VIEW THE MOBILE ALPHA VERSION OF THIS SITE

News Nuggets, 10.04.03
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

Previous Day Nuggets...             Next Day Nuggets...

Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Jersey of Pirate-killer Bruce to be retired by Tigers

The University of Memphis will officially retire the number 83 football jersey of former Tiger great and current St. Louis Rams' All-Pro receiver Isaac Bruce in a ceremony to be held during halftime of today's homecoming football game with UAB.

"It is indeed a pleasure for our staff to be able to honor Isaac Bruce by retiring his jersey," said Memphis head coach Tommy West. "He has had such an incredible career both as a collegiate player and in the NFL but has never forgotten that he is a Memphis Tiger.

"Throughout his professional life, Isaac has continued to promote the University of Memphis, not only as an athlete, but as a student as well. I can tell you that we are very proud of him at the University of Memphis. He exemplifies the term "student-athlete."

Bruce, who came to the Tigers as a junior college transfer, played for the U of M in 1992 and 1993.

East Carolina fans will remember Bruce from those two seasons with a combination of admiration and pain. The athletic and physical wideout virtually caught passes at will as the Tigers romped past the Pirates 42-7 in 1992 and 34-7 the following year.

Bruce caught 39 passes for 532 yards and five touchdowns in his first season as a Tiger, averaging 13.9 yards per reception.

As a senior, the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., native caught 74 balls for a school record 1,054 yards and 10 touchdowns. His 74 pass receptions still stands as a single season record and he is the only player in Memphis football history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards in a season.

He was taken in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams and has remained with the Rams organization for the past ten-years.

Last week, Bruce, already the Rams record holder for career receptions and for career touchdown receptions, became the team's all-time leader in receiving yards when he caught a 30-yard pass in the second quarter and moved past former Ram receiver Henry Ellard with 9,768 yards.

Bruce also holds the Rams' career record for touchdown receptions with 64 and for career receptions with 642.

Son of Buckeye legend will judge Clarett case

COLUMBUS — The son of former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes will remain as the judge in a case accusing suspended Buckeyes running back Maurice Clarett of lying to police about items stolen from a car.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David W. Fais denied the affidavit of disqualification on Thursday, saying the motion by Clarett's attorneys was "without merit."

Franklin County Municipal Judge Steven B. Hayes had said he should be allowed to hear the misdemeanor case.

"I know of no reason, and can think of no reason, why I couldn't be a fair and impartial jurist in this case," Hayes said in a letter to Fais on Tuesday.

Clarett's lawyers filed their request for Hayes' removal on Sept. 24. Cases are assigned to judges at random.

Messages requesting comment were left Thursday night for Clarett lawyers Percy Squire and Scott Schiff.

Friday's pretrial hearing in the case has been postponed and rescheduled for Oct. 20, the city attorney's office said Thursday.

Clarett has pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor falsification charge, which has a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

He is charged with filing an exaggerated theft report with campus police in April after a dealership's car he was borrowing was broken into. The police report said cash and stereo equipment worth thousands of dollars was taken.

The report was among factors that led to investigations by the NCAA and Ohio State. The university suspended Clarett for the season for accepting money from a family friend and for lying about it to investigators.

Clarett set Ohio State freshman records with 1,237 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns last season as the Buckeyes won the national championship for the first time in 34 years.

While Woody Hayes was Ohio State's coach from 1951 to 1978, the Buckeyes won two Associated Press national titles, 13 Big Ten Conference crowns and 205 games.

Another ranked BCS team falls to 'outsider'

SALT LAKE CITY — Alex Smith is looking comfortable as Utah's starting quarterback.

Making just his third start, Smith passed for a career-best 340 yards and two touchdowns as Utah beat a ranked opponent for the first time in four years by upsetting No. 19 Oregon 17-13 Friday night.

The Ducks became yet another in a string of high-profile members of Bowl Championship Series leagues to bite the dust at the hands of a team from a non-BCS conference.

Oregon belongs to the PAC-10, which sends its champion to one of the lucrative BCS bowls. Utah is a member of the Mountain West Conference, which pits its regular season title winner against the Conference USA champion in the Liberty Bowl.

"This is what you play for - the crowd, the fans, Oregon. It was unbelievable," said Smith, who completed 25 of 38 passes for the Utes (4-1).

Utah coach Urban Meyer had promised to open up Utah's offense after running conservative game plans in Smith's first two starts for Brett Elliott, who broke his wrist in a loss to Texas A&M on Sept. 6.

With a combination of counters, shuffle passes and more down field attempts than Smith had thrown in his first two starts, Utah had 466 yards of offense - the Utes' highest total since gaining 415 in the A&M game.

"I was scared of their speed, but how about Utah's speed?" Meyer said. "You saw glimpses of the real spread offense."

The Utes, who beat California 31-24 in the second game of the season, is 2-0 against Pac-10 teams.

Oregon (4-2) lost its second straight after beating then No. 3 Michigan.

"It's pretty frustrating. You win a game like Michigan, you feel on top of the world," Oregon center Dan Weaver said. "This feels like your legs have been cut off. This was a tough loss."

Oregon, which had nine turnovers last week in a 55-16 loss to Washington State, had just two on Friday but the Ducks were shut out in the second half. Oregon had a final chance after stopping Utah on a fourth-and-goal from inside the 1 with 31.3 seconds left, but didn't have enough time to move the ball the length of the field. The game ended on an 18-yard completion from Kellen Clemens to Demetrius Williams at the Oregon 34.

The Utes lingered for several minutes as the crowd of 44,676 continued to cheer. It was Utah's first win over a ranked opponent since beating Brigham Young - also ranked 19th - 20-17 in 1999.

"This could be the start of something big for us. We're really rolling now," said freshman receiver Steve Savoy, who had a career night with six catches for 176 yards and his first career touchdown.

Paris Warren, who transferred from Oregon after the 2001 season, had 10 catches for 54 yards and ran five times for 32 yards against his former team.

Smith's previous best was a 17-of-22 for 158 yards performance last week in a 28-21 win over Colorado State.

The Ducks shut down the Utes for most of the third quarter and pinned them on their 7-yard line with a punt late in the quarter, but Utah marched down the field for its first lead.

"I knew their offense would be problematic for us," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "They made the big plays. Utah is a quality team."

Clemens was 12-of-24 for 246 yards, but the Ducks had just 33 rushing yards on 32 carries. Utah had five sacks, including one that caused Jason Fife to fumble as the Ducks were trying to rally in the fourth quarter.

"It makes it tough when you can't run the ball," Bellotti said.

On the winning drive, Smith converted on a third down with a 7-yard pass to Warren, then hit Savoy on a 50-yard pass play that set up Utah at the Oregon 25. On third-and-7 from the 9, Smith hit Ben Moa on a slant for a touchdown that gave Utah its first lead with 13:07 left to play.

The Ducks had taken an early lead, catching the Utes by surprise with a fake punt from their own 48 early in the second quarter, then on first down Clemens hit Samie Parker in stride through double coverage at the Utah 2. Clemens took it in two plays later for a 10-3 lead.

Oregon scored again quickly after Steven Moore stripped the ball from Utah receiver Travis LaTendresse and the Ducks recovered at the 30, setting up Jared Siegel's 40-yard field goal to make it 13-3 with 11:13 left in the half.

Utah answered with a 69-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Savoy, who had a step on Moore and outran him down the right sideline to cut the lead to 13-10.

Utah was inside the Oregon 20 three times in the first half, but got just one field goal and two missed attempts out of the drives.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007