Bruins on ice at BU as they wait for NHL season

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg drove by the TD Garden on Tuesday morning on his way to Boston University, where a handful of his teammates have been skating to keep in shape while waiting for the NHL season to start.
"I got a really good feeling imagining going out on the ice and getting excited about being able to play again," he said. "I'm so excited to be here."
After spending much of the NHL lockout playing in his native Germany, Seidenberg flew back to Boston on Monday after hearing that NHL players and owners had reached agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the lockout after almost four months. The NHL players association must still vote to ratify the deal; both sides are hoping to officially open training camps later this week to prepare for a 48- or 50-game season that would start Jan. 19.
"Every day I was sitting on my computer, looking at the news, looking at the rumors," Seidenberg said. "I was hoping for something to happen."
Seidenberg joined about a dozen NHL players on the ice in a practice run by former BU star Mike Grier. Among the Bruins taking part on Tuesday in the two-hour workout were goaltender Tuukka Rask, defenseman Johnny Boychuk, and forwards Shawn Thornton and Brad Marchand.
Lucic said he opted not to sign with a foreign team, choosing instead to recover from the last two, long seasons.
Now, he said, he knows he has some catching up to do.
"It was rest that I feel I needed," he said. "I've built up a lot of nagging injuries that I've been trying to take care of. Hopefully, I'll feel better this season."
The Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup in 2011, lost in the first round to Washington last season.

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NHL owners, players move closer to votes

NEW YORK (AP) — All that is left of the NHL lockout are a pair of votes by owners and players.
If both sides approve the tentative deal reached over the weekend — as expected — training camps will be open by Sunday.
The league's board of governors will meet on Wednesday in New York, and the 30 club owners will vote on the agreement that was reached in the early morning hours of Sunday after a 16-hour negotiating session.
If a majority approves, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the lockout that began Sept. 16.
The league and the players' association were still working on one more key piece of business on Tuesday night that must be settled before hockey is truly back.
"We are trying to finalize a summary document, and we are very close on that," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email. "That will be turned into a (memorandum of understanding) with more detailed language that won't be signed until this coming weekend."
The union was waiting for that initial document before it scheduled a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal before the lockout can end.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps could open Sunday. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
"(We) don't need a signed document to complete ratification process," Daly wrote, "but we do need a signed agreement to open camps. The goal is to get that done by Saturday so that we can open camps on Sunday."
The NHL has yet to release a new schedule. The regular season was supposed to begin on Oct. 11.
The deal was reached Sunday, the 113th day of the lockout, and seemingly saved a season that was delayed for three months and cut nearly in half. It took a marathon final bargaining session in a New York hotel for the agreement to finally be completed at about 5 a.m.
The lockout led to the cancellation of at least 480 games, depending on the length of the upcoming season. That brings the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum of 2,178 during three lockouts under Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The damage is significant. Perhaps $1 billion in revenue could be lost this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. Players also will lose a large part of their salaries, not to mention time from their careers.
Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to the postponement of 30 games. Bettman became the commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the only major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.
The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 — owners originally had proposed 46 percent.
This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just more than a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

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Maple Leafs fire GM Brian Burke as season nears

TORONTO (AP) — Brian Burke's brash and outspoken style wasn't a good fit for the new corporate owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs fired their general manager Wednesday with the NHL season set to resume this month following a tentative settlement ending the lockout.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment President Tom Anselmi said at a news conference that longtime Burke assistant David Nonis will fill the job. Burke will stay as a senior adviser.
Anselmi acknowledged that four years without a playoff berth factored into the decision. But ultimately, he added, ownership wanted a different look at the top.
Canada's largest telecommunication companies, Rogers Communications and BCE Inc., took control of the Toronto Maple Leafs and NBA's Toronto Raptors after the 1.3 billion deal closed in August.
"Brian had a style and we knew what we were getting when he was hired a number of years ago," Anselmi said. "This is really about a change in leadership voice and leadership direction."
Anselmi fired Burke on Wednesday morning, the announcement startling many. Nonis was among those who didn't see the firing coming.
"Brian, when we were talking this morning, said 'I get it, ownership is changing,'" Anselmi said.
The new board of directors let Burke go before the Maple Leafs might have had a chance to make the playoffs in a lockout-shortened season. Toronto has not made the playoffs since Burke was hired in 2008. The club last played in the postseason in 2004 and hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
Anselmi stressed that the personnel Burke put in place will make for a seamless transition. Nonis, without Burke's outsized personality, said there won't be a great player turnover.
Before joining Toronto, Burke spent more than three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks, leading them to a Stanley Cup title in 2007. Nonis worked with Burke in Anaheim and when Burke was general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. Nonis also replaced Burke in Vancouver, compiling a record 130-91-25 as general manager.
Burke's most debated move was a deal with Boston in 2009 when he acquired forward Phil Kessel for two first-round draft picks and a second-round selection. The Bruins used the picks to select star forward Tyler Seguin, Dougie Hamilton and Jared Knight.
Toronto forward Joffrey Lupul called the timing of the dismissal "weird."
"We haven't made the playoffs in however many years so the blame is falling right now on the GM," he said. "He's the guy the brought a lot of us in and we didn't get the job done."

