BRIEFS
Long leads team
to MEAC title
four touchdown passes as South Carolina State defeated Morgan State 37-13 to clinch the Mid- Eastern
Athletic
Conference title on Saturday.
Long was 21 of 32 for 319 yards. Oliver Young had 166 yards and two touchdowns on six catches for the Bulldogs (9-1, 7-0 MEAC).
William Ford finished with 136 all-purpose yards and one receiving touchdown.
Morgan State (5-5, 3-4) was led by Carlton Jackson, who was 12-for-19 for 100 yards and two interceptions. The Bears have lost four in a row.
A 7-yard touchdown run from Jackson cut the Bulldogs' lead to 14-7 with 1:20 left in the first quarter. But the Bears were outscored 20-0 in the second and third quarters combined, putting the game out of reach.
Humphries part of conference champs
Gaffney's Phillip Humphries and his NC Wesleyan teammates captured the USA South Conference championship for the second time in program history.
Johnson moves closer to title
Jimmie Johnson has moved closer to a NASCAR record fourth consecutive championship with a dominating win at Phoenix International Raceway.
Johnson led 238 laps Sunday to win his seventh race of the season, and fourth since the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
The win stretched his lead to 108 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin heading into next week's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Martin finished fourth, but it wasn't enough to derail Johnson. He only needs to finish 25th or better in the finale to grab a spot in NASCAR's record books.
Jeff Burton finished second and was followed by Denny Hamlin, Martin and pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr.
USC Trojans plummet in poll
After another humiliating loss, Southern California tumbled to its worst ranking since Pete Carroll's Trojans began their run as one of college football's best programs in 2002.
USC is No. 22 in The Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday, dropping 11 spots after losing 55-21 to Stanford. The Trojans have been ranked in 128 consecutive media polls dating to the start of the 2002 season, but never this low.
The Trojans haven't been ranked lower than No. 13 since October 2002.
Meanwhile, Stanford soared up the rankings to No. 14, its best showing since being No. 11 in the last regular-season poll of 2001.
Florida remained No. 1 and Alabama leapfrogged Texas into the No. 2 spot, one of only two small changes to the top 10.
The Gators received 36 firstplace votes. Alabama received 14 first-place votes after its most convincing victory — 31-3 at Mississippi State — in more than a month.
Texas got 10 first-place votes. The Crimson Tide and Longhorns are separated by just five points.
The other three undefeated major college teams were next, with TCU at No. 4, Cincinnati at No. 5 and Boise State No. 6 for the second consecutive week.
