Other College Football Capsules: Temple beats Central Michigan 13-10 in OT

Coming off a career-high passing performance in the opener against No. 19 LSU, Yates is working through an early bye week with a restored confidence that seemed shaken over the past year. That's when his own fans booed him, threw things at him and even rooted for him to lose his starting job to a talented youngster in a training camp.

"It's hard when people are criticizing you to bounce back, especially with a whole year of criticism and a whole offseason of criticism," tight end Zack Pianalto said. "To come out there and prove people wrong, we knew he had it in him the whole time."

Yates finished with a Bowl Subdivision-best 412 yards to go with three touchdowns against the Tigers. But more importantly, he seemed completely in control in the fourth quarter while leading an offense missing its top two tailbacks and its top receiver due to an ongoing NCAA investigation into the program.

He rallied the Tar Heels from a 20-point deficit and drove them all the way to the 6-yard line in the final seconds before falling short on two passes to Pianalto in the end zone that could have won the game.

"I really just felt completely comfortable out there on the field," he said. "I knew exactly what I was seeing out there defensively."

Yates had shown flashes of that potential during his first three years as a starter.

He's had plenty of frustrating moments, too. He needed shoulder surgery after his freshman year. He suffered a broken ankle that cost him several games the next year.

Last season, he struggled playing behind an injury-depleted offensive line while throwing to inexperienced receivers.

That led to the boos, which even greeted his appearance on a taped message played on a video board in the Smith Center during a men's basketball game. Yates, in the building that night, could only pull down the bill of his cap over his face.

After redshirt freshman Bryn Renner outplayed Yates in the annual spring intrasquad scrimmage, coach Butch Davis said Yates would have to hold off Renner for the starting job through training camp.

It's unclear whether Yates was in real danger of losing the job or if Davis was trying to motivate him, but Yates has responded and seemed far more at ease this week than he did leading up to the LSU game.

While he said this week he didn't pay much attention to the criticism, he also said minutes later that it was "a good feeling knowing a lot of fans are behind me now."

"He kept his head up and didn't let things get to him," receiver Jheranie Boyd said. "A lot of people were talking about Bryn Renner — 'When's Bryn getting in?' and Bryn's a great quarterback as well. But I feel like T.J. just took that as motivation, came in that game and just took over and became the leader that he was."

The Tar Heels are off until hosting No. 15 Georgia Tech on Sept. 18. By then, they could have back several of the 13 players who sat out the LSU game due to the NCAA inquiry into agents-related benefits and possible academic misconduct.

Either way, Yates is ready to lead the offense without dwelling on any "what ifs."

"You do a little bit, kind of to yourself, but you can do that after pretty much every game," he said. "What if this certain play had happened or we had a few more guys here and there? You just try not to think about that stuff too much."

-- Aaron Beard

Such is the fallout after Saturday's 49-48 double overtime loss to Jacksonville State, which will go down as one of the most embarrassing moments in program history.

Powe admits it hasn't been a fun week knowing his team has been a national punchline. But he's been impressed by the resiliency of his teammates as they prepare to face Tulane on Saturday in New Orleans.

"You can't control what people on the outside think, but the guys on this team are still excited," Powe said. "We've got a great team and this woke us up. The good thing about this is it happened early."

The biggest concern is patching up a defense that allowed Jacksonville State to score on its final six possessions on Saturday. The veteran group — which returned six starters from last season — was supposed to be the team's strength.

"We didn't play with a reckless attitude," Powe said. "We got lackadaisical and just didn't finish. There hasn't been any finger pointing. We all lost so there's no reason to do that."

Ole Miss should get a lift from the return of senior defensive end Kentrell Lockett. The 6-foot-5, 260-pound team captain missed the opener because of a heart ailment, but was cleared to return to the field on Wednesday. He made 10 tackles for a loss and five sacks last season.

"It's going to be a big difference," Powe said. "We're glad to have him back. He knows the game and he's a big part of what we do."

Senior safety Fon Ingram also returns after minor knee surgery three weeks ago. His experience should help fortify a pass defense that surrendered several big plays to Jacksonville State in the closing minutes.

