Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 80, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 21, 2014 Page: 10 of 16
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4B
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
MOTOR SPORTS/FOOTBALL
Denton Record-Chronicle
Upsets leave Big 12’s playoff chances in peril
Chris Jackson/AP
West Virginia's Shaquille Riddick (4) and KJ. Dillon (9) cele-
brate their win with fans following a game in Morgantown,
W.Va., on Saturday.
By Luke Meredith
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa - The
Big 12 has been as entertaining as
any league in the country.
All that fun might come with a
price.
Recent upsets like West Vir-
ginia beating Baylor and Kansas
State surprising Oklahoma have
made the conference impossible
to ignore — at least during the
regular season. They might also
cost the Big 12 a spot in the inau-
gural College Football Playoff.
“There’s just not any one week
where you can actually feel sur-
prised by the outcome,” Baylor
coach Art Briles said.
It’s a trend that’s done signif-
icant damage to the CFP hopes of
the Big 12’s top contenders.
The Sooners, the preseason fa-
vorites, have two losses. Baylor al-
ready has aloss and atrip to Okla-
College football
Big 12
homa on Nov. 8.
League-leading Kansas State
has one loss — to No. 5 Auburn —
and it’s now ranked 11th in the
country. But the Wildcats (5-1,
3-0 Big 12) still have to play No. 10
TCU and No. 12 Baylor on the
road. The Homed Frogs (5-1,2-1)
lost at Baylor in a wild shootout,
but they have to survive a trip to
West Virginia.
It appears as though parity is
at its peak in the Big 12. That
might not be a good thing in a
four-team playoff era.
“Each week things get shaken
up,” Kansas interim coach Clint
Bowen said. “Every week it’s abat-
tle.”
TCU hosts Texas Tech (3-4,
1-3) this weekend, followed by a
crucial road game against the
22nd-ranked Mountaineers (5-2,
3-1). If they can get past West Vir-
ginia — and that’s a big if given
how well the Mountaineers have
been playing — they should be fa-
vored in each of their final four
games.
There are just three unbeaten
power conference teams left, and
Ole Miss and Mississippi State
still have to play each other. So a
one-loss TCU team would likely
get a look from the CFP selection
committee.
Coach Gary Patterson knows
better than to look ahead.
“In this league, you just need
to hold onto your hat,” he said.
“For us, if there’s anything we’ve
learned in the last few weeks is
you’ve gotto keep your nose down
and understand that everyone
can play’
After playing Oklahoma, Bay-
lor (6-1,3-1) finishes the season by
hosting Kansas State and then
Oklahoma State on Nov. 22. For
now, the Bears will host strug-
gling Kansas (2-5, 0-4) on Satur-
day. Oklahoma has the week off
before playing at Iowa State (2-5,
0-4).
“Every team is good. If you
make a mistake or two, you’re go-
ing to be on the wrong end of it
Everybody’s got talented players.
But the league’s full of good
coaches. It’s a challenge every
week,” Oklahoma coach Bob
Stoops said.
Kansas State’s home loss to
Auburn, now ranked 5th, looks
better with each passing week.
But the Wildcats might still need
to finish the second half ofthe sea-
son undefeated to earn CFP con-
sideration, and their schedule is
loaded.
Kansas State finishes the year
with trips to TCU, West Virginia
and Baylor sandwiched around a
rivalry game with Kansas. The
Wildcats (6-1, 3-0) host hard-to-
figure Texas (3-4, 2-2) on Satur-
day. A loss to the Longhorns
could doom K-State’s playoff
hopes. But coach Bill Snyder is
more concerned with beating
Texas than worrying about the
possible ramifications of a loss.
Keselowski appears to march to his own beat
Motor sports
NASCAR
John Bazemore/AP
Brad Keselowski celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Tallade-
ga Superspeedway on Sunday in Talladega, Ala.
By Jenna Fryer
AP Auto Racing Writer
TALLADEGA, Ala. - It
didn’ttakelongfor Brad Keselow-
ski to earn an unpleasant reputa-
tion in NASCAR. He was aggres-
sive on the track, brash and arro-
gant off of it, and rubbed most of
his competitors the wrong way.
