About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2018)
2B Wednesday, October 31,2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com SPORTS FRINGE ■ Continued from 1B everyday job,” Strange said. “It would be more fun and engaging if you won. In his case and mine, you put your heart and soul into this. The second-guessing bothers you a bit. You know deep down you did your very best. It’s a great honor, but it’s also a responsibility and somewhat of a negative if players don’t play well. But you know that going in. It’s all good.” Paul Azinger also returned at Las Vegas after his Ryder Cup captaincy in 2008 — his team won at Valhalla — and missed the cut. He played nine times the following year and made one cut, once in 2010 and that was the last time he played. “My competitive edge got blown out after that,” Azinger said. Hal Sutton played 10 times the year after his cap taincy at Oakland Hills in 2004 and missed the cut in all but three events. Tom Lehman was a rarity. He was No. 58 in the world when he was appointed captain and No. 38 in the world when the 2006 Ryder Cup ended. He withdrew from his first event back — a World Golf Championship in England — because Byron Nelson died and he wanted to be at the funeral. The follow ing year, Lehman ended a streak of 15 consecutive years inside the top 75 on the money list. Furyk doesn’t have any expectations for Las Vegas this week. History would suggest he shouldn’t have big expectations going for ward. Time isn’t on his side. Then again, Furyk has been bucking the odds since that unusual swing first showed up on the PGA Tour some 25 years ago. Las Vegas is where Furyk won for the first time in a career marked by a high level of consistency that eventually will take him into the Hall of Fame. He moved into the top 100 in the world in October 1995 and stayed there for 23 consecutive years, reach ing as high as No. 2 behind Tiger Woods. He qualified for the Tour Championship 13 out of 14 years, missing only when he had surgery on his wrist and missed five months in 2004. He has amassed $68.4 million, fourth on the career list. “Jim is still very rel evant,” Strange said. “He’s an interesting personality. I’ve said for a number of years, he’s arguably the most consistent player of his generation. He’s still got the game to come back and play. And that’s his peaceful existence.” NBA | Cavs 136, Hawks 114 Rookie Young scores 24 in loss Associated Press CLEVELAND - Rod ney Hood scored a season- high 26 points, Cedi Osman added 20 and Cleveland ended its six-game losing streak to start the season, beating the Atlanta Hawks 136-114 on Tuesday night in the Cava liers’ first game since coach Tyronn Lue was fired. The Cavs came in as the NBA’s only winless team, and Lue paid the price for club’s slow start. But with Larry Drew serv ing as Cleveland’s “acting” coach while he tries to get the team to restructure his contract, the Cavs played a complete game — Cleveland had seven players in double figures — and avoided their first 0-7 start since 1995-96. George Hill and rookie Collin Sexton scored 17 apiece, and Tristan Thomp son had 13 rebounds for Cleveland. Rookie Trae Young scored 24 and Alex Len 22 for the Hawks. Young scored a season-high 35 against the Cavs on Oct. 21, wrecking their home opener. The Cavs played their third straight game without for ward Kevin Love, who could miss several weeks with a painful left toe injury that has both ered him since the preseason opener. The five-time All- Star said doctors are still try ing to decide the best course of treatment, and to this point he has not been told he’ll need surgery. Until Love’s back, the Cavs will have to replace his 19 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. Someone needs to pick up the scoring slack, and Hood could be the guy. He struggled after com ing over to Cleveland at the trading deadline from Utah and never found his groove. But