News and Notes from East Carolina, Conference USA and Beyond

PREVIOUS NUGGETS

11.28.06: ECU's Roach on
C-USA academic team ... Wager on Clemson-South Carolina turns deadly ... Shula era comes to end at Alabama

11.27.06: C-USA title game features UH-USM rematch ... Bunting farewell to press a succinct one ... ECU announces swimming, diving signees

11.26.06: Pirates add Lugo to 2008 baseball class ... VCU prevails over ECU in women's hoops ... Tulsa gains momentum for postseason trip

11.25.06: ECU-bound Herlocker paces Charlotte Catholic ... Miami enters search mode for football coach ... BC out of ACC title contention

11.24.06: Herd takes ECU hopes to Hattiesburg ... Gonzaga has a Garden party in NIT semis ... Iowa State search eliminates two candidates

11.23.06: Yow taking leave of absence for treatment ... Marshall's Bradshaw nabs
C-USA weekly honor

11.22.06: Pirates face Houston if Marshall wins ... Former teammates push Raye for MSU coach ... SMU's Wideman named academic player of year

11.21.06: Duke, Wake athletes named Rhodes scholars ... UAB captures Conference USA volleyball ... Old Dominion stuns Georgetown on the road

11.20.06: Ohio State-Michigan rematch possible ... Video helps inspire Tar Heels to beat State ... Cords stepping down as AD at Marquette

11.19.06: Cougars to host USM or ECU in C-USA title game ... ECU falls in women's hoops to Vermont ... Pirate swimming teams in seventh place

11.18.06: ECU baseball bringing in 10-man class ... UTEP edges Pirates in C-USA volleyball ... West Virginia steamrolls Pitt

11.17.06: Pirates reschedule hoops contest with NCCU ... ECU volleyball places 3 on all- league team ... Top-ranked SMU goes down in NCAA soccer

11.16.06: Paterno's hall of fame induction postponed ... Tressel downplays his dominance vs. Michigan ... ECU softball announces pair of signees

11.15.06: Pirates control their fate in East Division ... Pinkney in star game, playing for Buddy Ryan ... ECU's Lee named special teams player of week

11.14.06: ECU-NCSU kickoff moved to 7 p.m. for TV ... Butch will succeed Bunting at UNC- Chapel Hill ... Conference USA coaches make debuts ... Pirates seeded sixth in C-USA volleyball ... Lady Pirates drop hoops opener to JMU

11.13.06: Houston clinches
C-USA championship berth ... ECU volleyball slips in regular season finale ... Grad rates: Athletes outperform student body

11.12.06: ECU announces women's hoops signees ... Miners extinguish Blazers' bowl hopes ... Mustang duo in contention for Hermann Trophy

11.11.06: Rutgers kicks Cards out of title picture ... Roach selected for district academic honor ... Krug getting it done on court, in classroom

11.10.06: Pirates prepare for Saturday hoops opener ... Houston's Kolb makes cut on O'Brien award list ... UNC-CH officials mum on Davis' status

11.09.06: Former star QB to represent N.C. in Congress ... Homicide unit probing death of Miami player ... Krog's 73 puts her in top five at Augusta

11.08.06: UK's win over Payne's charges not flawless ... SMU, UAB gain NCAA men's soccer berths ... Three C-USA women's teams get NCAA slots

11.07.06: Two Marshall players get C-USA honors ... UAB women capture C-USA soccer title ... Punter faces attempted murder charge

11.06.06: Pirate volleyball takes down Memphis ... Denny O'Brien's Harris Poll ballot ... ECU swimmers, divers perform well ... Paterno recovering from fractured leg

11.05.06: Promotions aplenty for ECU-Marshall game ...
Ex-Tulsa great Largent gets humanitarian honor

11.04.06: Dougherty a semifinalist for Ray Guy Award ... Butch Davis deal with Tar Heels imminent? ... Cardinals talking national title, again ... Honors abound for ECU women's soccer team

11.03.06: Boise State rolls past Bulldogs ... Reale, Pirates earn seconds at Kitty Hawk ... ECU softball's Kozlowski promoted

11.02.06: Mustangs a win away from bowl eligibility ... Hunt, Icenhower lead East Carolina divers ... ECU's Moore earns academic honor with 4.0

11.01.06: Kragthorpe curtails Tar Heel speculation ... Pirates in C-USA women's soccer tourney ... Backup QB Lee to start for FSU against Cavs

10.31.06: Kickoff return nets
C-USA honor for Johnson ... Pirate volleyball streaks to school record ... Mountaineers on fringe of national title picture

10.30.06: ECU's Williams: 'I just wanted it more' ... Stokes plans to give Wynn time to develop ... Central Florida's 530 yards of offense not enough

10.29.06: ECU women's volleyball extends streak ... Pirate swimmers leave Towson behind ... UTEP takes muddy victory in Grimesland

10.28.06: Cougars quarterback piling up the numbers ... ECU vs. USM part of pay-per-view twinbill ... Hokies tame Tigers in key ACC battle