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Soccer-English League Cup semifinal results

Jan 8 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the English League Cup Semifinal first leg matches on Tuesday
Semifinal
Tuesday, January 8, first leg
Bradford City (IV) - Aston Villa 3-1 (halftime: 1-0)
Next Fixtures (GMT):
Wednesday, January 9
Chelsea v Swansea City (1945)

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Soccer-Lowly Bradford stun Aston Villa in League Cup first leg

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Fourth tier Bradford City continued their heroics with a 3-1 home victory over Premier League Aston Villa in the Capital One (League) Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday.
Bradford, who had already disposed of Wigan Athletic and Arsenal, took the lead when Nahki Wells scored from close range in the first half before Rory McArdle doubled the advantage after the break.
Villa squandered several good chances with substitute Darren Bent guilty of arguably the worst miss of the night heading over an open goal in the second half before Andreas Weimann pulled a goal back late on for the visitors.
It proved to be a brief ray of light on a grim evening for Villa however as Carl McHugh added gloss to the scoreline with two minutes remaining.

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UPDATE 1-Soccer-English League Cup semifinal summaries

Jan 8 (Infostrada Sports) - Summaries from the English League Cup Semifinal first leg matches on Tuesday
Bradford City (IV) 3 Naki Wells 19, Rory McArdle 77, Carl McHugh 88
Aston Villa 1 Andreas Weimann 83
Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 22,245
- - -
Next Fixtures (GMT):
Wednesday, January 9
Chelsea v Swansea City (1945)

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League, players continue to talk as deadline looms

The National Hockey League and locked out players appeared closer to a new labor deal that would salvage a partial season after Wednesday's midnight deadline passed without the union filing a disclaimer of interest and dissolving.
With the lockout reaching its 110th day, negotiations began under an NHL Players Association (NHLPA) threat to decertify, freeing individual players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that the union never played the disclaimer card during any negotiations and that both parties and a U.S. mediator would be back at the bargaining table at 10 am ET (1500 GMT) on Thursday.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players association," Bettman told reporters as he left meetings at the league's Manhattan offices. "When you disclaim interest as a union you notify the other side.
"We have not been notified. It has never been discussed so there is no disclaimer."
While one deadline passed, another is looming large on the horizon, Bettman having set a January 19 limit for the puck to drop on a shortened 48-game schedule.
With the clock ticking, both Bettman and NHLPA chief Donald Fehr could agree on one thing - that much work needs to be done if there is to be a season.
"If you have a river to cross you have to build a bridge or do something else if you are going to cross the river," said Fehr, deflecting any questions about the disclaimer of interest. "We've moved closer on some issues but work remains to be done."
The two sides have spent three days in New York exchanging proposals and counter proposals and appeared to inching slowly towards a deal.
PENSION ISSUE
The back-and-forth diplomacy continued on Wednesday, with brief meetings in the morning and a longer session that began at 8 pm stretching into Thursday morning.
There have been indications the two sides are close to agreement on major issues - such has how to split $3.3 billion in revenue - contract lengths and revenue sharing but they remain far apart on others.
Player pension plans and how they are funded has suddenly popped up as the hot topic along with where the salary cap ceiling should be set.
The league wants a cap locked in at $60 million while the players are believed to be seeking something in the $65-67 million range.
"It's been a long day with lots of meetings both internal and with the players association, and the process will be continuing tomorrow morning," Bettman said.
"There has been some progress but we are still apart on a number of issues, but as long as the process continues I am hopeful.
"On some issues we agreed, on some we moved towards each other and on some we said 'no'. I think that applies to both parties."
Players have been locked out since mid-September and the league has cancelled games up to January 14, more than 50 percent of the regular season which was scheduled to start in October.
The dispute is the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years and first since a lockout forced the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season.