against the Hawks, he attacked the basket and Hawks vs. Kings When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday TV: Fox Sports Southeast knocked down all four 3-pointers. He came in 2 for 15 behind the arc. For the first time this season, Cleveland had a halftime lead and the Cavs never let up, scoring 41 in the third quarter and 78 after halftime. TIP-INS Hawks: F Taurean Prince fouled out with six min utes left. ... Atlanta made 15 3-pointers. The Hawks dropped a franchise-record 22 shots from deep on their previous visit. ...Young entered the game second among rookies in scoring average (18.3) and first in assists (7.0). Young became the eighth first-year player to record 35 points and have 11 assists when the teams met earlier.... Played back- to-back games for the first time this season. Young SCOREBOARD Football/high school The Top Ten teams in the Georgia Sports Writers Association High School Football Poll of the 2018 season with first-place votes in parentheses, total points and position last week at right: Class AAAAAAA Pts Prv 1. Colquitt County (13) 130 1 2. Parkview 108 3 3. Grayson 105 5 4. Hillgrove 81 4 5. North Gwinnett 78 6 6. Walton 60 2 7. Roswell 54 8 8. Archer 43 7 9. Lowndes 20 10 10.Milton 13 NR Others Receiving Votes: : Marietta i 10, McEachern 7, Westlake 4. Dropped Out: Marietta. Class AAAAAA Pts Prv 1. Lee County (13) 130 1 2. Creekview 114 2 3. Tucker 101 3 4. Harrison 75 7 5. Stephenson 67 8 6. Allatoona 59 9 7. Sequoyah 47 4 8. Douglas County 36 5 9. Valdosta 35 10 10.Coffee 28 NR Others receiving votes: Northside Warner Robins 19, Dacula 7, John’s Creek 3. Dropped out: Northside Warner Robins. Class AAAAA Pts Prv 1. Rome (13) 130 1 2. Buford 110 2 3. Warner Robins 99 3 4. Dutchtown 86 T4 5. Wayne County 85 T4 6. Stockbridge 67 6 7. Jones County 52 7 8. Southwest Dekalb 40 8 9. Ware County 26 9 10.Kell 15 10 Others receiving votes: Carrollton 7. Dropped Out: None. Class AAAA Pts Prv 1. Blessed Trinity (13) 130 1 2. Cartersville 109 2 3. Mary Persons 105 3 4. St. Pius X 89 4 5. Eastside 78 5 6. Troup County 65 6 7. Marist 50 7 8. Pickens 42 8 9. Flowery Branch 30 9 10.Ridgeland 7 10 Others receiving votes: Cairo 6, North Oconee 5, Burke County 2. Dropped Out: None. Class AAA Pts Prv 1. Calhoun (12) 129 1 2. Cedar Grove 114 2 3. Monroe Area 102 3 4. Peach County 87 4 5. Benedictine 75 5 6. Greater Atlanta Christian 69 6 7. Dawson County 41 7 8. Westminster 39 8 9. Pierce County 35 9 10. Jefferson 19 10 Others receiving votes: SE Bulloch 3, Pace Academy 3, Westside-Macon 3. Dropped Out: None. Class AA 1. Hapeville Charter Pts (8) 2. Rabun County (3) 105 3. Rockmart 101 4. Bremen 85 5. Callaway 65 6. Dublin 62 7. Brooks County 44 8. Dodge County 42 9. Heard County 39 10.Washington County 25 Prv 124 1 2 4 3 5 6 7 8 10 9 Others receiving votes: Union County 10, Douglass 6, Jefferson County 3, Swainsboro 3, Vidalia 1. Dropped Out: None. Class A Pts Prv 1. Eagle’s Landing Christian (9) 126 1 2. Irwin County (3) 117 2 3. Athens Academy 108 3 4. Prince Avenue Christian 84 4 5. Clinch County 83 5 6. Pelham 55 7 7. Mount Zion-Carroll 35 8 8. Fellowship Christian School 28 9 9. Calvary Day 19 10 10. Commerce 18 NR Soccer/MLS MLS Playoff Glance All Times EDT Knockout Round Eastern Conference Today’s Games Philadelphia at New York City FC, 7 p.m. Portland at FC Dallas, 9:30 p.m. Western Conference Thursday, Nov. 1 Columbus at D.C. United, 8 p.m. Real Salt Lake at Los Angeles FC, 10:30 p.m. Conference Semifinals Home-and-home First leg Eastern Conference Sunday, Nov. 4: New York at TBD Sunday, Nov. 4: Atlanta at TBD Western Conference Sunday, Nov. 4: Sporting Kansas City at TBD Sunday, Nov. 4: Seattle at TBD Second leg Eastern Conference Sunday, Nov. 11: TBD at New York Sunday, Nov. 11: TBD at Atlanta Western Conference Thursday, Nov. 8: TBD at Seattle Sunday, Nov. 11: TBD at Sporting Kansas City Others receiving votes: Savannah Christian 