Football Is Not Just Game, It's A Lifestyle

Men's Basketball Top 25 Poll

2008-03-11T09:45:00.002-04:00

Associated Press Poll

1. North Carolina (52) 29-2
2. Memphis (13) 30-1
3. UCLA (5) 28-3
4. Tennessee (2) 28-3
5. Kansas 28-3
6. Texas 26-5
7. Duke 26-4
8. Wisconsin 26-4
9. Georgetown 25-4
10. Xavier 26-5
11. Stanford 26-5
12. Butler 28-3
13. Louisville 24-7
14. Notre Dame 24-6
15. Connecticut 24-7
16. Drake 28-4
17. Purdue 24-7
18. Vanderbilt 25-6
19. Michigan State 24-7
20. Gonzaga 25-6
21. Washington State 23-7
22. Indiana 25-6
23. Davidson 25-6
24. Brigham Young 25-6
25. Marquette 22-8

() - first place votes received

Nascar Race #4

2008-03-11T09:26:00.003-04:00

Kyle Busch wins The Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch was a factor all day as he kept his vehicle near the front of the field. Nearing the 70-60 laps to go stage, it looked as if Edwards could go for three wins in a row. Edwards No.99 Aflac car, was fast and impressive as he gradually kept his distance from the field. He would have to relinquish the lead with 51 laps to go because of engine failure. Kyle Busch never looked back, leading the last 51 laps and a total of 173 laps. He became the youngest driver to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway and also the first to win in a Toyota manufactured car. The race featured a lot of debris caution, but only one driver Elliott Sadler wrecked his car. Sadler caused three cautions in a row, the final one ending his day.

Top 10 Finish

1. Kyle Busch, Car no. 18, Toyota, 325 laps, 6th
2. Tony Stewart, Car no. 20, Toyota, 325 laps, 32nd
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Car no. 88, Chevy, 325 laps, 2nd
4. Greg Biffle, Car no. 16, Ford, 325 laps, 13th
5. Jeff Gordon, Car no. 24, Chevy 325 laps, 1st
6. Clint Bowyer, Car no. 07, Chevy, 325 laps, 7th
7. Kevin Harvick, Car no. 29, Chevy, 325 laps, 8th
8. Matt Kenseth, Car no. 17, Ford, 325 laps, 38th
9. Brian Vickers, Car no. 83, Toyota, 325 laps, 35th
10. Jeff Burton, Car no. 31, Chevy, 325 laps, 15th

Breaking News

2008-03-04T09:51:00.006-05:00

Green Bay legend Brett Favre has decided to retire after an illustrious 17 year career, which 16 years spent in Green Bay. Favre notified Coach Mike McCarthy Monday night and his agent Buss Cook confirmed the news Tuesday. Cook said as of Tuesday morning, Favre has no plans to hold a press conferences.

Favre, a sure first ballot Hall of Famer was acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons. Brett lead the Packers to a pair of Super Bowls in 1996 and 1997, winning it all the first time around. Favre came close to returning to a third Super Bowl the past season, but faltered in overtime of the NFC Championship game to the eventual Super Bowl winners the Giants.

Over his career Favre has set a multitude of records, 275 consecutive starts at QB(including playoffs), 160 wins as a starting QB, 61,655 yards, 442 touchdowns and 288 interceptions. He also has records for completing 5,377 passes and 8,758 pass attempts. He has been to the Pro Bowl 9 times over his lengthy career.

