SPORTS - James, No. 6 Oregon run past No. 3 Stanford 53-30 (AP)

SPORTS - James, No. 6 Oregon run past No. 3 Stanford 53-30 (AP)

AP – Oregon running back LaMichael James (21) celebrates with teammate Rahsaan Vaughn, right, after scoring …

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ, AP Sports Writer Antonio Gonzalez, Ap Sports Writer – 2 hrs 19 mins ago

STANFORD, Calif. – LaMichael James ran for 146 yards and three touchdowns and No. 6 Oregon sprinted past third-ranked Stanford 53-30 on Saturday night, giving Andrew Luck's Heisman Trophy campaign a blemish and taking a giant step toward hosting the inaugural Pac-12 championship.

James ran for scores from 1, 4 and 58 yards and had Stanford (9-1, 7-1) defenders slipping all over a slick field. The Ducks (9-1, 7-0) ended the nation's best winning streak at 17 games — which the Cardinal began after a loss in Eugene more than a year ago — and can clinch the league's North Division crown over Stanford with a win in one of their final two games.

Luck threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions and a fumble. Stanford had five total turnovers.

The Quack Attack just has Luck's number.

Oregon's no-huddle, spread-option ended any hopes of Stanford's first national championship. Instead, the Ducks are suddenly back in the BCS title mix after rolling off their ninth straight victory — and first against a top-five team on the road team — since a season-opening loss against top-ranked LSU.

Darron Thomas threw for 155 yards and three touchdowns to anchor one big-play burst after another. He tossed scores of 59 yards to Josh Huff and 41 yards to De'Anthony Thomas to leave sold-out Stanford Stadium stunned and silent.

The Cardinal did little with the few mistakes Oregon made.

James muffed a punt that and gave Stanford a chance at the Oregon 34. The Ducks quickly stifled Stanford again, and Eric Whitaker missed a 48-yard field badly right.

When the Cardinal got the ball back, Isaac Remington smashed Luck and forced the quarterback to fumble. Oregon recovered and James followed with a 4-yard score on fourth-and-2 to give the Ducks a commanding 36-16 lead in the third quarter.

All the Luck in the world couldn't bring Stanford back.

The two offenses traded scores until Boseko Lokombo intercepted a pass by Luck and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to give the Ducks a 53-30 lead. Luck dived for the tackle at the goal line and got planted in the grass.

Too late again.

While a pair of the nation's highest-scoring offenses showed imperfections, Oregon pounced on the mistakes and ran away with points each time.

Dewitt Stuckey also intercepted a pass by Luck that setup the Ducks' first score, a 4-yard touchdown pass from Darron Thomas to Lavasier Tuinei that started an avalanche of Oregon offense.

James ran through the middle untouched for a 58-yard touchdown to extend Oregon's lead to 15-6 early in the second quarter. The Ducks threatened to pad their lead again until Delano Howell, with a cast around his right hand, punched the ball loose from Kenjon Barner and Stanford recovered.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly gambled all night and his offense made him look good.

On fourth-and-7 from the Stanford 41, De'Anthony Thomas took a short pass and raced down the sideline for a 41-yard TD that pushed Oregon in front 22-9 late in the first half. With the Ducks again about to make the game a rout, Luck answered in impressive fashion.

He led an eight-play, 84-yard drive capped by a threaded 13-yard TD pass to Whalen for the second time. The crucial score with 24 seconds remaining in the half trimmed Oregon's lead to 22-16.

It was the first time Stanford trailed at the half since at Notre Dame in 2009, when the Cardinal were down 24-20. Stanford rallied for a 45-38 win in South Bend.

No comeback this time.

___

Follow Antonio Gonzalez at: http://www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

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SPORTS - TCU upsets No. 5 Boise St 36-35 (AP)

SPORTS - TCU upsets No. 5 Boise St 36-35 (AP)

AP – Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore reacts after losing to 36-35 to TCU in an NCAA college football …

By TODD DVORAK, Associated Press Todd Dvorak, Associated Press – Sat Nov 12, 8:42 pm ET

BOISE, Idaho – Casey Pachall threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Carter with 1:05 left, then connected with Josh Boyce on the go-ahead 2-point conversion, and Boise State's Dan Goodale booted a 39-yard field-goal attempt wide right as time expired to give TCU a 36-35 victory against the fifth-ranked Broncos on Saturday.

Pachall threw for 473 yards and tossed long scores of 75, 74 and 69 yards in the first half. But his most important throws came in the final minutes when he rallied the Horned Frogs (8-2, 5-0 Mountain West) to a stunning victory that spoiled any Boise State hopes of playing for a national title.