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NHL negotiations go late. No union disclaimer

 Hockey players are sticking together as a union for now and are working long and late hours with the NHL to try to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to get the game back on the ice.
The sides met in small groups throughout the day Wednesday and then held a full-scale bargaining session with a federal mediator at night that lasted nearly five hours and didn't wrap up until about 1 a.m. Thursday.
They planned to get back at it less than 10 hours later.
The biggest detail to emerge from Wednesday night's marathon talks was that Donald Fehr is still the executive director of the players' association, which passed on its first chance to declare a disclaimer that would dissolve the union and turn it into a trade association.
Last month, players voted overwhelmingly in favor of giving the union executive board the right to declare the disclaimer, but that permission expired at midnight Wednesday. The disclaimer would allow individual players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Fehr wouldn't address the issue at all, calling it an "internal matter," but NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said all the union would need to do is inform the league that it was taking the action for it to happen.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players' association," Bettman said. "It's not that it gets filed anywhere with a court or the NLRB. When you disclaim interest as a union, you notify the other side. We have not been notified and it's never been discussed, so there has been no disclaimer."
Even though the deadline expired, a new vote by players can be held anytime to restore the authorization.
"All I can tell you about that is the players retain all the legal options they have always had and we don't talk about legal matters," Fehr said.
The thought was that the union wouldn't take action Wednesday if it saw progress was being made. Neither side would characterize the talks or address what, if any, movement toward common ground was reached.
Both the league and the players were tightlipped about how many things still need to be worked out and what topics are keeping them apart. But the discussions went well enough for the NHL and the union to agree to the mediator's request to start talking again at 10 a.m. Thursday.
"I'm not going to get into the details," Bettman said. "There's been some progress but we're still apart on a number of issues. As long as the process continues I am hopeful."
Bettman has told the union that a deal must be in place by Jan. 11 in order for a 48-game season to be played beginning eight days later.
The night session Wednesday began shortly after 8 p.m. EST. The sides also met for about an hour during the afternoon when the union gave its latest proposal to the league, a response to the NHL's counteroffer on Tuesday.
Neither side said much regarding Wednesday's discussions, but it is believed that the pension issue has become a major stumbling block.
"The pension plan is a very complicated issue," Bettman said. "The number of variables and the number of issues that have to be addressed by people who carry the title actuary or pension lawyer are pretty numerous and it's pretty easy to get off track.
"That is something we understand is important to the players."
The union's proposal Wednesday makes four offers between the sides since the NHL restarted negotiations Thursday with a proposal.
A small group meeting on the pension issue was held Wednesday morning before the players' association presented its offer. A deal can't be done without a resolution on pensions.
The league presented the players with a counteroffer Tuesday night in response to one the union made Monday.
The lockout reached its 109th day Wednesday, and Bettman has said that the league told the union a deal needs to be in place by next week so a 48-game season can begin on Jan. 19. All games through Jan. 14 along with the All-Star game have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
Fehr believed an agreement on a players-funded pension had been reached before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been established, and it is another point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million.
In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
"We talk about lots of things and we even had some philosophical discussions about why particular issues were important to each of us," Bettman said. "That is part of the process."
The NHL proposed in its first offer Thursday that pension contributions come out of the players' share of revenues, and $50 million of the league's make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunding liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.
Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the players' association accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.
"As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don't involve the share," Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which will likely be split 50-50.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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UPDATE 1-NHL-League, players continue to talk as deadline looms

