Friday News and Notes

Friday, October 13, 2006

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CFB

Pittsburgh-Central

Post Gazette

Pitt’s homecoming is next weekend, but for about a fifth of the Panthers, it will arrive a week early. That’s because the Panthers (5-1) play Central Florida (2-3) tomorrow night at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. And for the 21 players on Pitt’s roster from the Sunshine State, the game is one of two opportunities in the span of 23 days to play in front of their friends and family. Pitt will play at South Florida Nov. 4 in Tampa.

Pitt is 5-1 this season for a lot of reasons, and one that should not be overlooked is this—the Panthers are very good at stopping the run. That might be surprising because the Panthers haven’t been very good at that task for the better part of the past four seasons.

But Pitt’s opponents are averaging only 115.2 yards per game on the ground this season and 3.5 yards per carry through the first six games. The Panthers have held four teams to less than 100 yards rushing and have allowed a team to rush for more than 200 yards only once. By contrast, last season the Panthers held only one team—Ohio—to less than 100 yards rushing in 11 games and had four teams rush for more than 200 yards against them. And teams averaged 185.2 yards rushing and 4.3 yards per carry.

MLB

·        Detroit under 22-7 to an AL starting pitcher whose WHIP is 1.300 or better