National Digest

BCS standings NEW YORK (AP) — Oklahoma is ahead of Texas in the BCS standings and headed to the Big 12 championship game with an inside track to the national title. A three-way tie between Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech atop the Big 12 South standings forced the league to use its fifth tiebreaker, best BCS rating, to determine which team will play Missouri on Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. The Sooners, who lost to Texas 45-35 in October, edged out the Longhorns by a hair. Oklahoma has a .9351 BCS average. Texas’ BCS average is .9223. Oklahoma is a point ahead of Texas in the USA Today coaches’ poll and six points behind the Longhorns in the Harris Interactive. The computer ratings preferred the Sooners and that made the difference. Hicks dies OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police have ruled out foul play in the death of former Iowa State University football player Stevie Hicks. Police say the 25-year-old Hicks was found about 8:30 a.m. Friday on Interstate 480 in the area of the Dodge Street interchange. Hicks was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Police said Saturday that the preliminary investigation and preliminary autopsy results don’t indicate any suspicious circumstances surrounding Hicks’ death. Hicks was the Cyclones’ top rusher for three consecutive seasons. He played in high school at Creighton Prep. ISU changes AMES (AP) — Iowa State football coach Gene Chizik is making big changes to his coaching staff after the Cyclones’ dismal 2-10 season. Chizik has removed his offensive and defensive coordinators and fired two other assistants. Chizik, in a statement released on Sunday, announced that offensive coordinator Robert McFarland and defensive coordinator Wayne Bolt have been removed. Bolt will remain as linebackers coach, while McFarland will retain his role as an assistant coach and remain as the offensive line coach. Chizik dismissed quarterbacks coach Tony Petersen and secondary coach Shawn Raney. Chizik says it’s his responsibility to “evaluate all facets of the program and make whatever changes are necessary.” Iowa State started the season 2-0 before losing 10 straight games. The Cyclones finished 0-8 in the Big 12. NFL report By The Associated Press The holiday weekend was a good time for a road trip. If winning away from home is a predictor of playoff success, count Pittsburgh, Denver and Carolina among the contenders. The Steelers and Broncos ignored wicked weather conditions in impressive victories over AFC East foes, while the Panthers pulled out a wild one in Green Bay, 35-31. There was little home-field advantage Sunday with visiting teams going 10-2. Only Tampa Bay and Minnesota managed to send their fans home happy. In East Rutherford, N.J., Jay Cutler threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns in the Broncos’ 34-17 victory over the New York Jets. Rookie Peyton Hillis rushed for a career-high 129 yards and a score, becoming the first to gain 100 or more yards against New York’s third-ranked run defense. “The thing that really got me going was the ESPN analysis and they were all saying we shouldn’t get off the plane,” Hillis said. “That really got me fired up.” In Foxborough, Mass., Pittsburgh dominated the second half of its 33-10 victory, outscoring the Patriots 23-0. The Steelers had all of their five takeaways and four of their five sacks after halftime, giving up 81 yards to a team that had gained more than 500 in each of its two previous games. “We heard a lot of talk about it being a rivalry,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said. “It hasn’t been much of a rivalry until you win some. That’s what we talked about coming up here.” In other NFL games, it was: Miami 16, St. Louis 12; the New York Giants 23, Washington 7; San Francisco 10, Buffalo 3; Baltimore 34, Cincinnati 3; Indianapolis 10, Cleveland 6; Tampa Bay 23, New Orleans 20; Atlanta 22, San Diego 16; Kansas City 20, Oakland 13; and Minnesota 34, Chicago 14. BICYCLING With the first training camp of his comeback set to start, Lance Armstrong guaranteed the drug-testing program he arranged with America’s top anti-doping expert will be in place by the time he rides in his first official race in January. The seven-time Tour de France winner starts training with his new team Monday without having subjected himself to drug tests by the expert he teamed with, Don Catlin, and with no deal in place to post results of those tests online. But in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Armstrong said the goal was not to have the program in place by this week, but by the time he rides in Australia in January. When Armstrong announced his comeback earlier this year, he partnered with Catlin to set up a testing program. Catlin said it was important to make those results available to the public. Catlin told the AP this weekend that while Armstrong has been placed back in the testing