Thirteen Tar Heels Stuck In North Carolina

Thirteen UNC players won’t play in the 18th-ranked Tar Heels’ opener against No. 21 LSU in Atlanta on Saturday amid an ongoing NCAA investigation.

The school said Friday that six players—defensive ends Robert Quinn and Michael McAdoo, cornerbacks Kendric Burney and Charles Brown, receiver Greg Little and suspended defensive tackle Marvin Austin—were declared ineligible for the opener for “violating school and/or NCAA rules.”

Another six players—top tailbacks Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston; safeties Brian Gupton, Da’Norris Searcy and Jonathan Smith; and defensive end Linwan Euwell—are being held out of the game during the ongoing investigation.

In addition, North Carolina said three unnamed players are still in jeopardy of missing the game and didn’t travel with the team when it left Chapel Hill on Friday morning. The school is working with the NCAA to determine their status for the game.

What he said: “We are disappointed the players’ choices have denied them the opportunity to compete alongside their teammates and represent the University of North Carolina,” coach Butch Davis said in a statement. “Our coaches and players have a tremendous challenge this weekend, and despite these circumstances, our team will be excited to face LSU.”

What he meant: #&$%#%@#% Marvin!!! #&$%#%@#% Greg!!! (repeat with different player's name)

Deacons And Canes Win Openers Easily

Not that anyone wagers on college football, but if you happen to live in New Jersey or Las Vegas where you could legally wager on the outcome of a sporting endeavor, would you bet a 40+ point spread?

Well…no.

If you did last night, you broke even at best. Wake Forest was favored by 44.5 points and they failed to cover knocking over Presbyterian 53-13. Miami, a 40 point favorite, got it done with a 45-0 victory over Florida A&M. 

Jacory Harris completed 12 of 15 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns before sitting out the second half, and the 13th-ranked Hurricanes got their first shutout since 2006 by beating overmatched Florida A&M to open the season Thursday night.

Leonard Hankerson caught the first two of Harris' TD passes and finished with 115 receiving yards, as the Canes (1-0) ran out to a 35-0 lead in the first 25 minutes and wound up outgaining Florida A&M 405-110.

To read more, click here.

Meanwhile, down in Winston-Salem, Ted Stachitas had 160 total yards in his first college start and the Deacons had six rushing touchdowns in a 53-13 rout of Presbyterian.

Stachitas was 7 of 13 for 84 yards passing in two quarters of work and rushed for 76 more, including a 34-yard touchdown run that started Wake’s highest-scoring opener since 1941.

Backup tailback Josh Harris scored twice, Alex Frye returned an interception 44 yards for an early score and receiver Devon Brown took an end-around 85 yards for a fourth-quarter TD - the fourth-longest rush in school history.

Wake Forest gained 509 total yards, rushed for 415 and led 21-0 before allowing the outmanned Blue Hose a first down.

To read more, click here.

Picture of the Day

WINNER,WINNER, KICKER DINNER. Utah kicker Joe Phillips (39) kicks the winning field goal during overtime of an NCAA college football game against Pittsburgh on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010 in Salt Lake City. Utah upset No. 15 Pittsburgh 27-24. (AP Photo)

ACC Football Gets Underway Tonight

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Presbyterian (Blue Hose, 1,300 students, Clinton, SC) @ WAKE FOREST (-44.5), Winston-Salem, N.C., 6:30 PM, TV: ESPN3.com

Florida A&M (Rattlers, 13,089, Tallahassee, FL) @ MIAMI (-40), Miami Gardens, Fla., 7:30 PM, TV: ESPN3.com

(Editor's Note: As always, the betting line is for recreational purposes only. Any resemblence to a real point spread set by an actual bookmaker we won't mention here (Americasline.com) is purely coincidental.)

Crazy Hair And Ill-Fitting Jersey Get Austin Suspended?

Butch Davis isn’t saying exactly why Marvin Austin (#9) is indefinitely suspended, but he did say it has nothing to do with the ongoing NCAA investigation. Now is that like when a coach says he’s absolutely not leaving Fill-In-The-Blank University and then says two days later he’s the new coach at Fill-In-The-Blank State…?

So…Is it the hair, the tight jersey, the loud music, the improperly tined windows? What, what, what?

