College Sports Capsules: ECU's McNeill embraces challenge of 1st game week
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The smoke will billow near East Carolina's locker room, the pyrotechnics will sparkle and they'll blast Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" over the speakers.
Then, for the first time, Ruffin McNeill will lead the Pirates onto the field.
"Right now, I'm getting little goose bumps," McNeill said Monday, a full six days before gameday. "You can't fake that."
While there's no hiding McNeill's passion for his alma mater, there are more pressing things to worry about than making a grand entrance.
Playing a Conference USA rival — not to mention, one that might be carrying a grudge — has a way of creating an added sense of urgency.
McNeill's first game in charge of the two-time defending league champion Pirates, and his first game as a full-time head coach anywhere, comes Sunday when Tulsa visits in the first C-USA game of the season.
"It's a conference game, but it's our first game, and it's the only game we've got this week, so all the focus will be on Tulsa," McNeill said. "The motivation will be there. It's the next guy up. It's the first guy up. That's enough motivation for us."
It helps that McNeill has some familiarity with Tulsa coach Todd Graham. McNeill spent the past decade on Texas Tech's staff, while Graham was a high school coach in a Dallas suburb before he made the jump to college ball, joining West Virginia's staff in 2001 and later getting his Division I head coaching job at Rice in 2006. He moved to Tulsa a year later.
"I've crossed paths with coach McNeill quite a bit," Graham said. "It's genuinely the real deal. I'm very impressed with him. ... As a former high school coach, just the type of person that he is, he really cares about people."
The Pirates are 2-0 in the past two seasons against Tulsa, including a victory in the 2008 C-USA title game, and that prompted Graham to call East Carolina "the team to beat in this conference."
But those teams were settled at quarterback. That is not the case, at least not yet.
McNeill said he has yet to decide whether former Boston College QB Dominique Davis or sophomore walk-on Brad Wornick will take the first snap Sunday against the Golden Hurricane.
The longtime Mike Leach assistant said Wornick at times reminds him of former Tech signal-callers Cody Hodges and Kliff Kingsbury. Davis, Ruffin said, has big-game experience after helping BC reach the 2008 ACC title game, plus the talent and intelligence to run McNeill's version of the "Air Raid" offense.
"In this offense, and what we do, a strong arm is great, but it's ... when and how you deliver that thing that's important in this offense," McNeill said. "Both guys are doing a great job. ... Those guys are battling night and day. ... You'll see one guy in seven-on-seven just complete great throws. Then, the next guy in team (drills will) do the same thing."
For the man known around campus as "Coach Ruff," it's been a long wait to not only return home, but to get that elusive first head coaching opportunity.
The Lumberton native and former East Carolina defensive back in the late 1970s spent the past 30 years as a career assistant. He bounced from Austin Peay to Appalachian State to UNLV, before landing at Texas Tech in 2000.
Following a messy divorce between Leach and the school, McNeill was put in charge on an interim basis for the Red Raiders' Alamo Bowl victory over Michigan State. Tommy Tuberville got the full-time job and didn't retain McNeill, who was hired by his alma mater in January after Skip Holtz left for South Florida.
"I'm looking forward to seeing our fans and getting around Pirate Nation and getting our football team, more importantly than me, around them," McNeill said. "They're not coming to see me. They're coming to see our football team.
"I'm sure it'll be emotional, and I'm looking forward to the execution of the game operation. That's the exciting part of it to me. Let's see who can beat who. I love that part of the game. But I'll be excited, I'm sure."
Florida State beginning a new life after Bowden
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Life after Bobby Bowden for Florida State's players has meant getting lessons in positive thinking as well as eating more beans and greens and less fried chicken and fast-food burgers.
For Jimbo Fisher, who succeed the now-retired Hall of Fame coach at Florida State, it's finally getting a chance to do things his way after three years as Bowden' offensive coordinator. During the last two, Fisher also held the newly invented and uncomfortable title of coach-in-waiting.
For Florida State's boosters and fans it's given them hope, if not expectation, that a younger coach with a more up-to-date approach can duplicate what's happened just down the road in Gainesville.
That's where Urban Meyer, an energetic and relatively youthful coach — restored national championship luster to the Florida Gators, the Seminoles' bitter rivals.
"I think we'll do significantly better this year," said Jim Smith, former chairman of Florida State's Board of Trustees. "In a year or two we'll be back in the hunt."
