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Show Western Athletic Conference claims 10 television spots on ESPN/ESPN2 for 2007 football season test with Hawai'i traveling to San Jose State (ESPN). The October schedule concludes with Fresno State hosting Boise State on Friday, Oct. 26 (ESPN2). November opens up with a Friday contest between Nevada and New Mexico State in Las Cruces on Nov. 2 (ESPN2). Two weeks later, Hawai'i travels to Reno to face the Wolf Pack on Nov. 16 (ESPN2). The day after Thanksgiving will feature the top two WAC teams from 2006 as Hawai'i hosts Boise State in an ESPN2 telecast. The television schedule concludes with a couple of non-conference games as Fresno State hosts Kansas State on DENVER - The Western Athletic Conference today announced a 10game ESPN/ESPN2 football television schedule for 2007The schedule kicks off with 2007 Fiesta Bowl Champion Boise State hosting Southern Mississippi on Thursday, Sept. 27 in a game that will be shown on ESPN. The following weeks will feature seven conference matchups with four in October and three in November. Boise State will host two Sunday ESPN contests with New Mexico State on Oct. 7 and Nevada on Oct. 14. Sandwiched in between will be a Friday night con- Saturday, Nov. 24 and Hawai'i welcomes Washington a week later. Both of those games will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2 with the exact time and network to be determined at a later date. "This schedule will once again showcase WAC football around the country," said WAC Commissioner Karl Benson. "With the WAC coming off a tremendous 2006 season, this schedule will enable the nation to see some of the top teams and players in all of college football perform in one of the most exciting conferences in the country." 2007 WAC Football Schedule os of 4/5/2007 (Tentative-Subject to chango) LOUISIANA TECH BOISE STATE FRESNO STATE Sept. 1 WEDER STATE Bew»(Aug X) SACRAMENTO STATE Fretno Sept. 8 ot Washington Seanto OlTcxuAAM Cctcge Staton •si Louitltna Tech RUSSOT CALPOLY HOKDai •HAWAII Ruattn WYOMING • I Oregon Eugcno «t UNLV Las Vegas • t Washington Stata PvSrnan at Celltom l * Berttetey Sept. 15 HAWAI'I at South*™ California CEtfTHAL. AMCAMSAS Ru*vr Loa AngWos CHARLESTON Sept. 22 SOUTHERN HoroUu SOUTH ERM WS9 Sept. 29 ESPN UTAH STATE alNvbrcaka Uncoin BE LOUISIANA LaCruna(Aug.30) at Artaona Scata Tempo UNLV Logan (Aug. 30) al Mortmrastam Evnnsion at Nam Mexico A&uquarqus at Kanwa State Manhattan at Wyoming UTEP LDCWCM at Stanford SUntonl at Oklahoma Nofmon at Auburn ALbum *«1 Utah Stata Logan •SJSU Logan ARKANSASFWEBLUFP itmCrjam UC DAVIS SanJOM at Utah Siau*»cay 'at Bols* Stan BotaKOct7) ESPN IDAHO StnJow 'at Hawaii Hamtyfej NICHOLLS STATE . Rano NOTHERN nxwon UOKCM 'at Fresno State Fresno UNLV 'atHevwla i n AH STATE HonoMu 'at SJSU San Joie at Ulsalaalppl Orfom -FRESNO STATE 'FRESNO STATE •tamt uoww RuMon 'at Bolto State BoHMtOct 14) ESPN 'at NMSU LWCTUCM •BOISC STATE RuMsn "at Utah Stste Logon IDAHO LnCruoaa 'at Nevada Reno 'si Utah Sta» Logan IDAHO Ram 'at Kawal'l HonoUjtu I M M I A N A TECH M0K0W 'at Idaho Moscow -aiNMSU LO9&X««(NCV 2] ESPN2 •NEVADA LAS CIUCM (Nsv 2) ESPm -NEVAQA BoiaaiOa 14) ESPN 'ailcUho Woacon Oct. 20 ' M Louisiana Toch BuElon -8J5U Fntno Oct. 27 '•1 Fresno Slate Fresno (Oei 26| ESFH2 'BOGE STATE FrMno(OcL2fl) E5PN2 Nov. 3 *8JSU BOM •UTAH STATE Ftwno Nov. 10 •ai Utth State Logan 'at H#w»l'l HomkAj Nov. 17 IDAHO BM* KANSAS STATE Fratno ESPNorESFtil ••1 NMSU Dec. 1 SJSU 'HAWAII Moaco* Oct. 13 ESPN2 NMSU *0tl3*tW UOGCOtv •HUSU totMlOd 7) ESPN 'at Hawaii NEVADA •LQUtSANA TECH FfHno Oct 6 Nov. 24 IDAHO Ltt3 CruCftS •01 SJSU SanJowi(Oa IS) £SPN 'NH9U HonoUu Rro Rm aiLSU Baion Rouge 'FRESNO STATE HonofcAi 'at Nevada Row (Nov. 16) E$f>N2 •at Bot*« Statt Bolts 'BOISE STATE HDraUu(Nov 23) ESPN2 •UTAH STATE Moscow WASHMQTON HtwohJu ESPNorESfM •SJSU ft**on 'at Louk»t«na T*ch fiU3i£Wl "at SJSU San Josfl •HAWATI Rara<Nov. 18) ESPN3 •UTAH STATE. LMCTUCM •at SJSU San Joio 'si Nevada •UXJBUMA TECH Ram LATBfTtJa 'HAWAI'I SsnJoM(Oci. 1S> ESPN "at Fresno State Fiwno 'NEVADA Logan •LOUnUNATECH Loytn 'at Bola* Stata - umj 'at Fmno Slate Fraano SanJoM •BOISE STATE Logan 'at Louisiana Toch Busion 'at NMSU Laa Cruces •NEVADA SWIJOM •at Idaho Moscow -FRESNO STATS LnCnjow 'WAC Gome, Shaded dates denote borrw gomes RUNNING BACKS From page 8 rushing. Lesue is excited by the opportunity to play in Dickey's offense. He sees it as an opportunity to step up and contribute a lot to the team from the running back spot. However, an increased workload is one thing that could be a concern, especially since the running backs, as a whole, aren't a big group. Johnson said they are a smaller, "scat-backstyle" group, with Actkinson being the biggest at 6 feet, 217 pounds. "One man can't do the whole thing," Speight said. "A tandem is really important." Lesue agreed. He said a running back by committee approach would allow the running backs to share the beatings and successes. Johnson said although they are smaller, all the backs can catch the ball well out of the backfield. This is a plus because the ball can be dumped off to them and let them create in the open field, he added. Besides being smaller, the group is young too - Lesue is the only upperclassman. Speight isn't worried too much PFJH about his transition though. He played high school football in Texas, which he said prepared him for college. The only adjustment Speight said he had to make was to the faster speed of the college game. Lesue is also making a transition. Although he carried the ball 16 times for 51 yards last year, he spent most of his time as a wide receiver. But Lesue said the transition to running back has been perfectly smooth. He said running back is his natural position, and when Coach Brent Guy asked him which position he'd rather play, he jumped at the chance to play running back. "Running back is kind of where my heart is," he said. Johnson said he feels like Leslie's transition to tailback is going well. He is also pleased with the level of play of all the backs, and said they nave had a lot of success running the ball this spring. "We're on a pretty good pace, and I think we'll keep getting better each practice, and that's what our goal is," he said. Lesue said it was good to have •nHfil someone else to compete with, so they could push each other. Johnson sees this happening too. "The good thing about this is there's a lot of competition at that position, and everybody's giving 100 percent effort and everybody's turning heads," he said. "It takes the level of that position to another notch, and takes their practice ability to another notch. It allows them to know that, 'I'm one play away from possibly being the starter or one play away from not being the starter.'" Everyone involved seems optimistic that the competition this spring will pay off in the long run. "It'll be a battle, and hopefully we will find somebody to man that position going into the fall," Johnson said. Although it hasn't been decided yet who will step up and fill that position, Lesue said he has confidence the running backs will impress a few people. "Honestly, this fall I think we'll make some people turn their heads, look twice, you know," he said. -dabake@rCc.usu.edu PINNACLE APARTMENTS PINNACLE APARTMENTS 764 N. 700 E. OFFICE LOCATED AT: 135 S. Main, Logan UT www.trueaggie.com/pinnade (435) 770-5900 • 1 Block From Campus • Fully Furnished • Washer/Dryer • Gas Utilities Included • Free Storage Units • Wireless Internet Available • $1995 School Year, $395 Summer >. REMEMBERING STINGLEY From page 9 of receivers, especially if there is head-to-he ad-type contact. I think that probably pre-empted some of the things that happened today." Gene Upshaw, who played for the Raiders in that game, got