The loss also snapped Boise State's 35-game home winning streak, which had been the nation's longest.

The Broncos were in control in the final minutes and driving into field goal range when backup running back Drew Wright fumbled at the TCU 27-yard line with 2:26 remaining.

Pachall took over, calmly marching TCU down the field before connecting with Carter, who leaped over a defender to make the grab in the end zone and pull TCU within 36-35 with 1:05 remaining.

TCU coach Gary Patterson made a gutsy call, opting to put the game in Pachall's hands and go for the lead instead of the tie. It worked. Pachall tossed a short pass to Josh Boyce, who fought his way into the end zone, putting TCU up 36-35 and quieting a raucous Bronco Stadium crowd.

Boise State (8-1, 3-1) and Kellen Moore made a final run.

With the help of a pass interference penalty on fourth down, Moore drove the Broncos down the field in the final minute and put the Broncos in position to win with a field goal. But Goodale's kick was way wide.

For the second year in a row, Boise State's run at a perfect season has been done in by a missed field goal. Last year, Broncos' kicker Kyle Brotzman missed twice from short range — once at the end of regulation and again in overtime — in a loss at Nevada.

After Goodale's kick sailed right, TCU players stormed the field to celebrate a win that clears the path for the Horned Frogs to win the Mountain West Conference title in their final year with the league.

TCU has now won a league record 22 straight games against conference foes and set an MWC record with 12 straight conference road wins.

The game — the first and last conference matchup between these two perennial BCS busters — was a back-and-forth battle from the start, with Boise State jumping out in front early and TCU storming back to take a 20-14 lead at the half.

Moore was 28-of-38 passing for 320 yards and two touchdowns. He led a Boise State offense that rolled up 446 total yards, including 125 rushing yards from D.J. Harper.

The Horned Frogs amassed 506 total yards.

Pachall hit Josh Boyce on a 74-yard touchdown on their second possession to tie the game 7-7.

Two possessions later, Pachall fired a 75-yard touchdown to Carter to go up 14-7. The next time TCU got the ball, Pachall struck again, this time tossing a 69-yard strike to Boyce, who had three touchdown catches on the day.

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SPORTS - After week's turmoil Penn State finally plays (AP)

SPORTS - After week's turmoil Penn State finally plays (AP)

AP – Penn State and Nebraska players gather at midfield for a pre-game prayer before an NCAA college football …

By NANCY ARMOUR, AP National Writer Nancy Armour, Ap National Writer – 2 hrs 1 min ago

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Penn State players left the field with their heads bowed, the fans mostly silent.

A lifetime worth of emotions was crammed into the past week. Shock, rage, regret and, now, exhaustion. The child sex-abuse scandal involving former assistant Jerry Sandusky cost Joe Paterno his job and, no doubt, scarred Penn State's soul.

A football game on a brilliant autumn afternoon won't erase it.

It was, however, a start.

"We've had better weeks in our lives, obviously," Paterno's son Jay, the quarterbacks coach, said after No. 12 Penn State's 17-14 loss to No. 19 Nebraska on Saturday. "The world's kind of turned upside down, but I think our kids were resilient."

The game was a combination of pep rally, cleansing and tribute, a way to acknowledge the past and take a step into the future. Affection for Penn State and Paterno was abundantly visible from players, fans and, yes, coaches. So was support for abuse victims, the kind of empathy many felt was missing in the days after news of the scandal broke.

Beaver Stadium was awash in blue — the color associated with child-abuse prevention — and public-service announcements flashed on the scoreboard throughout the game. A fund-raising campaign for abuse-prevention charities at the stadium gates raised more than $22,000.

In one of the most poignant moments in a week filled with lurid allegations, Nebraska and Penn State players gathered at midfield and knelt for a moment while Cornhuskers running backs coach Ron Brown offered a prayer.

"It felt like we all banded together. And it wasn't just about football," said Melissa Basinger, a 2005 Penn State grad who made the trip from Charlotte, N.C. "It was about coming together as a school, and showing the country, world or whatever that this does not define who we are."

Sandusky, once considered Paterno's heir apparent, is charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year span, with several of the alleged assaults occurring on Penn State property. Two university officials are charged with perjury, and Paterno and president Graham Spanier were fired for not doing enough after Sandusky was accused of molesting a young boy in the showers of the campus football complex in 2002.

The scandal would be damaging enough to anyone who prides himself on integrity. That it involved Paterno, major college football's winningest coach and the man who'd come to symbolize all that was good at Penn State, made it that much worse.

