NSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2012
PAGE 11
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FOOTBALL PREVIEWS
The Big 12's newest members are bringing the heat
BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
WEST VIRGINIA
2011 RECORD 10-3 Big East Champions. 17th AP
KEY RETURNERS
REF DEPARTMENTS
QB Geno Smith, RB Dustin Garrison, RB Tavon Austin,
DB Darwin Cook, DB Terence Garvin
KEY LOSSES
OL Don Barclay, OL Tyler Rader, LB Naije Goode, DL Julian Miller, DB Eain Smith, WR Brad Starks
TOP NEWCOMERS
Devonte Robinson, Ford Childress and Christian Brown each earned three stars from Rivals.com, and while quarterback Childress will sit and watch Geno Smith operate this season, Brown and Robinson will have a chance to make an impact on the Mountaineers. Brown ranked 38th in the nation at defensive tackle on Rivals after recording 35 tackles (14 solo) and two sacks his senior year in high school. Robinson started at wide out for three years at Village Academy High
School in Florida, collecting 950 yards on 31receptions. Ford Childress threw for over 3000 yards and 40 touchdowns during his senior season in high school and will certainly benefit from Dana Holgorsen's spread offense.
OVERVIEW
West Virginia has been winning championships in the Big East but head coach Dana Holgorsen is no stranger to the Big 12. Holgorsen spent time as an assistant coach with Texas Tech and Oklahoma State before taking over the Mountaineers last season. And in his first season Holgorsen delivered a 10-3 record, Big East championship and dominated Clemson in the Orange Bowl 70-33 earning himself a six-year extension. His pass heavy offense notched 63 touchdowns last season and will look to continue its staggering ascent as one of the best scoring teams in the nation.
STORY TO WATCH
One of the fastest rising stocks in college football, Geno Smith will be the Mountaineers main attraction. The Heisman hopeful obliterated defenses last season with 4385 passing yards and 31 touchdowns in his first year under center at West Virginia. If Smith progresses the way most analysts are expecting West Virginia could be headed back to a BCS bowl. Of course, opposing Big 12 defenses will have a say in that. Holgorsen's experience at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State will be invaluable for the senior quarterback.
THEY SAID IT
"We'll probably put something new out there. I'm not going to tell you what it is. But it's evolved. I mean, obviously eight years in Lubbock working for Coach Leach, the offense was kind of set. I'd like to say we put our own spin on it."
— Dana Holgorsen on the development of his spread offense
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
2011 RECORD
11-2, Mountain West
Champions, 14th AP
KEY RETURNERS
QB Casey Pachall, WR Josh Boyce, James Fry, RB Matthew Tucker, RB Waymon James, DT David Johnson, CB Jason Verett
KEY LOSSES
LB Tank Carder, RB Ed Wesley, S Tekerrein Cuba,
WR Antoine Hicks, S Devin Johnson
TOP NEWCOMERS
The Horned Frogs freshman class boasts a bevy of nationally ranked talent, yet McPherson native quarterback Tyler Matthews, tight end Griffin Gilbert and defensive end Devonte Fields top the list. Each a four-star rated recruit by Rivals, com, the trio give TCU's 36th ranked recruiting class some flare. Matthews is coming off 24 touchdown, 2836-season that saw Rivals name him the top football prospect in the state of Kansas. On the opposite side of the line
of scrimimage Fields comes to TCU as the 12th ranked defensive end in the country after registering 73 tackles and 13 sacks his senior season in Arlington, Texas.
OVERVIEW
TCU enters the Big 12 with four straight 11-win seasons, and three straight conference championships in the Mountain West. Their dual-threat offense features a stout run game with a productive quarterback in Casey Pachall. Last season Pachall threw for 2921 yards with 25 touchdowns, to complement his backfield's 2712 yards and 38 scores. Even with the departure of running back Ed Wesley (726-yards in 2011) the Horned Frogs still have two 700-plus yard backs in Matthew Tucker and Waymon James. The Horned Frogs offense does most of the heavy lifting for head coach Gary Patterson averaging 40 points a game last season.
