Boston College is moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Eagles are getting an early look at where they are headed.
The 25th-ranked Eagles can extend their bowl winning streak to five games today when they meet North Carolina in the Continental Tire Bowl.
Boston College (8-3) narrowly missed reaching a Bowl Championship Series in its final season in the Big East.
North Carolina (6-5) is making its first bowl appearance since a 16-10 win over Auburn in the 2001 Peach Bowl. The Tar Heels have won their last five bowl games.
North Carolina was 1-5 against ranked foes, including non-conference losses to No. 5 Utah and No. 7 Louisville.
This is the third meeting between the teams, which split matchups in 1981 and 1984.
New Mexico is having its most successful three-year run and Navy is enjoying its best two-year span. A bowl victory will be another step in one team's rise.
The Lobos try to extend a five-game winning streak today when they meet the Midshipmen in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.
New Mexico (7-4) is making a third straight bowl appearance for the first time in school history. The Lobos are seeking their first bowl win since a 28-12 victory over Western Michigan in the 1961 Aviation Bowl.
Navy (9-2) is playing in back-to-back bowl games for the second time in its history.
The Midshipmen's 17 wins in that span are their most in any two-year stretch.
Navy is seeking just its second 10-win season and first since the 1905 team went 10-1-1.
With its only loss coming against the nation's top-ranked team, California could be disappointed with a bid to the Holiday Bowl when it thought it was headed to the Rose Bowl.
But the fourth-ranked Golden Bears will try to put that disappointment aside and focus on getting the first 11-win season in school history when they face Texas Tech tonight at Qualcomm Stadium.
California (10-1) has won seven straight games since a 23-17 road loss to No. 1 Southern California.
California features one of the best offenses in the nation and perhaps the most underrated player in tailback J.J. Arrington.
Texas Tech is 7-19-1 all-time in bowl games and is meeting California for the first time.
The Golden Bears are 6-7-1 in bowl games.
Northern Illinois hasn't been to a bowl game in 21 years. Troy's postseason drought is longer.
In arguably this season's most unlikely postseason matchup, Northern Illinois will look to ground out a victory against Troy's very opportunistic defense when the teams meet tonight at Spartan Stadium in the Silicon Valley Classic.
While Northern Illinois (8-3) hasn't played in a bowl since beating Cal State-Fullerton in the California Bowl in 1983, this will be the first postseason appearance for Troy (7-4) since moving to the Division I-A level four years ago.
This will be the first meeting between the schools.
Minnesota is trying to salvage a disappointing end to its season. The same goes for Alabama.
The Golden Gophers and Crimson Tide will try to finish up on a positive note when they meet Friday in the Music City Bowl.
Minnesota and Alabama are both 6-5. The Crimson Tide qualified for their NCAA-record 52nd bowl appearance and first since 2001.
The 5-0 starts put together by Purdue and Arizona State seem long forgotten. At least the Boilermakers still have their star quarterback for the finish.
Two squads that once seemed headed for bigger things will end their seasons at the Sun Bowl on Friday when Kyle Orton leads Purdue against the 21st-ranked Sun Devils.
Louisville and Boise State are worthy of matching up in the Bowl Championship Series.
Instead, the Liberty Bowl gets the honor of hosting the country's two highest-scoring teams on Friday when the seventh-ranked Cardinals try to spoil the No. 10 Broncos' perfect season.
Louisville (10-1) averaged more than 50 points and 537 yards of total offense per game
Boise State (11-0) owns the nation's longest winning streak at 22 games. The Broncos averaged 49.7 points and 512 yards of offense to rank second nationally to Louisville.
Boise State is 4-0 in bowl games over the last six seasons, including a 34-31 home win over Louisville in the 1999 Humanitarian Bowl in the only previous meeting between the teams.
Miami is closing an 8-3 season. Florida is getting ready to open the Urban Meyer era.
That means Gators fans are probably the most excited for a game between a pair of rivals and traditional powers who didn't even reach a New Year's Day bowl.
The teams head north to Atlanta to meet in Friday's Peach Bowl.
Miami has won the last five meetings, though the teams didn't play after 1987 until the Sugar Bowl matchup four years ago. The Hurricanes lead the series 27-25.
The Hurricanes are 17-13 in bowls. The Gators are 14-17, having lost two straight and four of five.
The real feast begins today.
Six bowls, count'em, six bowls. Three of the six will be played in the sunshine state of Florida.
The Cotton, Outback, Gator, Capital One, Fiesta and the grand daddy of all the bowl games, the Rose.
Tennessee and Texas A&M will start New Year's Day in the Cotton Bowl on Fox while Wisconsin and Georgia will vye for viewers in the Outback Bowl on ESPN.
