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SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Monday, October 29, 2018
NASCAR
STEVE HELBER I Associated Press
Joey Logano celebrates after winning the
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race
Sunday in Martinsville, Va.
Logano gets
one of the
spots to race
for the title
Associated Press
When the reigning series champion
slipped past him with one lap to go at Mar
tinsville Speedway, Joey Logano figured he
had lost his shot at racing for NASCAR’s title.
A win would earn Logano one of the four
spots in the winner-take-all championship at
Homestead-Miami Speedway. So if he didn’t
try something, his chance at a Cup champion
ship might slip away.
Logano used an old fashioned bump-and-
run on Martin Truex Jr. to Sunday and snatch
one of the four tickets to the
finale. Truex slid sideways
across the finish line and
promptly declared Logano
won’t take his title from
him this year.
“He may have won the
battle, but he ain’t winning
the damn war. I’m not going
to let him win it (the cham
pionship.) I’m going to win
it,” Truex fumed.
Logano took Truex’s warning in stride.
“OK. That’s expected,” Logano said. “This
was our shot, maybe our only shot, so we had
to make it happen.”
Logano was showered in boos and Truex,
standing on pit road next to his third-place
car, jeered the winner with both thumbs
down as Logano was interviewed over the
address system. On pit road, Truex crew
chief Cole Pearn Jr. had an angry exchange
with Logano crew chief Todd Gordon. Nearly
30 minutes later, Pearn still appeared visibly
angry.
Truex and Pearn are part of Furniture
Row Racing, which is shutting down at the
end of the season, a year removed from its
championship run. Naysayers cast doubt on
the No. 78 defending its title with the closure
looming, but both driver and crew chief are
determined to prove everyone wrong.
“With everything we’ve got riding on it, the
team closing down, it’s tough to take,” Pearn
said of his confrontation with Gordon. “I
used a few choice words I probably shouldn’t
have. I probably shouldn’t be around a base
ball bat or a jackhammer right now.”
■ Please see RACE, 2B
Truex
GOLF
Schauffele rattles off three
birdies late for HSBC win
Xander Schauffele gave the Americans
a sweep of the World Golf Championships
and quickly put a winless sophomore season
behind him.
Schauffele made birdie on his final three
holes Sunday, the last one a
two-putt birdie from about
30 feet on the par-5 18th
hole to beat Tony Finau in
a sudden-death playoff and
win the HSBC Champions.
He began the tourna
ment by celebrating his
25th birthday. He ended it
with one clutch shot after
another in the closing
stretch at Sheshan Interna
tional for a Funder 68, the lowest score of the
final round, and his first victory in 13 months.
Schauffele won twice in his first year
on the PGA Tour to win rookie of the year.
Last season featured high finishes, but only
one good chance at winning when he was a
runner-up in the British Open at Carnoustie.
Now he has three vic
tories, the last two at the
Tour Championship to end
the 2017 season and now a
World Golf Championship.
Finau, who started the
final round with a three-
shot lead in his bid for a sec
ond PGA Tour-sanctioned
victory, was ahead by one
shot until Schauffele made
an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th, only
the fourth player to make birdie on that hole
Sunday.
Associated Press
Finau
GEORGIA BULLDOGS
Explosive play at tight end
JOSHUA JONES I Associated Press
Georgia tight end Isaac Nauta (18) moves the ball down the field against Florida after a first-half catch on Saturday in Jacksonville,
Fla.
Former Buford High standout played big
role in the passing game against Florida
BY MARK WEISER
Athens Banner Herald
Tight ends that have played for Jack
sonville Jaguars like Kyle Brady would
probably have been jealous of what Isaac
Nauta did in the waning minute of the
first half Saturday in the NFL stadium.
The junior and former Buford High
standout put together a personal highlight
reel against Florida on one series with
one catch after another after another
after another in a drive that began with
50 ticks on the clock in the first half.
“We were in two-minute mode so as
soon as I got up I was back to the line,”
Nauta said. “I just kept getting open and
moving the ball down the field. A lot of
credit to Jake (Fromm) and the O-line
for keeping him protected and him find
ing me. That was a big drive for us to get
some points.”
The Bulldogs got a 22-yard Rodrigo
Blankenship field goal to extend their
lead to 13-7 at the half in what became a
36-17 Georgia win.
The 6-foot-4,240-pound Nauta caught a
Fromm pass on the sideline for 27 yards
to start the drive.
