Show : Wednesday January 12003 ) r V'1' r ' A8 The Hefald Journal 1 ' Sports briefs Cowboys still mum on Parcells’ signing IRVING Texas ( AP) Jerry Jones knows all about Bill Parcells' history of walking away from deals So the Dallas Cowboys' owner ’ : wants to announce an agreement as soon as he can As of Tuesday he was still waiting And he probably will be until' at least Thursday despite reports that Parcells already has agreed to a four-yecontract to coach the ar team Newsday reported on its Web site Tuesday night that the Cowboys would formally introduce Parcells as their coach on Thursday Maybe nothing more than logistics and the New Year's holiday are' in the way Still Parcells' track record raises some doubt about whether the coach known for turning around woeful teams will try doing so with the Cowboys Parcells jilted Tampa Bay twice and Atlanta once Last year he got so close with the Buccaneers that he signed a contract and now Tampa Bay wants compensation from any team that hires him The Bucs will present their case to the commissioner’s office Thursday Two sources within the league told The Associated Press that the Bucs would not receive any compensation because the deal Parcells signed was not forwarded to the league office and therefore never approved by commissioner Paul MEMPHIS Tenn ( AP) — Texas Christ- ian figured out how to stop Colorado State “ standout Cecil Sapp after just two runs in the Liberty Bowl Sapp reeled off big gains of 59 and 25 yards on the Rams' first two possessions and the Homed Frogs — who rank I first in the natjm against thp run — knew something hud to change Sapp had 22 yards the rest of the game and TCU tailback Ricky Madison stole the show with ill UKRIY yards rushing and a touchdown as the Horned Frogs beat No 23 Col- 3 orado State Tuesday V We were a little anxious moving too fast" linebacker LaMurcus McDonald said “We were trying to get there before the play developed We had to slow down and catch the tempo" It was the Horned Frogs' 500th victory in school history Madison ran for 07 of his yards in the rainy second half as TCU's offense came alive after a sloppy opening by both teams In the first half the teams combined for three lost fumbles two interceptions a missed field goal and an unsuccessful faked field goal Their sloppy play made for the lowest scoring first half of a Liberty Bowl since Penn State led Tulane 6-- 0 in 1 1979 TCU ( 1 0-- 2 finally put together a seven-pla- y scoring drive led by Lonta Hobbs in the closing min-tiles of the second quarter The fresh- man ran fir 39 yards in the drive ' capped when Sean Stilley threw a touchdown pass to LaTarence Dun- bar with 1:21 remaining to put TCU up 0 at the break Colorado Slate (10-4- ) countered quickly' in the third quarter with a field goal by JelT Babcock at :22 The score — r which tied Babcock's career long — came drive for negative-- 6 yards on a four-pla- y ' ' : 1 lr"ll 62-ya- rd IKjII Kfl 1 1 7-- rd 7-- 46-ya- rd 1 1 ’ 1 Sec FROGS on A 1 1 AP photo Colorado State quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt (11) is upended by Texas Christian linebacker LaMarcus McDonald in the second quarter of the Liberty Bowl s Forsey scores three times in Boise St win BOISE Idaho (AP) — A cold wet and dreary morning turned into a delightful TTflcmouii fur linin' lilute The weather didn't improve but it hardly mattered to the Broncos as they beat Iowa Stale 34-1- 6 Tuesday in the Humanitarian Bowl “The conditions were kind of tough in the first half but later on they didn't become a factor" said Brock l orsey w ho run for three touchdowns to lead the Broncos "In fad we played Tagliabue Holmgren steps down as Seahawks’ GM Wash (AP) — KIRKLAND Mike Holmgren stepped down Tuesday as general manager of the Seattle Seahawks hut will remain the coach a move that Holmgren and team officials hope will deliver a Super Bowl title someday “We wanted to free up Mike to do more coaching There's only so many hours in the day" team president Bob Whitsitt said “Clearly we need Mike on the field as much as AP photo Boise State running back Brock Forsey and other Bronco players douse head coach Dan Hawkins with ice water at the end of the Humanitarian Bowl Tuesday Boise State beat Iowa State 34-1- 6 See BUST on All A Tuesday's scores 1 2-- NBA Boston 96 Memphis 89 Chicago 102 Portland 87 Washington 105 San Antonio 103 Indiana 89 New Orleans 86 Philadelphia 83 LA Clippers 75 Houston 103 Milwaukee 80 7-- NHL Minnesota 4 Anaheim 1 Detroit 5 St Louis 1 NY Islanders 1 Buffalo 0 OT NY Rangers 2 Carolina 0 Ottawa 6 Tampa Bay 3 Columbus 5 Pittsburgh 2 Montreal 1 Calgary 1 tie Dallas 4 Edmonton 1 Toronto 5 Vancouver 3 AHL Utah 4 Grand Rapids 3 Humanitarian Bowl Boise State 34 Iowa State 1 6 Sun Bowl Purdue 34 Washington 24 Liberty Bowl TCU 17 Colorado State 3 Silicon Valley Classic Tech 21 Fresno State 30 Georgia Peach Bowl Maryland 30 Tennessee 3 San Francisco Bowl Virginia Tech vs Air Force late i On television COLLEGE FOOTBALL 9 am ESPN — Outback Bowl Florida vs Michigan’' at Tampa Bay