Harvey forces ppd. of Houston football game
The University of Houston has postponed its football game at Texas-San Antonio on Saturday as the city deals with catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
The Cougars have been in Austin practicing since Friday but decided that this week was not the time to play a game.
“The epic disaster that continues to unfold in and around the city of Houston has made it evident that our athletic events are not a priority at this time,” Houston athletics director Hunter Yurachek said yesterday. “Our focus during the coming days will be on assisting the city of Houston and University of Houston communities in recovery efforts and allowing our coaches, staff and student athletes to devote the necessary time to ensuring the safety and security of their family, friends and loved ones.”
Officials said they will explore options for rescheduling the game. Houston has an off date on Nov. 11.
Baylor suspends pair
Baylor coach Matt Rhule has suspended two expected starting players for incidents during the summer.
Senior safety Taion Sells will miss the first three games, and senior left tackle Mo Porter will sit out the first half of Saturday’s season opener at home against Liberty. The coach wouldn’t go into details about why the players were suspended but said the incidents weren’t related . . . .
Octavius Matthews was one of the nation’s top running back recruits coming out of Itawamba Community College in Mississippi, and his signing day decision to pick Kansas left coach David Beaty giddy with excitement.
Beaty announced less than a week before the Jayhawks’ opener against Southeast Missouri State that Matthew had been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The condition, in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, making it harder to pump blood, was discovered after a team-sponsored echocardiogram . . . .
The University of Illinois chancellor said dropping the school’s “war chant” at sporting events was ultimately his call and that there aren’t plans to eliminate the Fighting Illini nickname or a popular band medley referring to Native Americans.
Chancellor Robert Jones told The News-Gazette the chant no longer motivated football fans as historically intended. He also said it was used less than in previous years and that some people found it offensive . . . .
Sid Wilson, a New York City high school basketball star, has requested to transfer from St. John’s before his freshman season starts.
St. John’s has granted the 6-foot-7 Wilson permission to speak with other Division 1 programs.
Horizon sues Valpo
The Horizon League has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Valparaiso and the Missouri Valley Conference claiming that the school breached a one-year notification agreement before leaving the league for the MVC . . . .
Roma has completed the signing of 20-year-old forward Patrik Schick from Sampdoria in a club record deal adding up to around $51 million . . . .
Lyon has signed Spanish midfielder Pape Cheikh Diop from Celta Vigo for $12 million plus bonuses.
The French club said the 20-year-old signed for five years to June 2022.