According to ACC Now, the Tar Heel tackle, who has been interviewed as part of the NCAA's investigation into possible improper benefits provided to players by sports agents, was suspended indefinitely Wednesday for violating team rules and neglecting his responsibilities to the team.

That means the flamboyant star senior who hasn’t cut his hair in four years will not travel to Atlanta for UNC's season opener against No. 21 LSU in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff on Saturday. And sometime before the 18th-ranked Tar Heels board the team the bus at 9:30 a.m. Friday, the school plans to announce who else won't be making the trip, athletic director Dick Baddour said.

The Tar Heels are mired in two investigations: the one by the NCAA, which began in early July, and the school's own probe, announced last Thursday, into whether a former tutor who was employed by both the school and Tar Heels football coach Butch Davis committed academic misconduct while working with football players.

Davis said in a prepared statement Wednesday that "this decision is not a result of the ongoing NCAA review." Baddour reiterated that sentiment, saying that no one should assume the suspension had anything to do with breaking NCAA or academic rules.

Basketball coach Roy Williams has since announced that none of this players are involved in any way with the tutor or tutoring in question.

To read more, click here.

XTC: We're Only Making Plans For "Nyger"*

You know how when you were a kid how you would throw your baseball glove at the ball that was hit over your head. Well, the Nationals Nyger Morgan still does that and he’s thirty-years-old and a major leaguer. For now.

This week, Nyger has been busy blowing a close game by bowling over the catcher when sliding would have scored the winning run. Last night he found himself in the middle of a huge donnybrook and ultimately a brawl during the sixth inning of a game against the Marlins.

Morgan, whose behavior this week will get him into baseball’s Goof Ball Hall of Fame, charged the mound after a pitch from Florida's Chris Volstad sailed behind him.

Morgan and two other Nationals got tossed while losing by something like 1,452 to 10.

Were only making plans for “Nyger”

We only want what’s best for him

We’re only making plans for “Nyger”

"Nyger" just needs that helping hand

Yeah and if young “Nyger” says he’s happy

He must be happy, happy in his work...

So happy, he’s imitating former Nat Elija Dukes, hardly the picture of stability. If Morgan keeps it up, he could end up just like Dukes – out of MLB.

To hear XTC's Making Plans For Nigel, click here.

*It’s one of those jokes that you will either get or you won’t depending on what you know about XTC, seventies music from the UK, stage fright and Valium.
 
(Photo by Canadian Press and Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images North America)

Pictures Of The Day

BIG BALLS IN SID TOWN. Tourism New Zealand's Giant Rugby Ball is seen in it's new location at Circular Quay to promote the Rugby World Cup 2011 and New Zealand as a tourism destination, at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on September 1, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. The Ball, which is held up by air and down by water and can fit 200 people inside. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images AsiaPac)

MORE BAD UNIS. Croatian team prepares to play against Italy in the Mladost venue swimming pool of Zagreb on September 2, 2010 during their group match of the water polo European championships. (Photo by AFP/Attila Kisbenedek)

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Seventh seed Vera Zvonareva from Russia practices singing XTC's obscure hit song Making Plans For Nigel using the traditional “air microphone” prior to her match against Sabine Lisicki from Germany during the US Open. (Photo by AFP/Timothy A. Clary)

 

NOT TO BE OUTDONE. Yanina Wickmayer of Belguim also practices singing XTC's obscure hit song Making Plans For Nigel using the traditional “air microphone” prior to her match against Julia Goerges of Germany during 2010 U.S. Open. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DAY. International basketball is different. Very different. Here, a Lithuanian cheerleader dances with a basketball during the preliminary round match between Argentina and Serbia at the FIBA World Basketball Championships in Kayseri, Turkey on September 2, 2010. (Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)

Will London's Old Spiders Bite London's New Wahoos?

Last year a tough Virginia season started off badly with a loss to DIAA William & Mary. A brainiac school for the most part…

This year, the Cavs have as tough a subdivision local foe in Richmond. To liven up the party, er..uh…we mean game, Virginia’s new coach Mike London came to Charlottesville from Richmond where he led the Spiders deep into the playoffs (Playoffs? What are those?) for the two years he was at the helm. In 2008, Londons’ team overcame a 4-3 start to win the Football Subdivision National Championship. Last year, London’s Spiders knocked off Duke and lost in the quarterfinals of the DIAA playoffs.

