Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - There is no quarterback controversy at Florida State: Xavier Lee’s the quarterback — at least until Monday.
The 6-4, 235-pound redshirt junior with a cannon arm came off the bench Saturday to throw a pair of touchdown passes to De’Cody Fagg and lead Florida State to a 21-14 victory over No.22 Alabama in a showdown between one-time powers looking to regain elite status.
“He gave them a spark,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “His ability to run made us play different.”
Bowden said the Lee he saw perform Saturday before the largest crowd to see a game in this city was the one he’s been looking for since 2005.
“He gave us some mobility at quarterback and offensively he won the game,” Bowden said. “He did what we’ve always wanted him to do. Xavier has always been a young man with great potential and I thought tonight he began to use that potential.”
Lee, who entered the game in the second quarter, hit Fagg with a 7-yard pass for the game’s first touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. The two then teamed up on a 70-yard TD pass with 4:46 left to give the Seminoles a 21-7 lead.
That play came immediately after Alabama scored its first touchdown.
Lee completed 12 of 19 passes for 224 yards after making his first appearance of the year and ran for a game-high 59 yards in what began as a defensive struggle for both teams. He replaced Drew Weatherford, who couldn’t produce any first quarter points despite having good field position and a brisk wind at its back.
Bowden said offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher would make the decision on a starter for next week’s game against North Carolina State.
“If he doesn’t make the right one (decision), I’ll correct him,” Bowden teased.
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Fisher, however, sounded like he was leaning to sticking with Lee.
“I’d say right now, ’you’d think so,”’ Fisher said. “(But) we don ’t want to make any rash decisions after a game.”
Weatherford, who is also a redshirt junior, has started 27 games and Lee just three since they began their careers together. Despite continual speculation that Lee would transfer, he didn’t.
“No athlete likes to wait and sit around and wait for their chance but patience pays off and patience is a virtue,” Lee said.
“He showed some persistence there,” Bowden said. “I betcha it’s gonna pay dividends for him.”
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Florida State (3-1) gave Bowden, who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., his 369th coaching win in his first game against Alabama. Bowden has three more coaching wins than Penn State’s Joe Paterno.
“When it will be emotional is when I go home this summer up to Birmingham and we go out to Roebuck (golf course) and we tee that thing up on the first tee box and I say ’We whipped y’all,”’ Bowden said.
Antone Smith scored on a 5-yard run to give Florida State a 14-0 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Smith’s touchdown, which came on a play after Letroy Guion recovered a fumble by Alabama’s John Parker Wilson, gave Florida State a 14-0 lead with 9:03 left. Wilson lost the ball as he was being sacked by Florida State’s Everette Brown.
Alabama (3-2) cut the lead to 14-7 with 5:04 left on DJ Hall’s leaping grab in the back of the end zone on a pass from Wilson, who added a 17-yard TD pass to Keith Brown with 1:06 left.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
