KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 / SPORTS
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BIG 12
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
'ac Lee will likely start at quarterback for the highly-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. He is one of many unproven starting quarterbacks in the new-look Big 12
Unheralded quarterbacks featured in Big 12
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Quick, name a Big 12 quarterback being mentioned as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Sam Bradford is now in the NFL after the 2008 Heisman winner's injury-shortened time at Oklahoma. So is Colt McCoy, a two-time Heisman finalist who set the NCAA record with 45 victories at Texas.
Zac Robinson? Todd Reesing? Nope, they're gone too after becoming the most prolific passers at their schools and helping Oklahoma State and Kansas get into the Top 10.
"A few years ago, we had the perfect storm with quarterbacks," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "I always said at that time it was
hard to imagine that any league could have the number of high-level quarterbacks that there were. I think it's a little bit more typical now."
This season, most of the Big 12 quarterbacks are relative unknowns outside the conference — and sometimes even outside their own schools.
"From a competitor's standpoint, I'm a little excited about it that we don't have those high-profile guys to worry about and lose sleep over," Iowa state coach Paul Rhoads said.
Texas coach Mack Brown is careful to separate experience from talent.
"We've got some great quarterbacks maybe that haven't played as much as that little run on quarterbacks we had," he said. "But I
think at the end of the year we'll be talking about how great this quarterback group is."
The league's most experienced starters are Iowa State's Austen Arnaud and Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson. Both seniors have started 23 games.
There is dynamic dual-threat quarterback Robert Griffin at Baylor. But he is coming back from right knee surgery that limited him to only three games last year after his sensational freshman season in 2008 (2,934 total yards, 28 touchdowns).
The 6-foot-5 Johnson, a receiver before being moved back to quarterback, led the Big 12 with 314 total yards per game and threw 30 touchdowns last season. But the Aggies still had a losing season.
Coach Art Briles won't be able to blow the whistle Saturday night to keep Sam Houston State defenders from tackling Griffin, who got a medical redshirt and is still considered a sophomore.
"When he's out there and the bullets are live, he'll know how to respond," Briles said. "Robert has good instincts and great talents to go with it."
The Longhorns' Garrett Gilbert got shoved onto the national stage after McCoy got hurt on the first drive of the BCS national championship game. Gilbert threw the only two TDs — and only four interceptions — of his freshman season going 15-of-40 passing against Alabama.
Gilbert gets his first start for fifth-ranked Texas on Saturday.
FOOTBALL
Webb has chance at playing time
Coach Turner Gill told assembled media that he had not ruled out playing quarterback Jordan Webb in Saturday's game. Gill said Webb could play in the first half, but did not elaborate on what that situation would be.
"We haven't decided at this point in time," Gill said. "We'll decide here at the end of the week. It could be a situation where [playing Webb] wouldn't be at the end of the game. We've talked about possibly putting him in the game, maybe in the first half ... Again,
This came a day after Gill said he was most looking forward to seeing Pick play this
we're still discussing that."
Saturday. It had seemed that Pick had a steady hold on the quarterback position, but it now looks like Webb may still be
MLB
competing for the job.
Gill is not available to speak to the media between now and Saturday's game.
Tim Dwyer
Cubs' rookie picks up first MLB win
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO Thomas Diamond received a game ball and a beer shower after his first major league win.
“That was very scary,” Tabata said. I saw the ball and I thought
Diamond relieved injured starter Tom Gorzelanny and was part of a strong effort by the Chicago Cubs' bullpen Wednesday in a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"It's always nice to get the first. I wish it would have happened a little sooner," Diamond said. "Now, hopefully we can go on and win a few more."
Kosuke Fukudome had three hits, including a go-ahead double, during a perfect day at the plate for the Cubs. Carlos Marmol escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning and finished for his 25th save in 30 chances.
Gorzelanny was knocked out in the third when Jose Tabata lined a shot off his right hand. The left-hander departed for X-rays.
it was his face. In the moment I froze. I hope he's better. I feel bad for that."
After Gorzelanny left, five Cubs relievers combined to allow four hits the rest of the way.
"Now that I've moved from the rotation to the bullpen, hopefully I can find a spot there and contribute," the 27-year-old Diamond said.