Smith, who last fall successfully pushed for Bowden to retire a year sooner than he'd planned, is encouraged by a highly touted freshman class and several promising early verbal commitments for next year. He's also excited about a high-powered offense that returns most of its starters, including senior star quarterback Christian Ponder. Most of all, though, Smith's encouraged by Fisher himself.
"It's all about coaching," said Smith, a former Florida attorney general and secretary of state.
For all of Bowden's success — two national championships, 14 straight top five finishes and 377 career victories — many Florida State loyalists thought he'd lost his touch.
Fisher has a long history with the Bowden family that includes playing and coaching for and with Bobby's sons. He says he plans to maintain the traditions and values the elder Bowden established during 34 seasons at Florida State. But he's equally clear that he's his own man.
"He was my hero, but we have to move forward," Fisher said. "I have to control what we do now."
Controlling is a good description of Fisher's style. It's been shaped by a stint as offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at LSU where they won a national championship. Saban, of course, now is at Alabama where he led the Crimson Tide to a national title last season.
"Coach Saban and myself are what you consider process oriented guys," Fisher said. "Another guy who influenced that even before was John Wooden."
Wooden, who died in June, turned UCLA into a basketball juggernaut, winning 10 national championships in 12 years during the 1960s and '70s.
Bowden delegated much of the coaching to his assistants, particularly longtime defense coordinator Mickey Andrews, who also retired after last season. Fisher takes a more hands-on approach. While Bowden oversaw practices perched atop a tower just like his hero, Alabama's Bear Bryant, Fisher is on the field.
"Coach Bowden was kind of a CEO type," said Ponder, who already has earned a master's degree in business administration. "Coach Fisher's a lot different where everything runs through him. He's a lot more involved on the field, coaching different positions. He still coaches us quarterbacks, yelling at guys and everything."
Some of the more significant changes Fisher made after taking over in January were off the field. He hired a sports psychologist and brought in outside speakers to preach positive thinking and mental conditioning.
"They showed us how snipers breathe," center Ryan McMahon said. "If their heart's beating they've got to shoot the shot between heart beats or it would be off."
McMahon said players can use the same technique on the field to keep from losing concentration.
"Sometimes you get too excited," he said. "You might have to take a deep breath and just kind of bring everything back into focus."
Fisher also hired a nutritionist to create individual diets, most heavy on fruits, vegetables and whole grains, geared to whether a player needs to gain, lose or maintain his weight.
"I don't eat fast food any more," linebacker Mister Alexander said. "I haven't eaten fried chicken in I can't tell you."
Alexander said the diet has paid off by cutting his body fat from 13.5 percent to 7.4 percent.
Florida State's offense already has been shaped by Fisher and probably will be little changed. The defense that last year was Florida State's weakness will be different under new coordinator Mark Stoops. He previously held the same position at Arizona where his brother, Mike, is head coach. The Seminoles now will feature more zone schemes. Andrews had favored a man-to-man approach.
"You're not chasing everybody around the field," Alexander said. "You're not getting as tired."
Fisher should quickly find out where his rebuilding effort stands. After a warmup against lower-division Samford, Bowden's alma mater, the Seminoles travel to Oklahoma, which is coached by another Stoops brother, Bob. Then Brigham Young comes to Tallahassee before the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule starts.
While Smith is confident the Seminoles can emulate Florida's turnaround under Meyer, who won national championships in his second and fourth years, there are differences that may make it tougher for Fisher.
Since Meyer took over in 2005, Florida State and Miami, his main rivals for talent in a state known for producing lots of it, have been struggling. The Seminoles have finished 7-6 in three of the last four years.
Fisher, in contrast, must recruit against and play a Miami team that's on the rebound as well as the Gators, who even in a rebuilding year seem well stocked.
"I think you've got to give a couple years to get his guys in there," said Florida State fan John Fillion, an information technologist from Tampa. "I don't think anyone thinks, 'Hey, we're supposed to go to a national championship this year.'"
Fillion said fans' patience, though, has its limits. If Florida State keeps going 7-6 or 8-5 in the next four years, he said, "Jimbo's probably going to be in trouble."
-- Bill Kaczor and Brent Kallested
Michigan's Rich Rodriguez looks and sounds relaxed
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Rich Rodriguez was at ease with reporters for a change, casually chatting and cracking jokes.
Michigan's embattled coach said Monday there was a reason he looked and sounded more relaxed — as he previewed the season-opening game this week against Connecticut — than he had the past two years.