15, Mount Paran 6, Marion County 6, Greene County 6, Aquinas 5, Mitchell County 4, North Cobb Christian 1. Dropped Out: None. Participating Publications: The Covington News, Times-Georgian, Oconee Enterprise, Lake Oconee News, Dalton Citizen, 92.9FM The Game, Marietta Daily Journal, Gwinnett Daily Post, Savannah Morning News, The Athletic, Newnan Times-Herald, Augusta Chronicle, Walker Messenger. Football/college 2018 College Football Playoff Rankings Record 1. Alabama 8-0 2. Clemson 8-0 3. LSU 7-1 4. Notre Dame 8-0 5. Michigan 7-1 6. Georgia 7-1 7. Oklahoma 7-1 8. Washington St. 7-1 9. Kentucky 7-1 10. Ohio St. 7-1 11. Florida 6-2 12. UCF 7-0 13. West Virginia 6-1 14. Penn St. 6-2 15. Utah 6-2 16. Iowa 6-2 17. Texas 6-2 18. Mississippi St. 5-3 19. Syracuse 6-2 20. Texas A&M 5-3 21. NC State 5-2 22. Boston College 6-2 23. Fresno St. 7-1 24. Iowa St. 4-3 25. Virginia 6-2 The playoff semifinals match the No. 1 seed vs. the No. 4 seed, and No. 2 will face No. 3. The semifinals will be hosted at the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl on Dec. 29. The championship game will be played on Jan. 7, 2019 at Santa Clara, Calif. Transactions BASEBALL American League BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Selected the con tract of RHP Branden Kline from Bowie (EL). Reinstated OF Colby Rasmus from the restricted list. Signed OF J’Rudjeanon Isenia to a minor league contract. BOSTON RED SOX — Exercised their 2019 option on LHP Chris Sale. CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Reinstated RHP Miguel Gonzalez from the 60-day DL. CLEVELAND INDIANS — Exercised their 2019 option on RHP Carlos Carrasco. Reinstated OF Lonnie Chisenhall from the 60-day DL. Declined their 2019 contract option on OF Brandon Guyer. DETROIT TIGERS — Reinstated SS Jose Iglesias, RHP Michael Fulmer and 1B John Hicks and Miguel Cabrera from the 60-day DL. KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Declined mutual option with RHP Jason Hammel. LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Reinstated OF Chris Young and RHPs Blake Wood and Garrett Richards from the 60-day DL. MINNESOTA TWINS — Reinstated 1B Logan Morrison, LHP Adalberto Mejia, C Jason Castro and RHPs Ervin Santana and Michael Pineda from the 60-day DL. Declined their 2019 options on RHP Ervin Santana and 1B Logan Morrison. OAKLAND ATHLETICS — Reinstated RHPs Andrew Triggs, Daniel Gossett, Jharel Cotton and Paul Blackburn from the 60-day DL. SEATTLE MARINERS — Reinstated RHP David Phelps from the 60-day DL. Reassigned hitting coach Edgar Martinez to organizational hitting adviser. Declined OF Denard Span contract option for 2019. TEXAS RANGERS — Reinstated RHP Tony Barnette from the 60-day DL. National League ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Reinstated RHP Clay Buchholz from the 60-day DL. ATLANTA BRAVES — Reinstated RHPs Peter Moylan and Brandon McCarthy from the 60-day DL. LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Reinstated RHP Daniel Hudson from the 60-day DL. MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Selected the con tract of OF Tyrone Taylor from San Antonio (TL). Announced 3B Mike Moustakas and RHP Joakim Soria declined mutual contract options. NEW YORK METS — Reinstated RHP AJ Ramos from the 60-day DL. TODAY ON TV Basketball ■ Pacers vs. Knicks, 8 p.m., ESPN ■ Spurs vs. Suns, 10:30 p.m., ESPN Soccer ■ MLS Soccer Playoff: New York City FC vs. Philadelphia Union, 7 p.m., Fox Sports 1 Other ■ Women’s College Volleyball: Florida vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPNU ■ Women’s Volleyball: Texas A&M vs. Auburn, 8 p.m., SEC Network COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAVID GOLDMAN I Associated Press Charley Green buffs the college football championship trophy before a coaches news conference on Jan. 7 in Atlanta. Bama, Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame top first CFP rankings BY RALPH