Denny Hamlin famously
feuded with him through the
2009 season, calling him “a com-
plete moron” while alleging “every
driver in the garage that comes up
to me says, ‘That guy is a complete
whack job.“’When Hamlin made
good on a promise to week Kese-
lowski in the 2009 Nationwide
Series finale, Hamlin received a
standing ovation from crews
along pit road.
It was Carl Edwards who was
fed up with Keselowski the next
season, and he returned to the
track at Atlanta to deliberately
week his new rival. The contact
had an unintended consequence,
though, and Keselowski’s car flew
into the fence. Everyone in NAS-
CAR picked sides but most
thought “Bad Brad” had it com-
ing.
He didn’t really care what any-
one thought.
“It’s not possible to get a Cup
ride right now without being ag-
gressive, and without having
From Page IB
UNT
some swagger in your step,” Kese-
lowski said shortly after the Ed-
wards incident in 2010. “Does
that make you a jerk? To some
people, yes. To some people, no. It
depends on where you’re coming
from. If you look at the sport right
now, there are no new drivers
coming in.
“So whatever I’m doing is
working, and it’s gotten me to
where I’m at”
Keselowski was a Sprint Cup
champion two seasons later, and
after a sub-par 2013 season, he’s
furiously charging after a second
title. Keepingthis run alive was no
easy feat, as Keselowski was
backed into a must-win situation
Sunday at Talladega Superspeed-
way, a track where drivers have
very little control over their fate.
He promised his Team Penske
crew that he’d win to avoid elim-
ination in the Chase for the Sprint
Cup championship. He was com-
ing off a post-race meltdown at
Charlotte, where he became a
menace behind the wheel after re-
alizing his title hopes had poten-
tially slipped away.
Hamlin had to be restrained
from trying to fight him, Matt
Kenseth attacked him from be-
hind and it was his Penske crew
that rushed to his rescue. Kese-
lowski earned a $50,000 fine
from NASCAR, withstood a hail-
storm of criticism from his peers,
and kept his mouth shut as he
went with his team to Martins-
ville Speedway in Virginia for two
days of testing last week.
It was there that he vowed his
season was not ending at Tallade-
ga.
Promising to win is one thing,
but delivering is a much taller or-
der. Only Keselowski did it, pull-
ing offthe equivalent of a walk-off
home run or a two-touchdown
rally in the final two minutes of a
game.
Team Penske was not in the
least bit surprised.
“I don’t think this is the first
time we’ve seen Brad step up to
the plate,” crew chief Paul Wolfe
said. “Seems like everyone is
against him, seems like that fires
him up more. He sets his mind to
something, he’s going to make it
happen.”
It takes a special talent to de-
liver in high-pressure situations,
especially when it seems like an
entire industry is against you.
There’s only been one other driver
in the last decade, Tony Stewart,
to climb off the ropes in the face of
self-inflicted adversity and he
backed up his actions and his
words with three championships.
Keselowski is provingto be the
current-day Stewart — the driver
who does what he wants and re-
fuses to toe the line.
He speaks up when he doesn’t
believe something is right, he isn’t
politically correct for the sake of
staying on the good side of NAS-
CAR or his sponsors, and he takes
pride in marchingto his own beat
Keselowski claimed Sunday
he doesn’t enjoy the him-against-
the-world mentality, and that
fighting so many battles is only
making his life harder. But he’s
keenly aware at how difficult the
road to NASCAR’s top series was,
and that he scratched and clawed
his way into a top-level ride at a
time of very little turnover.
He notes that he and now-
teammate Joey Logano broke in-
to the Sprint Cup Series at the
same time and are the only driv-
ers to make it stick five years later.
“What other drivers came
from that era and are successful?
There isn’t one. There’s not one
that came through those four or
five years,” he said. “That’s for
good reason. They’ve been ran out
of the sport I’m not going to let
that happen. That means some-
times there’s going to be some un-
comfortable moments. Certainly
there were some uncomfortable
moments this week. I hope there’s
not any more uncomfortable mo-
ments in the future, but there
probably will be.”
