How good is Harrison Barnes? North Carolina fans are about to find out. But is he really a first-team All-America?
We have to admit we were floored this week when the AP Preseason Team included Barnes, the first time the team has included a freshman since the team began in 1986. Of course, maybe it’s not so crazy when you look back and see Kentucky’s John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins both made the first-team All-America at the end of last season.
Raleigh native Josh Hamilton may be the most valuable player of the American League this year but he was easily handled by San Francisco pitchers as the Giants beat the Texas Rangers four games to one in the World Series.
The Dallas News named Hamilton and teammate Vlad Guerrero as “goats of the game” for Game 5 and perhaps even the series.
Newspaper contributor Ryan Jones wrote, “As great as (Tim) Lincecum was, it’s hard to ignore the gaping hole that was the heart of the Rangers’ order this series. From the third and fourth spots in the lineup, Hamilton and Guerrero combined to go 0-8 with three strikeouts in Game 5. Their series slash lines were even uglier: .100/.143/.250 for Hamilton, and .071/.125/.071 for Guerrero.”
Hamilton got only two hits in 20 attempts and he struck out in the final inning of the World Series. Hamilton also has the close-up memory now of the Giants’ Edgar Renteria popping a three-run homer just over his head in the 3-1 series clincher.
During the regular season, Hamilton batted .359 while stroking 32 homers and 100 RBI.
Shankle, a redshirt freshman from Norwood, N.C., will have surgery to repair his ACL in the next few weeks. He is out for the the rest of the season. Shankle had eight tackles and one pass break up this year.
N.C. State is ranked 23rd in the new Associated Press college football poll and 25th in the newest USA Today poll. The Wolfpack, now 6-2 after Thursday’s comeback victory over Florida State, travels to Clemson, a 16-10 loser at Boston College, Saturday at noon.
The offensive woes continue for both the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Redskins.
The Panthers’ Matt Moore threw three interceptions and the team ran for just 25 yards on the day as the Panthers were never really in it and fell 20-10 to the St. Louis Rams.
The Panthers, trailing just 10-3 in the second half, had the ball up to midfield when Steve Smith fumbled after making a catch. Five plays later, the Rams scored and the game was virtually out of reach at 17-3.
The Redskins’ Donovan McNabb spent much of the afternoon on the ground as he was hurried, knocked down and also sacked six times as the Redskins fell 37-25 to the Detroit Lions.
The Redskins had only 80 yards rushing, 30 of which came on a scramble by McNabb, who was benched in the last two minutes of the game with Redskins down just seven.
“Offensively speaking, they’ve got nothing,” Former Redskin John Riggins said of the Skins after the game. “The offensive line is a mess.”
The Redskins actually had the lead in the fourth quarter after Garner’s Brandon Banks ran a kickoff back 96 yards to give the Skins a 25-20 advantage.
The Redskins fall to 4-4 while the Panthers fall to 1-6.
What a great pick Jeff Skinner is turning out to be for the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes had a disastrous season in 2009-10, which netted them the seventh pick in the draft. Over at Capital Sports, you could hear us screaming to keep losing – and get the No. 1 pick and Taylor Hall.
Well, that didn’t work out. The Canes played their way down the draft order with some inspired late-season play. They had the seventh pick in the draft, which you figured might get them a promising defenseman like Cam Fowler if they were lucky. And sure enough, Fowler was available at No. 7.
But Carolina played a hunch and took Skinner, who doesn’t have huge size but is blessed with offensive skills. He scored two goals Friday in the 4-3 win over the New York Rangers, which is just remarkable stuff for an 18-year-old player. He is now tied for the team lead in points, with nine, and has three goals and four assists. He even had a brilliant shoot-out goal in Helsinki.
Now we all realize it’s a long NHL season, and the thrill of the start gives way to the grind of an endless series of games, but it’s clear Skinner has NHL-level talent. Franchises can’t afford to blow high picks like No. 7, and you have to give Carolina credit for a gutsy choice that could pay off for a long time.
It’s hard to be epic in the era of 24-hour sports. Every moment is magnified, every event hyped, and the colossal glare of the modern media just slides from one stage to the next as the cycle looks for its next round of fodder.
But Thursday’s event at Carter-Finley Stadium was big, perhaps watershed. N.C. State, so stricken with bad luck in Tom O’Brien’s era, won a monumental game with Florida State that puts the Wolfpack on track for a berth in the ACC title game. This was only a step – the Pack could easily lose Nov. 6 at Clemson, and you only need to look at the University of South Carolina to see how a good team can flop after a huge win.
There were so many important plays Thursday that there are multiple ways to define State’s win. But an important clue to the eventual outcome came at halftime, when O’Brien stopped with the ESPN reporter for a brief interview with the Pack down 21-7. Asked about the second half, O’Brien said State needed to get back to doing what it does best, which is spread the field.
