LSC Roundup 9-4

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Russell: NCAA could've been harsher on Abilene Christian
The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, has upheld the penalties it imposed on the Abilene Christian football team for using a pair of ineligible players for the 2007-2008 school year. The main part ACU appealed was to keep the players’ statistics for the 2007 season — running back Bernard Scott and wide receiver Johnny Knox — and to keep from vacating the 10 wins it put up that season.

So the Wildcats will now have an 0-3 record for 2007, their first NCAA Division II playoff win will now be the 93-68 win over West Texas A&M last year and coach Chris Thomsen’s record is now 24-13.

ACU president Dr. Royce Money said it was “overkill” to obliterate the entire season.

Athletic director Jared Mosley and Thomsen both claimed the errors by the coaches — letting the players use athletic department computers and sending in the players’ work for the courses they needed to become eligible — were procedural and were not done to create a “competitive advantage.”

Now I know my degree from Abilene Christian is only in mass communication, but don’t try and tell me that adding two players who would eventually be drafted by the NFL doesn’t give you an advantage.

Just Act Natural: Williams Loving Return To Original Position
KINGSVILLE - Following their 28-17 win over previously third-ranked Delta State, national attention turned to the Javelina football team, especially on quarterback Billy Garza and the Javs very stingy defense.

This past Saturday was undoubtedly a coming out part for Javs running back Joe Williams. He only rushed for 58 yards, but he scored three times. Those marked his first touchdowns in his college career.

"I was very happy after the first one. I was like, 'wow, I finally scored a touchdown', and from there I was more confident and I just kept going with it," Williams said.

That output comes after a long four years. He red-shirted as a freshman and was moved around the next two years, then injured his meniscus in 2008.

"I'm happy because it is finally my time, but it all falls back to the team," Williams said.

NSU anxious to bounce back from season-opening loss
The Northeastern State football team will look to bounce back from a season-opening loss to Arkansas Tech on Saturday night when they host Tarleton State at Gable Field.

“Just looking at the schedule, we’re going to play two of the best teams on the schedule in the first two games,” said RiverHawks coach Kenny Evans.

The Texans are a perennial powerhouse in the Lone Star Conference and are coming off an 8-3 season in 2008 and more recently, a 45-16 win over Arkansas-Monticello in their season opener.

Unlikely connection clicks for UIW
Incarnate Word quarterback Thomas Specia and wide receiver Derrick Walls have their Reagan ties in common. And, apparently, little else.
There's that whole generational gap and all.

“He's really old,” Walls, 18, said of the 22-year-old Specia.

New transfer rule leading to more talent in D-II
ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- This is not how Matt Ah You's final season of college was supposed to play out - against Division II talent on a browning, wind-swept practice field pocked with dusty divots.

This is a Division I linebacker, someone with the chops to play in 13 games and record 50 tackles last season as a part-time starter at Brigham Young, the school where his father played and his brother began his career.

But a disagreement with his position coach over playing time and a new NCAA rule landed Ah You in this most unlikely of outposts finding himself preparing for the likes of Minnesota-Duluth and Dixie State instead of Oklahoma and Florida State.

"They don't care where you came from as long as you can play," Ah You said on a recent 98 degree afternoon. "They don't care you came from a (Division I) school, they only care if you can play football."

Ah You is one of the college football players affected by a little-known NCAA rule implemented in 2006 but only now starting to alter the college landscape. The rule prohibits seniors-to-be in Football Bowl Subdivision programs (formerly Division I-A) from transferring to a Football Championship Subdivision program (formerly Division I-AA) and being able to play immediately.

ACU Opens Home Slate as host of weekend volleyball tourney
After going 1-3 at a season-opening tournament in Omaha, Neb., the Abilene Christian University volleyball team hopes to get on track at home. The Wildcats are host to seven teams in the ACU Volleyball Classic, which starts today at Moody Coliseum.

The tournament concludes Saturday.

“This weekend is going to be good for us,” ACU coach Kellen Mock said. “We’ve got some good competition. Everybody in this tournament is in our region, so each of those matches are extremely important for us.”

ASU volleyball capsule, 9/4
MSU Hampton Inn-vitational highlights busy weekend
Ricky Treon: WT coach demands a lot

Walk-on Landon excels after focusing on life on the pitch
It’s not quite a “Cinderella Story,” but the journey that started as a walk-on to becoming a starter on a championship-caliber college team is a long and hard one.

But that’s just how Midwestern State senior defender Jake Landon ended up where he is today.

ASU soccer capsule, 9/4
WT Soccer

Cole takes top honors at MSU Mustangs Stampede