Sports category, Page 102
Pitt football notebook: Pat Narduzzi gauges depth at TE, QB, while K Trey Butkowski gains confidenceVideo
As the Pitt readies for the 108th Backyard Brawl on Saturday in Morgantown, coach Pat Narduzzi has learned more about the depth of his tight end room, kicker Trey Butkowski’s potential and his future at quarterback. Next man up at TE Starting tight end Jake Overman was absent last weekend...
Tim Benz: Let Aaron Rodgers write the Steelers’ future. He can’t erase the past
Aaron Rodgers was excellent in his debut as the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. He was 22 of 30 (73%) for 244 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 136.7 en route to a 34-32 victory over the New York Jets. That statement and...
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings come alive to rally past Bears
CHICAGO — J.J. McCarthy threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and ran for another in his long-awaited NFL debut, and the Minnesota Vikings rallied for a season-opening 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears on Monday night. Chicago’s Caleb Williams had his first career rushing touchdown and threw for a score in...
49ers’ George Kittle out with hamstring; Brock Purdy uncertain
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle will miss at least a few weeks with a hamstring injury, and quarterback Brock Purdy’s status for this week is in question after he hurt his left shoulder and toe in the season opener. Coach Kyle Shanahan said...
UCLA suspends QB Pierce Clarkson after arrest on felony charge
LOS ANGELES — UCLA backup quarterback Pierce Clarkson has been indefinitely suspended from the team after being arrested and booked on an unspecified felony charge. Clark was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday and was not in Las Vegas for the Bruins’ loss to UNLV on Saturday....
New QB Sam Darnold and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak have slow starts for Seahawks
SEATTLE — The Seahawks got off to a slow start with their new quarterback and offensive coordinator. With Sam Darnold under center and Klint Kubiak calling plays, Seattle mustered just 230 yards and converted 3 of 10 third downs in Sunday’s season-opening 17-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. “We’ve...
Missed opportunities and errors leave Browns in a familiar spot after Week 1 loss to Bengals
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns accomplished most of what they wanted against the Cincinnati Bengals. And yet, it still didn’t add up to a win. The offense was methodical and controlled the clock, and the defense limited Joe Burrow to the third-fewest yards of his career. However, a pair of...
Zac Taylor, Bengals happy to start 1-0, even if it was ugly
Zac Taylor and the Cincinnati Bengals not only got a much-needed victory in an opener, they got it by winning ugly and a couple of breaks going their way. Cincinnati’s 17-16 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday was a far cry from last season when the Bengals lost four...
West Virginia loses RB Jahiem White and WR Jaden Bray to season-ending injuries
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia running back Jahiem White and wide receiver Jaden Bray will miss the rest of the season with injuries, coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday. Rodriguez announced on his weekly radio show that White will undergo surgery later this week, and Bray will require surgery at some...
Texas’ Sarkisian dismisses question about QB Arch Manning possibly having throwing issues
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian rebuffed a question about Arch Manning’s physical well-being after videos posted on social media on the weekend sparked speculation the quarterback might have throwing issues. On the television broadcast during the No. 7 Longhorns’ 38-7 win over San Jose State on Saturday, Manning appeared to grimace...
Ravens’ late-game collapse against Bills raises more questions about their ability to finish
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens went back to the site of their most recent playoff agony and, again, showed why their seasons keep ending that way. Lamar Jackson flirted with a perfect passer rating, and Derrick Henry ran for 169 yards and two touchdowns but the Ravens are...
John Harbaugh defends Lamar Jackson in fan altercation
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — John Harbaugh made it clear whose side he’s on following Lamar Jackson’s run-in with a fan in Baltimore’s season opener at Buffalo. After Jackson threw a touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins in the third quarter of Baltimore’s 41-40 loss to the Bills on Sunday night, several...
