Football
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
And you thought we were done with this. Not yet. We'll keep it going until Villanova's season ends. But we'll keep things short because most of the local teams' seasons are over.
Rutgers also has another game left, at home against West Virginia at noon Saturday on ESPN2. Villanova's 3:30 p.m. kickoff against New Hampshire on the Main Line will be on ESPN360.com.
Sagarin has the Scarlet Knights as a one-point underdog to the Mountaineers, 79.27 to 75.65 and 3.16. 'Nova is a 12-point favorite, 76.77 and 3.16 to 67.54.
20. Penn State (17)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Villanova's football team beat Holy Cross, 38-28, in the first round of the I-AA playoffs at Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats will host the winner of New Hampshire-McNeese State in the second round next weekend.
Since the game wasn't on TV, you would think it would make sense for me to have done a live blog. But I was told before the game that I would not be allowed to by NCAA rules. I believe, however, that I was within my rights to post updates on here at the end of each quarter, so that's what I have done.
(Said rights are listed in the "NCAA Blogging Policy," which is availble a ways down the page here.)
If you agree with me that my liveblogs aren't a true substitute for television broadcasts (and I know that many of you do), then you should find your own way of registering a reasonable protest. Suffice to say that I don't have the resources to fight this battle, but I am sure that there are people out there who might be able to do so.
Here is my running summary of the game. I had to leave as soon as it ended to get to the Pavilion for the La Salle-Villanova basketball game, so there is no postgame audio.
Holy Cross scored just under a minute and a half into the fourth quarter as Dominic Randolph found tight end Alex Schneider with a touchdown pass for the second time in the game. The five-yard pass capped off a nine-play 75-yard drive that lasted 3:30.
Villanova had a couple of nervous third downs on its ensuing drive, and the Crusaders were able to at least keep the Wildcats out of the end zone. But 'Nova was at least able to get a 25-yard field goal from Nick Yako with 7:18 left in the game. That drive was 13 plays and 56 yards, and lasted 6:02
Holy Cross was faced with a 4th-and-10 at Villanoa's 35 with 5:47 left in the game, and Dominic Randolph's pass was too far for Kyle Toulouse. The Wildcats took over and ran the clock down to 2:41 before being faced with a fourth-and-inches. They went for it, and Matt Szczur bulldozed his way for a first down. The Wildcats got another first down and ran out the clock from there.
Holy Cross cut Villanova's lead to 28-21 with 5:05 left in the third quarter when Bill Edger made a tremnendous leaping catch of a 17-yard pass with a defender right on him in the corner of the end zone.
The scoring drive was nine plays and 80 yards in 3:29.
But Villanova responded as Matt Szczur scored off a direct snap from five yards out.
The score was set up in part by a great catch by Szczur a few plays earlier. Hehauled in a -yard pass from Chris Whitney, who had to scramble quite a bit before throwing off his back footl.
I swowre the pass would be picked off, but Szczur got in front of the defender just at the last second and got the ball for himself.
The scoring drive was seven plays and 66 yards and lasted 2:48.
The attendance has been announced: 4,319. Capacity of the Pavilion is 6,500, since I overheard someone in the press box asking.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
I want to run through this quckly so we can get on to other stuff. In addition to the results below, Ursinus beat Kean in the Division III ECAC Southeast Bowl last week, and Delaware Valley will host Albright in the second round of the Division III playoffs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
17. Penn State (21)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 45/55 Michigan State, 42-14
Season over
43. Villanova (43)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 116/113 Delaware, 30-12
This week: 11/28 vs. No. 153 Holy Cross, 12:00 p.m. (NCAA Division I-AA playoffs First Round)
Sagarin predicts: Villanova by 26 (76.99 and 3.12 to 51.92)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Football: Penn 34, Villanova 0 | Temple 47, Kent State 13 | Villanova 30, Delaware 12
(And let's not forget Delaware Valley's 66-7 blowout of Susquehanna in the Division III playoffs.)
Basketball: Temple 73, Siena 69 | Delaware 97, Penn 94 (2 OT)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
It's a spectacular day to be outdoors, isn't it? I figure most of you are at the Linc, Villanova Stadium or here with me at Franklin Field.
If I had the choice, I think I'd most like to be at the Temple game. But I'm covering Cornell-Penn for the Inquirer, so at least I get to hear the bands play.
I'll be chatting for a few hours this afternoon. We can talk about today's football, yesterday's hoops action - how about St. Joe's beating Boston College? - or whatever else is on your mind.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
WILMINGTON, Del. - I'm on a train back to Philadelphia, and am doing a bit of work in a cafe car full of Yale alums en route to New Haven for The Game tomorrow.
(You think I'm kidding. I'm not. One of them is a former player. I'm trying to decide whether to tell the rest how bad their team is this year.)
As we head into the weekend, I have an interesting interview to share with you. I mentioned on Monday that two AP football voters ranked Temple at No. 20 on their ballots this week. We've already heard from Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News, and now we can hear from Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Updated after the La Salle-South Carolina game. See below.