On hearing that, you had to be startled – coaches rarely give away insight into game plans, especially in the heat of the contest. Was O’Brien really saying State would open it up more in the second half, or was he being coy and giving a false response?
The answer, it soon became obvious, was the latter. This game turned on the Wolfpack’s opening drive of the second half, and State’s approach was to bludgeon the Seminole defense with the hard running of freshman Mustafa Greene. Dean Haynes got the bulk of the carries in the first half, but he suffered an injury and so State turned to Greene.
“One of our running backs went down and I was able to get the opportunity in the second half,” Greene said. “We knew we going to have to run the ball down their throat and we took advantage.”
Greene had only two carries for nine yards in the first half but carried six times on opening second-half drive. Russell Wilson had three critical rushes, too. Twice on third-and-1s he had quarterback sneaks for 2 yards. And he got the touchdown on a 10-yard run on third-and-6.
Florida State responded with a turnover, and State tied the score at 21 with Wilson’s 20-yard run.
While the ending was monumental enough, the Wolfpack put itself in position to win with that critical stretch in the third quarter. N.C. State had to run, to take pressure off Wilson, and did. Greene rushed for 67 yards in the second half, an impressive effort against the Noles, and a State team that rushed for only 67 yards in the first half finished with 189 on the ground.
Much of the media coverage of the game, understandably, focused on the dramatic final moments. But the game really changed at the start of the third quarter, as State found a way to punch through Florida State’s outstanding defense. Great teams have great balance, and that made a difference for the Wolfpack Thursday.
That Duke is No. 1 is no surprise, although the Devils face a distinctly different challenge this time if they want to repeat as champs as they did in 1992. What is a surprise is that North Carolina is ranked No. 8 – a leap of faith in a program that was only 20-17 overall and 5-11 in ACC play in 2010.
If you don’t care about watching N.C. State host Florida State in college football tonight, you have an opportunity to watch a battle for first place in professional football instead. No, really. Omaha is hosting Las Vegas – on HDNet – in Ultimate Football League action.
The Las Vegas Locomotives lead the UFL with a 4-1 record while the Omaha Nighthawks are in second with a 3-1 mark. Each of the five teams in the league play eight games and the season is over by Thanksgiving.
The league, which is in its second season, also consists of the Florida Tuskers, the Sacramento Mountain Lions and the those scary Hartford Colonials.
Big-name players in the league include Daunte Culpepper, Maurice Clarett, Jeff Garcia, Ahman Green, Nick Novak and Todd Sauerbrun. Coaches include Dennis Green, Jay Gruden and Jim Fassel.
The Florida Tuskers have the most players from the Atlantic Coast Conference with eight, including Novak, the former Maryland kicker who was the ACC’s all-time leading scorer and who started his career with the Redskins. Safety Nate Salley, who played three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, plays with the Tuskers as does lineman Steve Justice of Wake Forest who was cut by the Panthers in preseason. Maurice Hicks, a runningback out of North Carolina A&T, also plays for the Tuskers, who stand at 2-3.
The Las Vegas Locomotives have seven players who played in the ACC including Bobby Rome, a fullback out of UNC, and Steve Hauschka, the former N.C. State kicker. The Hartford Colonials also have seven players from the ACC including defensive lineman Jonas Seawright from UNC, defensive lineman Vince Oghobaase from Duke and offensive lineman Orrin Thompson from Duke.
The Omaha Nighthawks have four players on their roster who played in the ACC including linebacker Patrick Thomas from N.C. State. Guard Junius Coston of NC A&T also plays for the Nighthawks, who play at Rosenblatt Stadium, which is sold out for tonight’s game.
The Sacramento Mountain Lions have no players who played in the ACC.
Games are played on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays and are broadcast on either HDNet or Versus.
A team based in Virginia joins the league next season. The general manager of that team is Doug Williams, the Super Bowl XXII hero for the Washington Redskins. The team president is UVA grad Ed Reynolds, who was team MVP as a linebacker for the New England Patriots in 1989.
For more, read this article on NBCSports.com titled Can the UFL Succeed?
Here are 10 football games that are within driving distance in the Triangle area this Friday night. Friday night’s weather is expected to be clear and about 50 degrees with no chance of rain. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. In bold below are the predicted winners. My record of predicting games was 8-2 last week, making the season total now 80-20, which of course is 80 percent accuracy.
Athens Drive at Apex
East Chapel Hill at Hillside
Garner at East Wake
Green Hope at Holly Springs
Harrells Academy at Ravenscroft
Lee County at Panther Creek
Middle Creek at Fuquay-Varina
Northern Durham at Southern Durham
Orange at Cardinal Gibbons
WF-Rolesville at Millbrook, 7 p.m.
Broughton plays at Wakefield tonight at 7 p.m. while Enloe plays at Sanderson tonight at 7 p.m. Check the scores in our Sports Roundup on the left navigation bar.