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player ready...Northwestern quarterback Alexander Webb likely will miss the rest of the season with a lacerated liver he sustained in Saturday’s 48-24 loss to Texas Christian.
Webb remained in Evanston Hospital on Sunday.
The injury ends the sudden rise of the true freshman, who graduated from Dallas’ Highland Park High in January and enrolled at Northwestern so he could go through spring practice. He was third on the depth chart behind redshirt sophomore Tony Stauss and redshirt freshman Brett Basanez.
When neither of them was able to consistently move the Northwestern offense, Webb got his chance Saturday. He led NU to its first offensive touchdown of this season. But three series later he was sandwiched between two TCU players.
“It was unfortunate he had to suffer an injury like this in his first collegiate game,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “We expect him to fully recover and rejoin our team in the future.”
— Skip Myslenski
Irish seek 1st 3-0 start since Holtz’s last year
Notre Dame moved up three spots to No. 20 in the Associated Press poll, released Sunday.
The last time Notre Dame began the season 2-0, it stretched that perfection to the third game. In 1996, the last year of Lou Holtz’s tenure at Notre Dame, the Irish, after beating Purdue in the second game to go 2-0, came back the following week to edge Texas 27-24.
Did the Irish meet coach Tyrone Willingham’s expectations in his first game at Notre Dame Stadium as head coach?
“I only expect to win, so I got everything that I wanted,” Willingham said.
Willingham added that the Irish should learn from their mistakes, not spend undue time worrying about them.
“I told them don’t fall for the hype,” Willingham said.
– The Irish defense has scored in each of the team’s last three games, dating back to Notre Dame’s season-ending victory at Purdue last December.
— Avani Patel
Illinois still searching for receiving help
Illinois’ No. 1 weapon against Missouri, wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, was silenced in Saturday’s 23-20 loss. Lloyd, who caught eight passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns against the Tigers, was limited to two receptions for 18 yards by Southern Mississippi.
“We had some things called to him, but we either didn’t get the ball to him or the coverage dictated to go somewhere else,” coach Ron Turner said.
Quarterbacks Dustin Ward and Jon Beutjer had trouble getting the ball to the other guys too. Fullback Carey Davis caught four passes for 19 yards and Walter Young had three receptions for 39, but the Illini failed to complete a touchdown pass. Anthony McClellan’s 42-yard reception from Ward near the end of the first quarter was Illinois’ longest.
After two games the Illini’s vaunted receiving corps has a combined 31 catches for 409 yards but only two TDs. Asked if he thought his passing game would have been further along by now, Turner replied, “Definitely.”
– Illinois’ Oct. 5 game at Minnesota will be rescheduled, probably to Oct. 3 or 4 because of the baseball playoffs. The Twins likely will host an American League division series game on that date.
— Gary Reinmuth
Heart condition may end career of NIU’s Hammock
Tailback Thomas Hammock’s football career at Northern Illinois could be finished because of a cardiac-related condition that caused him to miss Saturday’s 37-6 loss at South Florida.
Trainer Phil Voorhis said Sunday that physicans and specialists reached that conclusion after they examined the 21-year-old senior, who ran for 172 yards in the season-opening 42-41 overtime victory over Wake Forest.
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Hammock rushed for more than 1,000 yards the last two seasons. Further medical opinions are being sought.
— Bill Jauss
Hurricanes’ road show a top-rated attraction
Miami rose to national prominence in the 1980s by playing anyone anywhere. Now the top-ranked Hurricanes are beating everyone everywhere. Saturday night’s 41-16 rout of then-No. 6 Florida in Gainesville was Miami’s 24th straight victory and its 12th in a row on the road.
During the streak Miami has ended Florida State’s 54-game unbeaten string at Doak Campbell Stadium and won at Penn State and Virginia Tech.
“We relish going on the road and playing in this type of atmosphere,” Miami safety Maurice Sikes said.
Miami’s next big road test comes Nov. 9 in Knoxville, where it will meet No. 4 Tennessee in front of 105,000 fans.
— Andrew Bagnato