"It was kind of refreshing to have a press conference with all football talk," Rodriguez said after his news conference. "We haven't had a whole lot of those."
He has often been tense and defensive at his weekly news conferences because of problems on and off the field.
A year ago Tuesday, Rodriguez fought back tears in the same room while defending himself after the Detroit Free Press published a report in which anonymous players claimed the amount of time they spent on football during the season and in the offseason greatly exceeded NCAA limits.
The school later acknowledged it violated four major NCAA rules under Rodriguez, though it backed him last month against a fifth charge that he failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
Rodriguez seems more than ready to move on and give the public a better sense of how he is when comfortable and confident.
"Maybe everybody knows me better, and I know everybody better," he explained. "The more you know somebody, the more you relax. I've come to the realization that you are who you are, people are going to judge you regardless, so why worry about it?"
Winning, of course, is what concerns Rodriguez the most entering his third season.
The Wolverines lost a school-record nine games in his first year leading college football's winningest team and flopped to a 5-7 finish last season.
Rodriguez has been widely identified as a coach on the hot seat, but steadfastly insists he doesn't feel more of a sense of urgency now than he has in any other season.
"There's more pressure at higher levels because it's more important to more people, but as a coach, you feel the same," he said. "I'll stay awake the night before Saturday's game, thinking about what I've got to do, just like I did at West Virginia and Glenville State."
Michigan lured Rodriguez away from West Virginia to replace retiring coach Lloyd Carr after the 2007 season and it didn't take long for the Wolverines to know things would be different.
"He was an intense, fiery coach, obviously different than coach Carr with the way he's a little more in your face yelling," fifth-year senior Steve Schilling said. "I knew he had success in the past, so I had a lot of respect for him coming in.
"I've gained every more respect for him through what we've gone through. We've kind of bonded as a team with the coaching staff the last couple of years, going through all the adversity."
Instead of recoiling at his first weekly news conferences of the season, Rodriguez was often smiling and laughing while answering questions.
How will he inform his quarterbacks — Denard Robinson, Tate Forcier and Devin Gardner — who will take the first snap against Connecticut?
"I don't need no Dr. Phil moment with the guys," Rodriguez cracked.
Is he more encouraged by his inexperienced players than he's acknowledging?
"I know eventually what we'll have, but in the first game or two, with all of the nerves out there and all that kind of stuff, big Johnny (Falk) will probably have to bring a couple extra pairs of pants in case they make a little mess," said Rodriguez, referring to the team's equipment manager.
-- Larry Lage
Vols ready to return focus back to football field
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has gotten plenty of attention in the past eight months for off-the-field news. The Volunteers are hoping to prove that none of it will keep them from being successful on the field.
"We know how hard we worked this summer, so I think it's going to be a good time for us to get out there and show everybody how hard we've been working and how dedicated we are to Tennessee," senior defensive end Chris Walker said.
The Vols have been eagerly awaiting Saturday's season opener against Tennessee-Martin because it means the fans' focus will be back on football. All the talk surrounding the Vols from January through August has been about former coach Lane Kiffin's hasty departure from Tennessee — the Vols' second coaching change in as many seasons — and the July bar brawl that led to one player's dismissal and two others' suspensions.
If anything, the program's offseason turmoil has helped foster more team chemistry for the 2010 season, senior linebacker Nick Reveiz said.
"I feel like it's brought us closer as a team," Reveiz said. "We've had so much turnover and change, the only guys we could really look at or rely on were the players ... therefore we bonded closer as a team, and I really feel like we've created a team chemistry."
The coaching turnover and player arrests could have done just the opposite by tearing the team apart, first-year coach Derek Dooley said. But the Vols have shown resiliency after every bit of adversity they've faced in recent years, from following up a 5-7 season and coach Phillip Fulmer's firing in 2008 with a 7-6 season in 2009 to being completely dedicated to fall camp after the embarrassment of the bar brawl.
Dooley's hope is that his players' resiliency will continue to translate to good things on the field.
"I hope that what it does prepare them for is when it gets a little tough out there — which it will — that we stay together and we support each other and we play out of it, just like the kids have done with every little piece of adversity that's hit them in the past couple of years," the coach said.
The Vols didn't immediately warm to Dooley's leadership when he was hired in January, having just been jilted by Kiffin, Reveiz said. But Dooley has earned their respect over the course of the offseason, especially thanks to the way he handled the discipline problems and prepared the team, despite major depth issues.
