Thomas Godoj Thread » Russias team was whittled down from a hoped-for 389

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- With a pair of long touchdown passes, Boston College picked up its first victory in almost a year and may have changed its reputation as a run-first offense in the process.Patrick Towles hit former quarterback Jeff Smith on back-to-back, one-play TD drives, and substitute Mike Knoll connected on a pair of field goals on Saturday as the Eagles beat Massachusetts 26-7 for their first win in 10 games.BC was trailing 7-0 late in the second quarter when Towles, taking over at the UMass 46-yard line, found Smith on the first play of the drive. After the Minutemen fumbled at their own 36, Towles again hit Smith on the first play to give the Eagles the lead for good.Totally turned the game around, BC coach Steve Addazio said. Now we have the ability to go and strike it (big).BC has long been known as a rushing team, sending backs like Heisman Trophy finalist Andre Williams to the NFL, along with enough run-blockers to staff a couple of offensive lines. But when Addazio saw UMass trying to crowd the line of scrimmage to take away the ground game, he decided it was time to go for it.People dont expect those shots on first down, especially from us, said Towles, who completed 12 of 22 passes for 191 yards for the Eagles (1-1) and also ran 12 times for 66 yards. Well take that.Smith had five catches for 98 yards, and Jon Hilliman ran 22 times for 54 yards and a 15-yard touchdown for BC, which last won on Sept. 25, 2015, against Northern Illinois. The Eagles lost their final eight games last season and their opener last week, 17-14 to Georgia Tech in Ireland.You need to enjoy the wins, Addazio said. This is a tough game, a tough business were all in. This easily could have been a different scenario, when youre coming off what we came off of.Colton Lichtenberg missed a pair of short field goals last week; Addazio said he was unavailable on Saturday because of a strain in his kicking leg. Knoll, who had been used exclusively in kickoffs, missed his first point-after attempt but converted the second time to make it 13-7.He added third-quarter field goals of 40 and 37 yards.Its unfortunate Colton went down, Knoll said. But hell be back and well all be kicking lights out.UMass (0-2) put a scare into No. 25 Florida last week, trailing just 10-7 into the fourth quarter. Returning to their sometime home at Gillette Stadium, the Minutemen took a 7-0 lead on a 58-yard pass from Ross Comis to Adam Breneman late in the first quarter.Comis went 11 of 28 for 145 yards and a touchdown. But he also had a pair of first-half fumbles and threw an interception in the third quarter; the turnovers led to 10 BC points.I can give you the old adage, `Ill look at the tape. But, yeah, he lost the game, UMass coach Mark Whipple said. As the quarterback, you dont like to lose. Weve only got two touchdowns in two games.NICE TO BE HEREWith BCs kicking troubles the past few years, Knoll was one of the players requested to the postgame interview area.Yeah, you dont get called up very often. Its good, Knoll said, breaking into a smile. Thanks for bringing me in.Reminded that a kicker is usually asked to speak after missing a field goal, he said: Yeah, thats true. Thats the life we chose.SETTLE DOWNThe Eagles trailed 7-0 and had just 55 total yards in the opening quarter. The touchdowns 84 seconds apart in the second quarter helped the offense relax, Smith said.Being down, that was a real surprise, he said. But I think scoring those two touchdowns quick, really picked (us) up and helped the defense, too. It really gave us confidence to come out in the second half.THE TAKEAWAYBC: In light of BCs struggles to win in the conference, finishing off the Minutemen gives them an FBS win before heading into the ACC opener against Virginia Tech next week.UMASS: After staying close against No. 25 Florida, the Minutemen put another scare into a major college team. But Whipples independent team needs to finish off a victory if it is going to attract an invitation from a conference.UP NEXTBC: Plays at Virginia Tech on Saturday.UMASS: Hosts Florida International on Saturday.Under Armour Clearance Sale . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. Under Armour Ireland Sale . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. http://www.wholesaleunderarmourireland.com/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Wholesale Under Armour Ireland . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Under Armour Outlet Ireland .