* Deadline to start season looming
* Lots of work remains to save season (Adds detail, quotes)
Jan 2 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League and locked out players appeared closer to a new labour deal that would salvage a partial season after Wednesday's midnight deadline passed without the union filing a disclaimer of interest and dissolving.
With the lockout reaching its 110th day, negotiations began under an NHL Players Association (NHLPA) threat to decertify, freeing individual players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters that the union never played the disclaimer card during any negotiations and that both parties and a U.S. mediator would be back at the bargaining table at 10 am ET (1500 GMT) on Thursday.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players association," Bettman told reporters as he left meetings at the league's Manhattan offices. "When you disclaim interest as a union you notify the other side.
"We have not been notified. It has never been discussed so there is no disclaimer."
While one deadline passed, another is looming large on the horizon, Bettman having set a Jan. 19 limit for the puck to drop on a shortened 48-game schedule.
With the clock ticking, both Bettman and NHLPA chief Donald Fehr could agree on one thing - that much work needs to be done if there is to be a season.
"If you have a river to cross you have to build a bridge or do something else if you are going to cross the river," said Fehr, deflecting any questions about the disclaimer of interest. "We've moved closer on some issues but work remains to be done."
The two sides have spent three days in New York exchanging proposals and counter proposals and appeared to inching slowly towards a deal.
PENSION ISSUE
The back-and-forth diplomacy continued on Wednesday, with brief meetings in the morning and a longer session that began at 8 pm stretching into Thursday morning.
There have been indications the two sides are close to agreement on major issues - such has how to split $3.3 billion in revenue - contract lengths and revenue sharing but they remain far apart on others.
Player pension plans and how they are funded has suddenly popped up as the hot topic along with where the salary cap ceiling should be set.
The league wants a cap locked in at $60 million while the players are believed to be seeking something in the $65-67 million range.
"It's been a long day with lots of meetings both internal and with the players association, and the process will be continuing tomorrow morning," Bettman said.
"There has been some progress but we are still apart on a number of issues, but as long as the process continues I am hopeful.
"On some issues we agreed, on some we moved towards each other and on some we said 'no'. I think that applies to both parties."
Players have been locked out since mid-September and the league has cancelled games up to Jan. 14, more than 50 percent of the regular season which was scheduled to start in October.
The dispute is the NHL's fourth work stoppage in 20 years and first since a lockout forced the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season.

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Bounty ruling for players finally at hand

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — More than nine months after the NFL first disclosed its bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints, four players will finally get a ruling on whether their initial suspensions are upheld, reduced or thrown out.

Former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was appointed to handle a second round of player appeals to the league, has informed all parties he planned to rule by Tuesday afternoon. His decision could affect whether two current Saints — linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith — get to play out the season.

If the sanctioned players find Tagliabue's decision palatable, that could finally bring the bounty saga to an end. If not, it will be up to a federal judge to either disqualify Tagliabue or let his ruling stand.

Even if Tagliabue maintains the suspensions, any punishment will delayed a week, allowing Vilma and Smith to at least play this Sunday at home against Tampa Bay, a person familiar with the decision said.

The delay is aimed at giving U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan in New Orleans time to review Tagliabue's ruling and decide if she still believes she must take the unusual step of getting involved in a collectively bargained process in order to protect the players' rights, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because no ruling had been announced.

If Vilma, Smith, Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita and free agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove get the ruling they seek, it would discredit an NFL probe — overseen by Commissioner Roger Goodell — that covered three seasons and gathered about 50,000 pages of documents.

The probe concluded that Vilma and Smith were ring-leaders of a cash-for-hits program that rewarded injurious tackles labeled as "cart-offs" and "knockouts."

The NFL also concluded that Hargrove lied to NFL investigators to help cover up the program.

None of the players has served a game of their suspensions yet and have been allowed to play while appeals are pending, though Fujita is on injured reserve and Hargrove is not with a team. Shortly before the regular season, the initial suspensions were vacated by an appeal panel created by the league's collective bargaining agreement. Goodell then reissued them with some modifications. Meanwhile, the players have challenged the NFL's handling of the entire process in federal court.

Vilma received a full-season suspension, while Smith was docked four games. Hargrove initially received an eight-game suspension that was later trimmed to seven games, but for practical purposes, was reduced to two games because he was given credit for five games he missed as a free agent after being cut by Green Bay before the regular-season opener. Fujita had his initial suspension reduced from three games to one, with the league saying that he failed in his duty as a defensive leader in 2009 to discourage the bounty program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

Goodell also suspended Williams indefinitely, while banning Saints head coach Sean Payton for a full season.

Tagliabue's ruling comes after a new round of hearings that for the first time allowed Vilma's attorneys and the NFL Players Association, which represents the other three players, to cross-examine key NFL witnesses in the probe. Those witnesses included Williams and former Saints assistant Mike Cerullo, who was fired after the 2009 season and whose email to the league, accusing the Saints of being "a dirty organization," jump-started the probe.

