Month: November 2019

NBA Capsules

Nick Muszynski scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds as Belmont staged a second-half comeback to hand Middle Tennessee its first home court loss, 71-59

Trent Forrest scored 17 points to lead Florida State to a 63-60 overtime victory over Purdue in the Emerald Coast Classic championship game on Saturday night.

Tough players who still have that scoring touch

A fight broke out between players while fans yanked off a helmet and threw objects onto the field.

A fight broke out between players and fans joined in during an overtime contest between UNLV and Nevada on Saturday evening. 

The commotion began following UNLV’s game-winning touchdown by Steve Jenkins. The Rebels started to celebrate in front of Nevada’s Mackay Stadium crowd, while the Wolf Pack’s Austin Arnold appears to throw the first punch or shove on UNLV quarterback Kenyon Oblad.

While the brawl made its way toward the south end zone, a fan in the crowd yanked a helmet off a UNLV player’s head. Words continued to be exchanged between players and fans as the melee was broken up. 

In the video, fans can be seen throwing objects from the crowd onto the field. One journalist was reportedly hit in the head with a full bottle of soda and experienced ringing in her ear as a result.

Following the brawls, a joint statement was released by Nevada AD Doug Knuth and UNLV AD Desiree Reed-Francois acknowledging the situation. Both schools are examining video from the incident and are working with the Reno Police Department to review both the actions on the field and in the stands. 

Tensions were high following the conclusion of the rivalry game, as Nevada was held from its first eight-win season in nine years and UNLV won its second straight Freemont Cannon. 

The game was the last for UNLV coach Tony Sanchez, who was fired earlier this week after five seasons with the program. 

Alabama coach Nick Saban was critical of the officiating in Saturday’s Iron Bowl loss, including what he called an “unfair” substitution penalty in the game’s final seconds.

The Badgers are Big Ten championship-game bound.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jack Coan delivered two momentum-shifting touchdown passes in the snow for No. 13 Wisconsin, Jonathan Taylor added three touchdowns to his FBS-leading total and the Badgers forcefully repossessed Paul Bunyan’s Axe by beating No. 9 Minnesota 38-17 on Saturday to win the Big Ten West Division.

Quintez Cephus caught five passes for 114 yards, including a 47-yarder for a score midway through the third quarter that gave Wisconsin (10-2, 7-2, No. 12 CFP) a 17-7 lead. Coan connected with Taylor for a 28-yard touchdown strike late in the second quarter that gave the Badgers the lead after a slow start, sending them to the Big Ten championship game for a rematch with second-ranked Ohio State.

Tanner Morgan passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns for the Gophers (10-2, 7-2). They watched their dream season take a painful hit from their oldest rival after ending a 14-game losing streak to the Badgers a year ago with a 37-15 victory at Wisconsin.

Minnesota was seeking to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1954, but the Badgers reasserted their recent dominance by taking home the traveling trophy for the 22nd time in the last 25 seasons. They took a 61-60-8 series lead.

Morgan had two turnovers that led to 10 points for the Badgers, who scored touchdowns on each of their first four drives in the second half. Two of them covered 90-plus yards. Taylor, the Heisman Trophy contender who had 200-plus rushing yards in each of his last three games, gained only 76 yards on 18 carries.

Badgers coach Paul Chryst and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph called a shrewd game, though, with well-timed reverses and screen passes to put the Gophers on their heels after their first four possessions went nowhere. Minnesota had defensive end Carter Coughlin in coverage on the touchdown throw to Taylor after a safety blitz, and Cephus had a favorable matchup with linebacker Thomas Barber on his backbreaking score.

Coan went 15 for 22 for 280 yards, the most of his career in a Big Ten game.

