Auto Racing
DARLINGTON, S.C. – NASCAR has postponed all track activity Friday at Darlington Raceway in anticipation of Hermine bringing inclement weather to the South Carolina track.
Hermine on Thursday strengthened into a hurricane, with maximum sustained winds increasing to near 75 mph.
Both the Sprint Cup Series and the Xfinity Series had scheduled practices on Friday. Both series were not due hold qualifications for their respective races until Saturday.
College Football
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Penn State’s athletic department on Thursday announced plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Joe Paterno’s first game as coach, a move that sparked backlash on social networks by people critical of Paterno’s role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The university announced plans Thursday to mark the anniversary when the Nittany Lions football team hosts Temple on Sept. 17.
Paterno coached at Penn State for 46 seasons, becoming college football’s winningest coach. He was fired by the school’s board of trustees shortly after Sandusky, who was his defensive coordinator, was arrested in November 2011 for child sexual abuse. Paterno died in January 2012 of lung cancer.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lamar Jackson accounted for a school-record eight touchdowns and 405 offensive yards by halftime to help No. 19 Louisville dismantle Charlotte 70-14 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
Jackson broke Chris Redman’s 1998 record for combined rushing and passing TDs and he tied Redman’s mark for passing TDs. He seemed poised to add a few more before exiting without taking a snap in the second half.
He completed 17 of 23 passes for 286 yards and rushed 11 times for 119 yards, including a 36-yard TD run on Louisville’s opening drive. Louisville gained 663 yards overall.
Cycling
BILBAO, Spain – Jens Keukeleire of Belgium won the 12th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, while Nairo Quintana maintained his overall lead on Thursday.
Keukeleire, riding for Orica BikeExchange, used a late burst to pull away and win his first stage at a grand tour by over two bike lengths.
He completed the hilly 193-kilometer (120-mile) route that traversed four ascents between Los Corrales de Buelna and Bilbao in 4 1/2 hours.
Quintana protected his 54-second lead over Chris Froome, before the race enters three consecutive stages in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Soccer
BARI, Italy – FIFA President Gianni Infantino says “football history” has been made with a successful test of video replays in France’s 3-1 win over Italy in a friendly.
While Thursday’s test had been labeled offline, Infantino cited an instance where video was examined when Italy protested for a perceived handball by Layvin Kurzawa following a header from Daniele De Rossi.
Infantino tells Rai TV, “You could see that the referee stopped play for a couple seconds and during those seconds the two referees in the truck verified that there was no penalty.”
He says, “We’ve seen football history here. ... Of course, we can’t resolve every problem that comes up but let’s see if we can give the refs a hand on the key situations, without interrupting play too much.”
Associated Press
