THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
SPORTS
FANTASY FOOTBALL
5B
Last week's studs could be this week's busts
Driver, Garrard should have big games; Titans may have rough day against Colts
Here are some of the position mismatches for the NFL weekend.
MATCHUP BENEFITS
BY KELLY BRECKUNITCH
KANSAN COLUMNIST
KBRECKUNITCH@KANSAN.COM
The Chicago Bears defense struggled to keep LaDanian Tomlinson away from the end zone last week, but the hapless Kansas City Chiefs offense is going to Chicago on Sunday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
— WR Donald Driver, Green Bay. Last weekend, Jason Witten had six receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown against the Giants secondary. Driver must be salivating while preparing to play the Giants this weekend. Brett Favre will find Driver open on many occasions this Sunday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Chicago Defense. Kansas City barely made a dent against the Houston defense last weekend, how do you think it'll fare against one of the league's best? The Texans held Larry Johnson to 43 yards rushing and Damon Huard to 168 passing yards. Just what think the Bears defense can do to the Chiefs.
he is definitely a much better quarterback than Minnesota's Tarvaris Jackson. Garrard and Jacksonville will cause many problems for the Atlanta defense.
— QB David Garrard, Jacksonville. The Falcons could not stop a rookie from rushing for more than 100 yards or a first-year starter from throwing for more than 150 yards. Garrard is not as focused on running this year, but
—RB Rudi Johnson,
Cincinnati. Willie Parker breezed to a 100-yard rush performance against the Browns last weekend.
Rudi Johnson will face the opposite of the Baltimore defense that held him to 50 yards when the Bengals take on Cleveland this weekend.
Johnson should put up 100 yards rushing without a problem.
MATCHUP BUSTS
defense is for real and the lack of another star player on offense only hurts Young more. Young will have a mediocre game at best this Sunday against the Colts.
— QB Vince Young, Tennessee. Young has to face an Indianapolis defense that shut down a high-powered Saints offense. The Colts
— RB Tatum Bell, Detroit. Bell had a solid game against Oakland, rushing 15 times for 87 yards and one touchdown. Minnesota had no problem shutting down Atlanta's two big rushers, though, and it could end up being a long day for Bell this Sunday.
— WR Torry Holt, St. Louis. Holt had eight catches for 73 yards and one touchdown against Carolina. But he had little production in the second half of that game. San Francisco's defense shut down Arizona's top two receivers, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, and it will look to do the same to Holt.
— Tennessee defense. Last week the Titans played against a team with a weak passing offense. This week they will play against the Colts and one of the league's best passing offenses. Reggie Wayne
may have an even bigger day than his seven catches, 115 yards and two touchdowns on opening night against the Saints. Tennessee defense was already in trouble after
star cornerback Pacman Jones was suspended, and now the Titans defense will get run over by the Colts on Sunday.
Edited by Tara Smith
Seventh loss continues Cardinals' skid
MLB
BY JOE KAY ASSOCIATED PRESS
CINCINNATI — The season has brought one setback after another for the St. Louis Cardinals — manager Tony La Russa's drunken-driving arrest, reliever Josh Hancock's death, a series of injuries to everyday players.
The defending World Series champions may be running out of resilience.
Joey Votto hit a two-run double and David Ross followed with a two-run homer Thursday, sending the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 victory that completed the Cardinals' road trip to ruin.
The Cardinals lost all seven games on their trip, capped by their first three-game sweep in Cincinnati since July 1998. It was their first winless trip of at least seven games since May 1972, when they went 0-7 in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
It's a bad time to be making historical references.
"We're a little flat, things aren't going our way, and we're not playing good baseball," outfielder Jim Edmonds said. "All those add up to losses. It's really no different than it was at the beginning of the year. It's just a bad time for it right now."
The Cardinals had surged from 10 1/2 games out at the end of June to within a game of first place in the NL Central before hitting the road and hitting the skids. The latest loss dropped them 4 1/2 games out.