The Gophers delivered the first blow on their second play of the game, when Bateman used a stop-and-go route to badly beat freshman cornerback Semar Melvin for a 51-yard score on a perfect strike from Morgan for a 7-0 lead. With starting cornerback Rachad Wildgoose out with a foot injury and Minnesota boasting the top two receivers in the Big Ten in Bateman and Tyler Johnson, the Badgers had their hands full in the secondary.

They counteracted naturally with a pass rush that’s one of the nation’s best, with the fifth-most sacks in the FBS, harassing Morgan into plenty of off-balanced and hastened throws and hitting him hard when they came close. Caesar Williams, elevated to the starting lineup with Wildgoose’s absence, stepped up repeatedly against the second-highest scoring team in the conference.

Williams picked off Morgan’s pass when a pressured throw sailed over Johnson in the second quarter, and early in the fourth quarter he broke up back-to-back passes to Johnson in the end zone on third and fourth down with the Badgers leading 24-10. His interception came immediately after Wisconsin’s 14th lost fumble of the season, the second-most in the FBS.

The Gophers lost mammoth right tackle Daniel Faalele to a leg injury in the second quarter, which sure didn’t help their cause against a Badgers defense that was eager to rebound from that humbling performance against Minnesota last season.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

This was the only the sixth time in the history of the most-played series in major college football that both teams were ranked in The Associated Press poll, the first since 2014 when Wisconsin also denied Minnesota a spot in the conference title game by winning the regular-season finale.

Wisconsin could take Minnesota’s place in the top 10 when poll is released Sunday. The Badgers, despite their two defeats, have a long-shot hope of their first berth in the College Football Playoff if there’s a bunch of upsets on conference championship weekend.

THE TAKEAWAY

Wisconsin: The Badgers might be wincing next month about what that one-point loss to Illinois on Oct. 19 might have cost them, but their recovery over the final four games was another testament to Chryst and his staff. Coan proved that the Badgers can still move the ball when they need to when Taylor is being bottled up.

Minnesota: The Gophers were humbled a bit by one of their border-state rivals for the second time in the last three weeks, taking some of the shine off this breakthrough in coach P.J. Fleck’s third season.

UP NEXT

Wisconsin: Heads to Indianapolis for the sixth time in nine years since the conference title game was created. The Badgers lost 38-7 to Ohio State on Oct. 26.

Minnesota: Awaits the Dec. 8 announcement of the bowl assignments. The Rose Bowl remains a possibility, but the Badgers might grab that one and relegate the Gophers to either the Citrus Bowl or the Outback Bowl, both of which are also on Jan. 1.

Auburn beat Alabama 48-45 in an instant classic, a game that featured a season’s worth of wild plays.

Auburn survived a final, marathon Crimson Tide drive when Joseph Bulovas’ 30-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright with 2:00 left.

AUBURN, Ala. — Shaun Shivers scored on an 11-yard run with 8:08 left to put No. 16 Auburn ahead and another failed field goal by Alabama in the Iron Bowl wiped away the fifth-ranked Crimson Tide’s playoff hopes in a wild 48-45 victory for the Tigers on Saturday.

Auburn (9-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) survived a final, marathon Crimson Tide drive when Joseph Bulovas’ 30-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright with 2:00 left.

Auburn couldn’t get a first down on JaTarvious Whitlow’s three runs while Alabama (10-2, 6-2) burned its final two time outs. But the Tide was called for illegal substitution after the Tigers lined up for a punt, setting off a fist-pumping celebration for coach Gus Malzahn.

Auburn fans stormed the field to celebrate another Iron Bowl thriller, filling it from end zone to end zone as they did in the 2013 Kick-Six game, when the Tigers’ returned a missed Tide field goal for a game-winning touchdown.

The Tide had made the first five College Football Playoffs fields, but its case was damaged with a 46-41 loss to No. 1 LSU. The team’s in-state rival delivered the final blow.

Alabama worked more than six minutes off the clock before settling for Bulovas’ attempt.