"He's really taken care of us as far as off-the-field issues and as far as on-the-field issues. He's really been there for us," Reveiz said. "We're going to stay together as a team, and we're going to support coach Dooley."
A number of players opted to leave Tennessee after both Fulmer's firing and Kiffin's departure, leaving only 76 scholarship players on the team after Dooley awarded scholarships to a couple of walk-on players.
Dooley and his players have acknowledged many times that the lack of depth could cause Tennessee to struggle. Still, Reveiz says he wouldn't trade in the team's difficult times of late just to have a full roster.
"It's hard not to say you're not worried, but you realize that you'd rather do it with a smaller group of guys who are doing it the right way than a bigger group of guys that are doing it the wrong way," he said. "I really believe we're doing it the right way as far as off the field and on the field.
"I can make a commitment to the community that we're trying to make Vol nation proud and we're working as hard as we extremely can. I wouldn't trade these guys for anybody."
-- Beth Rucker
Six weeks into job, game week here for Vandy coach
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Robbie Caldwell has been busy charming Vanderbilt fans and boosters, delegating tasks to his coaching staff and even started tweeting in his new job as head coach.
Now that game week is here, and the job gets tougher. Not that the coaching veteran is nervous just because he'll be the man in charge Saturday night.
"I'm not nervous," Caldwell said Monday in his first weekly news conference as Vanderbilt's head coach. "I mean, what the heck? I've been doing this a long time. We're going to go out and get after it and have some fun and try our durndest to win the game."
Caldwell has had people asking him what he's going to do and how he'll handle his newest challenge. Vanderbilt promoted him to interim head coach July 14 when Bobby Johnson retired and later took off the interim tag, giving him a contract.
"You don't know till you get there. I've been going out on the field for a long time. I've never had that sole responsibility, 'You've got to make the calls.' That's going to be a lot of fun," Caldwell said. "I've got very good coaches around me that'll help with that decision. I'm looking forward to it."
The schedule isn't making Caldwell's debut any easier.
The Commodores, coming off a 2-10 season, open Saturday night against Northwestern. The Wildcats went 8-5 last season and lost to Auburn 38-35 in overtime in the Outback Bowl.
Caldwell called the Wildcats very well-coached and very disciplined while complimenting coach Pat Fitzgerald.
"Obviously, he's done a tremendous job," Caldwell said.
Caldwell announced his starting quarterback Sunday night, keeping junior Larry Smith in the job he held last year before with nine starters before a hamstring ended his season. He hopes to have running back Warren Norman, the Southeastern Conference's freshman of the year, playing despite having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee last week.
The coach also started tweeting last Friday, debuting with posts about the Commodores' ship about to set sail and a link to a Tom T. Hall video about old dogs, children and watermelon wine.
Caldwell's biggest problem? Finding time to learn how to tweet from his phone for a man who's not much into computers.
"When I do, I kind of like peckin' on it. It's fun," he said.
Starting center Joey Bailey spent the last four seasons with Caldwell as his position coach. He said he sometimes feels like Caldwell's translator with the rest of the team and is able to tell just from a teammate's look that the player didn't understand the coach's Southern slang.
He can't pare down his coach's sayings to just one favorite.
"Usually whatever comes out of his mouth, I'm laughing at," Bailey said.
Caldwell knows one thing. He doesn't want his Commodores going out feeling the need to win one for the quipper. Vanderbilt is 10-15 in its last 25 openers and lost to Michigan in 2006 the last time the Commodores opened a season against a Big Ten team.
"The way I look at it we want to win every game. You can't win 'em all till you win the first one. We're going to go out there hopefully prepared to play the best we can, and we'll let that sort itself out," Caldwell said.
Lest anyone think Caldwell's just a funny man, he did have a quick reminder on how competitive he really is.
"I want to win at everything whether I pitch horseshoes with you or shoot marbles. I want to beat you, and that's just my nature."
-- Teresa M. Walker
Huskies' high expectations start at BYU
SEATTLE (AP) — So much for all the fuss around Washington about having to play in the breath-zapping elevation at Brigham Young.
To hear coach — and former BYU star quarterback — Steve Sarkisian tell it, the elevation of 4,500-plus feet in Provo, Utah, is the perfect place for his Huskies to begin their season of soaring expectations.