(Photo courtesy of railbirdcentral)

Men's Top 25 March 3rd

2008-03-04T09:42:00.005-05:00

AP Top 25

1. North Carolina (38) 27-2
2. Memphis (21) 28-1
3. UCLA (12) 26-3
4. Tennessee (1) 26-3
5. Kansas 26-3
6. Duke 25-3
7. Stanford 24-4
8. Xavier 25-4
9. Texas 24-5
10. Wisconsin 24-4
11. Georgetown 24-4
12. Louisville 24-6
13. Connecticut 23-6
14. Butler 27-3
15. Purdue 23-6
16. Vanderbilt 24-5
17. Michigan State 23-6
18. Indiana 24-5
19. Notre Dame 22-6
20. Drake 25-4
21. Marquette 21-7
22. Gonzaga 23-6
23. Washington State 22-7
24. Clemson 21-7
25. Davidson 23-6

() - First place votes

NASCAR Race #3

2008-03-03T11:36:00.002-05:00

Carl Edwards wins the UAW Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning his second race in a row. Edwards who was penalized halfway through the race when a tire rolled away from the pit box, had to drop to the back of the field. After working his way back to the front Edwards came into the pit under caution with 51 laps to go. The pit crew fell into the same mistake of letting a tire get loose from the pit stall, but they received a break for the infraction. A cameraman interfered with standard pit procedure and the crew member wasn't able to retrieve the tire. After the tire debacle Edwards started third on the restart and regained the lead with 30 laps to go from Roush teammate Matt Kenseth. The bizarre events at Las Vegas were not over, on a restart with 4 laps to go coming off of turn 2 Jeff Gordon got into the left quarter panel of Kenseth sending him spinning out, as Gordon tried to slow up Biffle got behind Gordon and it sent his car flying towards the infield wall. Gordon slammed the wall so hard his radiator flew halfway down the backstretch, Kenseth was lucky as his car didn't hit anything or anyone. The race was red flagged and after the green flag restart with 2 to go, Edwards ran away from Earnhardt Jr and captured his 2nd win a row in the first 3 races. Edwards lead 86 laps which is almost a 1/3 of the 267 laps, the race set a record cautions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with 11 cautions. The Sprint Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next week for the 4th race of the season.

Top 10 Finish

1. Carl Edwards, Car no. 99, Ford, 267 laps, 2nd
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Car no. 88, Chevy, 267 laps, 8th
3. Greg Biffle, Car no.16, Ford, 267 laps, 6th
4. Kevin Harvick, Car no. 29, Chevy, 267 laps, 17th
5. Jeff Burton, Car no. 31, Chevy, 267 laps, 24th
6. Kasey Kahne, Car no. 9, Dodge, 267 laps, 37th
7. David Ragan, Car no. 6, Ford, 267 laps, 38th
8. Travis Kvapil, Car no. 28, Ford, 267 laps, 29th
9. Denny Hamlin, Car no. 11, Toyota, 267 laps, 27th
10. Mark Martin, Car no. 8, Chevy, 267 laps, 3rd

Saturday Big Performances

2008-03-02T09:40:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I had the privilege to see some big time basketball performances displayed. Sadly these teams all followed the same theme, they had a one man wrecking crew with an average supporting cast. Another theme is all 3 of these teams lost their games, despite getting big points and effort from their stars.

The North Carolina Tar Heels arrived at Silvio O. Conte Forum looking to duplicate the win against Boston College, a 91-69 thrashing of the Golden Eagles a month earlier. Well this time around BC was going to put up more of a fight, as they quickly jumped out to a lead behind the 3 point shooting of Tyrese Rice. Rice had an unbelievable 1st half, he helped BC get out to a fast lead by hitting 4 3 point shots in a row. With the Tar Heels being in a bit of an earlier slump he continued his shooting feat, hitting 4 more 3 point shots and getting himself to the foul line. At one point in the game Rice was outscoring UNC by himself, he would go on to achieve his career high by the end of the half with 34 points and 8 for 9 3 point shooting. After coming out the 2nd half leading UNC 54-40, it looked like Rice would continue his onslaught as he stripped Thomas at halfcourt and finished the defensive play with a layup. Coach Williams switched up his defensive play on Rice and had Marcus Ginyard cover the 6 foot guard, Ginyard was a great choice considering he has 6 inches on Rice. Behind the 25 points from Tyler Hansbrough, 20 points from Wayne Ellington, and 18 points from Danny Green off of the bench UNC would go on to outscore BC 50-26 in the 2nd half, winning the game 90-80. Tyrese Rice finished the 2nd half with 12 of the 26 points, he finished the game shooting 14-25, 10-11 from the free throw line and 8-12 from the 3 point line. Rice finished with 46 points, 4 shy of achieving the school record and became the 1st BC player with 40 points since Troy Bell in 2001. UNC improved to 12-2 in ACC play and 27-2 overall, as BC dropped to 4-10 in ACC play and 13-14 overall.