"We had several opportunities to make plays, big plays that would have won the game and they saw that" on film, coach Houston Nutt said. "It was a tremendous learning experience. Painful, but a tremendous learning experience."

The Rebels' shocking loss has often been compared to when Appalachian State beat Michigan in 2007. That's fine with Powe, who is quick to remind everyone that the Wolverines' season wasn't destroyed by one embarrassing loss.

"People don't talk about what happened afterwards with Michigan," Powe said. "They went on to the Capital One Bowl and beat the mess out of Florida and Tim Tebow."

Tulane coach Bob Toledo said he expects to encounter a very emotional Ole Miss team on Saturday.

"They're going to be upset and I know Houston will get his guys ready to play," Toledo said.

Powe said Nutt has stressed throughout the week that despite the embarrassment, all of the team's postseason and conference goals are still intact. But the Rebels have to improve quickly.

"The only good thing about this is it happened to us early," Powe said.

-- David Brandt

Backfield friends lead Clemson's rushing attack

Things just clicked between Jamie Harper and Andre Ellington at a high school all-star game in Florida. Ellington had already decided to come to Clemson, and the power back Harper followed him. They've been just about inseparable ever since.

Now the tandem make up the Tigers' starting backfield. Each ran for more than 100 yards last week against North Texas, becoming the first pair of Clemson backs to go over the century mark in three years.

In the locker room before last week's game with North Texas, they sat by side-by-side, talking about what they needed to do as the Tigers turned over a good chunk of their offense to them.

"We were sitting down taking about the game. We kind of know what kind of plays are going to happen we get out there. We were just visualizing it," Harper said.

Harper ended up with 101 yards, which delighted the junior. But one stat meant even more — Ellington's 122 yards.

"Just watching him perform makes me happy," Harper said.

Harper and Ellington would appear to have their hands full, trying to replace Clemson's "Thunder and Lightning" backfield of C.J. Spiller and James Davis. But the pair are earning plenty of praise from their coaches.

Offensive coordinator Billy Napier raved about how the pair took advantage of every opportunity, their passion for football coming through on every play.

"If we could get every skill player to play like that," Napier said.

The two backs occasionally showed flashes of talent last year. Ellington ran for 7.2 yards a carry and was Clemson's second leading rusher last year, gaining 491 yards as a freshman as he backed up Spiller. Harper ran for 418 yards.

Head coach Dabo Swinney has been impressed with the work both backs put in during spring practice and fall camp. Harper, at 6-feet and 230 pounds, realized he needed some speed and shiftiness because he could no longer just bowl over people like he did in high school. Ellington, at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, worked on getting tougher to complement his first-to-the-secondary speed.

So while Swinney picked apart the flaws of his offense after last week's win — receivers didn't complete their routes, quarterback Kyle Parker got greedy and threw a few bad passes — he had nothing but praise for Harper and Ellington.

"They ran with purpose. You watch them play, they look like two guys on a mission," Swinney said. "That's how you want all your guys to play."

Ellington and Harper met at the Under Armour high school all-star game in 2007, where Harper caught the winning touchdown pass from Parker. All three of them would become part of Clemson's heralded 2008 recruiting class.

Wherever teammates find one back, the other isn't far away. They spend about every waking hour together, playing video games, sitting next to each other at team meetings and chatting on the sidelines about their lives and the tendencies of the opposing defenses. Their families have even become good friends despite the 250 miles between Harper's hometown of Jacksonville and Ellington's home in Moncks Corner.

The players who practice against the backs every day expect the friends to keep making Tigers fans happy.

"Ever since they got here, since day one, you could tell what kind of backs they would be," cornerback Marcus Gilchirst said. "You could tell they were special. The world hasn't seen it yet."

-- Jeffrey Collins

Notes

Johnson, a junior from Hammond, La., started at right guard in the season opener against Jacksonville State and started three games last season. The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Johnson was also suspended from the team last season for another violation of team rules, but was reinstated.

Nutt says sophomore Josh Tatum would start in Johnson's place during Saturday's game against Tulane in New Orleans.

Nutt also announced reserve linebacker Brandon Sanders has been suspended indefinitely. The sophomore appeared in 12 career games, making seven tackles.

Mary suspends senior linebacker