News Nuggets, 12.14.03
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Resilient Sooners' QB caps career with Heisman

NEW YORK — Jason White capped a remarkable comeback with college football's most prestigious award, winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night a year after an injury nearly ended his career.

The Oklahoma quarterback, who almost quit football following his second major knee injury in September 2002, beat out Pittsburgh receiver Larry Fitzgerald by 128 points for the award.

White threw 40 touchdown passes and led the third-ranked Sooners to 12 straight wins to open the season and a spot in the Bowl Championship Series title game against No. 2 LSU.

Even a subpar performance in a loss in the Big 12 title game last week against Kansas State couldn't stop White from winning the award. His three months of brilliance before that were more than enough to persuade voters to pick him.

The Associated Press Player of the Year, White led the nation in passing efficiency, completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,744 yards and only eight interceptions.

White beat Fitzgerald, Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning and Michigan running back Chris Perry.

Pitino still teaching as Cards upend No. 1

LOUISVILLE — The teacher had one more lesson for his student on Saturday. Rick Pitino got his 400th career victory when Louisville beat top-ranked Florida 73-65, yet another win over one of his former assistant coaches.

This one came over Billy Donovan, who played for Pitino at Providence and worked as his assistant at Kentucky from 1989-94. Pitino improved to 14-1 against ex-assistants and has won all five meetings against Donovan, who coached at Marshall before becoming Florida's coach in 1996.

Pitino attributed his dominance over former pupils to the players he's coached. "If we played either on neutral courts or I wasn't at Kentucky, it would be 50-50," Pitino said. "I would not have the record I have if I had not been at Kentucky, where I had eight players from one team play in the NBA. It's about players and the way you play the game."

Francisco Garcia had 21 points for the Cardinals (4-1), who led by as many as 15 in the second half then sealed the win by holding Florida (5-2) without a field goal over the final 67 seconds.

Pitino is concerned what this win might do for Louisville. "If we are humble and hungry, we'll be good," he said. "The minute you start thinking you're good is when you start getting into trouble."

David Lee scored a career-high 24 points and matched a career best with 12 rebounds as the Gators lost their second straight since becoming the nation's No. 1 team. They lost 69-68 in overtime to Maryland on Wednesday.

"This week has been great for our guys. Everybody may think it's terrible that we lost two games," Donovan said. "No, this is the type of thing these guys need to go through in order to get better."

Pitino, who has a 400-145 record in his 18th season, waved his arms and shook his head in disgust as the capacity crowd shouted the "Overrated!" chant at the Florida team in the closing seconds.

Garcia bent over and cried just before the final buzzer sounded. It was his second game since learning his only brother, Hector Lopez, had been murdered in New York City.

Kentucky-Michigan State crowd shatters all-time record

DETROIT — A basketball world-record crowd of 78,129 attended Saturday's game at Ford Field between No. 8 Kentucky and No. 21 Michigan State.

The visiting Wildcats disappointed the home crowd, defeating the Spartans 79-74

The sport's previous attendance record was 75,000, set in 1951 when the Harlem Globetrotters played at Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Ford Field is home to the NFL's Detroit Lions.

The NCAA attendance record is 68,112, set in 1990 at the Louisiana Superdome when Notre Dame played LSU. The NBA record is 62,046 for a Chicago-Atlanta game at the Georgia Dome in 1998.

Panel wants postseason eligibility linked to grad rates

MIAMI — Colleges should graduate at least 50 percent of their football players as a prerequisite for bowl game eligibility, a commission recommended Friday.

The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics is calling for bowl eligibility reforms, saying that more than half of this year's 56 bowl-bound teams fail to meet their proposed graduation standard.

"It is a reasonable — indeed, minimum — standard for demonstrating that academics are valued in big-time college football," said William Friday, the commission's chairman.

A call placed to an NCAA spokesman was not immediately returned Friday.

In 1996, the NCAA adopted some reforms proposed by the commission, which is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a Miami-based journalism consortium.

The commission said only two of this year's bowl games — the Houston Bowl between Navy and Texas Tech, and the Capital One Bowl between Purdue and Georgia — match schools with 50 percent graduation rates or better.

Oklahoma and LSU, who will meet in the Sugar Bowl to decide the Bowl Championship Series national champion, have graduation rates for football players of 33 and 40 percent, respectively, the commission said.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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