pools at both the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and UCI, cycling’s international body, he has yet to test him and an agreement to document Armstrong’s results online is not in place. PRO BASKETBALL NEW YORK (AP) — New York Knicks president Donnie Walsh said Stephon Marbury’s situation has “spiraled down,” but provided no solution Saturday for how the team will part ways with the disgruntled point guard. Walsh suspended Marbury for Saturday’s game against Golden State because the Knicks said Marbury refused to play Wednesday night in a loss at Detroit. The Knicks also docked his pay from that night, with the penalties costing Marbury nearly $400,000. Walsh said he would probably talk to Marbury and his representation from the players’ association Monday to address a stalemate that turned ugly this week. Walsh has said he’s opposed to buyouts and agreed that it’s difficult to trade Marbury because of his salary of approximately $21 million. Marbury isn’t part of coach Mike D’Antoni’s plans and has been on the inactive list most of the season. However, D’Antoni twice asked Marbury if he would play when the Knicks were seriously undermanned. PRO FOOTBALL LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Announced one last time as the “starting free safety” for the Washington Redskins, Sean Taylor was inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame before Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. With his mother, father, girlfriend and daughter huddled under umbrellas near the center of the field, Taylor’s name was unveiled on the upper-level facade of FedEx Field, joining 42 other Redskins greats. Running back Clinton Portis, Taylor’s close friend, ran onto the field carrying a large burgundy flag with a gold No. 21. The game, won by the Giants 23-7, was the first following the one-year anniversary of Taylor’s death. He was shot in his Florida home last Nov. 26 and died a day later. Taylor’s No. 21 was painted in burgundy on a white background at midfield, where the Redskins logo normally lies. COLLEGE FOOTBALL KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lane Kiffin will become Tennessee’s next coach, two days after Phillip Fulmer’s 17-season tenure ended with a grand and victorious send-off. Kiffin, the former Oakland Raiders coach, will be introduced at a news conference Monday. Kiffin, 33, replaces Fulmer, who was forced out after 17 seasons as Vols coach. Fulmer won a national championship in 1998 and two Southeastern Conference titles but had two losing seasons in the last five years, including a 5-7 mark this year. Kiffin was the youngest coach in the NFL’s modern history when hired to lead the Raiders in January 2007 at age 31 after spending two seasons as Southern California’s recruiting and offensive coordinator. The former backup Fresno State quarterback had a rocky relationship with Oakland owner Al Davis, who fired him Sept. 30 for what he said was insubordination after Kiffin went 5-15 with the Raiders. BASEBALL MEXICO CITY (AP) — New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez was in the Mexican capital on the same weekend Madonna was performing there — but it wasn’t immediately known if the All-Star third baseman and the pop star met while in Mexico City. When asked what he thought about being in the city at the same time as Madonna, Rodriguez said it was “very good,” without elaborating. Rodriguez spent two hours Sunday teaching kids to bat at a new sports center built on a landfill in the poor suburb of Nezahualcoyotl. Rodriguez and his wife divorced in September, months after he made tabloid headlines for a rumored, but denied, dalliance with Madonna. Less than four weeks later, Madonna and filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie announced their own split after nearly eight years of marriage. A-Rod was invited to inaugurate the sports center by Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, whose Telmex Foundation sponsored its construction. The site includes two baseball diamonds and 25 soccer fields. PRO HOCKEY TORONTO (AP) — Brian Burke took over as president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. He got a six-year deal, worth a reported $3 million annually, to replace interim GM Cliff Fletcher — who took over after John Ferguson was fired in January. Burke spent the past three-plus seasons managing the Anaheim Ducks, leading them to a Stanley Cup title in 2007. He stepped down from the post Nov. 13 after declining to sign a contract extension that would take him beyond this season. During previous management stops in Hartford, Vancouver and Anaheim, the 53-year-old has been unafraid to make bold moves, though he has no plans to make any immediately with the Leafs. There were no timetable offered for turning around a club that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2004 or specifics on how he planned to bring the city its first Stanley Cup championship since 1967.