Month: September 2009 (Page 12 of 66)

Tebow injured

Per ESPN…

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was taken to the hospital by ambulance after taking a shot to the head while being sacked in the third quarter of the No. 1 Gators’ game against Kentucky at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night.

There was no immediate report on the quarterback’s condition.

Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, was sacked by Wildcats defensive end Taylor Wyndham on a third-and-6 play from the Kentucky 9. Tebow didn’t appear to see Wyndham, who hit him squarely in the chest. As Tebow fell to the ground, the back of his head hit Gators tackle Marcus Gilbert’s knee.

Tebow, a senior from Jacksonville, Fla., lay motionless on the turf for several seconds. He was eventually able to sit up, and was then helped to the Florida sideline by trainers and coaches, where his parents came down from the stands to join him. At one point, the entire Florida team was on the field to check on their star quarterback. Kentucky officials had a motorized cart and backboard in place to remove Tebow from the field.

Let’s hope that the kid is all right.

No. 11 Virginia Tech makes easy work of No. 9 Miami

Tyrod

Virginia Tech treated their fans in Blacksburg on Saturday to a victory over one of the hottest teams in college football. With a win, Miami would have taken a large first-place lead in the competitive ACC. Unfortunately for them, Virginia Tech came in prepared and eager to please their hometown crowd. Their defense was able to control Miami’s star quarterback Jacory Harris, sacking him three times and forcing one interception. More importantly, Hokies quarterback Tyrod Taylor ran the ball very well, receiving excellent pass coverage to the tune of 75 yards. Running back Ryan Williams was also vital, racking up two touchdowns and 150 yards on 34 carries and two receptions. Hard to believe he’s just filling in for the injured Darren Evans.

After saying this week he looked forward to playing in front of a hostile crowd, he fumbled as he was being sacked on his fifth play, setting up a Hokies touchdown, and his day never got much better.

Harris threw an interception that set up another score and pushed the Hokies lead to 31-7 lead. By then the fans who had braved the horrid conditions wanted to stay and enjoy every minute.

Harris and the Hurricanes did drive 46 yards in five plays for a touchdown just 1:43 into the third quarter, pulling them within 21-7. After Miami forced the Hokies to punt, they drove to the Virginia Tech 30 with a chance to make the quieting crowd really nervous.

Instead, with the help of two drops by Jimmy Graham, Miami faced a fourth-and-13 from the 33, went for it and Harris’ 9-yard completion to Dedrick Epps came up four yards short.

Before this game, Miami found themselves ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2005. It’s been a grueling road as Virginia Tech was their third ranked opponent in as many weeks. Fans have high hopes for Jacory Harris and company as the Miami football program is suddenly important once again. We’ll see if they can take something from this loss and rebound next week against Oklahoma.

Oregon clobbers Cal 42-3

Masoli

Perhaps some thought Oregon could pull off an upset by a few points, but nobody expected a blowout by these proportions. While Oregon did everything right, Cal just didn’t do much of anything. It’s strange to think the score was tied at three apiece after the first quarter. From then on, Cal decided to completely stop playing. It’s hard to even point out their mistakes. What’s obvious is that Oregon knew exactly what to do against their opponents on both ends of the field. After Oregon’s opening day loss to Boise, coach Chip Kelly is slowly getting this team back on track. This doesn’t mean he’s through refunding distraught fans, but Oregon football should definitely feel good about this win. We knew Oregon had talent — it was just a matter of when they would devour a high-ranking team.

Oregon seamlessly shut down Cal’s touted combination of quarterback Kevin Riley and running back Jahvid Best. This was the finest defensive effort of the day as Riley had trouble finding anyone open on every possession and potential Heisman candidate Best was limited to 55 yards rushing. Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, however, couldn’t have been better, completing 21 of 25 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Funny enough, Masoli came into this game without a single passing score. Obviously, this is quite a turn around. And who caught all of those touchdown passes? Just Ed Dickson. In a truly remarkable performance, Ed Dickson caught 11 passes for 148 yards.

Everything fell into place today with Chip Kelly’s Ducks. On the other hand, Jeff Tedford’s Golden Bears are left wondering how everything fell apart.

South Florida upsets No. 18 Florida State


Daniels

The undefeated South Florida Bulls entered Saturday’s competition against Florida State well aware that the Seminoles would be fired up on their home turf. While the Seminoles sought to prove their worth among the nation’s elite, their opponents were simply trying to justify their football program within their state. With senior quarterback Matt Grothe out with a knee injury, the Bulls looked to redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels for help. Daniels, who is coincidentally a Tallahassee native, was stellar in his debut performance. Rushing for 126 yards and throwing two touchdown passes, Daniels led his squad to a 17-7 victory at No. 18 Florida State.

It was the first time since Nebraska’s Steve Taylor ran for 139 yards against the Seminoles in 1986 that an opposing quarterback rushed for over 100 yards against them.

The Seminoles couldn’t keep the South Florida pass rush, led by defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and George Selvie and tackle Craig Marshall, off of Ponder. The Bulls sacked him five times and forced the crucial fumble in the fourth quarter.

South Florida stopped the Seminoles on four plays from the 3-yard line early in the second quarter. USF then needed just five plays to cover 99 yards to get the game’s first touchdown.

Another huge pass play, this one a 73-yard scoring pass from Daniels to Sterling Griffin, gave USF a 14-0 lead at the half.

The Bulls could have been ahead by more at halftime, but Eric Schwartz missed a pair of 37-yard field goal tries.

It was the first time since the third game of the 2008 season, a 12-3 loss to Wake Forest, that the Seminoles went scoreless in the first half.

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden can’t be too pleased. While his team is ranked in the Top 25, I’m sure he wasn’t expecting a 2-2 record at this point in the season, let alone suffering a loss to the unranked Bulls. Nevertheless, this is a nice story for B.J. Daniels, who was overlooked by his hometown team. Now that he’s found a place with the Bulls, hopefully he’ll see more time on the field after his fine play today.

2009 NHL Preview: Colorado Avalanche

We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Colorado Avalanche…

Team Play: ISSUE – Passing the torch. Over the summer, Avs’ team captain and icon Joe Sakic retired. Plagued by injuries, Sakic played in just 59 games over the last two seasons. Hoping to fill the (enormous) void, Colorado took center Matt Duchene with the third overall pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. While it’s patently unfair to compare the 18-year-old to the future Hall-of-Famer, Duchene will simply have to deal with it. Much will be expected of the youngster this season, as the Avalanche begin the climb back towards the playoffs and respectability. To that end, the Avs have made some sound offseason moves. First and foremost, they improved in the crease by signing free agent goalie Craig Anderson from Florida. Next, Colorado shored up a rather forlorn defensive corps by trading co-leading scorer Ryan Smyth to Los Angeles for d-men Kyle Quincey and Tom Preissing and a 5th-round pick in 2010. These are significant steps in the right direction, but team health will play an equal role in the Avs’ improvement this season. Here’s hoping the injury bug doesn’t bite Colorado in 2009-10 like it did last season, in which the Avalanche used 13 defensemen and Milan Hejduk was the only skater to dress for all 82 games. Here’s hoping Joe Sakic passes the torch to Matt Duchene, rather than the snowblower.

Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

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