John Clayton's game balls
• Offense: Who would have believed Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton would become the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 400 yards in his debut? In a 28-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Newton completed 24 of 37 passes for 422 yards and two touchdowns against the Cardinals. Tom Brady's high for a regular-season game is 410 yards. Wow.
• Defense: Statistically, this could go to Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, who had three sacks, three quarterback hits and two forced fumbles in a 35-7 rout of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Haloti Ngata did all the dirty work. The nose tackle blew up Steelers' running and passing plays. How he didn't get a contract extension is amazing. Ngata had four tackles, two fumble recoveries and some of the best hits of the day.
• Special teams: Ted Ginn Jr. took a major pay cut to stay with the San Francisco 49ers, but he didn't have a discounted performance in a 33-17 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Ginn had 268 return yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 18.4 yards on punts, 44 yards on kickoffs.
College Football Rankings Week 2
AP Top 25
1 Oklahoma (32) 1-0 1441
2 Alabama (9) 2-0 1422
3 LSU (17) 2-0 1416
4 Boise State (2) 1-0 1309
5 Florida State 2-0 1194
6 Stanford 2-0 1161
7 Wisconsin 2-0 1091
8 Oklahoma State 2-0 1034
9 Texas A&M 1-0 1023
10 Nebraska 2-0 893
11 South Carolina 2-0 888
12 Oregon 1-1 848
13 Virginia Tech 2-0 830
14 Arkansas 2-0 768
15 Michigan State 2-0 598
16 Florida 2-0 511
17 Ohio State 2-0 461
18 West Virginia 2-0 419
19 Baylor 1-0 374
20 South Florida 2-0 347
21 Auburn 2-0 343
22 Arizona State 2-0 306
23 TCU 1-1 166
24 Texas 2-0 153
25 Mississippi State 1-1
USA Today Poll
1 Oklahoma (44) 1-0 1453
2 Alabama (8) 2-0 1410
3 LSU (7) 2-0 1372
4 Boise State 1-0 1214
5 Florida State 2-0 1211
6 Stanford 2-0 1165
7 Oklahoma State 2-0 1072
8 Wisconsin 2-0 1033
9 Texas A&M 1-0 1001
10 Nebraska 2-0 911
11 South Carolina 2-0 863
12 Virginia Tech 2-0 842
13 Arkansas 2-0 825
14 Oregon 1-1 754
15 Michigan State 2-0 639
16 Ohio State 2-0 566
17 Florida 2-0 498
18 Arizona State 2-0 353
19 Auburn 2-0 331
20 West Virginia 2-0 304
21 Texas 2-0 260
22 South Florida 2-0 230
23 TCU 1-1 211
24 Baylor 1-0 171
25 Mississippi State 1-1 125
The Chase Begins for NASCAR
• Kevin Harvick won the Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond International Raceway. It was his 18th career Sprint Cup win in his 384th race and fourth victory of 2011, tying Kyle Busch for the most. It was Harvick's second win at Richmond in his 22nd start there.
• Harvick and crew chief Gil Martin have won eight times together, the most among the five crew chiefs Harvick has worked with.
• Harvick posted his first top-5 finish since he finished fifth at Pocono 13 races ago.
• Harvick led five times for a race-high 202 laps. The 202 laps led are 72 laps more than he had led in all 25 prior races in 2011. • Richard Childress Racing posted its 99th Cup victory overall and fifth series win in 2011, tying Joe Gibbs Racing for the most this season. RCR has won eight times at Richmond.
• Chevrolet posted its 11th Cup win in 2011 and 35th victory at RIR, ending Toyota's five-race winning streak at the track. • Carl Edwards (second) had his 12th top-5 finish of 2011.
• Jeff Gordon (third) has finished 13th or better in the past 11 races, extending a streak that began at Infineon.
• David Ragan (fourth) has scored top-5 finishes in his past two Richmond races.
• Kurt Busch (fifth) posted his best finish in his past four Richmond races.
• Kyle Busch (sixth) recovered from an early pit stop for a loose wheel on Lap 70 under green.
• Tony Stewart (seventh) secured his spot in the 2011 Chase.
• Denny Hamlin (ninth) rebounded from a Lap 8 accident that dropped him as low as 40th on Lap 10 and one lap down.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (16th) pitted 17 times and received the wave-around three times. Earnhardt and Hamlin also secured spots in the 2011 Chase.
• There were 15 cautions, tying the record for the third time. Twenty-two cars were involved in 15 cautions.
No comments:
Post a Comment