• Kiffin wins USC debut as Barkley stars (AP)
  Southern California was all smiles, except for coach Lane Kiffin. Matt Barkley and Ronald Johnson had record nights, connecting on three touchdowns to make Kiffin a winner in his Trojans’ coaching debut. No. 14 USC beat Hawaii 49-36 on Thursday night to start the post-Pete Carroll era. Barkley had 257 yards passing and tied a school record with five TD passes while Johnson matched a USC mark with…

• Utah topples No. 15 Pitt 27-24 in OT (AP)
  Utah was wavering between stifling defense and play sloppy enough to blow an 11-point lead before Brian Blechen saved the Utes. The freshman safety intercepted a pass on the first play of overtime, setting up Joe Phillips for a 21-yard field goal that gave the Utes a 27-24 victory against No. 15 Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

[recent posts]

• Pryor’s 3 TD passes key Buckeyes’ rout (AP)
  Moments after brushing aside Marshall 45-7, Ohio State ‘s players could finally say what they’ve been thinking about for a while. And there’s no question that the Buckeyes have had Miami on their minds and the Sept. 11 showdown against the 13th-ranked Hurricanes. “It’ll be wild to be in that game,” wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said.

• Steelers’ Leftwich seriously hurts knee (AP)
  All of a sudden, losing Ben Roethlisberger for at least a month isn’t the Steelers’ only quarterback worry. Byron Leftwich, expected to be the fill-in starter, is injured and looks to be out indefinitely. Leftwich, tuning up for his anticipated Sept. 12 start against Atlanta, sprained his left knee in the second quarter as Pittsburgh beat the starter-less Carolina Panthers 19-3 on Thursday…

• Roethlisberger ban likely to be reduced (AP)
  Ben Roethlisberger’s first big gain of the season may occur weeks before he returns to the field. His six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy likely will be shortened to four games by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after the two meet in New York on Friday. The meeting will take place about 12 hours after the quarterback played two series in the Steelers’…

• CC, Granderson give Yankees 4-game sweep (AP)
  From the very first batter, the Oakland Athletics simply looked overmatched against CC Sabathia. Leadoff man Coco Crisp took an awkward cut at a fastball for strike three. Next, Rajai Davis got fooled by an offspeed pitch and almost fell over. Then, Kevin Kouzmanoff flailed at a slider. A lot of weak swings and soft outs followed Thursday, as Sabathia pitched one-hit ball for eight innings to earn…

• US sluggish vs. Tunisia but goes to 5-0 (AP)
  With nothing to play for, the United States looked as if it didn’t want to play. Outworked and outhustled, the Americans led winless Tunisia by only four points early in the third quarter before turning the game into a rout over the final 15 minutes of a 92-57 victory Thursday. Eric Gordon scored 21 points for the U.S., which had already clinched first place in its group and was more interested…