D. RUSSO Associated Press If you don’t like the first College Football Playoff selection committee rank ings, don’t worry. Satur day’s slate of huge games guarantees major changes are coming next week. Alabama, Clemson, LSU and Notre Dame were the top four teams in the ini tial CFP rankings Tuesday night. After meeting for a day and a half at a hotel out side Dallas, the 13-mem- ber selection committee released the first of its five weekly top 25s before the four-team field is set for the semifinals on Dec. 2. Michigan was fifth, fol lowed by Georgia and Okla homa. Washington State was eighth, the highest- ranked Pac-12 team. Ken tucky was ninth. Of course, the final rank ings are the only ones that matter, but the playoff picture will be reshaped this weekend. Four games matching top-20 teams are on tap Saturday, including Alabama at LSU and Geor gia at Kentucky. West Virginia, 13th in the CFP, is at Texas, which is 17th. Michigan hosts Penn State, which came in at 14. The first top four teams were no surprise. The same teams are Nos. 1-4 in the latest Associated Press poll, except with Notre Dame third and LSU fourth. Oregon athletic direc tor Rob Mullens, who is in his first season as commit tee chairman, said LSU’s FBS-leading six victories against teams with winning records gave the Tigers the edge over undefeated Notre Dame. The Irish play at Northwestern (5-3) on Saturday. UCF was the highest ranked team from outside the Power Five confer ences at 12th. The highest ranked team from the so- called Group of Five con ferences at the end of the regular season is guar anteed a spot in the New Year’s Six bowls. The Knights, riding a 20-game winning streak, earned that spot last year, beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl and proclaimed themselves national champions. UCF has yet to beat a team that currently has a winning record. The strength of schedule held the Knights back, Mullens said. “But you balance that against what you see when you watch the games,” he added. Last season, UCF started 18th and rose to 12th by the final rankings. HISTORY LESSON If form holds, two of the top four teams in the first CFP ranking of the season will go on to play in the national semifinals. Coaches began down playing the significance of the rankings even before they were revealed on national television. “I didn’t even know that was tonight. I didn’t realize that was going on,” Geor gia coach Kirby Smart told reporters. “But I should have talked to my team about that. I didn’t bring it up to them. So who knows what they’ll be thinking tonight.” Ranking teams is a time- honored tradition in col lege football, going back to first Associated Press poll in 1936. But what, if any thing, can be learned from the first four years of CFP rankings? Of the 16 teams the com mittee ranked in the top four of its initial rankings from 2014-17, half made the playoff. No team ranked third in the first CFP rank ings has ever made the playoff. The very first committee rankings, in 2014, had just one eventual playoff team. They included three teams from the Southeastern Con ference (though not the one that eventually made the playoff) along with Florida State. That year, the commit tee first showed its willing ness to rank a team that had lost a game ahead of an unbeaten team, like it did Tuesday with LSU and Notre Dame. In 2014, unbeaten defend ing champion Florida State dropped to No. 3 behind once-beaten Oregon in the committee’s third rankings. It seemed to send a signal the committee would be different from traditional polls that tended to honor win-loss record above all. The second-to-last rankings had Florida State at fourth, behind three teams that had already lost. The Semi- noles went into the Rose Bowl semifinal as the No. 3 seed and lost to Oregon. Among the eight teams over the past four seasons that were part of the initial committee top four but did not make the playoff, only