records including passing touchdowns (23), touchdowns responsible for (31) and total offense per game (279.3 yards).
The lead changed six times before the Gamecocks took a 21-20 at halftime edge. The Colonels pulled within 31-26 on C.J. Walker's 1-yard run with 8:04 left.
T.J. Pryor was 18-for-30 for 252 yards and two touchdowns for Eastern Kentucky (5-6, 5-3).
The loss broke a string of 31 consecutive winning seasons and dashed the Colonels' hopes of a share of the OVC title and a playoff berth.
UAB was its own worst enemy in the first half against East Carolina.
The Blazers blew the coverage on the opening kickoff, setting up the first score. They also allowed a long touchdown play on a short pass, lost a fumble later in the half that set up a field goal and had two fourth down miscues that prolonged another field goal drive.
Oh yeah, Van Eskridge's interception and 90-yard return set up another ECU field goal on the final play of the half.
Put it all together and the Blazers have a steep hill to climb with ECU leading 23-3 at halftime.
UAB quarterback Joe Webb is 6-of-8 for 115 yards and has 13 carries for 90 yards but the Blazers wasted too many chances.
Alabama coach Nick Saban talks with linebacker Jerrell Harris during the Tide's 45-0 win over Chattanooga on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.