Though he was not at Beaver Stadium for the game — Jay Paterno joked that maybe he was out mowing the lawn — it took a while to get used to not seeing JoePa on the sideline, pacing back and forth, hands jammed in the pockets of his trademark blue windbreaker, watching the game unfold through those Coke-bottle glasses.

Students seemed almost afraid to acknowledge his absence, unsure how to react to having someone else in charge of the team for the first time in 46 seasons. But when Paterno appeared on the scoreboard as part of a video montage for Nittany Lion seniors — it was Senior Day — they let loose with gusto.

"Joe Pa-ter-no!" they chanted, clapping in rhythm.

No one felt the absence of the 84-year-old more keenly than his son, Jay, who choked up during a postgame interview.

"Dad, I wish you were here," he said, walking away from the cameras before the tears began to flow.

When the team arrived at the stadium, the normally low-key son pumped his fist and shouted, "Let's go!" as he followed the starting quarterback off the bus, just as his father always did. The younger Paterno high-fived passers-by on the way into the stadium, and several staffers gave him an encouraging embrace before he entered the locker room.

After the game, he shared a few details of a letter he'd dropped off at his parents' house earlier in the day. In it, he told his larger-than-life father all the things he'd never found the words to say before.

"I said, `You and I, in my life, haven't always seen eye to eye. But generally speaking, it's (because) I had to grow up, to catch up to make eye contact with you,'" Jay Paterno recalled. "There were a lot of lessons that I learned from him."

At Joe Paterno's house nearby, a small clutch of TV cameras and reporters stood outside. Two people walked to the door, rang the bell and left when no one answered. On the lawn was a pair of homemade signs facing the house. One said, "We Love You Joe, Thank You" and the other, "Thanks Joe."

A small American flag was planted nearby.

"There's not going to be closure anytime soon," said Brandon Hewitt, a senior from York, Pa. "I feel horrible what happened to the kids. I feel bad for what happened about Joe. But today was about football, and it was heartwarming to see the university rally around a terrible time."

___

Associated Press reporters Michael Rubinkam and Genaro C. Armas in State College contributed to this report.

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SPORTS - Worsham tops Top Fuel field at NHRA Finals (AP)

SPORTS - Worsham tops Top Fuel field at NHRA Finals (AP)

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SPORTS - Stern: 'Greedy' agents hurting chances of NBA deal (AP)

SPORTS - Stern: 'Greedy' agents hurting chances of NBA deal (AP)

AP – National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern speaks during a news conference alongside fellow …

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney, Ap Basketball Writer – 2 hrs 36 mins ago

NEW YORK – Commissioner David Stern blamed "greedy" NBA agents Saturday for trying to scuttle a new labor deal and believes they are trying to push their clients into a "losing strategy" of decertification.

And Stern says neither the threat of that process nor any request from the union will change the league's negotiating position, repeating that there would be no further discussions about the revised proposal it offered Thursday. If players don't accept it, Stern reiterated that he would move to the harsher proposal that is waiting.

Stern is aware of the numerous comments from players criticizing the proposal, and fears they aren't getting the proper information about its contents because agents worry it will cost themselves money.

"By some combination of mendacity and greed, the agents who are looking out for themselves rather than their clients are trying to scuttle the deal," Stern said in a phone interview. "They're engaged in what appears to be an orchestrated Twitter campaign and a series of interviews that are designed to deny the economic realities of the proposal."

Player representatives will meet Monday and decide if they should put it to a vote. The indication Thursday from union leaders was that they weren't impressed with it, and a number of players have since been quoted saying they would shoot down the deal.

Stern said that's because the agents want them to, not because it's a bad offer.

"No one talks about the rise in compensation under the deal, no one talks about the amount of money being spent," Stern said. "I just think that the players aren't getting the information, the true information from their agents, who are banding together, sort of the coalition of the greedy and the mendacious, to do whatever they can not to have fewer opportunities for the agents to make money."

The revised proposal, though still far short of what the players had in the former collective bargaining agreement, offered some improvements over the one players said Tuesday they would reject. It increased the "mini" midlevel exception for teams over the luxury tax to $3 million annually for three years, allowed taxpayers to take part in sign-and-trades for the first two years, and added another midlevel for teams under the salary cap.

It still may not be good enough, and players are already discussing decertifying the union so they can file an antitrust lawsuit against the league instead. Stern said neither that, nor the union disclaiming as NFL players did, would give the players they leverage they seek.

And because it's a lengthy process, it would likely kill any hopes for a 2011-12 season.

