By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
December 15, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Pat White and Steve Slaton continue to pick up postseason awards. Yesterday West Virginia’s dynamic duo was named to the Scout.com Freshman All-America teams. White was named to the first team as quarterback and Slaton made the second team as a running back.
White and Slaton have previously been named to the CollegeFootballNews.com, Rivals.com and The Sports News Freshmen All-America teams.
More West Virginia University sports news and notes:
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Mountaineer sophomore center Olayinka Sanni is currently the nation’s top field-goal shooter, making 71.2 percent of her attempts. The Mountaineers are ranked third shooting 50.7 percent. West Virginia has exceeded 50 percent in each of its last five games. WVU, 4-2, returns to the court on Saturday facing Duquesne in Pittsburgh.
The Louisville Journal-Courier recently broke down the Big East’s football revenue sharing for this year. First-place West Virginia will receive $4.275 million plus an extra $600,000 for winning the conference title. Second-place Louisville receives $3.475 million plus and extra $300,000. Rutgers will earn $3.175 million and will split $33,333 with South Florida and Pitt in bonus money for finishing tied for third.
USF gets $2.975 million while Connecticut, Pitt, Cincinnati and Syracuse will each receive $1.875 million. A total of $21.4 million in BCS money was shared.
Remember when 8-3 Pitt took a lot of abuse for playing Utah in last year’s Fiesta Bowl as the Big East’s conference champion? Well, a four-loss Florida State team is representing the ACC in the Orange Bowl this year. And how about this: Pitt’s final BCS ranking last year of 21 is actually one spot higher than FSU’s BCS rating this year.
Here is something else to chew on: the Big East’s four-year average for its conference champion (10.5) is actually two spots higher than the ACC’s league winner (12.75).
Sometimes perception is dramatically different than reality.
Louisville received another bad break when starting defensive tackle Montavious Stanley tore his left pectoral muscle during practice. Stanley was a second-team all-Big East pick this year and he joins Big East player of the year Brian Brohm on the shelf. Brohm injured his knee in a win against Syracuse on Nov. 26.
The Cardinals face Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl.
Word from Rutgers is that the Scarlet Knights have sold about 7,000 tickets for its Insight.com Bowl appearance against Arizona State.
Tickets sales have not gone quite as well in South Florida for the Bulls’ game against North Carolina State in the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte. South Florida has sold about 4,200 of its 12,500 allotment as of Tuesday. South Florida is making its first-ever bowl appearance.
This week the Big East has three men’s basketball teams ranked in the Top 5 for just the second time in conference history. Connecticut is ranked second, Villanova third and Louisville fourth in this week’s AP poll. On Jan. 1, 1985, Georgetown was ranked No. 1, while St. John’s was fourth and Syracuse was fifth.
Wrestling fans can get an early sneak peak at West Virginia next Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum against No. 13-rated Missouri. The match will be broadcasted live on the Internet through CSTV All-Access.
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Forward Tyrone Sally has appeared in all nine games for the Roanoke Dazzle of the NBA Developmental League, averaging 4.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 12.7 minutes per game. Roanoke is 3-6.
Former Mountaineer baseball players Steve Kline and Grant Psomas have switched uniforms. Kline was recently signed by the San Francisco Giants after spending last year with the Baltimore Orioles, while Psomas was sent to the Florida Marlins along with New York Mets prospects Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit for Carlos Delgado. Psomas split time between Single-A Hagerstown and St. Lucie, hitting .300 with 19 home runs at Hagerstown. Psomas was to be rated the 27th-best prospect in the Mets organization.
There was well-written feature on former West Virginia wide receiver Antonio Brown in Wednesday’s Washington Post. Brown earned NFC special teams player of the week honors after returning a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown in Washington’s 17-13 victory at Arizona last Sunday. Brown has spent parts of three seasons in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins, having been resigned by Washington after being cut earlier this year.
Also, former WVU standout Pacman Jones was named AFC special teams player of the week for his 51-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Houston Texans. That has to be the first time two West Virginia players have swept NFL special teams awards.
Sticking with the pros, one-time WVU standout quarterback Marc Bulger has been cleared to throw again, but he is still feeling pain in his right shoulder and will not play this weekend. It is possible that Bulger will not play the rest of the season.
Oakland’s top pass-catcher this year has been none other than former WVU standout Jerry Porter. The sixth-year veteran is on the verge of having his finest professional season, showing 60 catches for 806 yards and five touchdowns in 13 games. Porter is just four catches shy of his career high of 64 set in 2004, and 192 yards away from equaling his career-high of 998 years also set in 2004. Porter is currently 21st in the NFL in receiving yards.
Have a great week!
