Notes

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier reacts to a call on the sidelines during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Missouri on, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, in Columbia, S.C.
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier reacts to a call on the sidelines during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Missouri on, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, in Columbia, S.C.

SEC

Game to stay in Atlanta

ATLANTA -- The SEC Championship Game is staying in Atlanta for at least a dozen more years.

photo

AP

TCU head coach Gary Patterson, left, and Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill chat before an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, in Minneapolis.

The league announced a new 10-year agreement Tuesday to play the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a $1.4 billion retractable-roof facility under construction next door to the Georgia Dome. The new stadium is to open in 2017.

The agreement gives the SEC the option of adding two successive five-year extensions, which would keep the game in Atlanta through 2036.

The SEC championship game will be played the next two years at the Georgia Dome, its home since 1994. The 23-year-old dome will be demolished after the new stadium opens.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is serving mainly as the home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, as well as the city's new MLS expansion soccer team, Atlanta United.

In addition, the new stadium has been selected to host the 2020 Final Four and is bidding for the 2018 national college football championship as well as the Super Bowl in either 2019 or 2020.

"Atlanta has served as an outstanding host for the SEC football championship game for more than two decades and has been the perfect venue for one of the premier events in college sports," SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said.

The SEC Championship Game was played at Birmingham's Legion Field for two years before moving to Atlanta in 1994. The past 19 title games have been sellouts.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Spurrier not happy

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Other than the victory, Steve Spurrier was not too happy with South Carolina's opening game performance.

Spurrier said the Gamecocks have lots of work ahead to be the team they want to be this season, even after a 17-13 victory over North Carolina to start the year.

"We didn't do a lot of things very well," he said Tuesday.

Spurrier includes himself in that list, bothered by his choice of two runs --both which were stuffed -- after South Carolina drove into the red zone with the chance to put the game out of reach.

The issues, though, started before the game. The Gamecocks were called for a delay penalty before ever running a play.

"I don't know if that's ever happened before, but we managed to do that," Spurrier said.

Things didn't improve much when the ball was in play.

Quarterback Connor Mitch struggled in his first college start. South Carolina receivers had difficulty breaking free in the North Carolina secondary. Playmaker Pharoh Cooper spent as much time behind center taking wildcat snaps as he did finding open spaces in the defense.

It was not until South Carolina decided to stick mostly to the ground in the second half and rely on its defense that Spurrier could count on the victory.

Now, Spurrier said his job this week is to clean things up in a hurry before opening the Southeastern Conference season against Kentucky (1-0), which has not won in Columbia since 1999.

AUBURN

QB learning from mistakes

AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn Tigers are keeping the faith in Jeremy Johnson after the quarterback's shaky opening game.

They believe it was an aberration, and a growth experience.

Johnson made some bad decisions in the sixth-ranked Tigers' win over Louisville with three interceptions, including one where he tried to force a ball into triple coverage. The performance was surprising considering Johnson had made few obvious mistakes in two previous starts and other relief appearances in his first two seasons.

He faced a different kind of pressure to perform this time. Johnson opened the season regarded as a longshot candidate for the Heisman Trophy and was highly regarded enough that Auburn was picked to win the Southeastern Conference even in a division where all seven teams are now ranked.

"I think he was definitely trying to make some plays down the field early, which is to be expected," Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said Tuesday. "There's a lot of quarterbacks that do that. Just let it come within the offense, and he'll do that. We still have just as much or more confidence in Jeremy Johnson than we did before the game. The great thing about Jeremy is he'll learn from his mistakes and he'll get better."

TCU

Patterson defends QB

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Trevone Boykin missed a couple of easy throws that could have been touchdowns, and third-ranked TCU was held under 30 points for the first time in its up-tempo offense.

Coach Gary Patterson was quick Tuesday to defend the Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback. The coach says the Horned Frogs wouldn't have won their opener at Minnesota without Boykin, who he says took some shots while accounting for 338 total yards and two touchdowns.

The Frogs play their home opener Saturday against FCS team Stephen F. Austin. They dropped one spot from second to third in both the new Associated Press Top 25 and the coaches poll behind Ohio State and Alabama.

Patterson, who votes on the coaches' poll, says he voted a couple of teams ahead of TCU.

STANFORD

Lineman out for season

STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford defensive lineman Harrison Phillips will miss the rest of the season with a torn knee ligament.

Coach David Shaw announced the injury on Tuesday. Phillips was hurt in the Cardinal's season-opening 16-6 loss at Northwestern.

The injury is particularly costly for the Cardinal because they are thin on the defensive line. Solomon Thomas, Aziz Shittu and Brennan Scarlett will handle the bulk of the load but Shaw says he will need other plays to step up in Phillips' absence.

Phillips is a sophomore and will be able to use a medical redshirt if he chooses to get back this year of eligibility.

IOWA

Former safety, 27, dies

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The Iowa state medical examiner says Tyler Sash, a star safety at the University of Iowa who later won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants, has died at the age of 27.

John Kraemer, director of forensic operations for the medical examiner, told The Associated Press that his office is investigating Sash's death along with police in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Sash's hometown. No cause of death has been determined, but an autopsy is scheduled for this morning.

Sash started 37 games for the Hawkeyes from 2007-10, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior. He was fourth all-time in interception return yardage in the Big Ten when he graduated, and his 13 picks were fifth-best in school history.

Sports on 09/09/2015

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