UTEP prepares for in-state rival Rice

UTEP (3-4, 3-1 C-USA) battles Rice (5-3, 4-1 C-USA) on Saturday in the Sun Bowl. Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m. MDT. The Miners lost at Tulsa, 77-35, in their last action on Oct. 18. Rice is coming off a 42-17 demolition of Tulane last weekend in New Orleans. The Owls are ninth in the country in passing offense (308.3 ypg), 10th in scoring offense (40.1 ppg) and turnover margin (1.13), and 15th in passing efficiency (154.07).

UTEP is 4-3 following off weeks under fifth-year head coach Mike Price, but 0-3 since 2006. This is the Miners' second bye week of the season. They lost to New Mexico State, 34-33, coming off a bye week on Sept. 20.

UTEP will play five games in the month of November for the first time since 2003 and only the second time since 1952. The Miners also had five November games in 1919, 1920, 1929, 1941, 1946 and 1952. UTEP is 5-22 in November since 2001 and has gone winless in the month in four of the last seven years (2001, 2002, 2003, 2007).

The Miners are 5-10 in November under Price with a current six-game losing streak. UTEP's last victory in November was a 36-17 triumph at UAB on Nov. 10, 2006.

UTEP will need to win three of five games in November to be bowl eligible. Following the Rice game, the Miners will play at Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 8 and host SMU on Nov. 15 before capping the regular season slate with road games at Houston (Nov. 22) and East Carolina (Nov. 28).

Since 2001, the Miners have played their home games at the Sun Bowl on AstroTurf GameDay Grass.

AstroTurf official sponsor of the 1st Annual David Wright Topps Camp

AstroTurf is an official sponsor of the 1st Annual Topps Camp with New York Mets 3rd Baseman David Wright on November 1, 2008 at Hofstra University.

The camp is the second in a series of Topps most recent business venture the Topps Camp program. For more information about this camp and future camps Topps is producing and for registration please visit their website at http://www.toppscamp.com/ or call the toll free hotline at 1.877.805.0660.

Bainbridge Burned on Its New Turf in 37-14 Loss

Playing its first five games on the season on the road, Bainbridge's football team made its home debut Friday night on a newly-installed turf field.

Bainbridge's opponent — Metro League powerhouse O'Dea — sure liked the Spartans' new digs.
Irish quarterback Gabe Lee passed for 178 yards and four touchdowns as O'Dea claimed a 37-14 victory to spoil Bainbridge's homecoming.

"It's nice," Bainbridge coach Andy Grimm said of his team's synthetic surface. "I wish we would have competed better and made less mistakes."

Known for its power-running game, O'Dea (5-1, 3-0) took to the air early and often as Bainbridge (3-3, 1-2) filled the box with defenders.

"They were playing up, blitzing a lot, so we decided to pass the ball," said Lee, who completed 9 of 12 passes for the game. "We've got a great wide receiving corps."

The Irish, who entered the game averaging 185 yards on the ground, took a 7-0 lead in the first

quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Anthony Espinoza on fourth down to cap off a 13-play, 70-yard drive.

Lee made it 20-0 by halftime. He hooked up with Miles Edwards on a juggling 42-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter, then found Cameron Welch wide open in a wheel route for another 15-yard scoring pass 42 seconds before halftime.

Lee's third touchdown pass of the night came in the third quarter when he found Edwards on a 4-yard slant, putting the Irish up 27-0.

"Against the other teams in our league, they've been able to bring it over the top," Grimm said of O'Dea's offense. "They've got the speed to get behind you."
Bainbridge, which was held to 50 yards of offense in the first half, finally got on the scoreboard three plays into the fourth quarter when Alex Johnson ran the ball up the gut for a 6-yard touchdown.

But Lee would strike again for the Irish midway through the fourth, hitting Chandler Gayton for a 37-yard score following a Bainbridge fumble.

Johnson, who finished with 17 carries for 59 yards, added another 6-yard touchdown late in the quarter. But the Irish victory was secure.

Grimm said his team competed hard, but had a difficult time matching up physically against an O'Dea team featuring massive linemen Danny Kistler (6-8, 318 pounds), Ben Riva (6-6, 272) and Grant Enger (6-7, 244).

"It gets tough," Grimm said. "You've got 300-plus pound guys dropping on you every play."
Bainbridge's coach said his team faces must-win league games against Lakeside and Bishop Blanchet the next two weeks.

"If we want to play a meaningful playoff game," Grimm said, "then we've got to run the table in those two."

This week on AstroTurf GameDay Grass

Saturday, October 11th (All times EST)

12:00pm - Butler at

12:00pm - Juanita at

12:30pm - Colorado at #16 on

6:00pm - Bowling Green at

7:00pm - #25 Ball State at

9:05pm - Tulane at

Camels savor that winning feeling

Luke Decock, Staff Writer

News & Observer

BUIES CREEK - Everything that happens to Campbell's football team this fall is a first anyway, but when Milton Brown walked into his 9 a.m. Monday business law class on Sept. 29, he was Campbell's first football star.

Brown's game-winning touchdown on an interception return -- his second TD and third interception of the game -- sealed a 36-27 win over Carthage (Wis.) College two days earlier, Campbell's first football win in 58 years.