"Well, the sky's always the limit, right? Nothing should ever hold anyone back. But that's just a philosophical little note for you," Sarkisian said wryly on Monday, five days before the season opens at BYU up in the Wasatch Mountains.
He was talking about the expectations he has for Jake Locker, Washington's senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate.
But Sarkisian could have been talking about how Washington seems to be on the cusp of a revival, and its first bowl game since 2002.
A reason many believe Locker could win the Heisman, and even become the first overall pick in next spring's NFL draft, is because he is entering the second season in Sarkisian's offense far more advanced in it than he was 12 months ago preparing for a 31-23 loss to LSU in the 2009 opener.
In his first year running Sarkisian's plays, Locker threw for 2,800 yards with 21 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. His completion percentage was 11 points higher than his freshman season — the last full, healthy year he played — when he was in a more spread-option style offense under Tyrone Willingham.
Another reason one voter in the Pac-10's preseason poll even voted Washington to win the conference two years after it bottomed out at 0-12 under Willingham is the return of a healthy Chris Polk. Last season as a freshman, Polk became just the second Husky since the late 1990s to rush for 1,000 yards.
Monday, Sarkisian said Polk is unlimited and in "tremendous shape" following shoulder surgery, and that he was excited to watch Polk run against BYU.
Then there's a fast, skilled group of receivers that many see as the Pac-10's best.
"We have a talented offense," Locker said. "We have a talented group of guys and we're really comfortable in a system that we've been running for two, 2½ years. I think it's allowed guys to play a little faster, do some things that are a little more advanced than what we did in the past."
It's on defense where the Huskies have concerns — especially against the dynamic and sometimes tricky Cougars.
BYU is already messing with Washington. Coach Bronco Mendenhall did Sarkisian and his staff no favors while announcing last weekend that junior Riley Nelson and freshman Jake Heaps, a prized recruit from Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash., who got away from the Huskies, will be sharing the quarterback job this week.
Sarkisian said the two passers are opposites, meaning the Huskies are essentially preparing for two different offenses.
"And I would not be surprised if both quarterbacks are on the field at the same time for them," Sarkisian said. "So we have some real challenges."
Washington's defense is welcoming back junior inside linebacker Cort Dennison from a knee injury. Dennison was an all-state tight end and top basketball player at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City, and he will have about 40 friends and family down the highway in Provo for Saturday's game.
"I'm extremely eager," Dennison said of his return to Utah.
So eager, Sarkisian has already spoken to Dennison about controlling his emotions and keeping this as any other game.
Dennison has been to LaVell Edwards Stadium. That puts him in the minority of Huskies.
So Sarkisian is going to take extra advantage of Friday's walkthrough practice in Provo, to get the players used to soaring punts and kickoffs, plus other peculiarities of the altitude in which he starred as a Cougar in 1995 and '96.
Locker has never played at such an elevation in his Washington career. He thinks the thin-air talk is more than just hot air.
"I don't think you can ignore it," he said. "I think it's making sure we stay up tempo at practice this week, (getting acclimated) and understanding that it might be a little bit difficult."
-- Gregg Bell
Wildcats, Cards playing guessing game
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Charlie Strong isn't the kind of guy who leaves things to chance.
The coach charged with restoring Louisville to the glory of its not-so distant past is a stickler for details, monitoring everything from the number of available towels in the locker room to where his players park their cars.
Strong's meticulousness has instilled a renewed sense of discipline at Louisville, keeping the Cardinals on their toes and delighting a fan base turned off by the decidedly more relaxed — and ultimately unsuccessful — approach of former coach Steve Kragthorpe.
Still, after eight months of sweating the small stuff, even Strong isn't so sure about some of the big stuff, like what kind of team he's got on his hands heading into Saturday's Governor's Cup showdown with Kentucky.
"I just don't know who we are right now," Strong said. "We're searching for an identity."
A certain air of mystery may not necessarily be a bad thing, particularly for a team coming off its worst season since 1997.
Strong brings in a new coaching staff, one that features Louisville's fourth offensive and defensive coordinators in as many seasons.
Former UNLV coach Mike Sanford will bring the spread offense he perfected under Urban Meyer at Utah in 2003-04. Former Florida secondary coach Vance Bedford will partner with Strong to help a defense that ranked 91st in the country last year.