(Photo courtesy of AP Press/ESPN)
USC Trojans visited the Arizona State Sun Devils in hopes of improving their run to the NCAA tournament. The first half both teams played to a tie 25-25, but heading into the 2nd quarter is where the game became more intense. ASU would go on a few runs and open up the lead on the Trojans, as the Trojans begin to foul out OJ Mayo begin to really dominate the game. He would start out on either wing with the ball and just drive it right down the lane and finish with a difficult layup. It didn't help that his 3 point shot was falling as well, he hit 7 of his 1st 8 attempts. Even though Mayo was read hot, his team however had most of their big guys on the bench because of fouls and didn't do a good job defensively. The Sun Devils would go on to outscore USC 55-41 in the 2nd half, with 4 players in double digits. Freshman Guard James Harden lead the way with 24 points, Junior Forward Jeff Pendergraph poured in 21 points and 9 rebounds, Sophomore Guard Derek Glasser added 11 points and Freshman Forward Rihards Kuksiks added 10 points, including 2 3 pointers. OJ Mayo finished with 37 points shooting 13-21, 6 for 7 from the foul line and 7 for 10 from the 3 point line, he was the only Trojan in double digits. Both teams have an overall record of 18-10, while USC is 9-7 on PAC-10 play and ASU is 8-8 in PAC-10 play.

(Photo courtesy of AP Press/ESPN)
The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks earlier in the season to end a Jayhawk 24 year winning streak in Manhattan. Last night KSU was looking for their first sweep of Kansas in the regular season since 1983. This game was star filled, as everyone knows the freshman sensation Michael Beasley who is having one of the best individual college basketball seasons in history. Kansas has it's share of stars from Darrell Arthur to Brandon Rush, they are loaded with great talent. The game tipped off and the tone was set early, KSU was in trouble when superstar Beasley received two quick fouls and had to sit for a period of time. It didn't help the Wildcats when their other forward, Bill Walker and 2nd scoring threat on the team got into early foul trouble as well. It looked as the second foul called on Beasley was a blocking foul since the defender was moving and one of Walker's fouls was wrongly assigned to him. What happened next was inevitable, as KU jumped out to 23 points as KSU struggled to get out of single digits. Coach Frank Martin had no choice and had to play Beasley, he figured out a way to play him the rest of the half. Coach Martin would put Beasley in on offense and when a change of possession would come he would take him out, hence he only played offense aside form the last minute or two. It was a tough game for KSU as they got the lead down to 8 points, but entered the locker room down 41-29. When the Jayhawks came out the 2nd half, they came out for blood. They jumped out to an 11-0 run in the second half behind the shooting of Brandon Rush, who hit a three to cap the run off and 4 points from Darnell Jackson. While Kansas was hot the Kansas State faltered as they missed their first 6 shots of the half. Though a deep deficit Beasley got rolling, as he started to knock down his jumper from inside and outside the 3 point line. He also got to the front of the rim and to the line but it wasn't enough to defeat the Jayhawks. Beasley finished with a quiet 39 points, tying for the 4th most in Phog Allen Fieldhouse. He was the only Wildcat in double figures, finishing 11-23 on the floor, 13-16 from the line and 4-7 from behind the arc. The Jayhawks had 5 players finish in double figures as Guard Brandon Rush lead the way with 21 points, shooting 5 for 9 from the 3 point line as Kansas shot 11 for 23 from the 3 point line. Guard Sherron Collins came off the bench and poured in 18 points hitting 3 three pointers, Senior Guard Russell Robinson had 14 points and 5 assists and 2 three pointers, and both Forwards Darrell Arthur and Darnell Robinson added 10 points each in the win. The annually top 10 Jayhawks improved to 26-3 overall and a tie for the Big 12 lead with Texas at 11-3 in conference play. The Wildcats who started the season hot and handed Kansas there first loss, have became dismal down the stretch. Losing 5 of their last 6 games and 4 in a row, KSU is 8-6 in conference play and a 18-10 overall record.