Then came a 7-yard reception Nauta
caught again on the sideline.
Then a pass over the middle for 23
yards in which he again beat linebacker
Vosean Joseph.
“I got him to flip his hips on my route,”
Nauta said. “I knew he had his back
turned and I was hoping Jake was going
to throw it and sure enough he did.”
And another pass on the flat for nine
yards to get to the Florida 14 with 15 sec
onds left in the half.
“They were kind of playing some two
deep zone and kind of had that matchup
there on the linebacker,” Fromm said.
“Isaac’s obviously a really good football
player, a really good receiver. He was
winning that matchup. ”
When Nauta came to the sideline, he
got pats on the helmet.
“I don’t know if you guys saw it, but
Smart
I was jumping up and down,” wide
receiver Jeremiah Holloman. “It was
crazy. He just kept getting open. I was
loving it.”
Georgia had the ball
at the 5-yard line on
first down with six sec
onds left in the half.
Florida called timeout
and coach Kirby Smart
opted to go for a field
goal right then.
“We have a couple
of plays we feel like we
can get off in less than
six seconds to take a
look,” he said. “If you trust your quarter
back, you do it. We’ve watched a lot of
NFL tape but, at the end of the day we
decided to go in with the momentum and
kick the field goal.”
Nauta entered the game with 13
catches for 176 yards and a touchdown.
The junior who lived in Jacksonville
for part of his time growing up led the
Bulldogs Saturday with five catches for
73 yards.
“Keep feeding him, keep feeding
him,” Fromm said. “It really worked out
for us during that drive. ”
COLLEGE LOOTBALL
Bulldogs earn bump to No. 6 in Top 25
JOHN RA0UX I Associated Press
Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Jake Fromm delivers a throw against the Florida Gators on
Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla.
BY RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
Following a 36-17 win against Florida,
No. 6 Georgia jumped one spot in this
week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The Bulldogs previously dropped from
No. 2 to seventh overall after a 36-16 loss to
No. 4 LSU two weeks prior.
No. 22 Syracuse and No. 23 Virginia
broke long runs of being unranked and
were among a record seven teams to move
into The Associated Press college football
poll after a season-high 11 ranked teams
lost this weekend.
The top of the ranking was mostly
unchanged. No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 LSU and
No. 5 Michigan were idle and unchanged .
No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame won
easily.
The College Football Playoff selection
committee releases its first ranking of the
season on Tuesday.
The back end of the AP Top 25 was over
hauled after nine of the 11 teams ranked
Nos. 15-25 lost. Seven teams going from
unranked to ranked is the most since the
AP poll expanded to 25 in 1989. Eleven
ranked teams overall losing is the most
since the weekend of Nov. 26, 2016. And
eight ranked teams losing to unranked
teams is also a record for the Top 25 era.
Syracuse is ranked for the first time
since 2001 and Virginia is in for the first
time since 2011.
POLL POINTS
The Orange had the second-longest
streak of unranked seasons among Power
Five schools, behind only Indiana. The
Hoosiers have not been ranked since 1994.
The Cavaliers were tied for sixth on that list
with Illinois.
With those teams now ranked, here are
the current longest droughts in the AP Top
25:
INDIANA: 1994
PURDUE: 2007
WAKE FOREST: 2008
KANSAS: 2009
ILLINOIS: 2011
RUTGERS: 2012
The other teams making their season
debut in the Top 25 came from outside the
Power Five conferences:
■ No. 17 Houston is in for the first time
since 2016.
■ No. 18 Utah State is ranked for the
first time since the final 2016 poll, when the
Aggies finished 16th.
■ No. 20 Fresno State was ranked
briefly last season.
■ Re-entering the rankings were:
■ No. 21 Mississippi State , which has
been yo-yoing in and out of the bottom of
the Top 25 for much of the season.
■ No. 24 Boston College after beating
Miami on Friday night.
I Inside
I Complete AP Top 25 poll, 2B
OUT
Over the last 10 years, on average, a little
less than two teams that start the season
ranked in the AP top 10 finish the season
unranked. There are currently four pre
season top-10 teams out of the poll.
Washington and Wisconsin became the
latest. The Huskies were No. 15 last week
but lost to California 12-10. They started the
season No. 6. The Badgers, No. 4 in the pre
season poll, fell 31-17 at Northwestern.
Also on the outside of the rankings after
starting the season with lofty expectations
are Miami (preseason No. 8) and Auburn
■ Please see POLLS, 2B
