Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 049, Ed. 1 Monday, January 10, 2011 Page: 7 of 10
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Sports
Sweetwater Reporter
Monday, January 10, 2011 ■ Page 7
Defense wont rest when Tigers, Ducks meet today
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP)
— It's almost unheard of —
a quarterback cranking out
a string of 13 straight games
with never an off day. But
Auburn's Cam Newton
spent the 2010 season rede-
fining what's possible at
that position.
Every bit as rare: an
offense that can't be stopped.
But Oregon, led by running
back Michael James, has
scored 37 or more points 11
times in an equally impres-
sive undefeated season.
These are the reasons
people are envisioning
scores like 60-55 and 55-53
for the BCS title game today
in nearby Glendale, a rea-
son the matchup has turned
into such a red-hot ticket.
No. 1 Auburn and No. 2
Oregon, a pair of newcom-
ers to the championship
scene, both have offenses
that almost never take a
break.
The Tigers (13-0) have
Newton, the Heisman
Trophy winner who led the
Southeastern Conference in
rushing, passer efficiency
and scoring.
The Ducks (12-0) have
James, the key to an offense
that likes to snap the ball 9
to 11 seconds after the end
of the previous play, and
one that scores a nation-
high 49.1 points a game.
"They've got a lot of fast
guys and they play fast,"
Auburn defensive coordina-
tor Ted Roof said. "But so
far, we've been fast enough
to win 13 games, too.'*
This pair of exciting,
point-a-minute teams are
coached by Gene Chizik and
Chip Kelly — quite possibly
the most obscure coaching
duo to pace the sideline in
a championship game since
the BCS began in 1999.
Both are in their second
seasons as head coach at
their schools. Chizik is a
former defensive coordina-
tor at Auburn and Texas
who came back to the Plains
despite a 5-19 record at his
first head-coaching job at
Iowa State. Kelly was hand-
picked by his predecessor,
Mike Bellotti. After his first
game as Oregon's head
coach, a 19-8 loss to Boise
State to start 2009, Kelly
famously cut a check to
reimburse a season-ticket
holder who wrote him to
complain about the perfor-
mance.
Hard to imagine anyone's
complaining now.
"We stand for three
things: playing fast, playing
hard and finishing. We've
done it with our 12 oppor-
tunities," Kelly said. "Our
vision has not to do with
championships. Our vision
1
m
Kirby Lee/US Presswire
Darron Thomas and Oregon ran past the most physical team they faced
this season, Orange Bowl champion Stanford.
DaleZanine/USPresswire
Cam Newton has been running over opposing defenses all season,
accumulating 1,409 yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground.
has nothing to do with get-
ting a crystal ball or rings.
It is all about playing the
game. That's what we've
Lone all along and that's
what our vision is."
Auburn has been pum-
meled all season with ques-
tions about Newton's sta-
tus, the result of a mean-
dering investigation into
allegations that his father
was involved in a failed
pay-for-play scheme during
Newton's recruitment to
Mississippi State.
TheNCAAclearedNewton
to play shortly before the
SEC title game, and with the
Tigers confident — at least
for now — they won't have
to give back the BCS's crys-
tal ball trophy if they win
it, the most notable con-
troversy this week has been
the debate over whether
Auburn defensive lineman
Nick Fairley is a cheap-shot
artist.
Fairley, the Lombardi
Award winner as the
nation's best lineman, has
brandished a reputation
for playing hard through
the whistle, and sometimes
beyond. How Oregon's quick
— but not huge — offensive
line handles Fairley could
dictate how well Oregon's
fast-paced offense runs.
"He's got speed, strength,
technique," Oregon offen-
sive coordinator Mark
Helfrich said. "Basically, all
the things you don't want
to see as an offensive guy
lining up against him, he's
got."
James, who has aver-
aged 152 yards and almost
two touchdowns a game for
an offense that has scored
40-plus points 10 times this
year, said he can tell when a
defense is breaking dowr
"You start seeing a lot of
hands on hips, broken tack-
les, things like that," he said.
"You see them blitzing but
not really blitzing because
they don't have the energy."
Knowing Oregon will
try to push the pace in this
game, the way the Ducks
lave all year, Chizik said he
would have a very specific
conversation with officials
before the game, urging
them to enforce a rule that
allows the defense time to
make substitutions if the
offense does. Kelly said it
won't make a difference,
"because we don't sub."
"When we want to play
fast, we know the rules,"
he said. "If we are trying to
play at a fast tempo, we are
not trying to sub in those
situations."
Oregon's mission on
defense is to try and become
the first team to stop
Newton, who has the body of
a linebacker — 6-foot-6,250
pounds — but the skills of a
running back and quarter-
back. He averages 108 yards
rushing a game, completes
67 percent of his passes and
has accounted for 49 touch-
downs — 21 running and 28
passing. After he passed for
335 yards and four touch-
downs and ran for two more
scores in a 56-17 blowout
of South Carolina in the
SEC title game, Gamecocks
coach Steve Spurrier said a
60-55 score was a possibil-
ity in the title game.
"You have two of the best
offensive minds in football,"
he said, speaking of Kelly
and Auburn offensive coor-
dinator Gus Malzahn.
All of which may real-
ly mean that whichever
defense plays better will lead
its team to a championship.
Divisional round mill
have rematches galore
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -
Bitter feuds from the AFC
North and East will break
out again in the playoffs.
Can't wait.
First up conies Ravens-
Steelers III, and how fitting
after the AFC North rivals
split their two regular-
season meetings an tied
atop the division at 12-4.
Baltimore set up what fig-
ures to be a bone-crunch-
ing divisional-round game
next Saturday when it beat
Kansas City 30-7.
"It's going to be a lot of
fun," said Joe Flacco, who
threw for two touchdowns.
"This is going to be the sec-
ond time in my career that
we've played them three
times in a season. And those
games are always a lot of
fun. We're going to go up
there and give it our best."
That's exactly what the
New York Jets hope to do in
New England, a place where
they were annihilated in
early December, 45-3, by the
AFC East champion Patriots.
New York (12-5) won its
third road playoff game in
four tries under bombastic
coach Rex Ryan, 17-16 at
Indianapolis on Nick Folk's
32-yard field goal as time
expired. The Jets also beat
the Pats 28-14 in Week 2,
one of only two losses for
New England (14-2).
Green Bay was the third
road team to win in the
wild-card round, beating
the Eagles 21-16 as Aaron
| NFL playoffs |
Rodgers threw for three
touchdowns and James
Starks, at one point a
fourth-stringer, rushed for
123 yards Sunday. Next
Saturday night, the Packers
(11-6) are at Atlanta (13-3),
the AFC's top seed, which
beat Green Bay 20-17 on
Nov. 28.
Shockingly, the only
home winner this weekend
was Seattle.
On Saturday, the
Seahawks became the first
team with a losing record
to win a playoff game when
they knocked off defending
NFL champion New Orleans
41-36 behind four TD pass-
es by Matt Hasselbeck.
The Seahawks (8-9) visit
Chicago (11-5) next Sunday;
Seattle won at Soldier Field
23-20 on Oct. 17.
Ravens 30, Chiefs 7
Billy Cundiff kicked
three field goals to support
Flacco, but it was the savvy
defense that dominated, as
it often does for Baltimore
(13-4). The Ravens led
10-7 in the third quarter
when they stopped Kansas
City on fourth-and-inches.
Baltimore got a field goal out
of that, then another after
Ray Lewis forced a fumble
by rookie Dexter McClustei
Dawan Landry's intercep-
tion moments later led to
Anquan Boldin's 4-yard TD
reception for a 23-7 lead,
and the Chiefs (10-7) were
headed for that unenviable
NFL record. Their last play-
off victory came with Joe
Montana as their quarter-
back.
So now it's bring on
the Steelers, who won in
Baltimore in December; the
Ravens won at Pittsburgh
in October in the last of Ben
Roethlisberger's four-game
suspension.
The Chiefs have lost seven
straight postseason games,
a league record that dates
back to the 1993 season.
Packers 21, Eagles 16
Rodgers had TD passes
of 7 yards to Tom Crabtree,
9 to James Jones and 16 to
Brandon Jackson, who used
a convoy of blockers on a
screen pass for the winning
points midway through the
third quarter.
Green Bay (11-6) then held
on as Michael Vick brought
Philadelphia (10-7) close, but
was intercepted in the end
zone by Tramon Williams
in the final seconds. The
Packers have won three in a
row; the Eagles finished with
three straight defeats.
Green Bay began 2010
with a win at the Line and
ended the Eagles' season
with another one Sunday.
Now it's off to Atlanta for
the divisional round.
"They have a great team
over there, and they play
fast," Vick said after his sen-
sational comeback season
ended.
College bowl results
SATURDAY, DEC. 18
New Mexico Bowl
byu 52;> nr.i' 24
I Simian It;: an Bowl
Nnrth'-ni Illinois 40, Fresno
State 17
New Orleans Bowl
Troy 48, Ohioai
' TUESDAY, DEC. 21
Beef 'O'Brady's Bowl
Louisville 31. Southern
Mississippi 28
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 22
MAACO Bowl
Boise State aS/Htah 3
THURSDAY, DEC. 23
Poinsettia Bowl
San Diego State 35, Havy 14
FRIDAY, DEC. 24
Hawaii Bowl
Tulsa 62, Hawaii
SUNDAY, DEC. 26
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
Florida International 34,
33 ilato ;?2
MONDAY, DEC. 27
Independence Bowl
Air Force 14, CJeorgia Tech ""
TUESDAY, DEC. 28
Champs Sports Bowl
North Carolina State 23, West
Virginia 7
Insight Bowl
Iowa 27, Missouri 24
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 29
Military Bowl
Maryland 51, East Carolina 20
Texas Bowl
Illinois 38,.Baylor 14
Alamo Bowl
Oklahoma State :i<>. Ari'/una 10
THURSDAY, DEC. 30
Armed Forces Bowl
Army 16. SMU 14
Pinstripe Bowl
Syracuse 36; Kansas State 34
Music City Bowl
North Carolina 30, Tennessee
27 (2 OT)
Holiday Bowl
Washington 19, Nebraska 7
FRIDAY, DEC. 31
Meineke Bowl
South Florida 31, Clemson 26
Sun Bowl
Notre Dame 33, Miami 17
Liberty Bowl
I'd' 10. Cii'digia 6
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Florida State 26, South Caro-
lina 17
SATURDAY, JAN. 1
TicketCity Bowl
Tejgas ']>:■(■ h 45, Northwestern
38
Capital One Bowl
Alabama 49, Michigan State:7
Outback Bowl
Florida 37, Penn State 24
Gator Bowl
Mississippi State §2, Michigan
14
Rose Bowl
TCG Hi, Wisconsin 19
Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma 48, Connecticut 20
MONDAY, JAN. 3
Orange Bowl
Stanford 40, Virginia Tech 12
TUESDAY, JAN. 4
Sugar Bowl
Ohio State 31. Arkansas 28
THURSDAY, JAN. 6
GoDaddy.com Bowl
Miami (Ohio} ,35, Middle
Tennessee,21
FRIDAY, JAN. 7
Cotton Bowl
I.Sl' 41, Texas .A&M 24
SATURDAY, JAN. 8
BBVA Compass Bowl
Pittsburgh 27, Kentucky 10
SUNDAY, JAN. 9
Fight Hunger Bowl
Nevada 20. Boston College 13;
MONDAY, JAN. 10
BCS National
Championship
at Glendale, Ariz.
AUburn (l;i- "I vs. Oregon
(12-0), 7:30: p.m. (ESPN)
SATURDAY, JAN. 22
At Orlando, Fla.
East-west Shrine Classic. ;j
p.m.
SATURDAY, JAN. 29
At Mobile, Ala.
Senior Bowl* 3 p.m. (NKI.X)
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 049, Ed. 1 Monday, January 10, 2011, newspaper, January 10, 2011; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229365/m1/7/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.