(Photo courtesy of AP Press/ESPN)

Coach K gets 800th Win

2008-03-01T17:54:00.003-05:00

Coach Mike Krzyzewski received his 800th win in nail biting fashion. His Duke Blue Devils were down as much as 13 at one point to NC State, but rallied to win the game 87-86. Outscored by the Wolfpack 47 to 44 at the end of the 1st half, Duke had to turn things around to avoid 3 road losses in a row. As Duke got behind 70-57 with 12 minutes to go, they rallied within the last 7 and 1/2 minutes to hit 5 3 pointers and go on a run of 14-5, to get their only lead of the 2nd half. Guards DeMarcus Nelson and Jon Scheyer lead the way for Duke, scoring 19 points a piece. Ben McCauley lead the way in a losing cause he finished with 19 points for NC State. The Wolfpack dropped to 4-11 in the ACC and 15-14 overall record. Duke improved to 12-2 in ACC play and 25-3 overall record.

Coach K became the 6th Division I men's basketball coach to reach 800 career wins. In his 33rd season he has a record of 800-264, amazingly he is the third fastest to 800 victories. In 1,064 games, only legendary coaches Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp have reached this milestone faster. Duke finishes their regular season schedule, with a visit next Wednesday night to Virginia and then host their rival North Carolina next Saturday night.

Dallas Cowboys

2008-02-29T10:26:00.002-05:00

Jerry Jones wasted no time signing some of his key components on offense. He signed his All Pro LT Flozell Adams to a 6 year deal worth 42 million, with 15 million being guaranteed the first 3 years. This should make him a Cowboy for the rest of his career considering he is a 10 year veteran. The Boys also tendered 1st time Pro Bowl RB Marion Barber, to a tendered deal worth 2.56 million dollars which is the highest this season. Barber who did a lot of damage coming off of the bench this season, is more than capable of being the all purpose back he has shown over this season. He is an underrated receiver out of the backfield and always runs through at least the first 3 defenders in his path. The Cowboys also finished a tendered deal with defensive end Chris Canty. The deal is worth 2.017 million dollars, the 6ft 7in defensive end had 43 tackles and 4 sacks last season.

Free Agency

2008-02-29T10:15:00.004-05:00

At midnight earlier today, the NFL Free Agency Market opened up. This time of year is when teams can improve themselves outside of the draft. The Free Agency period is valued even more than the draft because, with proven players you have a better idea of what you're getting opposed to a rookie from the draft. Rumors are already swirling about players working on deals, but I will keep things updated about big free agency moves.

Tom Coughlin

2008-02-28T11:26:00.004-05:00

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin received a new 4 year contract extension worth 21 million dollars. Prior to winning Super Bowl 42 this year, he has been under heavy scrutiny about his job performance. Slated to make 3.5 million this year his new contract now bumps him up to 5.25 million annually, which is second only to Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Though Coughlin won the Super Bowl it should be interesting to see how the fickle Giants fans and New York Media receive his salary, if the team doesn't have a lot of success in the future.

