COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Thursday’s news & notes

NEBRASKA

AD Eichorst fired after Cornhuskers’ loss

LINCOLN, NEB.

For the second time in 10 years, Nebraska has ousted an athletic director during a football season that was failing to meet expectations.

The school’s top administrators said the Cornhuskers’ embarrassing loss to Northern Illinois last weekend wasn’t the sole reason for firing of Shawn Eichorst on Thursday. But the loss that dropped the Cornhuskers to 1-2 for the second time in three years under coach Mike Riley certainly was the tipping point.

“It’s never good to lose to a team that you should (beat). At least that’s the theory,” President Hank Bounds told The Associated Press. “At the end of the day, one sporting event doesn’t cause you to make a decision. It certainly was something we had been thinking about and concerned about when we were thinking about what the future looked like.”

Eichorst was hired to replace retiring athletic director Tom Osborne in October 2012, and has about $1.7 million remaining on a contract that runs through June 2019.

In 2007, athletic director Steve Pederson was fired days after a humiliating loss to Oklahoma State. Osborne was brought in to replace him, and he fired coach Bill Callahan after the season.

Eichorst and Riley have been under increased scrutiny with the continued mediocrity of the program. Eichorst hired Riley away from Oregon State in 2014, replacing the successful but volatile Bo Pelini.

Riley is just 16-13 at Nebraska, a school that has won five national championships, went to bowl games every year from 1969-2003 but has not won a conference title since 1999. Since opening 2016 with seven straight wins, the Cornhuskers have lost six of nine, a stretch that included losses of 59 points to Ohio State and 30 points to Iowa. Eichorst had nonetheless quietly extended Riley’s contract by one year, through the 2020 season.

MICHIGAN STATE

Players headed for trial after waiving hearing

eAST LANSING, MICH.

Three former Michigan State football players charged with sexual assault have waived a key hearing and will advance to trial.

Michigan judges typically decide whether there is enough evidence to hold a trial. But Josh King, Donnie Corley Jr. and Demetric Vance waived that hearing Thursday in East Lansing.

A woman says she was assaulted in an apartment bathroom in January. King, Corley and Vance were kicked off the football team when charges were filed in June. They deny the charges.

King is charged with first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct and distributing an image of an unclothed person. Vance and Corley face third-degree criminal sexual conduct charges.

No. 21 USF 43, Temple 7

Tice scores twice for unbeaten Bulls

TAMPA, FLA.

Darius Tice rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns as No. 21 South Florida dominated defending American Athletic Conference champion Temple 43-7 on Thursday night for its school-record ninth consecutive victory.

The Bulls (4-0) have not lost since falling by 16 points to Temple last October in Philadelphia — a setback that wound up costing them a berth in the AAC championship game.

Tice scored on runs of 47 and 3 yards. Quinton Flowers, coming off accounting for 386 yards and five TDs in a 24-point blowout of Illinois, also ran for two touchdowns to take sole possession of first place on the Bulls’ career rushing TD list with 34.

USF’s defense, meanwhile, forced six turnovers, including the first three interceptions of the season thrown by Temple’s Logan Marchi.

The Owls (2-2) were held to minus-4 yards net rushing and were outgained 408 yards to 85. Marchi threw for 767 yards, five TDs and no interceptions in his first three starts for Temple, but was just 3 of 13 for 32 yards.

Defensive end Jacob Martin scored Temple’s only touchdown, sacking Flowers and forcing a fumble that the defensive end returned 44 yards in the second quarter.

Associated Press