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: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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
ORLANDO, Fla. - All that Miami speed was no match for the big, bad Badgers.
John Clay had 121 yards rushing and two touchdowns, powering No. 24 Wisconsin past 14th-ranked Miami 20-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl on Tuesday night.
Clay ran through, over and around the Hurricanes to help the Badgers (10-3) earn their first victory over a ranked opponent this season and claim a big win for the Big Ten.
“That’s Wisconsin football, just wearing a defense down,” said Clay, who was selected bowl MVP. “The third quarter, fourth quarter, I could just see them sucking wind and holding their waists.”
Scott Tolzien threw for 260 yards, and Montee Ball added 61 yards rushing for a Wisconsin team touted as too big and too slow for the dynamic Hurricanes. None of that seemed to matter when the Badgers were powering the ball down the field.
“The way we were running the ball, I had it pretty easy,” Tolzien said. “I just had to find a way to get a few passes to our receivers.”
Miami’s Jacory Harris struggled before throwing a touchdown pass to Thearon Collier with 1:22 remaining. The Hurricanes recovered the onside kick, but Harris threw incomplete on fourth down to end any hope of a comeback.
Harris, who threw for 188 yards, was slowed by an injured right thumb, a brace around his left leg and a Badgers team that smothered him with five sacks. Wisconsin’s running game helped it hold the ball for nearly 40 minutes, leaving little time for Miami to work.
“Against this type of team, you got to put up points and put them up fast, because they can hold the ball for so long,” Harris said. “They had a lot of defensive pressure, but at the same time, I got to get the ball out quicker.”
Miami also lost Graig Cooper to a right knee injury in the second quarter, a big reason why the Hurricanes (9-4) will have to wait at least another year to end their drought of 10-win seasons.
The Badgers made sure of that. Even if they didn’t show it at the start.
Sam Shields took a reverse from Cooper on the opening kickoff, zipped up the middle, then cut down the left sideline for a touchdown. But an illegal block in the back on the play returned the ball to the Wisconsin 16-yard line.
Shields was credited with an 84-yard return, a Hurricanes bowl record. Cooper had a 16-yard touchdown run on the next play that gave Miami the lead 23 seconds into the game.
That was about the only thing that went wrong for the Badgers.
Their big and bulky lines bullied the fleet Hurricanes, whose all white jerseys — almost all complete with long sleeves on the brisk 50-degree night — parted to a sea of Wisconsin red on both sides of the ball.
Clay had all sorts of seams to run through, and he bulldozed his way to the rest of his yards.
The Big Ten offensive player of the year ripped through a hole for a 52-yard run, and followed that with his second 3-yard TD run of the game to put Wisconsin ahead 14-7 in the second quarter.
Phillip Welch added a 37-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the half and a 29-yarder with 4:01 remaining in the game that made it 20-7.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out if you got the ball longer than they do, you have a better chance of scoring more points,” Badgers coach Bret Bielema said.
But they blew a chance to send Miami home early.
Garrett Graham caught a 20-yard pass at the Hurricanes 5, fumbled after a hard hit by Brandon Harris and the ball was recovered by Miami’s Randy Phillips in the end zone.
The Hurricanes never could take advantage.
Harris later fumbled after being sacked by O’Brien Schofield with 7:49 remaining. The ball was recovered by J.J. Watt.
The Hurricanes tried to rally late, but Harris’ errant pass to Collier on fourth down ended Miami’s hopes of its first 10-win season since 2003.
“We just couldn’t get in a rhythm up front like we thought we should have and we thought we were going to be able to,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “We had negative plays. You can’t take negative plays. When we were trying to run the football, we had miscues up front. The communication factor finally got us.”
Only adding to Miami’s offseason problems was Cooper’s nasty fall.
He took a kickoff 27 yards before he lost his footing and tumbled to the ground on the patchy Florida Citrus Bowl field. He clutched his right knee and was examined by trainers for about 5 minutes.
Cooper was barely able to stand as he was helped off the field by teammates Javarris James and Damien Berry. Shannon said he will be evaluated when the team returns to Miami.
“Things just didn’t happen our way,” Shannon said. “I can’t explain why.”
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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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
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.
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The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.