Red Raiders

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- There were different expectations. And it was a different game, too.But in the end, with a possible NCAA Division I-AA playoff berth at stake, it was the same old story when the Towson football team visited Colgate yesterday and left with a 38-14 loss at Andy Kerr Stadium. It was the fourth blowout loss to the Red Raiders in four meetings between the teams.While playing itself within one win of a Patriot League co-championship this season, Towson, which finished its season at 7-4, 4-2, had proved a worthy peer of the six other members.

The lasting impression of Mike Leach left after his 10 seasons at Texas Tech is not only of the Red Raiders scoring touchdowns as if they were in a video game. It is also the controversy that surrounded Leach as he was being fired last December, on the eve of his team's 10th straight bowl game. Now, Leach is a serious candidate to become Ralph Friedgen's successor at Maryland. If he does emerge from his exile in Key West, Fla. another image may come into focus: that of a straight-shooting, point-producing perfectionist who could create an excitement in College Park that not even a 9-4 season could rekindle.

The Houston Bowl was guaranteed a classic run vs. pass matchup yesterday when Texas Tech accepted an invitation to play Navy on Dec. 30 at Reliant Stadium. In an intriguing pairing, the Midshipmen will match their old-school, No. 1-ranked rushing attack against Texas Tech's new-wave, No. 1-ranked passing game triggered by quarterback B.J. Symons. "It will be a tremendous challenge to play Texas Tech," said Navy coach Paul Johnson, the day after his team methodically romped past rival Army, 34-6, to finish the regular season at 8-4. "They traditionally have one of the best offenses in the country, and they have a ton of great athletes."

Texas Tech fired Mike Leach on Wednesday after the coach took the school to court to try to overturn his suspension for alleged mistreatment of an injured player. "I'm very sad to say there's only one person to blame for this and it's Mike Leach," Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance told The Associated Press. Jerry Turner , vice chairman of the university system's Board of Regents, said "other things" came to light during an investigation of Leach's treatment of receiver Adam James . The sophomore alleged the coach twice confined him to a small, dark place after the player was diagnosed with a concussion.

TUCSON, Ariz. - There were hugs and tears and sloppy kisses on the Texas Tech sideline. Bob Knight, whose more famous emotional outbursts have involved slapping players, throwing chairs and bellying up to referees, wrapped his senior point guard Ronald Ross in a full-body embrace, then sent his son, Patrick, into the stands to bring his wife, Karen, onto the floor. Texas Tech, seeded sixth in the Albuquerque Regional, had just moved into the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 3 seed Gonzaga, 71-69, yesterday at the McKale Center.

Navy's basketball team received mention in the national poll for the first time this season yesterday, then the team proceeded to justify that mentioning. Without missing a beat from its recent trend, the Midshipmen smothered Colgate from the onset last night at Alumni Hall, earning a convincing, 81-47 Patriot League victory before 1,758 fans. It was the fourth straight game in which Navy has romped to at least a 20-point lead as the race for first place in the league's regular season heads into the homestretch.

All the top teams took care of their business and the Bowl Championship Series standings were unchanged at the top yesterday, with Alabama and Texas Tech holding the top two spots and Florida, Texas and Oklahoma poised to move up. The Crimson Tide ran away from Mississippi State in the second half of a 32-7 victory that kept Alabama on top of both the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris poll. Alabama has a .9787 BCS average. Texas Tech (.9698) remained second in the polls and first according to the computer ratings during a week off. The Red Raiders head into their fourth straight game against a ranked opponent, this time at Oklahoma, in control of their national title and Big 12 championship hopes.

No scoreboard-watching necessary for Texas Tech. Less than 24 hours after the Red Raiders gave the national championship race a makeover by defeating then-No. 1 Texas, they received more good news when the Bowl Championship Series standings were released yesterday. Texas Tech was in second place, behind Alabama and just ahead of third-place Penn State. And Maryland, which had last weekend off, unexpectedly jumped into the standings at No. 23. If the undefeated Red Raiders of the Big 12 and undefeated Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference win out, they will likely meet in the BCS national championship game Jan. 8 in Miami.

For about six minutes in the second half, Navy's John Haase could do no wrong.The senior captain came off the bench to score 13 points during the six minutes to help bring Navy within one point with 9:00 left to play.But that was as close as the Midshipmen would come to avenging an overtime loss to the Red Raiders on Jan. 16. Colgate extended its lead to four with less than six minutes to play and went on to beat Navy, 67-57, last night at Halsey Field House in the Patriot League.Navy (7-13, 5-5)

ORLANDO, Fla. -- All Kliff Kingsbury ever wanted to do was go out a winner. And did he ever. The Texas Tech senior capped his prolific career yesterday by leading the Red Raiders to a stunning 55-15 victory over Clemson in the Tangerine Bowl. He then signed autographs for fans -- and teammates, too -- and capped the night by directing the Tech band through "March Grandioso" in the south end zone of Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. "This has been a dream come true," said Kingsbury, who completed 74.4 percent of his passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns.