It has sent Kentucky coach Joker Phillips to the film vault trying to figure out what to expect in a series the Wildcats have dominated in recent years. Kentucky has won three straight over its archrival, swinging the balance of power in the state firmly back to Lexington.
"We've got to be mentally prepared for a lot of different things," Phillips said. "It's just been a pretty difficult team to prepare for."
Well, not entirely.
Phillips has spent enough time watching Strong's talented defenses at Florida have its way with the Wildcats over the last seven seasons to know what to expect whenever Kentucky has the ball.
"It's going to be a blitz-o-rama," Phillips said. "He'll be blitzing as soon as he comes out of the locker room. It's just what they do."
Even if the Cardinals won't do it with the same kind of athletes Strong had at Florida. That's the least of his worries at the moment.
He knows his teams lacks depth and size. He can work on that. Right now, he'd like to see some confidence. It's a rare commodity in a program that has gone 15-21 since winning the Orange Bowl four seasons ago.
"What these players have heard (for years) is 'You're not very good, you can't do this, you can't do that,'" Strong said. "It's a confidence thing with them now because we have nothing to show for it."
The only way to get it is to win. Though the more experienced Wildcats are a slight favorite, they have questions of their own.
Can anybody else besides do-everything wide receiver Randall Cobb catch the ball? Can quarterback Mike Hartline do more than just manage the game? How will eight first-year players react while playing in front of 56,000 mostly hostile fans?
"The biggest thing is how those guys are going to react?" Phillips said.
It's a question that's not limited to Kentucky's players. Though Phillips has spent the last 24 years preparing to make his head coaching debut, he knows things will be different when he walks into Cardinal Stadium and sees his longtime friend on the other sideline.
"I'm sure maybe Saturday morning I'll be hugging the toilet somewhere," Phillips said.
-- Will Graves
Tough opening test for new San Jose St. coach
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Talk about a rude welcome to head coaching.
San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre will make his debut on Saturday when he takes the Spartans into one of college football's toughest environments at No. 1 and defending national champion Alabama.
"We're going to go in front of 102,000 people; they're going to lower down the national championship banner; they're going to hand out the Heisman Trophy; and we're going to kick it off," MacIntyre said Monday. "It's a great opportunity for these young men. You dream of it since being a little kid to always play against the best. We're going to get a chance to play the very best and see how we do."
MacIntyre had been an assistant in college and the pros for two decades before being hired last December to replace Dick Tomey at San Jose State. He took over a two-win team at a school that has had little success in recent years.
He was then greeted with the schedule that opened with the game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. This marks the second time the Spartans have opened the season against the preseason No. 1 team, having lost 49-13 at Nebraska in 2000.
San Jose State hasn't beaten a ranked team since upsetting LaDainian Tomlinson and No. 9 TCU 27-24 in 2000 and hasn't done it on the road since beating Mike Singletary and No. 9 Baylor 30-22 in 1980.
But MacIntyre does have experience beating Alabama, being a freshman on the 1984 Vanderbilt team coached by his father that beat the Crimson Tide 30-21 in Tuscaloosa.
"That's the only time Vanderbilt has done it in like 100 years of football," MacIntyre said. "I had the experience of having had that happened. It was exhilarating and a fun time."
Repeating it would be almost unfathomable against a team that features Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, a backup running back nearly as talented in Trent Richardson, a quarterback in Greg McElroy who has won 30 straight starts since high school, a game-breaking receiver in Julio Jones and a defense coached by Nick Saban that's always one of the toughest in the nation.
The Spartans have played at Nebraska, at Southern California and twice against Boise State the past two seasons but none of that measures up to what they'll face Saturday.
"They're the best right now," quarterback Jordan La Secla said. "They're one step ahead of every team we've ever played. You want a challenge. You don't want to back down from any challenge. We look forward to it. We want to step up and meet the challenge. This is our schedule. We can't do anything about it. We want to embrace it. We're happy about it."
The Spartans players have been looking to this game for months. The scouting for many of them began when they watched the Crimson Tide beat Texas in January for the national championship. The players looked for any tips they could gain and also wanted to see Alabama win to make for an even bigger stage for this week's game.
"If you're going to open against Alabama, you want them to be national champions, you want them to be No. 1, you want Mark Ingram to win the Heisman so you have the opportunity to compete against the best," safety Duke Ihenacho said.
This game was added to the schedule in place of the usual game against Bay Area rival Stanford in order to bring in more money for the football program. San Jose State also replaced a game at Arizona State with a more lucrative trip to No. 12 Wisconsin next week.