Also for the first time, the NFL allowed players' attorneys to review all of the documents the NFL had collected, including some in which people stated that the players never did what they were accused of, the person who spoke with AP said.

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No. 12 Oklahoma 24-17 win at TCU for Big 12 share

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Landry Jones and Oklahoma  treated their regular-season finale like a championship game — and finished wearing caps and T-shirts declaring the 12th-ranked Sooners the Big 12 champions.

The Sooners have to share their eighth Big 12 title since they didn't get any help later from archrival Texas.

"Sharing it or not sharing it, winning the conference championship is great," Sooners defensive end R.J. Washington said.

With their 24-17 victory Saturday, after TCU's fourth-down pass to the goal line in the final minute fell incomplete, the Sooners (10-2, 8-1 Big 12) earned the right to proclaim themselves Big 12 champs.

They also might have locked up a BCS at-large bid

"In the end, it's just great to be in this position and to be a winner again," coach Bob Stoops said. "For these guys, Big 12 champs, or co-champs, they're recognized as champions."

Jones threw for 244 yards with two touchdowns and Damien Williams ran untouched 66 yards for a score as the Sooners won their eighth consecutive Big 12 game since a late-September loss to Kansas State.

But the seventh-ranked Wildcats (11-1, 8-1), with the head-to-head tiebreaker over OU for the Big 12's spot in the Fiesta Bowl, finished their regular season with a 42-24 win at home Saturday night over No. 23 Texas.

The Sooners, whose only other loss was to No. 1 Notre Dame, are in good shape for the final at-large BCS berth Sunday. Kent State's double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois in the MAC championship game likely ended any chance for that league to get in the Bowl Championship Series.

Though the final standings come out tomorrow and either Boise State and NIU could slip in.

TCU (7-5, 4-5), the two-time BCS buster in its first Big 12 season, lost all four of its conference games at home despite going 4-1 in league games on the road.

"We had a chance to win the game, simple as that," coach Gary Patterson said. "We gave up an easy touchdown when a couple of freshmen blew an assignment."

The Frogs were still within a touchdown when Oklahoma's Mike Hunnicutt missed a 42-yard field goal attempt with just under 3 minutes left.

After the Sooners won their last two games by scoring in the final minute — to win at West Virginia, and then with 4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and beat Oklahoma State — their defense closed things out this time.

Frogs freshman quarterback Trevone Boykin, who finished 17-of-31 passing for 231 yards, threw a 46-yarder to Cam White to the Oklahoma 12. On third-and-10 from there, Boykin got in the end zone on a keeper, but the play was called back because of a holding call — an obvious penalty that cleared the way for the score.

After hitting Josh Boyce for 7 yards, the Frogs had fourth-and-13 from the 15 in the final minute when Boykin threw toward Boyce again. But he couldn't make the play between two defenders.

"We like to make them interesting around this place," Jones said. "Unfortunately we didn't finish it the way we wanted to offensively, but the defense did."

The Horned Frogs' four-game home losing streak is their longest since five in a row from November 1996 to November 1997. Before this year, they hadn't lost consecutive home games in the same season since 1998.

Oklahoma has won the Big 12 in every even-numbered year since Bob Stoops became coach in 1999. The Sooners, who also won a conference title in 2007, have been to eight BCS games in that span.

Just a minute into the second half, Williams took a handoff, shot through a gap on the left side of the line and sprinted undeterred to the end zone for a 21-7 lead.

Jones, coming in off the first consecutive 500-yard passing games by a Sooners quarterback, completed 22 of 40 passes. Williams had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season, with 18 carries for 115 yards.

After a 75-yard Oklahoma punt, the Frogs had their second one-play scoring drive of the game. Brandon Carter caught a pass behind the Sooners secondary and raced 80 yards for a touchdown.

Boykin fumbled later in the third quarter when he was sacked by Washington, a play that was initially ruled an incomplete pass until overturned on replay. That led to Hunnicutt's 34-yard field goal.

Jaden Oberkrom kicked a 47-yard field goal for TCU with 7 minutes left, which came after the Frogs had lined up to go for it on fourth-and-4 from the 25 before a false start penalty.