"It's just been — I don't even know how to word it," said Kip Wells (6-17), who lost his fourth straight start. "It's just been tough. We haven't caught any breaks."
Votto doubled home a pair or runs in the fifth off Wells, and Ross followed with his first homer since July 23. The catcher had been 1-for-15 since returning from a concussion on Aug. 28.
Aaron Harang (15-4) gave up three hits and three sacrifice flies — two by Albert Pujols — in seven innings. David Weatherys gave
up Edmonds' RBI single in the ninth before becoming the ninth Cincinnati closer to reach the 30-save mark.
The sweep was particularly pleasing for the Reds, who were swept in a three-game series in St. Louis from Aug. 31-Sept.
"We went into their place and they smacked us around, so it was nice to come back and take three from them, especially with the playoffs right around the corner," Harang said. "It'll make
"We went in there kind of on a roll and they stuck it to us," Ross said. "I don't know if we knocked them out of playoff hunt, but we did a good job of hurting their chances."
It was the Cardinals' costliest trip of the season by far.
"I don't know if we knocked them out of playoff hunt, but we did a good job of hurting their chances."
them work that much harder to get back in the race."
The Reds were still holding out hope of getting back into contention until they landed in St. Louis two weeks ago. Since then, they've been relegated to playing it out.
DAVID ROSS
Cincinnati Reds
In addition to losing precious games in the standings, they lost third baseman Scott Rolen, who had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, and outfielder Chris Duncan, who aggravated a hernia and is likely out for the
Now, they're running out of time. They play four games against the Cubs this weekend in St. Louis, and have three left in Milwaukee — the two teams they're chasing.
season.
top two starters during the series, and didn't do much against either. They lost to Bronson Arroyo 7-2 on Wednesday night.
David Eckstein led off Thursday's game with a double and scored on a sacrifice and a Pujols' sacrifice fly. Eckstein was the only Cardinal to manage a hit off Harang in the first five innings.
The Reds wasted several chances against the enigmatic Wells, who lost seven straight games earlier this season and now has lost his last four starts. The Reds left the bases loaded in the third, when Edwin Encarnacion popped out.
They loaded the bases again in the fourth, but managed only Jeff Keppinger's sacrifice fly that tied it at 1. Votto's RBI double — his third hit of the game — broke the tie in the fifth, and Ross followed with his first homer in 53 at-bats.
Another sign of how things are going for St. Louis: It was only the third home off Wells in the right-hander's last 71 innings.
The Cardinals faced the Reds'
Football notebook
NATIONAL ATTENTION
Everything is going well for the Kansas defense this season. On Saturday, the defense shut out Southeast-eastern Louisiana. On Wednesday, Junior linebacker Mike Rivera earned inclusion on the Butkus Award watch list. The Butkus Award is given to the top linebacker in the nation at the end of the season. The watch list consists of 66 candidates. Rivera has played well in his first two games as an outside linebacker, making nine tackles and one sack.
FAST DEFENSE
WATCHING TAPE
Sophomore free safety Darrell Stuckey said Kansas' defense was notably faster than last year's version. He compared the 2007 defense to the 2005 squad that allowed only 2.4 yards per carry. Stuckey said the players had worked on reading blocks more quickly and using better body control to reach the opposing ballcarrier earlier. The 2007 Kansas defense is ranked ninth in the nation in yards per game allowed.
Kansas hasn't been focusing too much on the schemes Toledo used in last year's matchup. Instead, the Jayhawks have turned their attention to the tapes of Toledo's first two games of this season, against Purdue and Central Michigan. Stuckey said Toledo had altered its game plan significantly since last September.
Asher Fusco
MLB
Phillies move into the thick of the wild card race
PHILADELPHIA — Chase Utley hit a two-run homer and Philadelphia's maligned bullpen was superb in the Phillies' 12-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night.
The Phillies moved within two games of San Diego in the NL wild-card standings, pending the result of the Padres' game at Los Angeles.
Associated Press