(Playoff? What are PLAYOFFS?)

The last time the two teams met in 2008, the Wahoos won in C’ville 16-0.

According to at least one writer at Bleacher Report, the two times match up closely on paper. Makes sense as the two teams were organized by the same guy…

To read more, click here.

UNC Star Stops Tweeting, Internet Temporarily Collapses

A day after UNC revealed revised policies for social networking in its Student Athlete Handbook, it appears as if one of its most prolific tweeters might be leaving Twitter and his 7,100 followers.

Sophomore hoopster John Henson wrote on his account at about 5 p.m. Tuesday: “bye bye twitter. im off this after pickup today. At least until I leave unc. love yall.”

Henson, a projected starter last season, has had trouble editing himself on the social network before. After UNC was upset by College of Charleston last season, Henson tweeted that the Tar Heels had just made a guy's college career; the post was later erased.

Earlier this summer, he, as well as teammates Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew II, posted variations of the same message on their individual Twitter accounts: "well coach just talked to us about twitter and told us we offend some people n what not so this is a farewell to bein' myself..lata tweeps."

UNC has updated its 2010-11 Student Athlete Handbook to stipulate that “each team must identify at least one coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitor the content of team members’ social networking sites and postings.”

To read more, click here.

Hokies: Once You Go Black (Again), You Never…?

For the first time in more than 100 years, the Virginia Tech Hokies will wear black when they suit up in the Nike Pro Combat System of Dress for Monday night’s game against Boise State at FedExField.

The uniform colors mark a departure from the school’s distinctive maroon and orange combination, but it is not without precedent. The black uniforms reference the cadet gray-and-black colors worn by Virginia Tech’s original football team. The uniform color scheme draws inspiration from the school’s large Corps of Cadets – integral to Virginia Tech’s unique football culture – and is being worn in their honor.

In creating the Virginia Tech Nike Pro Combat System of Dress, Nike designers focused on the cadets and also another point of pride for students: the school’s commitment to scientific inquiry. These influences are evident throughout the uniform.

“Ut Prosim” (That I May Serve), the motto of the school and of the cadets, appears inside the back yoke of the jersey, on the back of the helmet and on the inside cuff of the gloves. The school’s trademark VT logo forms when the palms of the gloves face outward.

Jersey numbering, outlined in gray, is rendered in burnt orange with a Chicago maroon fade-in to form an all-over technology-inspired pattern – a nod to Virginia Tech’s engineering identity. The circuit-board pattern is reprised in a shoulder graphic and in bands running down the sides of the pants. The wide stripe also bisects the matte black helmet. Corresponding footwear in orange and black carries the same print to complete the uniform.

To see more photos including these INCREDIBLY UGLY orange shoes, click here.

Hokie Hot Dog

Evidently, former Virginia Tech Hokie Deangelo Hall really wanted a hot dog after he hung up his shoulder pads the other night during a preseason game v. the New York Jets.

Rumor has it, he asked a fan to fetch him a dog…

Supposedly, it went like this:

Hall: "Yo get me a hot dog"

Fan: "What do I get for a hot dog"
Hall: "Whatchu want?"
Fan: "A helmet"
Hall: "A hat"
Fan: "Deal"

He supposedly sweetened the pot by autographing it and having Clinton Portis sign it too.

Ugly Uni Alert

These red and white gems are being worn by the Russian National team in the FIBA World Basketball Championships.

Pictures Of The Day

SPEAKING OF UGLY. Marc Gicquel of France returns a shot against Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands during the Men's Singles first round match on day one of the 2010 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 30, 2010 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. De Bakker defeated Gicquel 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

NEW RECRUITS? Facing NCAA sanctions which may deplete his defensive roster for the Tar Heels’ opener against LSU, head coach Butch Davis looks to be recruiting some new young talent. (Photo by Robert Willet/Raleigh News & Observer)
HIP HOP JOCKS. Jockeys compete in the Jockey's Space hopper race on the Derby Course on August 30, 2010 in Epsom, England. (Photo by Phil Cole/Getty Images Europe)