Both games begin at 11 a.m.
At half past the noon hour, Florida (wide right) State and West Virginia kick off in the Gator Bowl and 30 minutes later, it will be Iowa and LSU in the Capital One Bowl.
The next kickoff time is 5 p.m., when Michigan and Texas meet in the Rose Bowl.
Utah and Pittsburgh will conclude Saturday's Bowl feast in the Fiesta Bowl at 8:30 p.m.
Whew! Sunday is a day of rest.
by FRED CONLEY
A quick look back at local sports in 2004 revealed an interesting year. Looking back was necessary for me, because with each passing year, my memory grows a little shorter. So reviewing has become a favorite past time for me.
I found several stories that could be judged the local story of the year, but when you make that decision, here comes that big ole can of worms -- so I won't.
What I did notice in 2004 was the number of coaching changes within the Forrest City School District. In 2004 we quite possibly saw more coaching changes locally than in any year in recent memory. (keeping in mind what I have already said about my memory.)
Former Forrest City Lady Mustang basketball coach Sue Jayroe was the first to make a move when she resigned from that position after four seasons.
Shortly after that, Lady Mustang fast pitch softball coach Amber Main (also Jayroe's basketball assistant) stepped down after two seasons with the softball team and also gave up the basketball position.
On the heels of Main's resignation, long-time Forrest City coach Jimmy Williams announced his retirement after a 34-year coaching career that included stops at all three St. Francis County school districts. Sadly, just 29 days shy of his official retirement date, Williams suffered an apparent heart attack and died.
Jacky England and his wife, Pam, were immediately thrust into new roles. The husband-wife coaching team, who were beginning their second year with the district, quickly filled two of the vacancies when Jacky replaced Jayroe as the Lady Mustang coach and his wife, Pam, was named the new softball head coach. Each assisted the other during the respective seasons.
Monty Thornton, who had assisted Jayroe and Main with the senior girls, did not return to that position, but remained as an assistant with the football team.
With Jacky in place with the varsity girls and the loss of Williams, the district had to fill both junior high basketball head coaching slots. A pair of newcomers to the district, Chris McManners and Chris Houser were hired -- McManners taking over the junior girls basketball program and Houser, the junior boys. Sonny Shields retained his position as an assistant to Houser while the district went out and found yet another Chris to hire -- this time bringing in former Palestine-Wheatley coach Chris Kennon to help with junior high football and to assist McManners.
Reggie Murphy, after four seasons as head coach of the Mustang baseball team, was the next to depart, resigning at the conclusion of the 2004 season. Murphy, who showed the district more moves than John Travolta on a Saturday night, had his sights set on becoming head track coach, replacing Clark McBride who had weathered one season.
At the 11th hour, Murphy not only decided not to take the track position, he also stepped down from his assistant football position to go into administration, becoming an assistant principal at the high school.
Robbie Mossman, fresh out of college and accepting his first coaching position, was hired as the new Forrest City baseball coach and also took over the seventh-grade football program.
Murphy's long time assistant, Chuck Sartin, also stepped away from the baseball diamond, but remains as an assistant with the Mustang football team.
Are you keepin' up?
Another long time Forrest City coach, John Burgess was also making a decision -- to step away as head coach of the golf team. He was replaced by Wally Rauth.
While all of the above coaching changes were certainly noteworthy, Forrest City saved it's biggest coaching change for last, when Donnie Willis announced in early December, he was resigning after six seasons as head coach of the Mustang football team.
The announcement wasn't entirely unexpected as Willis had been under fire for the past two seasons.
Willis, who coached track and junior high football before taking over the senior football program, will stay for the remainder of the school year -- stepping back into his track coaching shoes taking over the Mustang track program once again this year.
What the future beyond this school year holds for Willis is still anybody's guess.
The only Forrest City head coaches not affected by change in 2004, were Mustang basketball coach Dwight Lofton, Junior Mustang football head coach Rich Trail and senior girls track and cross country coach Lewis Etheridge.
Of course, there were many, many other local sports headlines in 2004, but the coaching carousel at Forrest City managed to grab those headlines almost on a daily basis.
Okay, time for a quick review.
The Mustang basketball team is off to an 8-1 start -- best ever in the nine years under Lofton.
Forrest City is the preseason favorites to win the AAAAA-East Conference and are highly ranked in two state wide polls -- No. 3 by KTHV Channel 11 and No. 8 by Arkansas Prep Hoops.
With a pair of sophomores who are certainly destined for D1 status, why is there no Mustang Spirit in place for the basketball team?
Come on Forrest City, let's show some support for another sport besides just football.