Oberkrom was just wide right on a 32-yard attempt earlier in the fourth quarter, though the freshman kicker held his hands out in disbelief and replays showed the ball might have been inside the upright.

Oklahoma had a 14-7 lead at halftime after overcoming an interception by Jones that immediately led to a TCU touchdown, then a personal foul penalty that set up a third-and-23 play.

Sam Carter's interception and 42-yard return set TCU up at the 6. Boykin ran for a score on the next play for a 7-7 tie.

When Oklahoma got the ball back, Jones quickly completed five consecutive passes to the TCU 22. On the same play Kenny Stills dropped a pass near the goal-line, 303-pound lineman Tyrus Thompson was called for a personal foul after twice punching the helmet of Stansly Maponga while on top of the defensive end.

That made it third-and-23 from the 24, but Jalen Saunders caught a TD pass with Sam Carter defending him.

"I didn't do my job. I felt I should have made a play right there," Carter said. "You never know what could have happened."

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Miami bound: No. 2 Alabama holds off No. 3 Georgia 32-28 in thrilling SEC championship game

ATLANTA - Alabama got a hand on the ball, which wobbled into the arms of a Georgia receiver who wasn't supposed to catch it.

Before the Bulldogs could get off another play, the clock ran out.

The Crimson Tide is heading back to the national championship game.

By a mere 5 yards.

AJ McCarron threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper with 3:15 remaining and No. 2 Alabama barely held on at the end, beating No. 3 Georgia 32-28 in a Southeastern Conference title game for the ages Saturday night.

"I'm ready to have a heart attack here," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said.

As confetti fell from the Georgia Dome roof, the Bulldogs collapsed on the field, stunned they had come so close to knocking off the team that has won two of the last three national titles.

"We just ran out of time," Georgia coach Mark Richt moaned.

Alabama (12-1) will get a chance to make it three out of four when it faces top-ranked Notre Dame for the BCS crown on Jan. 7 in Miami.

This time, Alabama will head to the big game with a championship already in its pocket — unlike last year's squad, which didn't even make it to Atlanta, but got a do-over against SEC champion LSU in the national title game.

Even though the Tide left little doubt it was truly the best team in the country, routing the Tigers 21-0, there were plenty who thought Saban's team didn't deserve a rematch.

There will be no complaints when Alabama heads to South Florida for a dream matchup between two of college football's most storied programs. The Tide and Notre Dame have each won eight Associated Press national titles, more than any other school.

"This group has been fantastic," Saban said. "They were able to accomplish something of significance, and something that last year's team didn't accomplish, which is win the SEC championship."

What a game it was.

After an apparent game-clinching interception by Alabama was overturned on a video review, Georgia's Aaron Murray completed a 15-yard pass to Arthur Lynch, a 23-yarder to Tavarres King and a 26-yarder to Lynch, who was hauled down at the Alabama 8 as the clock continued to run.

The Bulldogs (11-2) were out of timeouts.

Instead of spiking the ball and gathering themselves, the Bulldog snapped the ball with 9 seconds to go. Murray attempted a pass into the corner but it was deflected at the line and ended in the arms of Chris Conley out in the right flats.

Surprised to get the ball, he slipped down at the 5.

Georgia couldn't get off another play.

Richt said the offence had the play it wanted at the end, but Alabama ruined it by tipping the pass. If it had fallen incomplete instead of going to Conley, who instinctively caught it, the Bulldogs likely would've had at least one more play, maybe two.

Instead, they were done.

"I told the guys I was disappointed, but I'm not disappointed in them," Richt said. "They're warriors. We had a chance at the end."

The consolation prize will likely be a spot in the Capital One Bowl, though the Bulldogs certainly looked like a team deserving of something better.

"Do I think we're worthy of a BCS bowl?" Richt said. "Yes I do."

The Bulldogs even got props from Saban.

"It would be a crying shame if Georgia doesn't get to go to a BCS bowl game," the Alabama coach said. "They played a tremendous game out there. That was a great football game, by both teams. It came right down to the last play."

In a back-and-forth second half that looked nothing like a game in the defensive-minded SEC, the Crimson Tide trailed 21-10 after Alec Ogletree returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Alabama rallied behind a punishing run game, finishing with 350 yards on the ground, an SEC championship game record. Eddie Lacy — the game's MVP — rumbled for 181 yards on 20 carries, including two TDs. Freshman T.J. Yeldon added 153 yards on 25 carries, also scoring a TD.