Pat Knight seems to have coached himself out of an identity crisis. Knight acknowledged he had a difficult time adjusting in his first full season at Texas Tech last year. Players said he may have tried to please too many people - his bosses, fans, his team. Maybe even his famous father, Bob Knight . Pat Knight, who took over after nine years as an assistant to his dad at Texas Tech and Indiana, said he was unsure how to act at first. Should he be subdued, the antithesis of his father?

All the top teams took care of their business and the Bowl Championship Series standings were unchanged at the top yesterday, with Alabama and Texas Tech holding the top two spots and Florida, Texas and Oklahoma poised to move up. The Crimson Tide ran away from Mississippi State in the second half of a 32-7 victory that kept Alabama on top of both the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris poll. Alabama has a .9787 BCS average. Texas Tech (.9698) remained second in the polls and first according to the computer ratings during a week off. The Red Raiders head into their fourth straight game against a ranked opponent, this time at Oklahoma, in control of their national title and Big 12 championship hopes.

No scoreboard-watching necessary for Texas Tech. Less than 24 hours after the Red Raiders gave the national championship race a makeover by defeating then-No. 1 Texas, they received more good news when the Bowl Championship Series standings were released yesterday. Texas Tech was in second place, behind Alabama and just ahead of third-place Penn State. And Maryland, which had last weekend off, unexpectedly jumped into the standings at No. 23. If the undefeated Red Raiders of the Big 12 and undefeated Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference win out, they will likely meet in the BCS national championship game Jan. 8 in Miami.

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- The Navy men's basketball team entered this snowy town on a six-game winning streak and tied for the Patriot League lead. No. 7 would have clinched the Patriot League regular-season title and home-court advantage in the conference tournament. But yesterday's 73-62 loss to Colgate - coupled with American's victory over Lafayette - means the Midshipmen (16-13, 9-5) will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed. "I felt we played a great game," Navy coach Billy Lange said.

TUCSON, Ariz. - There were hugs and tears and sloppy kisses on the Texas Tech sideline. Bob Knight, whose more famous emotional outbursts have involved slapping players, throwing chairs and bellying up to referees, wrapped his senior point guard Ronald Ross in a full-body embrace, then sent his son, Patrick, into the stands to bring his wife, Karen, onto the floor. Texas Tech, seeded sixth in the Albuquerque Regional, had just moved into the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 3 seed Gonzaga, 71-69, yesterday at the McKale Center.

TUCSON, Ariz. - There were hugs and tears and sloppy kisses on the Texas Tech sideline. Bob Knight, whose more famous emotional outbursts have involved slapping players, throwing chairs and bellying up to referees, wrapped his senior point guard Ronald Ross in a full-body embrace, then sent his son, Patrick, into the stands to bring his wife, Karen, onto the floor. Texas Tech, seeded sixth in the Albuquerque Regional, had just moved into the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 3 seed Gonzaga, 71-69, yesterday at the McKale Center.

All signs indicated this was the year Navy's women's soccer team would win its first Patriot League title.The Midshipmen had posted a 17-2-1 record, outscored the opposition, 51-11, and gone unbeaten in league play (5-0-1). They entered the championship game with Colgate yesterday with nine wins and a tie in their last 10 games. What's more, the Mids had won their regular-season meeting with the Red Raiders Sept. 12, 2-1.But a chilled crowd of several hundred fans at Dewey Field, which is on a site along the Severn River, found out why Colgate has dominated the league, competing in all eight championship games.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Saint Joseph's may have been raining jumpers on Texas Tech all game, but it was center Dwayne Jones' layup with the shot clock near zero and 13.4 seconds left that sealed a 70-65 win at HSBC Arena. The top-seeded Hawks (29-1) will return to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997 and will have lots of support in East Rutherford, N.J., when they face Wake Forest on Thursday at the Meadowlands. "I was surprised Delonte [West] threw the pass inside, to be honest with you," Jones said.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Wake Forest looked like a team in the midst of a confidence crisis for most of its game against Virginia Commonwealth in the opening round of the NCAA tournament yesterday at the RBC Center. The Demon Deacons, a No. 4 seed despite losing their previous three games, appeared on the verge of having their season end. That was before freshman point guard Chris Paul took over. Paul, the Freshman of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, brought Wake Forest back from a six-point deficit midway through the second half to lead the Demon Deacons to a 79-78 victory.