News and Notes from East Carolina, Conference USA and Beyond

PREVIOUS NUGGETS

12.30.06: Field goal lifts Cowboys past Crimson Tide ... Lynch leads Cal Bears past Texas A&M ... Wildcats face the music, finish on high note

12.29.06: C-USA champ Houston ready for Gamecocks ... Seminoles finish strong for winning season ... Duquesne basketball coach hospitalized

12.28.06: Ford, former gridder and President, succumbs ... MAC champs cruise to Motor City Bowl win ... Cremins fills a need with return to coaching

12.27.06: Hoops: Houston's Dowell named player of week ... Southern Miss announces pair of juco transfers ... Fundraiser for Buckeyes' families questioned

12.26.06: ECU women's soccer performs in classroom ... Warriors' offense rolls past ASU in Hawaii Bowl

12.25.06: Aborted flight grounds ECU fans ... Utes' get their kicks at Tulsa's expense ... Fumbles leave Lobos lamenting

12.24.06: Returnees yield No. 1 baseball ranking for Rice ... Owls wings clipped again at Superdome ... Air Force alum succeeds DeBerry

12.23.06: Nifong hangs on to unraveling Duke rape case ... BYU seniors realize their dream in Las Vegas ... Paulus wows homefolks, Coach K in Big Apple ... Appalachian State basking in a multi-sport roll

12.22.06: Former ECU assistant Brindise leaving coaching ... USF's Burnett apparently out for bowl ... ECU's Mills scores 24 in losing effort in Cancun

12.21.06: Cavanaugh joins Pirate baseball staff ... Lady Pirates lose opener in Cancun to Pitt ... Derek Dooley leaving Dolphins for La. Tech

12.20.06: ECU's Graham getting double exposure ... Stanford names Harbaugh as new coach ... Women's hoops contest called due to rain

12.19.06: ECU's Allison selected for Senior Bowl ... BC picks longtime ECU assistant Jagodzinski ... Television numbers up for college football

12.18.06: Former ECU aide Calloway takes helm at UAB ... Auburn suspends 3 from bowl game ... 17,000-plus watch Nebraska win volleyball title

12.17.06: Orange Bowl resets ECU-Wake hoops to Jan. 1 ... Spurrier's wife, Lawing commit infractions ... Rebs, Bulldogs shuffled on Memphis schedule

12.16.06: Appalachian State repeats as I-AA champ ... DeBerry announces retirement at Air Force ... Possible perp in Pata shooting held in Boston

12.15.06: Boone booming with football success ... All-America: Rice's Dillard and UTEP's Higgins ... Miami offensive coordinator moving to ASU

12.14.06: Grobe gets national recognition for coaching ... ECU soccer duo receives honors

12.13.06: Pirate baseball competes to get in shape ... Holy Toledo! Green Wave's search over ... Arizona State fills football coaching void

12.12.06: Garrard not complaining after Jags win ... Rutgers' Schiano named coach of year ... Wolfpack dominates Lady Pirates in Raleigh

12.11.06: Watson Brown heads home to Tennessee Tech ... Boston College names Spaziani interim coach ... Georgia Tech's Johnson wins Biletnikoff award

12.10.06: Junior Smith involved in Cox commitment ... WVU's Rodriguez says no to Bama's big bucks ... Boykin leaves Blue Devils hoops program

12.09.06: Garrard named AFC player of the week ... C-USA players of year: Kolb, Bunting, Higgins ,,, Miami elevates Shannon to head coach

12.08.06: Rivers tips off conclusion of coaching search ... Orioles' Roberts serving FCA baseball camps ... Hoops: Lady Pirates defeat UNC-Wilmington

12.07.06: Nine Pirates named to all-conference teams ... League honors four ECU freshman gridders ... Recruiting thumbnail: Rodney Cox ... ECU's Norris named to All-South 2nd team

12.06.06: UTEP's Higgins named AFCA All-American ... Memphis thumps Herd in C-USA hoops opener ... C-USA names top cross country performers

12.05.06: First-ever Gators- Buckeyes match-up a big one ... Boise State crashes BCS party in Fiesta ... Seminoles top Lady Pirates for tourney title

12.04.06: New recruiting thumbnail: Tyrell Worthington ... McFadden leads Independence into title game ... Bearcats bound for new bowl in Toronto

12.03.06: Paper: Hudson among Cincy coaching targets ... UAB ousted from NCAA volleyball by UCLA

12.02.06: Witter wins minor league baseball honor ... Millican in position in LPGA qualifying ... ECU announces challenging softball slate

12.01.06: C-USA announces football players of year ... Rice's Graham gets coach of year award ... ECU's Krug lands All-America honor

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

South Carolina and Houston put on a record-setting offensive show for the first 30 minutes of the Liberty Bowl. The Gamecocks provided the defense when it mattered most, according to a release on the Conference USA website.

Defensive end Jordin Lindsey came up with two turnovers for a defense that slowed down Houston in the second half, and South Carolina beat the Cougars 44-36 Friday for its first bowl victory under coach Steve Spurrier.

Blake Mitchell tied a bowl record by throwing four touchdown passes and Cory Boyd ran for a pair of TD's as the Gamecocks (8-5) finished Spurrier's second season with their best record since going 9-3 in 2001.

Kevin Kolb, making his 50th start at quarterback for Houston (10-4) and leading the nation's sixth-best offense, was 26-of-39 for 386 yards and three touchdowns.

Houston led 28-27 at the half — a Liberty Bowl record for points in a half — but South Carolina held the Cougars to 63 yards in the third quarter when the Gamecocks took control. They sacked Kolb three times, forced two turnovers and stopped the Cougars twice on fourth down in the fourth quarter.

Four Lady Pirates scored in double-figures to lead East Carolina to an 80-73 win over Long Island Friday evening at Minges Coliseum. The game marked not only the final game of the 2006 calendar year, but also the final non-conference game for the Lady Pirates.

With the win, the Lady Pirates improved to 5-8 on the season while LIU fell to 7-5, according to a release from the ECU athletic media relations department.

ECU's Amanda Mills led all scorers with 24 points, tying her season high. She also added seven rebounds and three assists.

Impris Manning tallied a career-high 14 points in her first start of the season for the Lady Pirates, while Jasmine Young recorded 14 points in her first game off the bench. LaCoya Terry also scored in double figures, finishing the game with 10 points.

The Lady Pirates return to action on Tuesday as they open the Conference USA portion of the schedule. ECU will host Marshall for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff from Minges Coliseum.

It was already midnight, but his smudged eye black and red uniform were still on. Maryland quarterback Sam Hollenbach gripped his Most Valuable Player trophy, and as he stood to leave the post-game news conference late last night, coach Ralph Friedgen looked him in the eye and said, "I'm glad you decided to stay," according to this excerpt from a Baltimore Sun report.

Playing in his first bowl game and last game for the Terps, Hollenbach capped a rocky career in which he came close to transferring with a nearly flawless performance in a 24-7 win against Purdue (8-6) in the Champs Sports Bowl.

It was Maryland's first appearance in a bowl game in three seasons, and the Terps (9-4) played perhaps their most complete game of the year before a record Champs Sports Bowl crowd of 40,168. Hollenbach redeemed himself for the five interceptions he threw in the final two losses of the regular season and completed 15 of 24 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns, including a 46-yard pass in the second quarter that put Maryland ahead 21-0.

"You have to have a good quarterback if you're going to have a winning team," Friedgen said. "At the start of this year, one of the reasons why I thought we had a chance to win the ACC and nobody else did was that we had a quarterback who had been through a whole season. The previous two years we hadn't had that."

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.