Diamond (1-3) gave up two runs and two hits in 1 2-3 innings. Marmol walked in a run with two outs in the eighth but struck out Tabata to preserve a 5-3 lead.
James McDonald (2-5) took the loss, allowing three runs and eight hits in five innings.
Diamond, called up from Triple-A Iowa on Aug. 2, struck out three and walked one. The Cubs won two of three in the series and finished 5-10 against last-pace Pittsburgh this season.
"For most of the game he wasn't able to get the ball down like he usually does and it cost him a little bit," Pirates manager John Russell said.
MLB
Effective Burnett carries Yankees to 4-3 victory over lowly Athletics
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — A.J. Burnett bounced back from an awful August by pitching six effective innings and the New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3 Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.
The Yankees held their one-game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East. They'll go for a four-game sweep Thursday with CC Sabathia on the mound.
Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer for Oakland and Brett Anderson only allowed one earned run, but the Asell to 1-8 against New York this season.
Burnett (10-12) went 0-4 in five starts since his last win, July 28 at Cleveland. He came off a particularly rough outing in which he lasted 3 1-3 innings and tied a season high with eight earned runs, leaving him with a 7.80 ERA
in August.
Burnett got September off to a stronger start, allowing three runs and striking out eight.
Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 28th save. He struck out Kurt Suzuki with a runner on second to end it.
Joba Chamberlain allowed a pair of two-out singles in the seventh, but Suzuki flied out to end the threat.
Kerry Wood also put two runners on with two outs, retiring Raiai Davis to end the eighth.
Mark Ellis had three hits for the AS, who gave up 20 runs in the first two games of the series against New York, but couldn't capitalize when they held the Yankees to four.
Anderson (3-6) has lost four of his last five starts. He gave up eight hits in six innings.
The Yankees got a couple of breaks in their three-run second inning that made it 4-0.
because Davis stole third base after he doubled.
Curtis Granderson and Eduardo Nunez both hit one-out singles just over shortstop Cliff Pennington's glove.
Coco Crisp's RBI groundout that made it 4-3 in the fifth was possible
Teixeira hit a long RBI double to left-center in the first inning. The Yankees scored three runs in the first the night before and have scored in the first inning in 10 of their last 15 games.
Granderson came home as Derek Jeter was safe at first when Anderson bobbled the catch while covering the bag on a grounder to second. Mark Teixeira's two-run single to left bounced just to the left of third baseman Kouzmanoff's glove and just to the right of Pennington's.
MLB
Longoria plays hero in Rays 2-1 victory
Price (16-6) allowed a solo homer to John Buck, a double and two infield singles over eight innings. The 25-year-old left-hander walked two and struck out seven before Rafael Soriano worked out of a jam in the ninth for his major league-leading 40th save in 42 opportunities.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan Longoria snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single, leading the Tampa Bay Rays past the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 Wednesday night for David Price's club-record 16th victory.
Tampa Bay remained a game behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East. New York beat
Oakland 4-3 for its fifth straight victory.
Sean Rodriguez homered, tripled and singled off Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum. Rodriguez was denied a chance to go for the cycle when he was intentionally walked to load the bases after Longoria delivered his go-ahead hit off Scott Downs.
Ben Zobrist began the winning rally by drawing a one-out walk from Shawn Camp (4-3). Carl Crawford singled and Longoria, who has 17 RBIs in his past 18 games, hit a hard grounder between shortstop and third base to snap a 1-all tie.
The Blue Jays threatened in the ninth. Vernon Wells tripled with one out, but Soriano struck out Adam Lind and got Buck to fly
out on the warning track in left field to end the game.
Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon tinkered with the lineup — inserting rookie Desmond Jennings in right field, starting catcher Dioner Navarro and using former Colorado Rockies All-Star Brad Hawpe as the designated hitter in his AL debut. The trio went 1 for 7 with four strikeouts against Marcum.
The victory gave Tampa Bay its 11th consecutive home series win over Toronto, when hasn't won a series at Tropicana Field since April 2007.
Price limited the Blue Jays to Mike McCoy's third-inning infield single until Buck hit his 15th homer leading off the fifth.
Associated Press
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