In all, the Spartans will play three games against teams ranked in the top 12 of the preseason poll — including a home game in conference play against No. 3 Boise State — as well as a visit to Utah, which narrowly missed making the preseason poll.
"It helped us in recruiting, which is the life blood of your program," MacIntyre said. "When you want to build a program back to respectability, it all starts with recruiting. This game helped us recruit some young men to this football team and also gave us a lot of exposure this week all over the country."
-- Josh Dubow
Football News & Notes
Ark. St. hires former Miss. St. coach as assistant
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — Former Mississippi State basketball coach Richard Williams has been hired as an assistant at Arkansas State.
Williams, who took the Bulldogs to the 1996 Final Four, was announced as a new member of the Red Wolves' staff Monday. He'll work for Arkansas State coach John Brady, who also took a Southeastern Conference team to the Final Four when he was LSU's coach in 2006.
"I am excited about this opportunity that John is giving me because this is a coaching position. I will be on the floor coaching, doing individual workouts, doing the things I love to do," Williams said. "I appreciate John and (athletic director Dean) Lee giving me this opportunity and I know the expectations that John has of his players in the classroom, in the community, on the court."
Brady also named Isaac Brown associate head coach Monday. Brown was added to the staff this offseason after three years at Arkansas.
Williams coached Mississippi State for 12 seasons, going 191-163 before stepping down in 1998. Brady worked with Williams as an assistant coach at Mississippi State.
"About a month or so ago, Richard and I talked about if I had anything for him to do he would like to come up here and hang out, watch practice a little and do anything he could for us. When this situation arose I went and talked to Dean Lee and said, 'I got this idea. Why don't I hire Richard Williams for this year and see where it takes us?'" Brady said. "Dean thought it was a great idea. We are going to see how it works and I think it is going to work really well. He will enhance this program with his experience."
Brady is entering his third season at Arkansas State. The Red Wolves went 17-14 last season.
Heart condition sidelines Mississippi DE Lockett
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi coach Houston Nutt says starting defensive end Kentrell Lockett is not practicing because of a recurring heart condition.
Lockett is undergoing tests to diagnose the problem.
Nutt says Lockett's heart was "racing" on Saturday, forcing him to leave practice early.
The third-year coach says Lockett had a similar heart issue two years ago, but was cleared to play. He expects to learn more about Lockett's health on Tuesday.
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound senior from Hahnville, La., finished third on the team with 10 tackles for a loss and five sacks in 2009. His backup is sophomore Gerald Rivers, who saw limited playing time last year.
The Rebels open their season on Saturday at home against Jacksonville State.
-- David Brandt
WAC demands $5M from both Fresno State, Nevada
DENVER (AP) — The Western Athletic Conference is demanding a $5 million exit fee by Oct. 25 from Fresno State and Nevada, which are bolting to the Mountain West Conference.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the league would sue the universities if they don't pay up. He also said the league won't let the schools leave until after the 2011-12 season.
Fresno State and Nevada were informed of the WAC's hardline stance by letter on Friday. The schools announced Aug. 18 they would join the MWC. Because they didn't announce their decisions prior to a June 30 deadline required by WAC bylaws, neither school can leave for two years unless the league agrees to an early exit.
Benson said that by leaving before 2012, Fresno State and Nevada would cost each of the remaining WAC schools — Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State — $2 million or more.
Judge sides with Ohio State in Wis. trademark case
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge has told a Wisconsin marketing company to take down a website at the center of a trademark dispute with Ohio State University.
Ohio State had accused GDS Marketing Inc. of trying to produce electronic versions of gameday programs along with printed versions for distribution in Columbus. The company owns the web domain buckeyeillustrated.com. The school's athletic teams are known as the Buckeyes.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost on Monday granted a temporary restraining order for the company to stop publication and to stop registering, selling or assigning domain names containing Ohio State trademarks.
Ohio State says it's obligated to protect its trademarks from unauthorized use.
A phone message left for a Madison, Wis., attorney representing GDS Marketing hasn't been returned.
Iowa OL Koeppel OK after crash
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa says offensive lineman Josh Koeppel is OK after a traffic accident in Iowa City.
Iowa City police spokeswoman Sgt. Denise Brotherton says Koeppel (KEHP'-puhl) was riding a motorcycle Monday morning when a pickup truck turned left and collided with Koeppel.