Brown walked into class a hero, suddenly the star of a team that barely existed a year earlier. His whole day went like that.

"Even my piano teacher said, 'When I first met you, I knew you played football, but I didn't know you were a superstar like that,' " Brown said.

A week later, the Camels were spanked 42-0 at Dayton, a reality check if there ever was one, but the swing in emotions didn't seem to affect the Campbell players, who regarded it with a little more nonchalance than most of their college football peers.

They're focused on a bigger goal. None of them came to Campbell to win right away. That they did, after eight weeks of practice, was a huge bonus that made all the "we're part of something bigger" talk more than just talk.

"It was great to have that win for Campbell," said fullback Jordan Cramer, who played at Wake Forest-Rolesville. "We're adding brick by brick to the program, and that was one of the biggest bricks we put down."

The football team talks a lot about building, and that's certainly the case for Campbell athletics in general. The football stadium is more than half- finished, with a shiny new fieldhouse for the team and bleachers around half of the field.

On the other side of campus, a new basketball arena -- more than three times the size of the old one, which was the second-smallest in Division I with 947 seats -- is now open for business.
Campbell has always punched above its weight athletically, from the basketball team to the golf-management program, and the football team will have to meet the same high standards, as a non-scholarship program with modest means. So far, the Camels are 1-5. Saturday's home game against Butler will be the first in Buies Creek since the win over Carthage.

"There's always the frustration of losing, but you can't focus on the losses too much," said Paul Constantine, a wide receiver who played at Enloe last year. "I hate when everybody says we're a new team. That's not a fall-back. That can't be our excuse."

For players like Andy Johnson, an offensive lineman from Smithfield, the win was a long time coming. He was a member of Campbell's first recruiting class last fall, a group that practiced every week as if a game was coming while the first game was still a year away.

With the football facilities still being built, they changed in an old laundry room. Now, they dress in a state-of-the-art locker room and practice on a top-of-the-line artificial turf field. A win was the only thing missing.

"Everything we've done here has been a first," Campbell coach Dale Steele said. "When you get an opportunity to get that first win, that's a little bigger first than the first scrimmage or the first practice or any of those things."

When the team got back to campus after an 11-hour journey from Wisconsin -- beginning with a 2:30 a.m. wake-up call, four hours after the game ended -- Brown wasn't the only player singled out in class. The university president showed up for the football team's breakfast meeting.

"People knew we were football players, but it was a whole different level once we finally won a game," Johnson said. "People recognize you, just walking down the hallway, and stop and talk to you."

At some levels of football, wins are taken for granted or treated like a birthright. For Campbell, one win meant everything.

Obama wows Asheville crowd on AstroTurf GameDay Grass XPe

Sen. Barack Obama told 28,000 people gathered in and around Asheville High School Memorial Stadium that his proposals would ensure affordable health care for all Americans.

Speaking for 40 minutes while in Asheville for debate rehearsal Sunday afternoon, Obama sought to tie health care problems to the broader economic slowdown and the collapse of Wall Street titans.

Asheville police said the crowd numbered 22,000 inside the stadium and 6,000 more along the perimeter.

The rally was held on GameDay Grass XPe at Asheville High School. A natural-looking turf that has set new standards for durability and performance in a polyethylene-based infill system, GameDay Grass XPe features parallel fibrillated slit film polyethylene fiber technology. Installed in 2005, the 99,049 square foot field was built for extended use and various sports and events, ranging from football or soccer games, physical education classes, to now major political rallies.

#2 Alabama prepares for undefeated Kentucky

The University of Alabama football team began preparations for Saturday’s game with Kentucky on Monday afternoon with a two-hour practice.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban talked about another challenging Southeastern Conference game on Saturday against another undefeated team that ranks first nationally in scoring defense and kickoff returns.

“They are maybe the best defensive team in the country,” Saban at his weekly press conference on Monday. “They are certainly first in scoring defense. They have a lot of guys back from last year’s team. They are physical, they play with toughness, and they make good sound adjustments in what they do. Obviously giving up five points a game they are hard to score on which makes you a good defensive team.

“Offensively they have done a nice job controlling the ball. Their new quarterback, (Mike) Hartline has done a good job of managing the offense, keeping them in the right place and have them doing the right things. Their offensive line is good. They have been able to run the ball effectively against everybody they have played against. They have shown the capabilities of beating good teams in beating LSU when they were No. 1 last year.

“They are very good on special teams. (Dicky) Lyons is a good punt returner and is their leading receiver and they lead the conference in kickoff returns. This is going to be a challenging game for us. It is no different than the game we just played relative to maintaining intensity in terms of your mental energy, not only in how you play the game but how you prepare to play the game and get ready to play the game.”

Alabama and Kentucky will meet this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will be televised nationally by CBS Sports.

The Crimson Tide are one of four SEC teams to practice on GameDay Grass from AstroTurf in their indoor facilities. The Tide installed AstroTurf in 2002 at the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility, giving them a state-of-the-art playing surface available anytime, regardless of weather.

After a recent practice on the AstroTurf surface, Alabama QB John Parker Wilson said "I thought we had a pretty good practice, the energy was good and I think practicing inside was a plus to change it up a little bit,"