LeBron James

2008-02-28T10:42:00.002-05:00

Last night LeBron James made NBA History, becoming the youngest player to reach 10,000 career points. James injured his ankle during the contest against the Celtics but returned, posting a game high 26 points and added 8 boards and 4 assists in a losing effort. As the Cavaliers are still working on chemistry with the new players, it was easy to see that Boston was in control the whole game winning 92-87. At 23 years and 59 days he surpassed Kobe Bryant for the milestone who accomplished the feat at 24 years old and 194 days. James is also the youngest player to score 30 points, 40 points, and 50 points in a game, post a triple double and win an All Star MVP Award.

(picture courtesy of Associated Press)

2007 College Football Season

2008-01-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

Now that the college season has finally come to a halt, we will slowly reflect on how the season came to it's wild end and continue to follow the NFL Playoffs to the very end. While divulging in this subject, we will also stay on course with the college football off season. As we will follow the 2008 draft class, the combine and which underclassmen will enter the 2008 NFL Draft. As a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals and Penn State football, I will also follow the news of these two football teams throughout the off season.

AP Top 25 College Basketball

2008-01-08T10:47:00.000-05:00

1. North Carolina (46) 15-0
2. Memphis (25) 13-0
3. Kansas (1) 14-0
4. Washington State 13-0
5. UCLA 14-1
6. Michigan State 13-1
7. Georgetown 11-1
8. Tennessee 12-1
9. Duke 11-1
10. Indiana 12-1
11. Texas A&M 14-1
12. Texas 13-2
13. Vanderbilt 15-0
14. Butler 13-1
15. Marquette 11-2
16. Mississippi 13-0
17. Dayton 12-1
18. Clemson 12-2
19. Villanova 11-2
20. Pittsburgh 12-2
21. Wisconsin 12-2
22. Rhode Island 14-1
23. Stanford 12-2
24. Xavier 12-3
25. Miami (FL) 13-1

() - 1st place votes

Final Standings for College Football Season

2008-01-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

This poll is provided by the Associated Press

1. LSU (60) 12-2
2. Georgia (3) 11-2
3. USC (1) 11-2
4. Missouri 12-2
5. Ohio State 11-2
6. West Virginia 11-2
7. Kansas (1) 11-2
8. Oklahoma 11-3
9. Virginia Tech 11-3
10. Texas 10-3
11. Boston College 11-3
12. Tennessee 10-4
13. Florida 9-4
14. Brigham Young 11-2
15. Auburn 9-4
16. Arizona State 10-3
17. Cincinnati 10-3
18. Michigan 9-4
19. Hawaii 12-1
20. Illinois 9-4
21. Clemson 9-4
22. Texas Tech 9-4
23. Oregon 9-4
24. Wisconsin 9-4
25. Oregon State 9-4

() - 1st place votes
Dropped from the Final Rankings - Viriginia 21, South Florida 23, Boise State 24, Arkansas 25

2007 Doak Walker Award Winner

2007-12-07T13:34:00.000-05:00

Named after the famous 1948 Heisman Winner, The Doak Walker Award goes to the nation's best running back annually. First presented to the nation in 1990, this award is not only for your athletic performance as a running back, but also that you have good academic standards. This year's winner, Darren McFadden from Arkansas became the 2nd person to win the award twice in a row. Mcfadden finished the year with 1,725 rushing yards and 15 TD's. He won the award in beating out Ray Rice from Rutgers who ran for 1,700 yards back to back and Michigan's Mike Hart, who ran for over 1,200 yards in only 9 games.

(Photo courtesy of wikipeida/flickr)

2007 Jim Thorpe Award Winner

2007-12-07T13:18:00.000-05:00

Down to three very talented finalists, this year's winner Antoine Cason represents Arizona University. This award has been given out annually since 1986, the award is named after one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. The award goes to the nation's best defensive back, this year's winner Cason is third on the team with 71 total tackles. He has accounted for 4 tackles for a loss, 5 interceptions and returned 2 for TD's. He also has returned 2 punts back for TD's, has added 1 sack and 14 passes defended. Cason beat out LSU's safety Craig Steltz and Boston College's Jaime Silva for the defensive position award.

