Georgia receiver Malcolm Mitchell out for the season with a knee injury

The news everybody feared on Malcolm Mitchell was true and it wasn’t good for Georgia. The junior wide receiver did indeed suffer a season-ending ACL injury on his right knee in Saturday night’s loss to Clemson.
Mitchell hurt the knee when he landed on it awkwardly after jumping to “air bump” with tailback Todd Gurley in celebration of Gurley’s 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of the Bulldogs’ 38-35 loss to Clemson. He will have surgery in the coming weeks and be awarded a medical redshirt to reclaim a year of eligibility.

“What we thought happened did happen,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said in a teleconference call with reporters Sunday. “It was confirmed with an MRI today. I can’t imagine him coming back from that (this season)

Mitchell has had problems with the knee since this past spring when he minor surgery to repair a meniscus tear. He was also sidelined briefly midway through preseason camp due to swelling.

“We’ve got other guys that can go deep and make plays for us. But Malcolm was certainly a guy who could do that well. He had great speed and quickness and would snatch the ball and get up field. He’s a great competitor and actually hurt it in the exuberance of the first touchdown of game for us.”

Junior Michael Bennett ended up taking most of the snaps in Mitchell’s split-end position the rest of Saturday’s game. But Richt wasn’t sure exactly how the Bulldogs will lineup against South Carolina this weekend.

Bennett led Georgia receivers with five catches for 60 yards. Justin-Scott Wesley had four for 55 and Chris Conley had three for 67. Junior college transfer Jonathan Rumph is expected to return from injury this week as well.

Knicks' J.R. Smith is guaranteeing a title

The NBA season hasn't started and the New York Knicks' sixth man supreme J.R. Smith is already making promises of bringing a championship back to New York.

During a question-and-answer session with kid golfers at Chelsea Piers, Smith was asked how sure he was of the Knicks ending their title drought this season.

“I'm 100 percent sure,” the swingman said.

Smith was then asked why he joined the Knicks over the Nets when he came back from China in February 2012.

“The Nets weren't good,'' Smith said. “Now they're still not good.''

There has been much hype this offseason lavished on the Nets after their bold trade with the Celtics to acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who has been the most outspoken promoter of Brooklyn's chances in the Eastern Conference.

When asked by The Post why he is so confident, Smith said, “I feel comfortable. People ruled us out last year early, too. We added some great pieces. Unfortunately, we got rid of some good pieces. But we added Andrea [Bargnani], Beno [Udrih], Metta [World Peace]. We have to consistently play like we did the first 20 games last year the whole season. We can't have a middle-of-season lapse. We have to consistently play the same way."

Well, I'm sure the two time defending champion Miami Heat feel a little disrespected about that guarantee. The Knicks are a good team but not a championship level team. I'm sure some Knick fans will disagree with me about that but it's true. If they can stay healthy and keep their heads on straight they could give the Heat some problems.

In another tidbit, Smith was asked was he better than teammate Carmelo Anthony. Being the confident man that he is Smith said yes.

 “Yes, I am, but he gets paid more.’’

Hopefully for the Knicks that doesn't ignite any controversy.

Dodgers' Matt Kemp has rehab assignment extended

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp is having a tough go at it in his current rehabilitation assignment. He's 0 for 11 at Class A Rancho Cucamonga in his first three games. Kemp has only hit one ball out of hte infield.

Manager Don Mattingly said that Kemp will not be returning to the Dodgers on Monday.

"He doesn't feel good yet at the plate," Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday. "He's not pushing us to say, 'I want to be there tomorrow.'"

The Dodgers have been rolling and it would help to have a healthy and productive Kemp in the lineup to increase their chances of winning the World Series. They have a good chance right now, but if Kemp is there playing like vintage Kemp it'll help the team dramatically.



 

Two men arrested trying steal ivy from Wrigley Field

Two Pennsylvanian men allegedly squeezed through a window at Wrigley Field early Sunday to grab ivy from the outfield.

Chicago police responded to Wrigley Field, at 1060 W. Addison St., about 3:45 a.m. after security guards saw two men on surveillance video walking through the ball park, police News Affairs John Mirabelli said.

They had apparently entered by squeezing through a barred window, Mirabelli said. One of the men was 6 feet and 170 pounds and the second man was 6-feet-3 and 180 pounds.

Kevin Burge and Steven Gudknecht, both 25, of Chalfont, Pa., were each charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass, Mirabelli said.

The men apparently wanted to take a couple pieces of ivy from the outfield walls, Cubs spokesman Julian Green said. There was no property damage and nothing was stolen.

"This is not the first time that something like this has happened," said Green about previous attempts of trespassers to steal ivy.

You can add these guys to the list of dumb criminals.

Both men are expected in court on Sept. 26.

Palo dismissed from Iowa State basketball team

Iowa State senior guard Bubu Palo, who missed most of last season due to suspension, was dismissed from the Cyclones’s program on Saturday, the school announced.

Palo, a 6-1 guard from Ames, was suspended 18 games last season after second degree sexual abuse charges were filed against him in May, 2012.

The charge was later dropped, but Palo was also subject to the school’s code of conduct policy.

Initially, he was found innocent of a violation of that code of conduct, but that finding was appealed by an unknown party this summer.

The original decision was then overturned and, according to the release, “the university has determined Palo can no longer be a member of the basketball team.”

Palo’s dismissal leaves three point guards to contend for a position played by Korie Lucious last season — Marshall transfer DeAndre Kane, freshman Monte Morris and holdover Naz Long.

FCS teams aren't pushovers anymore

Towson over Connecticut. North Dakota State over Kansas State. Eastern Washington over Oregon State and McNeese State over South Florida.  

Those games were scheduled as "gimmies" for teams in the FBS Subdivision. Instead they were ambushed by their FCS opponents.

Not to say all FCS are bad teams because some of them are champions or playoff contenders in their classification. But the FBS teams are supposed to be head and shoulders, at least talentwise, above teams in the FCS. Maybe that's not the case anymore as we should've learned when Appalachian State stunned a Michigan team thought to be a contender for the national championship. If that wasn't enough two weeks later James Madison walked into Blacksburg, Virginia and beat 13th ranked Virginia Tech.    

FBS teams shouldn't be looking ahead when they schedule the FCS schools anymore. Most of the time the FBS teams will win but in some cases there will be some stunners. The biggest this week was Eastern Washington beating 25th ranked Oregon State. FCS champion North Dakota State beat a highly regarded Kansas State team coming off a BCS bowl berth. McNeese State ran roughshod over South Florida, 53-21. I know South Florida isn't a powerhouse but still.

I guess this falls into the let this be a lesson to you category. FCS teams aren't the pushovers we thought they were.