Notes, quotes and things picked up on the run from Coast-to-Coast and all the stops in between

Los Angeles, CA– If Heisman Trophy nominee, Andrew Luck, continues to lead Stanford to smashing victories like he did in Saturday’s (65-21) over Keith Price and his Washington Huskies, Coach David Shaw should a be a lock for Coach of The Year honors.

The Andrew Luck Show (65-21) victors over Washington moves into the Coliseum Saturday for a date with QB Matt Barkley (31-17 winners over Notre Dame) and his parade of receivers, including Robert Woods, George Farmer, Marqise Lee and a battery of running backs, including Marc Tyler, Curtis Neal, Dillion Baxter et al. Barkley tuned up for his duel with Luck by passing for a pair of TDs and completed 24 of 35 passes for 224 yards against the Irish. Luck went wild in passing for five TDs versus Washington received great help from running backs Tyler Gaffney (117), Stephan Taylor (138) and Anthony Wilkerson (93) to break the old school rushing record with a total of 446-yards.

QB Tajh Boyd tied a Clemson University record with five TD passes and ran over North Carolina to make his team’s record 8-0 for the first time in 11 years.

Florida State’s E.J. Manuel passed for a TD and 264-yards to lead his team to a 41-16 win over Maryland. QB Jefferson Jordan and his No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers (8-0) go into their game of the year against unbeaten Alabama (8-0) on Nov. 5. Running back Trent Richardson is the man LSU must stop to prevail against Alabama.
QB Cam Newton in leading the Carolina Panthers (2-5) to a 33-20 victory against the Washington Redskins rushed for one TD and tied Vince Young’s record for rookies with his seventh rushing TD. Check this: Newton has as many (926) rushing yards and as many TDs as the Panthers rushed for last season. Newton is on a pace to break Steve Grogan’s NFL quarterback record of 12 for the New England in 1976.

As of last night (Oct. 26) Manager Ron Washington and his AL Champion Texas Rangers were just one victory away from the World Series title. With a 3-2 report card against the NL champion St. Louis Cardinals. If the Rangers don’t get it done in Game 6; the Rangers will have another shot in Game 7 in St. Louis tonight (Thursday).
Should Washington lead the Rangers to the World Series title; he will join another winner of color, Cato Gaston of the two-time World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays.

Their is good news on two fronts from the Los Angeles Dodgers this week. Matt Kemp became the first Dodger winner of the Hank Aaron Award as the NL’s Offensive Player of the Year. Kemp is still in the running for NL MVP honors. The second good news from the Dodgers is that season tickets will be reduced by as much as 60% for the 2012 season. The price of interval tickets will also be reduced.

Golf’s pioneer Charlie Sifford was inducted into the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame Tuesday. Sifford isn’t forgiving the Masters, where he was ignored when he deserved an invitation as the first black to play in Augusta, Georgia. Though a campaign led by L.A. Sentinel Golf Editor Maggie Heathway, Lee Elder finally broke the color line in the Masters, years before Tiger Woods came on the PGA scene. Sifford paved the road for Tiger woods.

Is it true the real reason QB Donovan McNabb lost his Minnesota Viking and Washington Redskins’ starting jobs were because of his poor work habits? He reportedly was the last person to report for practice and the first one to leave and was also late for meetings and practices? McNabb says in the words of TV Host Jerry Springer ‘that’s a lie.’

The New York Jets (4-3), ex-prison inmate, Plaxico Burress, caught three TD passes as the Jets overcame a 21-10 half time deficit to beat the San Diego Chargers, 27-21.
Coach Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears are idle this week, but the Bears running back Matt Forte was a busy man in the team’s 24-18 win over Coach Raheem Morris’ Tampa Bay Bucs in London. Forte led the NFL in rushing yards with 908-yards, including a 32-yard TD against the Bucs. Forte is on a pace to become the third NFL player in history with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.

After a week bye QB Michael Vick and his cellar-dwelling Philadelphia Eagles (2-4) host the Dallas Cowboys (3-3). Question: Where has Pro Bowl receiver DeSean Jackson (Long Beach Poly High) been during the Eagles’ four game losing streak? If Jackson can connect with Vick like he did last season, the Eagles’ third win of the season should come against the Cowboys.

All-pro defensive back Charles Woodson of the Super Bowl champions keeps on clicking. Woodson picked off a pair of interceptions in the Packers, 33-27, comeback win against the Minnesota Vikings.

DeMarco Murray was the sub of the week as he rushed for a franchise record of 253-yards as a replacement for injured star Felix Jones in the Dallas Cowboys’ 34-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams. Murray is the tenth player in NFL history with 250 or more rushing in a game.

Ex-Colts Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy says his old team should draft Stanford’s Andrew Luck, if the team should get the No. 1 pick. It can be noted USC and Notre Dame have both produced 13 Heisman Trophy winners. Reggie Bush wasn’t listed among the 13 in the Trojans press release for the Notre Dame game. Nor is Bush’s photo or award listed in USC’s Media guide. USC’s Heisman Trophy winners minus Reggie Bush, who was stripped of his award by the Heisman Trophy Foundation. Nor is Bush’s photo or award listed in the Trojan’s record books.

Men of color listed among USC’s official Heisman Trophy winners are Mike Garrett, the university first recipient, O.J. Simpson, Charles White and Marcus Allen. This foursome is USC’s first four winners. For the record, the late Brice U. Taylor (my Jefferson High gym teacher and the first black head coach in the history of the L.A.Unified School District) was the first all-American in the history of the school in 1925. Taylor lettered at USC in 1924-25-26. Taylor, born with one hand, ran on the track team as a sprinter/hurdler and was a member of USC’s world record-setting mile relay team. By the way, Taylor played in the first USC-Notre Dame game in 1926. He was finally, inducted into USC Hall of Fame in 1995 and at the same time was finally listed in the Trojan’s media guide after a campaign led by Trojan alum, the late Deke Houlgate, Sr. and this reporter in 1995.

If you can get past Esquire Magazine’s sexy cover of Rihanna and even the sexier photos of her on the inside, there are in-dept features on NBA stars LeBron James (Miami Heat) and Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic). Esquire’s headline calls LeBron James: “The Whore Of Akron.”

Esquire’s Scott Raab says: “When LeBron James left Cleveland for Miami, he left alone, except for one angry man on his ass.”

South Carolina’s great tailback Marcus Lattimore has to put his Heisman Trophy hopes on hold until next season, after suffering a season ending knee injury Saturday in the Gamecocks, 14-12 win over Mississippi State. When Lattimore went down he had scored 10 TDs and rushed for 818-yards.

Louisville’s Charlie Strong, first black head coach in the university’s history, has apparently found himself a home in that Kentucky city. Strong in his second year has signed a new seven year contract for $2.3 million a season. His salary increased from $1.6 million.

Add Wisconsin’s QB Russell Wilson to the Heisman Trophy race. Check his stats going into Saturday’s Michigan State game he had passed for 1,557-yards and 14 TDs. Wilson also caught a TD pass from running back Montee Bell in Wisconsin’s 59-7 rout of Indiana.

David Shaw is one of a trio of Stanford black head football coaches. Included are Dennis Green, Tyrone Willingham and Shaw.
And the beat ends.

Brad Pye, Jr. can be reached at Switchreel@aol.com.