2007 Davey O'Brien Award Winner

2007-12-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Named after the famed quarterback from TCU nicknamed "slingshot" this award is presented to the best QB in the nation. Since 1981, they have been giving this award annually to the best QB. This year's winner hailed from Florida University, as a sophomore Tim Tebow set a new NCAA record. Being the first 20/20 player in history, Tebow accounted for nearly 4,000 total yards of offense. As he passed for 3,132 yards at a 68 % completion percentage for 29 TD's and only 6 int's. he also accounted for 838 yards on the ground and 22 rushing TD's, totaling 51 TD's for the year. In winning the award he beat out two other talented Qb's in Oregon's Dennis Dixon and Mizzou's Chase Daniels.

2007 Chuck Bednarik Award Winner

2007-12-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

The best defensive player presented by the Maxwell Club, this year's winner continued the trend of Penn State winners in a row. As Dan Connor the senior Linebacker won the prestigious award for PSU's third in a row. Named after the last of the 60 minute men, Chuck Bednarik who was an All-American at Penn as a center and linebacker. Connor beat out DT Glenn Dorsey from LSU and LB James Laurinaitis from Ohio State. Connor led the Nittany Lions and the Big Ten in total tackles with 136 on the year. He also added 7 total sacks(6 solo), 17 tackles for a loss with 6 assisted, 6 passes defended and 1 interception.

2007 Ted Hendricks Award Winner

2007-12-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

From the eight field award finalists, Chris Long from Virginia University emerged as the winner. The award is named after The Great Ted Hendricks from Miami U, where he averaged 100+ tackles a year from his DE position. Long beat out a host of talented defensive ends, including players such as Maurice Evans from Penn State and standout end George Selvie from South Florida for the defensive position award. Chris Long lead a defense that won 5 games by 2 points or 1 point this year. He had 75 total tackles, 35 solo, 21 total tackles for a loss, 17 where solo efforts, he also added 14 solo sacks, 7 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles, 1 interception and 1 blocked kick.

(picture courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

2007 Biletnikoff Award Winner

2007-12-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

The 20 year old freshman receiving phenom, Michael Crabtree became the 14th winner of the Biletnikoff Award. This award has been given out annually since 1994, to the best receiver in the nation. Crabtree led the nation with 125 receptions, 1,861 yards and 21 receiving TD's. He beat out Jordy Nelson of Kansas State and Mario Manningham of Michigan. He became the first winner from Texas Tech to win the award, the first freshman to win, but most importantly the first winner from the Big 12 to win the award.

2007 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Winner

2007-12-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

The 2007 ACC Player of the Year, Matt Ryan takes home the Johnny Unitas Award. Named after the legendary quarterback, it is given to the best senior QB in the nation. Aside from athletic accomplishments, the award is based on character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, leadership qualities, and also athletic ability. Last year's winner came from Notre Dame, as Brady Quinn received the prestigious award in 2006. The award begin in 1987, with Don McPherson from Syracuse winning the first award, which is given out annually.

Matt Ryan finished the regular season with 4,258 yards on 366 of 607 attempts for a 60 percent completion percentage. He also had 28 TD's and 18 int's and a QB rating of 128.5. As one of the finalist, Ryan beat out some of the nation's best quarterbacks. Other finalists included Colt Brennan from Hawaii, Brian Brohm from Louisville, Dennis Dixon from Oregon, and Andre' Woodson from Kentucky. Matt will finish his career at the Champs Sports Bowl on December 28 against Michigan State.

(picture courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

Jay "The Flying Dutchman" Berwanger

2007-12-04T12:19:00.000-05:00

Berwanger was born January,19, 1914 in Dubuque, Iowa. After attending Dubuque HS, he went on to play for Chicago University. Wearing number 99 standing 6ft1inces, 195 lbs John Jacob became a two time All American. In 23 career games, the Maroons "one-man gang" amassed 1,839 total net yards averaging 4.19 yards per touch on 439 attempts. He also threw the football, completing 50 of 146 passes for 921 yards, totaling 22 TD's and kicking 20 extra points compiling 152 total points for his career. He also handled punting and kicking duties, averaging 38 yards per punt on 233 punts. Aside from handling all kicking duties, he also ran kicks back. He averaged 25.7 yards a return on 34 kickoff returns.

