College Sports

The LSU Tigers were left for dead the day after Thanksgiving, their title hopes seemingly over following an overtime loss to Arkansas. But the Tigers are celebrating their second BCS championship in five years after rolling to a 38-24 win last night over Ohio State at New Orleans.

AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn quarterback Blake Field will transfer to Valdosta State for his senior season in a final bid for playing time. Field, a career backup to Brandon Cox, asked Auburn last night for a release from his scholarship to play his fifth season for the Division II national champions.

North Carolina is once again the top team in the weekly Associated Press men's top-25 college basketball poll. The Tar Heels, who survived their first real test of the year yesterday with a win over Clemson, received 46 first-place votes while second-ranked Memphis got 25 and third-ranked Kansas one. Rounding out the top-five are Washington State and UCLA.

Just days after losing in a bowl game, Hawaii has lost football coach June Jones. He has agreed to a five-year deal worth about two million dollars a year to take over the program at SMU. His agent, Leigh Steinberg, has confirmed the move.

Shuffling off the court with heads down, the seventh-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs got reacquainted with an old, bad feeling. Amber Harris scored 19 points and Ta'Shia Phillips added 16 on Sunday, a balanced attack that helped Xavier pull away to a 65-55 victory over the previously unbeaten Lady Bulldogs.

Top-ranked Ohio State gets another shot at a Southeastern Conference team in a bowl game Monday night when it faces No. 2 LSU in the BCS national championship game. The Buckeyes have lost eight previous meetings with SEC teams, including last year when underdog Florida romped to a 41-14 victory to win the national crown.

Georgia center Rashaad Singleton did not accompany the team to Spokane, Wash., for Saturday night's game against Gonzaga and plans to leave the team and transfer to another school.

Kirston Pittman can't feel sorry for himself. Not now. A cyst in his right foot and a torn left Achilles tendon, which cost LSU's standout defensive end two lost seasons of pain and disappointment, have in the long run provided a rare gift. Pittman has a chance to win a second BCS championship with LSU when the Tigers take on Ohio State in the Louisiana Superdome on Monday night.

Calvin Henry made a jumper as time expired to lift Mercer to a 77-75 win over Kennesaw State in overtime on Saturday night. The Owls (2-12, 0-1 Atlantic Sun Conference) tied the game at 66-all in the second half when Ronell Wooten hit a 3-pointer as time ran out, sending the game into an extra period.

Kenny George's dunk with 26.8 seconds left gave North Carolina-Asheville the lead for good as the Bulldogs scored the final 10 points to defeat South Carolina 61-58 Saturday night.