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre.RIO DE JANEIRO -- With fireworks forming the word Rio in the sky and supermodel Gisele Bundchen shimmering to the tune of The Girl from Ipanema, Rio de Janiero jubilantly welcomed the world Friday to the first Olympic Games in South America.After one of the roughest-ever rides from vote to games by an Olympic host, the city of beaches, carnival, grinding poverty and sun-kissed wealth opened the two-week games of the 31st Olympiad with a high-energy gala celebration of Brazils can-do spirit, biodiversity and melting pot history.The low-tech, cut-price opening ceremony, a moment of levity for a nation beset by economic and political woes, featured performers as slaves, gravity-defying climbers hanging from buildings in Brazils teeming megacities and -- of course -- dancers, all hips and wobble, grooving to thumping funk and sultry samba.But Brazil also packaged its party with solemnity, lacing the fun and frivolous show with sobering messages about global warming and conservation. Images of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, swirling in the Earths atmosphere were followed by projections of world cities and regions -- Amsterdam, Florida, Shanghai, Dubai -- being swamped by rising seas. The peace symbol, tweaked into the shape of a tree, was projected onto the floor of the Maracana Stadium that filed with thousands of athletes from the 207 teams.The heat is melting the icecap, a voice intoned. Its disappearing very quickly.The crowd roared when Bundchen sashayed from one side of the 78,000-seat arena to the other, as Tom Jobims grandson, Daniel, played his grandfathers famous song about the Ipanema girl tall and tan and young and lovely.In a video preceding the show, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the games celebrate the best of humanity and appealed for an Olympic truce, calling on all warring parties to lay down their weapons during the two weeks of sporting achievement.There were times after the International Olympic Committee selected Rio ahead of Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid in 2009 when it seemed that the city of 6.5 million people might not get its act together for the worlds greatest sporting mega-event. The spreading health crisis of the mosquito-born Zika virus kept some athletes away. Promises to clean up Rios filthy waters remained unfulfilled. The heavy bill for the games, at least $12 billion, made them unpopular with many. Heavily armed security stopped a small group of protesters from getting close to the stadium ahead of the ceremony.But with more than a dash of gambiarra, the Brazilian art of quick-fixes and making do, Rio is ready.Just.Our admiration is even greater because you managed this at a very difficult time in Brazilian history. We have always believed in you, IOC President Thomas Bach said.The honor of officially declaring the games open fell to Michel Temer, Brazils unpopular interim president, who was loudly jeered and faced shouts of out with Temer. He was standing in for suspended President Dilma Rousseff. Her ouster less than four months aahead of the games for alleged budget violations was one of many spanners in the works of Brazils Olympic preparations and impacted the opening ceremony itself.dddddddddddd Fewer than 25 foreign heads of state were listed as attending, with others seemingly staying away to avoid giving the impression of taking sides amid Brazils leadership uncertainty.The cannonball-shaped cauldron was lit by Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima. At the 2004 games, an Irish spectator wearing a kilt, knee-socks and a beret tackled de Lima while he was leading the Olympic marathon. Instead of gold, he fell back to take bronze.Greece, the historical and spiritual home of the games, led the march by athletes into the stadium. They were joined by a first-ever Refugee Olympic Team of 10 athletes, displaced from Syria, South Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia. Their flag-bearer, Rose Nathike Lokonyen, fled war in South Sudan and ran her first race in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. Only Brazils team, which marched last, drew a louder roar from the crowd than the refugees.The athletes were given tree seeds, plus cartridges of soil. When they sprout, they will be planted in a Rio park.With USA emblazoned on the back of his jacket, Michael Phelps carried the flag for the U.S. team, the largest with 549 competitors. At his fifth and last Olympics, it was the first time the record holder of 22 medals had marched in an opening ceremony, having skipped previous ones to save energy for competition.On behalf of all 11,288 competitors (6,182 men; 5,106 women), Brazilian two-time Olympic champion sailor Robert Scheidt pledged that they wont take banned drugs -- an oath likely to ring false to fans after the scandal of government-orchestrated cheating in Russia. As a consequence, Russias team was whittled down from a hoped-for 389 athletes to around 270.Iran picked a woman, archer Zahra Nemati, as flag-bearer for its team made up overwhelmingly of men. Another woman pushed Nematis wheelchair. She was paralyzed in a car accident as a teenager.Shoals of samba dancers flowed in a rainbow of colors, but many showed less flesh than normal for Brazil, seemingly mindful of their global TV audience.After the grandeur of Beijings opening ceremony in 2008 and the high-tech, cheeky inventiveness of Londons in 2012, Rios was earthier and less swish but more sobering with its gloomy environmental look at the future and deliberate penny-pinching. Creative director Fernando Meirelles said their budget, slashed by half as Brazils economic recession bit ever harder, is 12 times less than London, 20 times less than Beijing.It is pretty tacky to be overspending, he said. It is not a good message for the world. When 40 percent of the homes in Brazil have no sanitation, you cant really be spending a billion reals for a show.In the end I feel good that I am not spending money that Brazil hasnt got. ' ' '