Quarterback Mac Jones, who replaced injured star Tua Tagovailoa, scrambled for 18 yards on fourth-and-7 to get the Tide into easier field goal range. The drive stalled at the 13 when Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown batted a third-down pass back to Jones, who threw a pair of pick-sixes.

Jaylen Waddle caught three touchdown passes and scored on a 98-yard kickoff return for the Tide, helping Alabama build a 45-40 fourth-quarter lead.

The 5-foot-7, 179-pound Shivers delivered on his only carry. Whitlow took the direct snap and handed it to him. Shivers smashed into Xavier McKinney, knocking the safety’s helmet off on the way to the end zone. Bo Nix’s two-point pass to Shedrick Jackson made it 48-45.

Auburn backup linebacker Zakoby McClain returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown and a huge swing midway through the third quarter. The ball bounced off the back of tailback Najee Harris and into McClain’s arms, setting up a sprint down the sideline.

THE TAKEAWAY

Alabama: Came in needing some help to make the playoffs, but wound up losing multiple regular-season games for the first time since 2010.

Auburn: The defense was uncharacteristically vulnerable but also delivered big plays. Whitlow ran for 115 yards. A huge win for a team that had fallen short against other top teams.

TEMPER TEMPER

Emotions flared up a couple of times in the third quarter. Whitlow and Alabama were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for one altercation. Then Auburn receiver Seth Williams, who is from outside Tuscaloosa, was flagged for a push to linebacker Terrell Lewis’s head after tangling up with Trevon Diggs. That last one helped force Auburn to settle for the field goal.

UP NEXT

Alabama awaits its bowl invitation with no title shot.

Auburn awaits a possibly better bowl destination than it expected coming into the game.

The No. 17 Vols won a top-25 matchup with VCU in the final seconds of regulation.

NICEVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Lamonte Turner made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give No. 17 Tennessee a 72-69 victory over No. 20 VCU in the Emerald Coast Classic third-place game on Saturday.

Turner’s big shot spoiled a dramatic comeback by the Rams, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half.

John Fulkerson led Tennessee (6-1) with 17 points and seven rebounds. Jordan Bowden added 14 points and Turner scored 12 for the Vols.

Marcus Santos-Silva led VCU (6-2) with 22 points and De’Riante Jenkins had 15.

Jenkins hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 69-69 with 5 seconds left. Tennessee called timeout and inbounded the ball from the frontcourt with 1.7 seconds remaining. Turner launched the winning shot from the right corner.

The teams traded the lead six times and were tied six times to open the game before Tennessee closed out the first half with a 17-6 run to take a 37-26 lead at the break. Jalen Johnson made a three-pointer to break a 20-20 tie and start the run.

VCU chipped away and took its first lead of the second half on a jumper by KeShawn Curry at 58-56 with 6:42 to go.

Fulkerson put Tennessee ahead 69-66 by blocking a shot, grabbing a rebound and then hitting a pair of free throws after he was fouled, setting up the dramatic three-pointers in the final seconds.

BIG PICTURE

Tennessee: The Vols bounced back from their loss to Florida State in the Emerald Coast Classic semifinals on Friday. Although Tennessee never led in that game, the Vols narrowed the final margin to three points against a Florida State team was just a few votes short of making the AP Top 25. The road doesn’t get any easier, though. After a home game against Florida A&M, the Vols entertain No. 16 Memphis. The schedule also includes a visit to Cincinnati and a home game against Wisconsin, both currently unranked but in the next tier of teams, before Southeast Conference play begins in January.

VCU: It was a tough couple days in the Florida Panhandle for the Rams, who saw their season-opening six game winning streak—the best start in school history—turn into a two-game skid. The losses to Purdue and No. 17 Tennessee likely will lead to VCU’s exit from the AP Top 25. The schedule, though, gets easier with no more Power 5 opponents ahead.

UP NEXT

VCU hosts Old Dominion next Saturday.

Tennessee hosts Florida A&M on Wednesday.