WASHINGTON - Let me start by saying that I missed both the Villanova and Penn State games this afternoon. I had the nerve to step away from sports for a few hours. Apologies for that.
But I followed the Wildcats' 69-68 win on Twitter, and most of the talk from people here in D.C. was about how George Mason blew it. It seems to me that Isaiah Armwood deserves quite a bit of credit for that three-pointer, but the Patriots missed four of eight free throws in the final 1:16. They were also playing zone when Armwood scored.
Looking at the box score, it's clear that the Wildcats did not have it together on offense today the way they did against Penn. Scottie Reynolds was 6-14 from the field, Corey Fisher was 1-12 and Maalik Wayns was 3-10.
As a team, 'Nova only made seven of 23 field goal attempts in the first half, and would have trailed by more than nine points at halftime had Corey Fisher not made 10 of 12 free throws.
The second half wasn't much better, but George Mason was even worse. The Patriots were 7-19 from the field and 1-6 from beyond the arc after halftime, and then came those late missed free throws.
Reynolds finished with 18 and Fisher with 16, and Antonio Pena tallied 10 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan Pearson led George Mason with 14 points and 8 boards.
But you know what? Let's give Armwood the Line of the Game. His game-winning three was his first basket as a college player, and he even added a blocked shot in four minutes on the floor.
|
Name
|
Min
|
FG
|
FT
|
3pt
|
OR
|
DR
|
TR
|
A
|
S
|
TO
|
Blk
|
PF
|
Eff
|
Pts
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
I. Armwood
|
4
|
1-1
|
0-0
|
1-1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
The Wildcats will play Dayton tomorrow in the second round of the Puerto Rico Shootout.
That will be a tremendous game and very much worth watching if you can get to a TV.Penn State, on the other hand, had no such luck at the Charleston Classic. The Nittany Lions also had a poor shooting day, but UNC-Wilmington hit 10 of 16 threes and shot 57.4 percent from the field on the whole (27-47) en route to an 80-69 win.
I don't generally like giving Line of the Game honors from players on the losing team, but it's impossible to ignore what Talor Battle did this afternoon. UNC-Wilmington's Chris Tomko had 21 points on 6-9 shooting, including 4-5 from beyond the arc, but Battle did more across the board:
|
Name
|
Min
|
FG
|
FT
|
3pt
|
OR
|
DR
|
TR
|
A
|
S
|
TO
|
Blk
|
PF
|
Eff
|
Pts
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
T. Battle
|
40
|
8-23
|
11-12
|
2-9
|
4
|
4
|
8
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
22
|
29
|
The Seahawks will face Miami in the second round, while Penn State will play Tulane in a consolation game.
I also watched part of the La Salle-South Carolina game, which was part of the same Charleston tournament as Penn State vs. UNC-Wilmington. Specifically, I watched the part of the second half where the Gamecocks pushed their lead from four points to 20 en route to a 78-68 win.
Rank |
AP |
Coaches |
Sagarin |
Harris |
BCS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Florida |
Florida |
Alabama |
Florida |
Florida |
| 2. | Alabama |
Texas |
Florida |
Texas |
Alabama |
| 3. | Texas |
Alabama |
TCU |
Alabama |
Texas |
| 4. | TCU |
TCU |
Texas |
TCU |
TCU |
| 5. | Cincinnati |
Cincinnati |
Cincinnati |
Cincinnati |
Cincinnati |
| 6. | Boise State |
Boise State |
Oregon |
Boise State |
Boise State |
| 7. | Georgia Tech |
Georgia Tech |
Georgia Tech |
Georgia Tech |
Georgia Tech |
| 8. | Pittsburgh |
Ohio State |
Boise State |
Ohio State |
LSU |
| 9. | Ohio State |
Pittsburgh |
Virginia Tech |
Pittsburgh |
Pittsburgh |
| 10. | LSU |
LSU |
LSU |
LSU |
Ohio State |
- Poll: What's the Spectacle of the Week? (51 votes)
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
WASHINGTON - I have definitely noticed an increase in traffic on the blog on days when I've written about Temple football. Were I not going to be at Franklin Field this Saturday to cover Cornell-Penn for the Inquirer, I would be at the Linc for the Owls' last home game of the season against Kent State.
Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw told me yesterday that he expects around 20,000 fans to be in attendance. I'll be interested to see what the final number is, because it's a pretty big deal for Bradshaw's program.
But since I won't be there, I'll make it up to you with two more interviews with AP football poll voters: Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News and Barker Davis of the Washington Times.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Temple got 23 points in this week's AP football poll. That's the equivalent of 33rd place, higher than Georgia and Oklahoma among others.
Looking at the AP voters' ballots this week, I was struck by the two voters who ranked the Owls 20th: Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News and Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fittipaldo has them ranked one spot above USC, while Wolf has Iowa 25th.
The full breakdown is as follows. The order is alphabetical by state, because that's how it listed on the AP's website:
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Penn 17, Harvard 7: My Inquirer recap | New York Times | Boston Globe
Postgame reactions from players and coaches on both teams are in the audio player below.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - I've only covered two funerals in my life, and both were just a few months apart.
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