Russell Wilson will remain the Giants’ starting QB going into Week 2Video
Russell Wilson will start at quarterback for the New York Giants in their second game of the season Sunday at Dallas, coach Brian Daboll said, keeping the veteran in the role after a lackluster performance in the opener rather than turning to rookie Jaxson Dart. Daboll made the announcement of...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Bubba Chandler’s rough start had more to do with Brew Crew
Bubba Chandler’s disastrous starting debut Sunday was deflating, given that the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right-hander was billed as baseball’s best pitching prospect. He gave up four runs before he recorded his first out and lasted only 22⁄3 innings in the 10-2 loss. Moving forward, Pirates manager Don Kelly said Chandler...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Seton Hill, Saint Vincent rookie football coaches notch victories
Kevin May has been around wins at Seton Hill before having served as the football team’s defensive coordinator for six years. Now the new head coach has a win all to himself. So does Saint Vincent’s Casey Goff, another rookie head coach who is off and running. May guided the...
Veteran safety Chuck Clark gets unexpected expanded role in debut with SteelersVideo
Chuck Clark has played in 109 NFL games over the past nine seasons. He’s started every game he’s played since 2019. And yet he began the season slotting in at sixth or seventh on a theoretical depth chart among pieces in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ secondary. After not one but two...
Steelers laud Jalen Ramsey’s physicality in season-opening win against JetsVideo
The last play for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense featured a hit that left a lasting impression. Jalen Ramsey’s jarring shot that dislodged the ball from New York Jets receiver Garrett Wilson on fourth down was the buzz of the locker room after the Steelers escaped with a 34-32 victory Sunday at...
Steelers sign veteran wide receiver Rakim Jarrett to practice squadVideo
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Rakim Jarrett to their practice squad Monday. Jarrett, 24, has appeared in 21 games (including playoffs) over the past two seasons since making the team as an undrafted free agent in 2023. The 6-foot, 190-pound Jarrett has 13 catches for...
Florida’s Brendan Bett planning to apologize to fans and the USF player he spit at during lossVideo
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett was planning to apologize to teammates, fans and the player he spit at during an 18-16 loss to South Florida, coach Billy Napier said Monday. Napier said the now-unranked Gators (1-1) have yet to decide whether Bett would be suspended for Saturday...
Penn State’s James Franklin cites ‘much more physical’ offensive line during win over FIU
Penn State’s offensive line is still rounding into form with the No. 2 Nittany Lions preparing for a visit from Villanova, an FCS program, Saturday afternoon. James Franklin said Monday he saw significant improvement from a veteran group led by five players who had prominent roles last season — tackles...
Jaylen Warren? Kaleb Johnson? No — Kenneth Gainwell served as RB1 in Steelers opener
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Some fans might have raised eyebrows at how much running back Kenneth Gainwell played in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season opener Sunday. Even Gainwell himself admitted that when he joined the Steelers via a one-year, $1.79 million contract in March that he did not even envision playing...
Highlands grad Julian Flenory applies lessons, wins MMA fight
Julian Flenory circled off the cage away from Jeremy Riley, trying to blink out the pain. Only moments into a heavyweight professional MMA fight Saturday at Sunny Days Arena, Riley had stung Flenory with a combination that made the Highlands graduate want to collect his thoughts. Instead of wading forward,...
5 things: Steelers’ usage of receivers, tight ends comes into focus in season opener
Five things we learned from Steelers 34, Jets 32: 1. Dreaming big For the first time since the 2015 season, the Steelers put up 34 points in a second opener. For the first time since 2020 when Ben Roethlisberger was in his penultimate season, a quarterback had four touchdown passes...
‘Advantage West Virginia’: Pat Narduzzi taking nothing away from Mountaineers despite loss to Ohio
Rich Rodriguez’s second stint as coach at West Virginia got off to a less-than-stellar start in Week 1, when the Mountaineers stumbled out of the gate against Robert Morris of the Football Championship Subdivision. The Mountaineers led the Colonials at home only 10-3 at halftime before recovering to post a...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi offers thoughts on future of Backyard Brawl
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi noted Monday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex that this weekend features the final installment of the Backyard Brawl until 2029. While he can only give his opinion as a coach, for his part, Narduzzi wants to see the Backyard Brawl return to being an annual affair....