to know Stingley well after the injury. Now executive director of the NFL Players Association, he helped push owners to provide benefits for disabled players: $48,000 in Stingley's time; $225,000 now. "It was one of those things that happens that everyone regrets," Upshaw said. "I know a lot of people in New England think differently, but Jack had no intention of hurting him. I saw him hit people like that a lot of times. That was the way he played." That style made Tatum a symbol of a violent game and he never was able to shed that reputation. He eventually wrote a book titled: "Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum." Stingley, who worked as a consultant for the Patriots, often visited paralyzed patients in hospitals and lived a full life despite his disability. He wrote a book about his experiences entitled "Happy to Be Alive," in 1983, and 10 years later started a nonprofit foundation to help inner-city youth in Chicago, where he grew up and attended Marshall High School. Tatum and Stingley never reconciled. In 1996, they were supposed to meet for a TV appearance, but Stingley called it off after being told it was to publicize Tatum's book. But when he learned that Tatum needed to have part of a leg amputated because of diabetes, he empathized. "You can't, as anuman being, feel happy about something like that happening to another human being," Stingley told the Boston Globe in 2003. "Maybe the natural reaction is to think he got what was coming to him, but I don't accept human nature as our real nature. Human nature teaches us to hate. God teaches us to love." Broadcaster John Madden, the Raiders' coach at the time, remained close to Stingley, visiting him in the hospital daily after the injury. "After the game, when we found out that Darryl was paralyzed, John told him that from now on he was a Raider and we should treat him as one," Upshaw said. During his induction last summer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Maddens thoughts weren't far from Stingley when he said, "We all like to see hard, aggressive play, but you always want the guy to get up." Ten years ago, there was another scare for Stingley and his family when his son, Derek, was hit in the chest during an Arena Football game in Albany, N.Y. He sustained a concussion, but was not seriously hurt. Stingley was raised in Chicago and went to Purdue after starring at John Marshall High School. In 1973, the Patriots made him a first-round draft pick. Just when he got hurt, he seemed ready to become one of the NFLs top receivers. In 1977, he had 39 catches with a 16.8 average and five touchdowns. Those were very good figures in an era when defensive backs were allowed to hit receivers all over the field and linemen couldn't use their hands to block. In 1978, when he was injured, the NFL changed rules to open up the game and enacted new ones that are still in effect _ making a chuck illegal 5 yards past the line of scrimmage and giving linemen more leeway in their blocks. Stingley is survived by his wife, Martine, and three sons, Hank, John and Derek. Funeral services are pending. • GYMNAST From page 8 golf? JP: I suck at golf. I honestly haven't tried to get good at it. I don't even think I've played a whole round of golf. It's gonna take me a while. I enjoy watching Preston, but it's pretty slow. US: Aside from gymnas- tics, which is your favorite sport? JP: None. There's no other sport to really be good at. In high school I did diving, but that's about it. I'm not coordinated with anything with a ball. -sbhislop@cc.usu.edu Obsessed with sports? Cot something on your mind? Tell us about it. Post your sporting views on our online sports forum. : Visit www.utahstatesmari.com/messageboard/ click on "Aggie Sports" and post your comments. GEICO. Ai5-minutecall could save you 15% on car insurance. 1513 N. Hillfield RcL, Suite 3 (8O1) 752-O485 |