Fla FOX — Cotton Bowl Texas vs LSU at Dallas 10:30 am NBC — Gator Bowl NC State vs Notre Dame at Jacksonville Fla am ABC — Capital One Bowl Penn State vs Auburn at Orlando Fla pm ABC — Rose Bowl Washington State vs Oklahoma at Pasadena Calif 6:30 pm ABC — Sugar Bowl Georgia vs Florida State at New Orleans ' NBA pm ESPN — Toronto at New York 1 -- Big West wars begin on Thursday By Jeff Hunter staff writer As a conference there wasn't much for the Big West to rejoice in during the preseason Nearly a fourth of the league's combined 4 victories came against I teams and the Big West is in the ranked 22nd Sagarin currently ratings behind the Sun Belt (12th) the Big Sky ( 7th) and even the Ivy League (2 1st) Conference favorite UC Santa Barbara is off to a 7 start perennial contender Long Beach State has just one win in its first eight contests and there are only a few victories worth noting However that doesn't mean conference play which begins Thursday won't be entertaining “It's my 28th year of collegiate couching and I woke today excited that league play is starting” Utah State head coach Stew Morrill declared on Tuesday I lore are some of the other reasons Morrill will find it difficult to sleep this Big West season: 1 non-Divisi- 1 5 VI st Holmgren insisted on being the Seahawks’ general manager when he left the Green Bay Packers four years ago but said he was giving up this job willingly 2:30 £ Forsey who scored on runs of 4 2 and 9 yards finished the season w ith 32 touchseason total in downs the second-highehas the Sanders Division Burry record with 39 for Oklahoma Slate in I9SS With temperatures in the low 40s and a steady rain falling the conditions were hardly typical for a howl game Il didn't discourage 30446 Ians nearly all of whom 1 ) showed up to cheer on the Broncos Boise Stale won its third Humanitarian Bowl in four seasons The Broncos also won it in 2000 and 1999 The Western Athletic Conference champions went 0 at home this season Bobby Hammer was voted MVP of the game after he hud 10 tackles including three for a loss "It was a dream season Can't describe it right now" Hammer said “We set goals high But w e wanted to do more than set them We wanted to achieve them" who opened the The Cyclones (7-7- ) season at 6-- 1 and reached the (op 10 for the first time in school history had a 6 possible” 11 Crucialcom belter" 3-- UTAH STATE (9-Current Sagarin rating: 71 Preseason Sagarin rating: 66 Leading scorer: Desmond Pcnigur 169 ppg Leading reboundcr: Spencer Nel- Preseason Sagarin rating: Leading scorer: Adam Parada son leading reboundcr: Jordan Harris 71 rpg Good stat (BWC rank): Rebound margin 92 ( 1st) Bad stat (BWC rank): Scoring offense 669 (9th) Notable game: 4 59-5- win vs Utah Rundown: The Aggies emerged from the as the Big West's leader in defense (586 ppg) and rebounding but have yet to click on all cylinders offensively Player of the Year candidate Desmond Penigar emerged from a slump to average 21 points per game during USU’s four-gawinning streak and sophomore Spencer Nelson who was plugged into the starting center position two contests ago has rocketed to sixth in the league in rebounding The Aggies who are 0 at home haven’t surrendered more than 66 points to any opponent this season and outrcbound-e- d their last two by a combined margin pre-seas- 5-- 98-to-- 1 1 1 3) I 5 Preseason Sagarin rating: 219 Leading scorer: Ian Boylun 174 PPg PPg 44 rpg 51 rpg Good stat (BWC rank): Free throw percentage 792 (1st) Bad stat (BWC rank): Assisttumovcr ratio 079 (5th) Notable game: 9 win at Pepperdine Rundown: The Anteaters are still finding their way following the graduation of two-tim- e Player of the Year Jerry Green but more often than not they've been finding their way to wins when not playing the likes of Oklahoma and Stanford Winners of five of their last six Pat Douglass' players are among the top five in both defensive (431 field goal percentage defense) and offensive (735 ppg) categories Jordan Harris (927) is the Big West leader in percentage and center Adam Para-da- 's field goal percentage of 625 also leads the conference free-thro- w CS NORTHRIDGE (6-Current Sagarin rating: 140 Leading rebounder: Ian Boylun Good stat (BWC rank): Field goal percentage 492 (I si) Bad stat (BWC rank): Assistturnovcr ratio 078 (7lh) Notable game: 7 loss at Oregon Rundown: The Matadors have picked up where they left off last year when they won four of their last five games to help offset a 9 start Northridge leads the league in scoring offense scoring margin field goal percentage steals and turnover margin thanks to the leadership of seniors Curtis Slaughter (114 ppg) and Lionel Benjamin (6 ppg 49 rpg) and the rapid development of last year's Freshman of the Year Ian Boylan (504 field goal percentage) The Matadors are 0 at home and dangprous on the road thanks to defensive their relentless pressure 86-7- 74-6- 2-- 1 4-- full-cou- rt PACIFIC (5-- 4) Current Sagarin rating: 145 121 Preseason Sagarin rating: 2) UC IRVINE (6-Current Sagarin rating: 101 1 1 4) See BIG WEST on A9 |