After the game, Lacy hooked up with the guy he replaced in the Alabama backfield — Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, now with the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

"He just told me congratulations and that I did a great job running and it was it was the best he's ever seen me run." Lacy said.

But the Tide won it through the air.

With Georgia stacking the line, McCarron fooled the Bulldogs with play action and delivered a perfectly thrown pass to Cooper, who beat Damian Swann in single coverage down the left side.

Georgia played like a champion until the clock ran out, though.

Using up their timeouts and forcing a punt, the Bulldogs got the ball back at their 15 with 1:08 remaining. Alabama broke into a celebration when a pass down the middle for Conley was deflected and Dee Milliner appeared to make a diving interception. But the replay showed the ball hit the ground, so Murray and the Georgia offence trotted back on the field for its last gasp.

And what a gasp it was.

Just not quite enough.

Todd Gurley led Georgia with 122 yards rushing, including a couple of TDs. Murray was 18 of 33 for 265 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

McCarron was 12 of 21 for 162 yards with an interception, only his third of the season.

After a defensive struggle in the first half, with Alabama kicking a field goal on the final play for a 10-7 lead, the last two quarters were nothing but run-and-gun.

The Bulldogs took the second-half kickoff and marched right down the field for the go-ahead touchdown. Gurley ran it seven times, capped by leg-churning, 3-yard drive up the middle to make it 14-10.

Alabama looked like it was about to answer, holding the ball for more than 5 1-2 minutes, before the drive stalled. Cade Foster came on for a 50-yard field-goal attempt, but his low kick was swatted down by Cornelius Washington. Ogletree scooped up the bouncing ball in stride and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown.

Suddenly, the Bulldogs led 21-10.

But the Tide wasn't about to go away that easy. Yeldon broke off a 31-yard run, Swann was called interference on a throw down the middle, and Yeldon powered in from the 10. He ran it again for the 2-point conversion, pulling Alabama to 21-18.

Georgia went three-and-out, and the ground assault resumed. Lacy barrelled over right guard for 32 yards. Yeldon got it down to the 1. Lacy returned for the first snap of the fourth period, bulling over to put Alabama ahead 25-21.

The Tide's momentum lasted about 2 minutes.

Murray found King down the middle for a 45-yard completion and Gurley finished off the lightning-quick possession with a 10-yard touchdown run up the middle, putting Georgia back on top, 28-25.

But Alabama knows a thing or two about comebacks, having rebounded the last two years from regular-season losses.

Just three weeks ago, the Tide was upset at home by Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M.

Now, Bama is off to play for another title.

"It's just the never-give-up attitude," McCarron said. "You've got to keep fighting through it."

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Spectator falls from stands at ACC Championship

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A 22-year-old man is in critical condition after sustaining life-threatening injuries after falling about 40 feet off a fourth-floor ramp outside Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night at the ACC Championship between No. 13 Florida State and Georgia Tech.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police identified the victim as Sean Michael Powers, a resident of New Port Richey, Fla. It's unclear if he was a student at Florida State.

Michael Stanford, the supervisor of special operations for Mecklenburg County EMS, said his agency responded to an incident in which a spectator fell from a ramp leading to the stands shortly after the 8 p.m. kickoff.

The fall is the first of its kind from Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers.

The stadium opened in 1996.

Stanford said the spectator was transported by ground to the trauma center at Carolinas Medical Center with "life-threatening injuries."

Major Eddie Levins of the Charlotte Police Department said officers are "investigating what is being referred to as a public accident. A 22-year old male fell from what is thought to be the fourth level of the stadium."

They had no comment on the extent of his injuries.

Bank of America Stadium has switchbank ramps that that take fans to the upper level of the stands.

The man fell on to a grassy area, which was taped off by police. Witnesses were taken to the police office for questioning.

Bud Elliott, 47, from Fort Myers Fla., said he came across the accident just after it happened around kickoff and several fans were looking down from the ramps.

"I came upon a crowd of people who were running," Elliott said. "They said this guy jumped or fell off. It didn't look good. It's just really sad to have something like that happen."

