Carson Palmer wins Heisman Trophy
NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Maligned throughout his career, Southern California quarterback Carson Palmer was finally recognized Saturday night for a spectacular senior season.
The Pac-10 Conference's all-time leading passer, Palmer was named the 68th winner of the Heisman Trophy at the Yale Club, becoming the first West Coast player to capture college football's most prestigious honor since USC's Marcus Allen in 1981.
In what was expected to be one of the closest ballots in Heisman history, Palmer won comfortably, receiving 233 more points than Iowa's Brad Banks, who led the Hawkeyes to a share of the Big Ten Conference title.
Palmer garnered 1,328 points while Banks received 1,095. The quarterbacks will face each other in the Orange Bowl.
Palmer became the fifth Trojan to win the Heisman and the first not to play tailback. Charles White won in 1979, O.J. Simpson in 1968 and current USC athletic director Mike Garrett in 1965.
Penn State's Larry Johnson, who rushed for more than 2,000 yards, finished third with 726 points. The Miami tandem of running back Willis McGahee (660) and quarterback Ken Dorsey (643) were fourth and fifth likely split some votes.
Many observers felt Palmer underachieved during the first three years of his college career, but this season he spearheaded an attack that was virtually unstoppable against the toughest schedule in the nation.
Palmer completed nearly 63 percent of his passes, throwing for 3,639 yards and 32 touchdowns. He had just 10 interceptions. He may have swayed voters two weeks ago, when he threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-13 victory over Notre Dame.
Senators win eighth straight home game
OTTAWA, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Martin Havlat assisted on the game-tying goal and scored the game-winner in overtime Saturday night to give Ottawa a 4-3 win over New Jersey.
It was the Senators' team-record eighth straight home win.
Ottawa scored twice in the first period for an early lead, but New Jersey responded with three unanswered goals.
The Devils took the first lead on Christian Berglund's breakaway goal 6:39 into the third, but the Senators benefited from a lucky bounce just 27 seconds later.
Ottawa controlled a faceoff in the left faceoff circle and Havlat passed to Shane Hnidy on the right side. Hnidy made a centering pass that hit the inside of New Jersey center John Madden's right thigh and bounced past a diving Martin Brodeur.
The fortuitous goal restored the momentum for the Senators, who stifled a Devils power play in the final minutes of regulation.
New Jersey wasted a three-on-two opportunity in overtime as defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky's errant pass was controlled by Havlat, who skated down the right side and stopped between the circles before firing a shot over Brodeur's glove side to give Ottawa its fourth consecutive win.
Other NHL results: Montreal 4, Boston 2; Philadelphia 2, Buffalo 0; Toronto 4, New York Rangers 1; Detroit 6, Columbus 4; St. Louis 4, Atlanta 0; Nashville 3, Minnesota 1; Tampa Bay 4, New York Islanders 3.
Mavericks halt Memphis streak
DALLAS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Steve Nash scored 15 of his 26 points in the first seven minutes Saturday night, leading league-leading Dallas past Memphis, 104-87.
The Grizzlies had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Since entering the NBA in 1995, the Grizzlies had won five straight games just once, from Feb. 13-20, 2001. After Friday night's home overtime win against Houston, they were in position to do it again.
While Memphis has improved since Hubie Brown took over as coach 12 games ago, this game showed the Grizzlies still have a long way to go. They never led, quickly fell behind by double digits and trailed by as many as 21 points.
Nash had a lot to do with that, making nine of 19 shots and handing out seven assists. He set an early tone by scoring 15 of Dallas' first 24 points.
Michael Finley scored 22 points and Shawn Bradley added 12, 18 rebounds and eight blocks for the Mavericks (20-3), who improved to 11-0 at home despite the absence of All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who sat out his third game with a sprained ankle.
Other NBA results: Phoenix 102, Atlanta 88; Cleveland 111, Denver 104; Detroit 91, Seattle 78; Boston 113, New York 90; Miami 101, Golden State 92; Portland 98, Minnesota 92 in overtime; Chicago 97, Milwaukee 95; Los Angeles Clippers 94, Houston 83; Sacramento 98, Utah 96.
Freshman leads Indiana over Purdue
INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Freshman Bracey Wright made a series of clutch plays down the stretch Saturday night to lead sixth-ranked Indiana to a 66-63 victory over Purdue.
Indiana and Purdue scheduled a non-conference game in Indianapolis because the Big Ten schedule has the teams meeting just once, in West Lafayette on Jan. 25. The rivals wanted to continue meeting twice and take advantage of the large gate the game would draw at the RCA Dome.
It was the first meeting between the teams that did not count in Big Ten play since Purdue posted a 76-69 victory on March 13, 1980 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Wright's jumper with 5:38 remaining gave Indiana (8-0) the lead for good at 50-49. Wright later fed Jeff Newton for a dunk and a 61-58 edge with 76 seconds to go.