"Yes, I am worried," Stern said, "because they're talking up this thing called decertification which is not a winning strategy on the one hand. On the second hand, it'll take three months to teach them it's not a winning strategy, which would not augur well for the season.

The agents misunderstand it and all it does is delay things. They themselves think that if the players decertify, then the league will change its offer. And that will not happen as a result of decertification. It's a losing strategy for them."

Stern again said there would be no further discussion about the revised proposal. Should players reject it, the next proposal calls for a 53-47 revenue split in favor of the owners, a flex cap with a hard ceiling, and salary rollbacks.

Stern said the proposal was delivered to the union Friday. Union leaders have been criticized for not getting the details of it out to players in time to prepare them for an educated vote.

"They say they are done negotiating. If we really are at that point, the players need to see exactly what is on the table — not the internet, not Twitter — and see exactly in writing, this is the proposal," one agent said.

Should players accept the deal, a 72-game season would start Dec. 15. Stern said he hoped the season could be saved, but added that he wasn't sure what to believe because "the agents are trying to do their best to bring it down."

And if Stern were running the meeting Monday, he knows what he would tell the player reps.

"This is our only shot to get a 72-game season starting on Dec 15. Take the deal, let's go back and play basketball," he said.

___

AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: twitter.com/Briancmahoney

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SPORTS - Smith makes 31 saves, Coyotes beat Sharks 3-0 (AP)

SPORTS - Smith makes 31 saves, Coyotes beat Sharks 3-0 (AP)

• Play Video Olympics Video:Two Fairchild air men receive Bronze Star medals KREM.com Spokane/Coeur d'Alene
• Play Video Olympics Video:Football schools aim to rebuild Cameroon prowess AFP
• Play Video Olympics Video:‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier dies of liver cancer WHAS TV11 Louisville

By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Danica Kirka, Associated Press – Fri Nov 11, 1:05 pm ET

LONDON – The meter is running: Taxi fares may be going up during the Summer Olympics when demand is likely to be at an all-time high.

Drivers of London's black cabs are asking city transportation authorities to let them increase fares by about 20 percent during the Olympics next year.

Transport for London said Friday an association that represents the drivers asked for the increase in order to encourage their members to work during the games. No decision has been made on the request, which will be reviewed by the Transport for London board.

The move comes amid building worries about transportation during the July 27-Aug. 12 games. London's roads are strained at the best of times, and critics worry that adding tens of thousands of tourists will lead to traffic gridlock.

Bob Oddy, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, said that those concerns are prompting black cab drivers to opt to take their vacations during the games. A bit of incentive might lure them back to the streets.

"Our drivers are saying ... 'I'm just going to be stuck in traffic,'" he said.

Oddy noted that British transport authorities have already awarded subway train drivers extra cash for working erratic hours during the Olympics. The city's 3,500 drivers will receive a one-time payment of 500 pounds ($790) for agreeing to have their normal schedules disrupted during the games. They will also receive overtime pay for the extra hours they work.

London transport officials stress that they've been planning for this for years, that they often handle large events and that they are skilled at managing London's daily traffic patterns.

Without concessions, Oddy said Londoners may find it hard to hail a cab.

Unwilling to let the London Olympics go down in history as a transport disaster, city transport officials have been working to bolster the burdened transport system to withstand the strain of the games. Authorities have invested around 6.5 billion pounds ($10.2 billion) in upgrading and extending transport links ahead of the games, including important additions to rail lines.

But even that investment can do little to change the streets themselves, which are laid out in a pattern relatively unchanged since medieval times. London has only a handful of thoroughfares, and even those are nothing like the great boulevards that traverse cities like New York and Paris.

Mindful of troubles that dogged previous games — particularly the Atlanta Olympics — transport officials have earmarked some lanes of traffic specifically for Olympic use. The lanes are intended to make certain that athletes, officials and other VIPs make it to the games on time.

London's famous cabbies depend on those roads for a living and have been agitating for greater access to the lanes.

London's black cab drivers charge between 5.20 pounds and 8.20 pounds ($8.20 and $13) for a single mile journey during business hours.

London ranks in the top tier of most expensive cab rides in the world, according to a survey conducted by the "price of travel" website, which put Zurich at the top among 72 big cities.

A cab ride from London's Heathrow Airport to the city center can cost as much as 80 pounds ($127).

London's Evening Standard was quick to argue in an editorial Friday that cabbies already made enough money — and that the demands amounted to "ransom."

"To add to the cost of fares so heftily during the games will hardly help London's image as a tourist destination." the newspaper said.