The Flying Dutchman went on to become the very first Heisman trophy winner and the only Heisman Trophy winner to be tackled by a future President. Gerald Ford tackled Berwanger in a 1934 contest where Michigan played Chicago. Jay was also the very first NFL draft pick in NFL history, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles but had his draft rights traded to the Chicago Bears. He would not go on to play professionally though because of a contract dispute with George Halas. Berwanger wanted 25,000 dollars for two seasons and Halas felt that it was too much, so he opted out of playing professional football and started a career in business. Jay would go on splitting time in Illinois and Mexico until he passed after a bout with lung cancer on June 27,2002, he was 88 years old.

(courtesy of college football hall of fame)

2007 Bronko Nagurski Award Winner

2007-12-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

As we wait eagerly for the bowl season to kick off and the BCS Games to finish out the season, we have one award figured out already. LSU's DT Glenn Dorsey wins the coveted Bronko Nagurski Award. Presented by the Charlotte Touchdown Club and the FWAA, it is presented to the nation's best defensive player.

Dorsey had 64 tackles, 6 sacks and 12 tackles for a loss, in winning the award he beat out some of the nation's top defensive players. Including last year's winner James Laurinaitis linebacker from Ohio State, Virginia defensive end Chris Long, USF defensive end George Selvie and Kansas CB Aqib Talib.

NCAA Men's Basketball Standings Week 4

2007-12-04T10:10:00.000-05:00

1. North Carolina(23) 7-0
2. Memphis(6) 6-0
3. Kansas(1) 7-0
4. Georgetown (1) 5-0
5. Texas 7-0
6. Washington State 7-0
7. Duke 8-0
9. Pittsburgh 7-0
10. Michigan State 6-1
11. Louisville 5-1
12. Tennessee 5-1
13. Butler 7-0
14. Texas A&M 7-1
15. Indiana 6-1
16. Marquette 5-1
17. Clemson 7-0
18. Oregon 6-1
19. Gonzaga 7-1
20. Xavier 6-1
21. Villanova 5-1
22. Brigham Young 6-1
23. Wisconsin 5-1
24. Arizona 5-2
25. Vanderbilt 7-0

() - First place votes.

2007 Chuck Bednarik Award

2007-12-03T11:00:00.000-05:00

Chuck Bednarik is known as the "last of the 60 minute men" as he played both ways for the 1960 NFL champions, Philadelphia Eagles and also earned three time all american at University of Pennsylvania. This award is given annually to the best defensive player in the nation by the Maxwell Club. Last year's winner Paul Posluszny, represented everything about Penn State's and their dubbed name, Linebacker U.

Dan Connor, SR, LB, Penn State - Connor leads the Nittany Lions in tackles with 136 total, 66 solo and 70 assisted, which ranks 7th nationally and 1st in the Big Ten. He has posted 7 sacks, 6 solo and 1 assisted for a loss of 50 yards. Of his 136 tackles, 17 went for a loss with 11 being solo, he also added one interception to his great defensive year. He has recorded 18 tackles twice this season.

Glenn Dorsey, SR, DT, LSU - The Senior leader for the Bayou Bengals is 3rd on the team in total tackles with 64, 30 solo and 34 assisted. He is second on the team with 6 solo sacks and is first on the team with 12 tackles for a loss, 11 solo and 1 assisted.

James Laurinaitis, JR, LB, Ohio State - Leads the Buckeyes in total tackles with 103, 39 solo and 64 assisted. He has posted 11 tackles for a loss, 6 solo and 5 assisted. He has 5 solo sacks on the year and 2 int's.