Purdue (4-2) got to within 61-60 on a pair of foul shots by Willie Deane with 45 seconds left. Newton made a pair of free throws and, after a miss by Deane, Wright sank a pair to make it 65-60 with 24 seconds to go.
Deane's three-pointer with four seconds to go kept the Boilermakers' hopes alive and Wright made one of two at the line three seconds later. Newton picked off Purdue's inbounds pass on the game's final play.
It was an easy day for most of college's elite teams.
No. 3 Pittsburgh improved to 6-0 with an 89-55 blasting of Southeastern Louisiana and No. 4 Alabama won its seventh game without a loss, 72-63 over Bowling Green.
In meetings of top 25 teams, No. 22 Mississippi State defeated No. 11 Xavier, 71-61; and No. 21 Michigan State was a 71-67 winner over No. 12 Kentucky.
Americans vault into contention
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Phil Mickelson and David Toms brought the United States back into contention at the World Cup Saturday.
After two disappointing days at the Vista Vallarta course, Toms and Mickelson combined to shoot a 15-under 57 in the best-ball format to vault into fourth place after starting the third round tied for 13th.
The Japanese team of Shigeki Maruyama and Toshi Izawa took the lead with a round of 58 that produced a 54-hole total of 30-under 186. Fiji's Vijay Singh and Dinesh Chand were one shot back after firing a 62 while South Africans Tim Clark and Rory Sabbatini were alone in third at 188.
Mickelson and Toms were at 189 after playing the back nine in 9-under 27 with Scotland, England and Canada all at 190 -- setting up the liklihood of a final-round shootout for the title.
Sunday's 18 holes will be played in an alternate-shot format.
Mickelson finished off the day with a 12-foot birdie putt at the par-4 18th. The United States has won the tournament six of the last 10 years and 27 times overall.
Oakland-Miami matchup highlights NFL Sunday
MIAMI, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Rich Gannon and the Oakland Raiders visit Ricky Williams and the Miami Dolphins as division leaders meet to highlight Sunday's NFL schedule.
Also, the Green Bay Packers (10-3) and San Francisco 49ers, the only teams to clinch division titles, will face off in an NFC match.
The Philadelphia Eagles, meanwhile, can seal the NFC East and three teams from the NFC South -- the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons -- can earn playoff spots.
Gannon, the NFL's top passer, and Williams, the league's rushing leader, are two of the league's hottest players and Oakland is the hottest team.
It has been a tale of three seasons for the Raiders, who opened with four wins, followed with four losses, and now have reeled off five straight victories and own the best record in the AFC.
Gannon, who turns 37 on Dec. 20, has been consistently prolific throughout for Oakland, setting an NFL single-season record with 10 300-yard passing games.
Gannon is also threatening Marino's record of 5,084 passing yards in a season. Gannon has passed for 4,205 yards with three games remaining.
Williams is just the third running back in NFL history to rush for more than 200 yards in back-to-back games. He gained a career-high 228 yards and two touchdowns two weeks ago in Miami's loss at Buffalo and followed with 216 yards and two scores on 31 carries in a win Monday against Chicago.
Eberharter wins another downhill
VAL D'ISERE, France, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Stephan Eberharter led an Austrian sweep in a World Cup downhill Saturday and remained unbeaten in the event after three races this season.
Eberharter, the reigning World Cup overall champion and a triple Olympic medalist last winter, continued his dominant ways, blasting down the 11,410-foot Oreiller-Killy course in 1 minute, 58.09 seconds, .69 ahead of his nearest challenger, teammate Klaus Kroell.
The 22-year-old Kroell crossed in 1:58.78, while Andreas Shifferer, the 1998 World Cup downhill champion, placed third in 1:59.03, both skiers climbing the podium for the first time this season.
Kroell finished 12th in downhills in Beaver Creek and Lake Louise earlier this season, while Schifferer's best result was a fifth in a super-G at the same Canadian resort. In the downhill in Lake Louise, Schifferer finished a distant 15th.
Division I-AA title game set
STATESBORO, Ga., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Western Kentucky and McNeese State produced thrilling wins Saturday to reach the championship game in Division I-AA.
Quarterback Jason Michael scored on a three-yard run with 46 seconds remaining as the surprising Western Kentucky Hilltoppers shocked Georgia Southern, 31-28. The Hilltoppers reached Division I-AA title contest for the first time in school history.
The Eagles, who stormed back from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit, had a chance to force overtime. But Scott Shelton's 56-yard field goal was wide right on the game's final play.
Facing a hostile crowd, Michael marched Western Kentucky (11-3) 76 yards on 13 plays after Georgia Southern (11-3) rallied to take a 28-24 lead on Jermaine Austin's 31-yard run with 4:26 remaining.
No. 1 seed McNeese State (13-1) rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to get past Villanova, 39-28. McNeese State, which has lost only to Nebraska this season, also will be making its first appearance in the finals.
The championship game will be played next Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Georgia Southern lost for just the second time in 31 playoff games at Paulson Stadium, where it boasts an overall record of 126-14.