STORY TO WATCH
TCU has had a successful run since Gary Patterson took over in 2000, but they have never had to go against the top tier teams week after week playing in the WAC, C-USA and Mountain West like they will see in the Big 12. Although Patterson has 6-4 record against the Big 12 since 2002 half of those wins came against Baylor, and this season he will have to face Texas, West Virginia and Oklahoma State on the road. It will be intriguing to see how TCU faces a consistently tough schedule in the Big 12.
THEY SAID IT
"People said: You're not going to be playing New Mexico anymore. You're not going to be playing Vegas anymore. Yeah, but those were 50-point ball games. What's reality? Because all you have to do is win by one point to get where you need to get to."
Gary Patterson on a tougher schedule in the Big 12
New York Mets' Daniel Murphy reacts after a strike during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Monday, Aug. 20, 2012, at Citi Field in New York.
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Jonathan Herrera bunted for a hit in the top of the eighth and made his way around the bases with help from some inept defense to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.
Mets drop to third in loss to Rockies
NEW YORK — Tyler Colvin hit a tying homer off R.A. Dickey in the fifth inning then made a diving play in the eighth to preserve the lead, and the Colorado Rockies beat the New York Mets 3-1 on Monday night.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Colvin's first home run. in 105 at-bats, denied the knuckleballer a chance at his 16th win and helped the Rockies to their sixth victory in eight games.
With Michael Cuddyer the latest Colorado player to go on the disabled list, Colvin was playing first base. He made a lunging stop on pinch-hitter Jordany Valdespin's sharp hitter just inside the bag with the bases loaded and his toss to reliever Matt Belisle just beat a diving Valdespin to the bag. Valdespin jumped up, waving his arms in disbelief, and manager Terry Collins engaged first base umpire Lance Barksdale in a prolonged discussion.
The loss dropped the Mets (57-65) into a third-place tie with Philadelphia in the NL East, 18-1-2 games behind first-place Washington.
Rafael Betancourt, the Rockies' fifth pitcher, put two runners on before getting Mike Baxter to fly out to center finishing his 24th save.
The team could go back to a five-man rotation soon. Jhoulys Chacin (pectoral nerve irritation) is scheduled to make his first start since May 1 on Tuesday and Drew Pomeranz will make his next start Friday, Tracy said. Depending on how Chacin does, all five could remain.
Guillermo Moscoso gave up a hit in 2 1-3 innings, Rex Brothers (7-2) allowed a hit in 1 1-3 innings and Belisle got one big out for the Rockies.
Alex White was done after four wild, but effective innings under manager Jim Tracy's four-man rotation. He allowed three hits and two walks on 83 pitches - 46 strikes. Tracy has been limiting his pitches to about 75 tosses a game.
Dickey was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, and Herrera led off the eighth with a push a bunt toward first base. Rebel Josch Adam (1-1) tried to shovel the ball with his glove to first baseman Ike Davis but the toss went way off line and Herrera raced to second on the Mets' first error in 10 games.
Herrera advanced to third on Chris Nelson's sacrifice and scored
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The Mets loaded the bases against Brothers in the bottom half, getting a runner past first for the first time since they went ahead 1-0 on Daniel Murphy's single in the opening inning.
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Baxter hit a bloop double with one out and David Wright was intentionally walked. Davis struck out then Murphy walked. Belisle relieved and Valdespin then grounded out.
on a passed ball by Kelly Shoppach, who struck out batting for Josh Thole in the seventh with a runner on first.
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harvey's innings, Dickey will pitch on his regular schedule to give him a couple of more chances at a possible 20-win season.
The knuckleballer was coming off a rough start at Cincinnati in which he was asked to remove two bracelets and matched season highs by giving up three homers and 10 hits.
Pinch-hitter Ramon Hernandez had an RBI single off Jon Rauch in the ninth to make it 3-1 and help send the Mets to their 10th loss in 14 games.
While the Mets have shifted to a six-man rotation to give extra rest to Johan Santana and Chris Young and help limit rookie Matt
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But a Mets offense that has averaged less than three runs a game over their previous 13 provided him with little support and he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning of a tie game.
He had little trouble with the Rockies' injury-depleted lineup. Dickey retired the first eight batters before White looped a single over the outstretched glove of a leaping Murphy, the second baseman. He gave up three hits overall and walked two in seven innings.
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