Change Of Direction Gives Young Davis Room To Run
Once a homesick and discouraged young football player, Troy Davis is finally at ease and happy at Iowa State. Thanks to a new coaching staff and a new offense, last year’s frustrated freshman is this year’s super sophomore.
After running the ball only 35 times last season, Davis leads the nation in rushing this year and has a chance to become the first sophomore in major-college history to run for 1,000 yards in five games.
The 5-foot-8, 185-pounder from Miami, Fla., has run for 912 yards in Iowa State’s first four games and owns two of the top three single-game totals in Division I-A this fall.
Davis ran for a school-record 291 yards in a 36-21 season-opening victory over Ohio University, then broke it with 302 yards in a 57-30 romp past UNLV last Saturday.
Already, Davis has run for more yards than Iowa State’s leading rusher each of the last five seasons. He and coach Dan McCarney are even being asked - and here’s something you don’t usually hear at Iowa State - about Davis’ chances of winning the Heisman Trophy.
All this is in sharp contrast to last year, when Davis got few chances in the triple-option offense that former coach Jim Walden ran and the Cyclones went 0-10-1. Walden, who coached previously at Washington State, resigned with three games remaining. Had he stayed, Davis would have left.
“It feels like I’ve been here for years and years now,” Davis said. “Because this year, I’m getting getting the ball. So I feel like all that was a long time ago right now.
“The wishbone wasn’t my kind of offense,” Davis said. “I didn’t like it. If they would have come back and run that wishbone, I don’t think I would have stayed.”
On the defensive
Joe Paterno went into a damage-control mode after his nationally televised, expletive-laced spat with Rutgers coach Doug Graber.
Paterno apologized for his foul language and quick temper and tried to explain why Penn State backup Mike McQueary threw a 42-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of a 59-34 victory over the Scarlet Knights Saturday.
Since Saturday, Paterno has been the target of columnists and talk-show hosts around the country. The criticism was easy because a week earlier, Paterno had preached about Penn State’s commitment to avoid running up the score and embarrassing opponents.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne defended his decision to keep alive the possibility that suspended star tailback Lawrence Phillips could return to the team this season.
Osborne is waiting for a report from a Kansas clinic on the junior’s temperament. He said Phillips could return within a month.
End zone
Linebacker Jevon Kearse, a top freshman on Florida’s football team, said he was the victim of mistaken identity following his arrest on charges of stealing a car… . Alabama will appear before the NCAA Appeals Committee Nov. 16 in an effort to get its postseason ban and some scholarship reductions lifted. … Maryland coach Mark Duffner has named Scott Milanovich the starting QB for the Terrapins’ Thursday night game against Georgia Tech. Milanovich had been serving a four-game suspension for gambling on college sports.