It helps to have the unwaver-
ing support of team owner Rog-
er Penske, who was given the on-
ly Cup championship of his ca-
reer with Keselowski’s 2012 title.
He gives his driver latitude to
make recommendations for the
organization, to confidently be a
leader of his race team.
help me improve my game.”
McNulty completed key
throws in several spots through-
out the night, including three to
Harris that helped keep UNT in
the game.
The two connected for a 27-
yard strike in a third-and-5 situ-
ation from the UNT 19-yard line
and later hooked up for a 12-yard
completion on third-and-10
from the Southern Miss 39 dur-
ing a seven-play, 86-yard drive.
Reggie Pegram capped the drive
with a 27-yard touchdown run
that tied the game at 20-20.
McNulty also completed a
45-yard strike to Harris in the
first quarter that set up Jimmer-
son’s 2-yard touchdown run for
UNT’s first points of the night.
McNulty will have a chance
to build on that performance
against Rice in his second start
of the season.
UNT asks league to
review holding call
UNT has asked Conference
USA officials to review the hold-
ing call on Johnson that resulted
in Jimmerson’s touchdown be-
ing called back.
The Mean Green set up Jim-
merson perfectly on a pass out of
the backfield and saw him race
down the field and past John-
son, who was engaged with a
Southern Miss defender.
‘We teach it; we coach it,”
McCarney said.
We are waiting for an inter-
pretation right now because An-
tonio Johnson did exactly what
we hoped he would do out there
in the open field.
That was one of the best exe-
cuted offensive plays we have
had all year, but it was called
back.”
UNT was down 30-20 at the
time and recovered from the
penalty to drive to the Southern
Miss 16-yard line, but failed to
cash in when Trevor Moore
missed a 33-yard field goal.
“I don’t feel like there was
holding and the tape really
doesn’t display any type of hold-
ing,” Harris said.
“That is something we will
have to live with. We still have to
capitalize on opportunities to
get to the red zone.”
Harris named C-USA
Offensive Player
of the Week
Harris was named C-USAs
Offensive Player of the Week for
his performance in the Mean
Green’s loss to Southern Miss.
Harris finished with 15 catch-
es for 216 yards, the eighth high-
est total in program history.
The rest of UNT’s receivers
combined for five catches for 71
yards.
“It was just the repetition in
practice, getting my timing
down with McNulty, getting
open and catching the ball,”
Harris said.
Harris now has 42 catches
for 558 yards on the season and
continues to carry UNT’s pass-
ing offense.
Darvin Kidsy ranks second
among Mean Green players
with 12 caches, while Turner
Smiley ranks second on the
team in receiving yards with 140.
‘Wow, was that fun just to
watch him play the game,”
McCarney said.
“He had over 200 yards. He’s
too small, too short and too little
and he had over 200 yards. We
need more guys to play with that
heart, that tenacity and that in-
tensity and that confidence.”
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BY THE
UNT loses Watson, could
have others back
Defensive tackle Dutton
Watson will undergo ankle sur-
gery and will be out until at least
late this season and could miss
the rest of the year.
Watson started the first two
games of the season and made
one of the more memorable
plays of the year for the Mean
Green, intercepting a pass that
deflected into the air and rum-
bling 24 yards to set up UNT’s
first touchdown in a 43-6 win
over rival SMU.
“He has some bone spurs in
there that have been bothering
him for a long time,” McCarney
said. “They are going to clean it
up.”
While UNT has lost Watson,
it could have several other key
players back this week.
Starting safety Sheldon
Wade, backup comerback Zac
Whitfield and backup defensive
end Tillman Johnson could all
return from various injuries
when the Mean Green take on
Rice.
All three have made a series
of key plays for the Mean Green.
Wade started UNT’s first six
games and is tied for fifth on the
team with 30 tackles. Whitfield
has 13 tackles and an intercep-
tion in five games, while John-
son ranks second on the team
with 3.0 sacks.
6BRETT VITO can be
reached at 940-566-6870 and
via Twitter at @brettvito.
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 80, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 21, 2014, newspaper, October 21, 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124685/m1/10/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .