N.C. State’s offense looked powerful in a shellacking of Boston College, Coach Tom O’Brien’s first win over his former team. Johnny White’s runs and UNC’s fourth-down conversions led to a 21-16 victory over Clemson, a team the Heels haven’t defeated in almost a decade. East Carolina comes from 20 down to defeat conference favorite Southern Miss in the waning moments 44-43.

Yet, the news leads with the fact that Devon Ramsey, a fullback at Carolina, has been dropped from the team because of the ongoing investigations into academic fraud and inappropriate connections to NFL scouts. The speculation is that UNC could have to forfeit two of the games in which Ramsey played. Another player who has been held out all year, it was announced, will not be back this season.

The ABC crowd was enjoying the travails of Carolina but now it’s overshadowing their team’s efforts, performances and wins. If the Tar Heel players weren’t admirably fighting through the adversity and hadn’t won their last three games in impressive fashion, I’d be tempted to call for forfeiting the season just to stop all the bleeding and move on.

UNC officials have been diligent (holding out anyone they thought might have been involved) – Ramsey evidently fell through the cracks.

I’m not going to speculate about what sanctions there may be. Let the chips fall where they may, whenever they fall. As hard as it is, I’m going to try to focus on UNC’s play on the field, as well as the fine play of State and the excitement of ECU.

Cam Ward stopped three shots in an overtime shootout and 18-year-old rookie Jeff Skinner scored the lone shootout goal as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in Helsinki, Finland.

Thursday the Canes started the season in Finland with a 4-3 win over the Wild.

Skinner assisted Tuomo Ruutu in the second period to tie the score at 1-1 and become the youngest player ever for the Hurricanes franchise to get a point.

In the overtime shootout, Skinner became the third youngest player ever to score a shootout goal in the NHL. Skinner, the first man shooting in the shootout, slowly went right, picking up steam he crossed over and popped it up and in from left side.

Ward had 41 saves including the three shots in the shootout.

Here are 10 football games that are within driving distance in the Triangle area. In bold is the predicted winner. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. tonight. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7.
My record last week was 7-3 for a season total of 52-18.

Broughton at WF-Rolesville, 7 p.m.

Cary at Athens Drive

Chapel Hill at Cardinal Gibbons

Fuquay-Varina at Holly Springs

Lee County at Middle Creek

Panther Creek at Green Hope

Sanderson at Millbrook, 7 p.m.

Smithfield-Selma at Garner

SE Raleigh at East Wake

Wake Christian at Ravenscroft

Check the scores in our Sports Roundup on the left navigation bar.

Carolina football wins a couple of games and Dick Baddour indicates that the investigation into wrongdoing might be coming to a close. Just when things start looking up, Will Graves is dismissed from the basketball team and Chancellor Holden Thorp says the investigations may take up to a year to complete. And now this: the owner of Rameses, the Carolina mascot, has died.

Below is the announcement coming from the UNC General Alumni Association, which broke the news.

Rob Hogan, for years a fixture on the Kenan Stadium sidelines as the owner and handler of Carolina’s mascot, died early Friday from illness related to a fall on his farm.

The Hogan family has cared for the Tar Heel mascot since 1924.

NEWS RELEASE – Fifth-year senior forward Will Graves has been dismissed from the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team for failure to comply with team rules, head coach Roy Williams announced today.

Graves red-shirted in 2006-07 then played in 92 games over the past three seasons. He scored 513 points at UNC, including 353 last year, when he averaged 9.8 points per game and was the Tar Heels’ third-leading scorer.

The Greensboro, N.C., native made seven three-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points in the 2010 NIT championship game against Dayton.

“This is 100 percent not related to any NCAA matters on campus,” says head coach Roy Williams. “I hate this for Will. He worked extremely hard this summer to get himself physically in the best shape he’s been in years, but he did not do everything he needed to do to be a part of our basketball program. This is a huge blow to our team, but an even bigger blow for Will. Playing for the Tar Heels meant so much to him.”

Special teams might see the biggest boost from the return of safeties Da’Norris Searcy, who was cleared to play last week, and senior Deunta Williams, who is coming off a four-game NCAA-imposed suspension this Saturday.

UNC coach Butch Davis says that the return of Searcy and Williams, an All-ACC player, frees up guys to contribute on special teams. “That’s an area we have been absolutely paper thin throughout the first four games of the season,” Davis said during the weekly ACC teleconference. “We were having to burn redshirt years and play young, inexperienced players.”

DB Matt Merletti, who played a very high 70-75 snaps in one game at safety, will be able to return to special teams and play in the secondary in certain packages. Davis says he doesn’t want any member of the secondary to play as many snaps as Merletti has had to play.

Searcy got a lot of work in his first game back and he made a key interception for a touchdown late in the first half against East Carolina to tie the score. “It was emotional for him,” Davis says. “He was ecstatic just that he was going to be able to return to play and then to go out and help win the game – to make a play that not only changed the momentum but changed the score.”

Searcy was also able to provide a lift to special teams as he did a good job returning punts and kickoffs against East Carolina. Williams’ return could provide a similar lift to the defense and special teams this weekend at Kenan Stadium against Clemson.

“Clemson is probably the most talented and complete football team we’ve played against this football season,” Davis says. “They are extraordinarily fast on defense. They rotate guys in and there is no drop off.”

He also pointed to Clemson’s offense led by QB Kyle Parker whom he says gives them a lot of leadership and playmaking ability. He will be testing the Carolina secondary.

While the starting safeties are back, the starting cornerbacks are still out. “Our corners are a work in progress,” Davis said. “We have kids out there that didnt even think they were going to play this year.” He says they have huge new roles and their challenge is to get better each week.

One of the starting cornerbacks, Kendrick Burney, will be back from an NCAA suspension in two weeks.

Injury report: Senior Greg Elleby, who moved from offensive guard to defensive tackle after all the suspensions, tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against East Carolina and has been lost for the season.

Meanwhile, senior linebacker Quan Sturdivant, who is a leader on defense, is expected back this week after sitting out last weekend with a thigh injury.

The leader of the agency that polices doping by Olympic athletes have been honored by the University of North Carolina General Alumni Association with a Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

Travis Thompson Tygart ’93, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., oversees a nonprofit organization that investigates Olympic athletes suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs; reaches out to young athletes and elite amateurs to educate them on making healthy, ethical choices; and funds research related to deterring drug use in sports.

After receiving a degree in philosophy at UNC, Tygart earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University in 1999 and became outside counsel to the agency when it was formed in 2000, shortly after the Sydney Olympics. He became USADA’s director of legal affairs in 2002 and CEO in 2007.

Besides high-profile investigations of athletes and organizations, such as the BALCO laboratory in San Francisco, the Jacksonville, Fla., native has testified before Congress several times about broader issues related to illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs and the pressures on those who want to compete fairly without jeopardizing their health or compromising their integrity. His testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2008 helped achieve Senate ratification of the UNESCO anti-doping convention, an international treaty against doping in sports.

Tygart returns to UNC at least once a year to speak to journalism, law and philosophy students on ethics issues.

Since 1989, the GAA’s Distinguished Young Alumni Awards have recognized alumni aged 40 or younger whose accomplishments have brought credit to the University.