In addition to black cabs — which pedestrians can flag down — London also has dial-a-cabs.

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SPORTS - Column: One star who never made it to the stadium (AP)

SPORTS - Column: One star who never made it to the stadium (AP)

AP – People place a sign outside the home of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno after the Nittany …

By JIM LITKE, AP Sports Columnist Jim Litke, Ap Sports Columnist – Sat Nov 12, 7:46 pm ET

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Games are supposed to be about the guys who show up.

Not this one.

Penn State didn't lose 17-14 Saturday to Nebraska just because Joe Paterno wasn't there. Or because the Nittany Lions were emotionally exhausted or lacking effort after one of the most trying weeks any football team has had to withstand.

They lost this particular game because they were offensively inept, something that was a problem even when Joe was around. Penn State won eight of its previous 10 games mostly because of a stout defense and good luck than almost anything he did. It won because of a few rugged goal-line stands late and the occasional game-tying field goal clanking off the upright.

Paterno set the tone for the team, but he's been more a CEO than head coach for several seasons. Now he's out of a job, pushed aside after 46 seasons in the wake of a scandal that erupted a week ago, when former longtime assistant and one-time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky was charged with serial child sex-abuse.

The team decided to mark his absence by leaving the first seat on the bus empty for the ride to Beaver Stadium. Asked where its usual occupant would be spending the day, Jay Paterno, Joe's son and Penn State's quarterbacks coach, replied, "Who knows?

"Maybe he's out cutting the grass," Jay added, then thought about it some more. "I doubt it. He can't now. There are 800 media cameras."

From a practical standpoint, the Nittany Lions probably missed receivers coach Mike McQueary even more. Most weeks, McQueary is down on the field, signaling the plays he gets over his headset from offensive coordinator Galen Hall and Jay Paterno up in the press box, then making sure the personnel group in the huddle matches the call.

This Saturday, McQueary was at an undisclosed location because he had received threats, yet one more unforeseen consequence of the events of the past week. McQueary was a 28-year-old grad assistant in March, 2002, when he walked into the team's locker room one night to grab some game film, heard noises coming from the shower and headed in that direction. He would later tell a grand jury that he saw Sandusky assaulting a boy of about 10.

Like Joe Paterno, McQueary has been vilified for not doing more to stop an alleged sexual predator though, so far, he's been placed on administrative leave and not fired. Unsettling as it must have been for his fellow coaches and players to find out Friday night — via a conference call — that McQueary wasn't going to be with them, they missed him even more on the very first play.

Interim head coach Tom Bradley scrambled to come up with something simple to open the game — a fullback dive, Joe's bread-and-butter play — and who knows how many fans assumed it was some kind of tribute. It wasn't.

"We had a little bit on confusion early," conceded Bradley, who didn't begin preparing for his new job until he received a call from new school president Rod Erickson late Wednesday night.

Jay Paterno assumed McQueary's duties on the sideline, in addition to his regular role calling the pass plays. After that rocky start, he settled down by remembering something his father said.

"Joe was always telling us about `the blue line of practice.' When you cross the blue line, the only thing you can control is what you're doing right there," Jay recalled." So we just had to imagine there was a blue line coming into this stadium and once we were here, we were focused on the task at hand. Just a little short."

Afterward, he talked about dropping a letter off at his parents' house earlier in the day, including a line that read, "Dad, I wish you were here."

So did plenty of others by day's end.

Joe Paterno's real value to Penn State football hasn't been as a strategist or taskmaster for some time now. Instead, he's been its institutional memory. An illustration of that came earlier in the week, when Paterno's future became the focal point of a debate and former Nittany Lion and current Chicago Bears defender Anthony Adams weighed in.

He told the story of being one minute late for practice one day and having Paterno lecture him. The coach explained that Adams might have only been a minute late, but because there were 120 players on the team, he actually wasted 120 minutes. The point was it's not just things that determine success or failure; sometimes you have to sweat the small stuff, too.

"At the time you're just going, `Why you keep naggin' and naggin'?' " Adams said. "But, I mean, you don't realize the type of impact they have on your life until you leave."

Jack Ham, the perennial NFL All-Pro linebacker who retired from the Steelers in 1982, has been gone from Penn State for a lot longer. On his way out of Saturday's game, he stopped to confirm that message.

"I'll get around to calling Joe soon, but he's gone through a lot lately," he said. "I'm pretty sure when I do, though, one thing I'll hear is how much he wishes everybody would quit saying they're going to miss him."

___

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org. Follow him at http://Twitter.com/JimLitke.

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