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No. 7 Kansas State wins Big 12 title, beats Texas

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Just as Collin Klein was preparing to trot onto the field for the biggest home game in Kansas State history, coach Bill Snyder put his arm around his senior quarterback and whispered something in his ear.

"He just told me how much he appreciated me, and that he loved me," Klein said. "It was a great moment. And I know he said that to every single one of us, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And that's pretty special."

Everything about this night was special for the Wildcats and their fans. With Klein passing for one touchdown and running for two, Kansas State beat Texas 42-24 to wrap up its third conference championship in 117 years, prompting thousands of people to rush onto the field as the sound system blared, "We are the champions."

The Wildcats (12-1, 8-1) had never played for a conference championship in their last game at home, and had never had a player end the regular season in such close contention for the Heisman Trophy as Klein.

With his main competitors, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel nor Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, off, Klein had the stage all to himself. He had one last chance to burnish his credentials for what would be Kansas State's first Heisman, and he made it count.

John Hubert scored three touchdowns on short runs for Kansas State, and Klein threw every Heisman question right back at the questioner.

"Tonight's all about our team and what we were able to accomplish tonight," he said. "And Texas didn't give it to us easily. Tonight's about K-State family. That's the most important thing."

After a slow start, Klein wound up hitting 8 of 14 passes for 184 yards and added 108 yards rushing on 23 carries.

In front of their sixth sellout in seven home games, the Wildcats also tied their team record for victories in a season and matched Oklahoma's Big 12 record.

It was Kansas State's fifth straight victory over Texas (8-4, 5-4), which led 10-7 at halftime, and capped and gave Kansas State coach Bill Snyder the conference title just four years after he came out of a brief retirement.

"Bill is unbelievable," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "I have said many times that I think what he has done here is the best in the country, from start to finish."

Oklahoma beat TCU earlier Saturday and immediately donned caps and T-shirts declaring themselves Big 12 champs. But Kansas State's 24-19 win at Oklahoma on Sept. 22 gives them the tiebreaker and sends them to the Fiesta Bowl.

"I think (the title) means an awful lot to all of us," Snyder said. "A great deal to the young people in our program. They were excited about it. Obviously I speak for everybody in our football family. I think it's significant and important for each and every one of us. I'm pleased for a lot of different people, the people that genuinely support this program."

Texas, which may be headed for the Cotton Bowl, lost its lead on Kansas State's first possession of the second half. Klein hit a 29-yard pass and Hubert broke free for 28 yards as Kansas State soared 75 yards in seven plays, with Hubert scoring from the 2.

Hubert also had a 2-yard TD run with 47 seconds left in the third quarter and scored on a 1-yard run for a 35-17 lead with a little more than 3 minutes to go after Drew Liddle recovered Texas' muffed punt.

A few minutes later, Allen Chapman intercepted Case McCoy's pass and ran it back 35 yards, setting up Klein's 9-yard TD run for a 42-17 lead with 1:53 left. The back-beaker may have been Klein's long pass to a wide-open Tyler Lockett that went for a 55-yard scoring play.

"Basically, they just out-executed us," said Texas safety Adrian Phillips. "They did what they were supposed to do and we did not come out to do our job after halftime."

McCoy threw a 14-yard TD pass to Jaxon Shipley in the second quarter and a 9-yard scoring pass to Malcom Brown less than 1 minute left in the game. Brown also scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter.

McCoy hit 26-of-34 passes for 314 yards, with two interceptions. He was sacked four times by a swarming Kansas State defense.

The Wildcats' lone touchdown of the first half came on a 1-yard run by Klein and after an embarrassing lapse by defensive back Nigel Malone.

With perfect timing, Malone jumped in front of McCoy's intended receiver on Texas' second possession, made the interception and sped 30 yards into the end zone. But the ball only traveled the 29. The play was initially ruled a touchdown, but upon review, it was determined Malone had let go of the ball and allowed it drop to the ground just as he was about to step across the goal line.

So it was placed on the 1 and Klein plowed into the end zone for his 21st rushing TD of the season and No. 54 for his career.

Klein was 0 for 4 in Kansas State's scoreless second quarter while McCoy was going 17 for 20 in the first half for 204 yards.

McCoy's longest pass play went for 70 yards, but almost all of that was the running of Daje Johnson right after Adrian Phillips intercepted Klein's pass in the end zone and gave the Longhorns the ball on the 20, setting up a field goal.

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