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.

So Burton, who finished third Saturday in the Nationwide race at Homestead, was asked after the race what he thought of Denny Hamlin deliberately spinning out Brad Keselowski.

"I thought Denny did the right thing," Burton said. "When you constantly get spun out by the same car, there comes a time where you've got to put your foot down and not take it.  The next time Keselowski  thinks about spinning him out, he'll think about it."

"People are going to get together and you're going to have times that you're mad," he said. "And you've really got to sit back and have a conversation and really think about it because we're prone to think people do it on purpose all the time, and I don't think that people normally do it on purpose; it does happen.
 
"But when it continually happens with one guy, you can't take it.  There comes a point where you just no longer can take it.  And I've seen Carl (Edwards) have to put his foot down and I've seen me have to put my foot down; I've seen every driver in the garage at one point say, 'You know what, I'm not going to tolerate it anymore.'  And that's okay.
 
"It's a self-policing sport," Burton said. "It's hard for NASCAR to get involved in it because it's hard for them to really know everything that went on.  But if NASCAR can't make the call, then put it in our laps and we'll do it."  

AUBURN -- Auburn All-American swimmer Jordan Anderson added another impressive chapter to his college career Saturday when he was named a Rhodes Scholar, the first for Auburn since 1980.

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.''

Anderson will enroll in a master's degree program in global health science at the University of Oxford in England after he receives his undergraduate degree in pre-dentistry from Auburn in May.

"The long-term goal is to give me a better understanding of the problems in countries that I want to one day work in," Anderson said. "With the help of a future dental degree, I'd like to develop medical solutions from a dental perspective.

"This is a huge honor and goes without any kind of question that I'm extremely happy.''

He is the fourth Auburn student to be named a Rhodes Scholar.

Anderson was a member of last year's Auburn national championship team, is a two-time SEC runner-up in the 100 fly and was a finalist in the 100m fly at the 2009 U.S. Senior National Championships.

The Roanoke, Va., native is also a College Swim Coaches Association of America Academic All-American and a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member. Anderson has a 3.91 grade-point average.

Other Auburn students to be awarded Rhodes Scholarships were Hugh Long (1949), Ed Gentles (1975) and Susan Karamanian (1980). Anderson is one of 32 to be awarded a Rhodes scholarship this year.

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.

It was certainly a turnaround performance for Auburn, which was flat in an 84-74 loss to Central Florida on Friday. Saturday, the Tigers showed more fight by outscoring IUPUI 26-4 from midway through the first half through the early part of the second half.

"From a confidence standpoint, this really helps us,'' said Auburn coach Jeff Lebo on the post-game radio show.

The Tigers snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 2-2. IUPUI fell to3-1. Auburn wraps up play in the tournament against North Carolina State on Sunday night.

Reed matched a career-high with 24 points despite hurting his back late in the first half.

"I thought DeWayne Reed showed some leadership and toughness,'' Lebo said.

Sullivan added 20 and Ross scored 16. The Tigers also got 10 inside points from Brendon Knox a night after Lebo complained Auburn was getting little help from the inside game.

"We challenged him pretty hard the last couple of games,'' Lebo said. "I thought he and Johnnie Lett did a nice job scoring around the basket.''

Auburn hit 55 percent from the floor. Three-point shooter Tay Waller missed his fourth straight game with a quad injury.

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.

The win gave Busch his first-ever NASCAR championship.

Edwards had come in on a final caution and gotten fresh tires. He was charging back to the front with a handful of laps to go but couldn't quite make it to Busch.

Jeff Burton finished third, followed by Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.

Early in the race Hamlin was blackflagged and penalized a lap by NASCAR after he deliberately spun out Brad Keselowski -- payback for earlier incidents between the two drivers. NASCAR warned both drivers after the incident.

Hamlin said after the race the penalty was worth it and that he had never seen so much cheering from the crews of other teams who were glad that he tagged Keselowski.

Keselowski said he laughed and thought Hamlin's payback attempt was "funny." But he also was ready to move on.
  

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 gained 415 yards in the first three quarters and have yet to punt but have only managed two field goals. Go figure.

East Carolina has a comfortable 30-6 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.

Alabama's defense smothered Chattanooga - like Luther Davis (96), Marcell Dareus (57) and Josh Chapman did UTC back Shaun Kermah - en route to a 45-0 win on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. (The Birmingham News / Mark Almond)

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.

 

Associated PressAlabama coach Nick Saban talks with linebacker Jerrell Harris during the Tide's 45-0 win over Chattanooga on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
The most important game of the year for many Alabama fans is coming up Friday, when the Tide travels to Auburn for the Iron Bowl. For others, it'll be a week later in Atlanta when the Tide tangles with Florida in the SEC championship game. If Alabama beats the Gators, an even bigger game, the national championship game, awaits in January.

But Nick Saban made a strong case to his players Saturday that no game was more important than Chattanooga.(ep)

"I think there are probably a lot of people in Alabama, whether they're Alabama fans or Auburn fans that probably equate the success or failure of the season based on what happens in this (Iron Bowl) game," Saban said after Alabama's 45-0 win over Chattanooga on Saturday. "I'm not sure that's exactly right.(ep)

"This game we had to play today was the most important game we had to play today. I told the players this: If we had lost this game today, there would be nothing else that could tarnish what you've accomplished more than that. You would someday be an NFL player with a Mercedes Benz and roll your window down and talk to a pretty girl and she'd say, 'You lost to Chattanooga when you played at Alabama.' Nobody would ever forget that."

Saban, whose Tide outgained Chattanooga 422-84, added that he meant no disrespect to the Mocs, who have won six games a year after winning only one in 2008.

"Their coach has done a fantastic job with that program this year," he said. "Still, it's the expectation out there that people have that creates that kind of thinking."

"I was pleased with the focus the players had and what they did. I think they showed respect for our opponent which was, I think, very important."

UAB answered with a 27-yard field goal by Josh Zahn to trim ECU's lead to 7-3 with 7:59 left in the first quarter. The key play of the drive was a 39-yard by Joe Webb.