one was unranked on selec tion Sunday. Texas A&M in 2016 was somewhat of a surprising No. 4, and then proceeded to lose three of its final four games. RODRIGO ■ Continued from 1B “Being able to see impor tant things, like the play clock on a field goal or a kickoff, I need my specs to be able to see that,” said Blankenship, who is near sighted. “To see the uprights from 50 yards away, that’s helpful to be able to have a really nice, sharp image. I don’t think they hold me back in any other way. They just help me see as clearly as I can and be the best kicker I can be.” Smart doesn’t mind how Blankenship looks, as long as he keeps kicking like he has over the past three seasons. “I know one thing, he sees that ball on the ground, and he gets his toe on the leather real well,” the coach said. “So they must work for him.” On Saturday, Blanken ship returns to Lexington, Kentucky — the spot where the legend of “Hot Rod” really all began — as the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1) take on No. 11 Kentucky (7-1, 5-1). The stakes couldn’t be any higher: the winner earns a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game. Two seasons ago, Blan kenship was a largely obscure walk-on who didn’t even claim the starting job until the fourth game of the season, after then- No. 1 kicker William Ham missed four of his first seven field-goal attempts. Then, against Kentucky, Blankenship connected on the first game-winning kick of his career. It wasn’t really that dramatic — the chip-shot from 25 yards was little more than an extra point, and neither team did anything special that sea son — but it was the post game interview that propelled his popularity. Blankenship left both his helmets and his glasses on as he faced the camera, which immediately blew up into compari sons to Andy Sam- berg in the movie “Hot Rod” (the kicker also had a mustache at the time) and the bespectacled Char lie “Wild Thing” Sheen in “Major League.” A social media hashtag, #respectthespecs, became Blankenship’s calling card. He did nothing to dissuade the image of the quirky placekicker, also going with pink cleats as his preferred footwear (though he’s since added some silver to his collection). He even got a shout-out from Jimmy Kimmel. “He did a great job in that game two years ago, and I think that certainly gave him the confidence, gave us the confidence in him that he was a pressure player and enjoyed the moment,” Smart said. Blankenship propelled himself to even greater heights in 2017, converting 20 of 23 field goals and all 63 of his extra points, as well as finally earning a scholar ship. He was at his best on the biggest stages, setting a Rose Bowl record with a 55-yarder in the national semifinal victory over Oklahoma, and putting himself in position to be the hero of the national championship game when he knocked one through from 51 yards in overtime against Alabama. Of course, the Crim son Tide threw a winning touchdown pass on second- and-26 to ruin the ending to Blankenship’s storybook season. But he’s picked right up where he left off, hitting 14 of 18 field goals and remaining perfect on extra points (he’s now made 125 in a row over his career). “He’s automatic,” said defensive back Tyrique McGhee. “I’d be surprised if he ever missed one the rest of his life. The guy’s clutch.” Blankenship still remem bers that last trip to Lex ington as the game where he really took a giant leap forward as a kicker, even though it wasn’t a very dif ficult kick. “It was a special moment to go out and do that for that team,” he said. Blankenship could play another big role in Sat urday’s game. The Wild cats have allowed only 13 points a game, fewest in the nation, and no team has scored more than 20 against their stingy defense. If that trend continues, it very well could come down to a kick in the clos ing seconds. Blankenship will be ready. Complete with all his accessories. Smart