10.27.06: Rice's Almond named Wooden candidate ... Pirates hosting C-USA cross country ... ECU freshman Bools shares C-USA honor

10.26.06: Tickets for Troops promotion expands ... Another C-USA honor for ECU's Icenhower ... Report: Davis would have interest in Heels

10.25.06: Ex-Pirate Adams attempts PGA qualifying ...
C-USA names football players of week ... Tar Heels will retain many football recruits

10.24.06: New thumbnails: Baker, Byrd and Thompson ... Ore golden in Hokies' win over Southern Miss ... Unbeaten start for ECU swim teams ... Tar Heels picked first in ACC hoops

10.23.06: Jenkins' three lifts Gold in scrimmage ... ECU volleyball takes sixth straight C-USA win ... Bools finishes sixth in Lady Pirate golf

10.22.06: Pirates volleyball on record streak ... Mountaineers handle Huskies, stay unbeaten ... Georgia golfer gets call to play in South Africa

10.21.06: Report: UNC-Chapel Hill's Bunting to resign ... Coaches' challenges yield few reversals ... Southern Miss prepared for Hokies

10.20.06: ECU's Roach nominated for Draddy Award ... Memphis picked first in C-USA basketball ... 4th-ranked UTEP runners coming to Greenville

Compiled from staff and electronic reports
©Bonesville.net. All rights reserved.

Conference USA and its bowl partners have reached agreement on the league's postseason lineup for the 2006-07 bowl season.

The conference produced five schools with seven or more victories and those teams will fill the conference's agreements with the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, PapaJohns.com Bowl and the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

East Carolina (7-5) will return to postseason action for the first time since 2001 when it plays in the inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham on Dec. 23 at 1 p.m. ECU will face an opponent from the Big East Conference at historic Legion Field. Second-year head coach Skip Holtz has led a dramatic turnaround in Greenville and the Pirates are back in postseason play thanks in part to an improved defense, along with a productive pitch-and-catch combo in senior quarterback James Pinkney and senior wide receiver Aundrae Allison.

"ESPN is pleased to announce that East Carolina University has accepted our invitation to represent Conference USA in the inaugural Papajohns.com Bowl," said Mark Meadows, Executive Director of the Papajohns.com Bowl. "We look forward to welcoming the Pirates football team and its supporters to Birmingham."

For its 48th annual game, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl will select the winner of Friday night's Conference USA Championship Game between Houston and Southern Miss. This year's AutoZone Liberty Bowl is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Memphis with the C-USA champion facing an opponent from the Southeastern Conference.

The GMAC Bowl will take the runner-up of Friday night's game for its eighth annual contest. This year's GMAC Bowl will be played on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. in Mobile. The C-USA representative will face an opponent from the Mid-American Conference.

Tulsa (8-4) will play in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 23 in Fort Worth, TX. The Golden Hurricane will face Mountain West Conference representative Utah (7-5) in the fourth annual game that was formerly known as the Fort Worth Bowl.

Under first-year head coach Todd Graham, Rice (7-5) is tied with SEC West Champion Arkansas as the most improved team in Division I-A. The Owls will make their first bowl appearance since the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. CST. Rice will face the champion of the Sun Belt Conference — either Troy or Middle Tennessee — in the game and will carry a six-game winning streak into the bowl.

The AutoZone Liberty Bowl, GMAC Bowl and Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl will be televised by ESPN, while the PapaJohns.com Bowl and R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl will air on ESPN 2.

Southern Methodist senior defender Jay Needham is one of the three finalists for the men's Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, the highest individual honor in intercollegiate soccer, as announced by the organization on Monday.

The finalists were determined in voting of Division I men's soccer coaches who are members of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

SMU had a Hermann Trophy winner in Luchi Gonzalez who claimed college soccer's top award in 2001.

In addition to Needham, Boston College's Charlie Davies and Notre Dame's Joseph Lapira are the other two finalists for the award. The trio will be invited to the Busch Center on the campus of Saint Louis University on Saturday, Dec. 2, for a news conference where the winner of the award will be revealed.

Mark Dantonio, who has coached Cincinnati for the past three seasons and was a former assistant coach at Michigan State for six years, has been named Michigan State's 24th head football coach.

The 50-year old Dantonio established himself as one of the nation's up-and-coming coaches during his three-year tenure at Cincinnati. This season, Dantonio led the Bearcats to a 7-5 overall record and a 4-3 Big East mark, making Cincinnati bowl eligible for the second time in three years. Dantonio accomplished the feat against the second-toughest schedule in the country, as UC's opponents compiled a 69-42 record.

The Bearcats upset then-No. 7 Rutgers, 30-11, on Nov. 18, handing the Scarlet Knights their first loss of the season and marking the highest-ranked opponent ever defeated by UC.

Highly respected as one of the top defensive coaches in the country, Dantonio's Bearcats rank 21st nationally in tackles for loss, 23rd in pass efficiency defense, 27th in rushing defense and 36th in total defense in the latest NCAA statistics.

Cincinnati was 18-17 during his three years with the Bearcats, which included the program's transition from Conference USA to the Big East.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from electronic services and other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.