Brotherton says Koeppel did not suffer life-threatening injuries. University spokesman Tom Moore says Koeppel was treated at UI Hospitals and Clinics and released.
Iowa associate sports information director Steve Roe says Koeppel is still listed as co-starter at center for the Hawkeyes' season opener Saturday against Eastern Illinois.
The 22-year-old Koeppel is entering his fifth year at Iowa. The 6-2, 273-pound Iowa City native joined the Hawkeyes in 2006.
UConn's Lloyd goes from redshirt to starter
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut linebacker Greg Lloyd Jr., who was expected to redshirt this season while recovering from a knee injury, is slated to start Saturday against Michigan.
Connecticut on Monday released its depth chart for the season opener, with Lloyd as a starter and redshirt freshman Michael Box as the team's second-string quarterback. Box replaces junior Cody Endres, who is serving an indefinite suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules.
Lloyd, a senior, was moved to defensive end during the offseason. But earlier this summer UConn coach Randy Edsall said the team had decided to move him back to linebacker and sit him out this season as he continued to heal from two torn ligaments suffered against Syracuse last November.
Porter names Cannon Smith as Tigers' starting QB
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis coach Larry Porter has settled on his starting quarterback, and he picked sophomore Cannon Smith to make his first collegiate start at Mississippi State in the season opener Saturday night.
The son of FedEx CEO Fred Smith, Cannon Smith started his college career at Miami and played in the 2008 opener for the Hurricanes against Charleston Southern. He completed one pass for 2 yards and ran for 2 more. He transferred back home to Memphis in 2009 and sat out the season.
Smith had been competing against freshman Ryan Williams.
Porter said Monday they evaluated the quarterbacks on decision making, managing the offense and productivity and decided to go with Smith.
Louisiana-Monroe dismisses linebacker Ford
MONROE, La. (AP) — Louisiana-Monroe linebacker DaCorris Ford has been dismissed from the team. Coach Todd Berry announced Ford's dismissal Monday. He says Ford was let go for a violation of team rules. He did not provide any further details of the violation.
The Warhawks open the 2010 season against Arkansas on Sept. 11 in Little Rock, Ark.
Men's Basketball
Nev. regulators probing Jordan son's partying
LAS VEGAS (AP) — MGM Resorts International was under investigation after the underage son of basketball great Michael Jordan bragged on Twitter about partying at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub, Nevada gambling regulators said Monday.
Officials were examining whether the casino operator violated laws prohibiting drinking or gambling by minors, Nevada Gaming Control Board enforcement chief Jerry Markling said.
People under 21 often try to gamble or drink in Las Vegas, but punishment for casino operators depend on the circumstances, Markling said.
Jordan's 19-year-old son Marcus Jordan tweeted Aug. 20 about spending $35,000 at Haze at Aria Resort & Casino.
"Last night was stupid... 35K at Haze," the University of Central Florida sophomore guard said. "Totals 50K something the whole day."
The tweet has since been removed from the site.
Jordan told a Fox Sports website last week that the tweet was a mistake and said he had conversations with both his parents about it.
"I didn't mean it the way it came across," he said. "My family and friends know the type of person I am."
Jordan was in Las Vegas for his dad's fantasy basketball camp with his brother, Jeffrey, and teammate A.J. Rompza.
A video posted to Twitter by Jeffrey Jordan shows all three players hanging out at the Liquid Pool Lounge, the resort's adults-only pool.
UCF basketball spokesman Doug Richards said the school had no comment.
MGM Resorts spokesman Alan Feldman declined comment. The Aria is the centerpiece casino of CityCenter, the company's joint venture with Dubai World that cost $8.5 billion to build.
Markling said he could not comment specifically about the case. He said the control board's findings would not be made public.
Markling said punishments in general depend on the infraction's scope, and could involve verbal warnings, fines, or in extreme cases suspending an operator's gambling license.
-- Oskar Garcia
Baseball
MSU-Billings signs baseball recruit
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana State-Billings baseball coach Rob Bishop has announced the signing of Blake Loran of Billings. Loran transfers to MSU-Billings from Jamestown College, where he redshirted last year.
Loran graduated from Billings Skyview and played first base and catcher for the Billings Royals American Legion team. He hit .426 with 98 hits, 25 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 88 RBI as a senior. Bishop says he's excited to have another quality Billings player in the program.
