The Buckeyes were planning a protest march. At home in Pocatello, Idaho, Togiai could not join them, so he reached out to Garrett Crane, his high school teammate and an Idaho State defensive lineman.

A protest would not send the right message, they decided. Not in Pocatello, where the police and Idaho State’s athletes have a deep-rooted connection.

If they were going to march, law enforcement officers had to be a part of it.

What they didn’t expect was such a rapid, all-in response.

”It all happened so fast,” Togiai said. ”Just to see their support and being surprised that they wanted to contact us was really cool. It was a great experience.”

The connection between Idaho State athletics and local authorities goes back to dean of students James Yizar, who brought in the Pocatello Police Department for student orientations.

Current football coach Rob Phenicie continued to foster the relationship and the bond has strengthened through outreach programs, food drives and other interactions.

Police Chief Roger Schei, who sidelines as a professional natural body builder, travels with the football team for road games and often joins morning workouts. Several police officers have also worked out with the team and Idaho State athletes have been invited to join officers at the police shooting range.

The interactions allowed the players to see beyond the badges and uniforms.

Once they decided to march, the officers had to be a part of it. The violent clashes between protesters and police playing out across the country was not what they wanted.

But officers also marched or took a knee with protesters in places like Denver, Santa Cruz, California, Austin, Camden, New Jersey, Ferguson, Missouri.

They would in Pocatello, too.

”It was humbling to know that we’ve built this relationship over several years and it’s paid dividends,” Schei said. ”To know that these guys trust us enough to say we need some help to get this done and we want it to be peaceful, we want to show the rest of the nation that we have a good relationship with our local law enforcement.”

Like the rest of the country, Pocatello has also struggled at times. Racial tensions ran high in the 1960s and Pocatello was stung by a series of racial incidents in the early 1980s, including a Black athlete who found ”KKK” painted on his car.

When senior defensive lineman Raemo Trevino arrived in Pocatello in 2016, one of the last things his parents saw before heading back to his hometown of Seattle was a truck toting a Confederate flag. His mother, Halina, cried at the sight.

What Trevino has learned in the four years since is that Pocatello, which is in a county that’s 90% white, has made significant strides against racial bias.

Trevino, who is of Black, Mexican and Samoan heritage, said he’s been pulled over for no apparent reason, as have some of his non-white teammates.

Even so, Pocatello has made progress.

Idaho State’s student-athletes, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, have mostly been embraced by the community. The June 3 unity march was not only peaceful, it drew in people from all over southeastern Idaho.

”There were people I had never seen before,” said Trevino. ”To have so many people from diverse backgrounds be a part of this march shows that a rural area of predominantly white people can come together for a common goal.”

With a population under 60,000, Pocatello is a bit too big to be an everyone-knows-your-name town, yet it is small enough to be crisscrossed with connections.

The football team has many direct ties to law enforcement.

The police department’s ranks include former Idaho State football players as well as officers whose children have competed at the school.

Former Bengals linebacker Tony Manu has worked for the Bannock County Sheriff’s Department for 28 years and was appointed undersheriff in March. He has also helped coach at Highland High School, where Togiai and Crane played, and his son, Taison, was an Idaho State defensive back.

”I don’t know that what’s happening here can work anywhere else, but it helps when you have a relationship with the community outside of just being a cop,” said Manu. ”It’s fortunate for us that we live where we live and I feel like we have a good support system in the community.”

Once Togiai and Crane first talked, they reached out to friends and fellow athletes in the area, including Trevino and Idaho State basketball player Daxton Carr, who also attended Highland High.

Trevino texted Schei and Crane reached out to Manu through Facebook messenger.

Turns out, the two officers were in the same meeting, planning for another possible march in the area.

Less than 90 minutes later, the four student-athletes were in front of department heads from across the area, laying out their idea.

”It was crazy because you’d think a bunch of 20- to 25-year-old kids in front of a bunch of police officers, we would be listening to them,” said Crane, who is entering his junior year.

The plan blossomed from there.

Word of the unity march spread quickly through social media and coverage from the local media fanned interest. The student-athletes handled the logistics and the women’s basketball team pitched in by making 80 posters to post around town.

Two days after the initial conversation between Togiai and Crane, more than 1,000 people marched.

Student-athletes, law enforcement officers and people from a variety of backgrounds walked shoulder to shoulder.

”Hopefully, this can be a standing point for people to always look back on and see how everyone came together to achieve a common goal,” Togiai said.

The post Idaho march brings college athletes, officers together appeared first on IdealCapper.

Three of the top four (Michigan, Clemson and Washington), five of the top 10 and seven teams overall in last week’s rankings lost to unranked opponents.

On Sunday, Alabama was a unanimous No. 1 for the first time this season, receiving all 61 votes. Ohio State is No. 2, a season best for the Buckeyes, and Louisville is No. 3, matching its best ranking ever.

No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Clemson each dropped two spots and No. 7 Washington fell three after losing for the first time. Wisconsin moved up a spot to No. 6.

—

POLL POINTS

The only teams that held onto the spots in the Top 25 that they had last week were the only unbeatens left in the FBS: the top-ranked Crimson Tide and No. 14 Western Michigan. The Crimson Tide have been No. 1 since the preseason.

The Crimson Tide is the first unanimous No. 1 since Ohio State on Sept. 8, 2015.

UP

No. 12 Colorado and No. 13 Oklahoma State each moved up four spots.

– Colorado has its highest ranking since it was No. 12 on Dec. 1, 2002.

No. 9 Penn State, No. 16 LSU, No. 17 Florida State and No. 20 Washington State all moved up three spots.

– Washington State has its best ranking since the Cougars finished the 2003 season at No. 9.

DOWN

A couple of Southeastern Conference teams took the biggest falls.

– No. 23 Texas A&M fell 13 spots after the Aggies lost for the second straight week. A&M started 6-0 but has now lost three of four and three consecutive SEC games.

– No. 18 Auburn dropped 10 spots after losing 13-7 at Georgia. The Tigers’ loss eliminated them from the SEC West race and helped Alabama clinch.

IN

– No. 15 Southern California is back in the rankings for the first time since the preseason after handing Washington its first loss. The Trojans started the season 1-3 but have won six straight behind redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold.

– No. 24 San Diego State is in the rankings for the second time this season.

– No. 25 Troy is ranked for the first time in school history. The Trojans (8-1) won a matchup of unbeaten Sun Belt Conference teams on Saturday against Appalachian State and their only loss was by six points at Clemson.

OUT

– Virginia Tech and North Carolina dropped out after losing to unranked Atlantic Coast Conference rivals.

– Baylor is out of the rankings for the first time this season.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC – 5

Big Ten – 5

Pac-12 – 5

ACC – 3

Big 12 – 3

Mountain West – 2

MAC – 1

Sun Belt – 1

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 8 Oklahoma at No. 10 West Virginia. Big 12 championship implications.

No. 20 Washington State at No. 12 Colorado. First-place in the Pac-12 North vs. first-place in the Pac-12 South. Who would have guessed that?

No. 21 Florida at No. 15 LSU. The Gators can clinch the SEC East with a victory.

—

More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 . Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

The post AP Top 25: Ohio St, Louisville rise after surprise Saturday appeared first on IdealCapper.

Running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for a Sugar Bowl-record 230 yards – including a dynamic 85-yard scoring run – and his 1,632 rushing yards rank fourth in Buckeyes’ history behind Eddie George (1,927 in 1995), Keith Byars (1,764, 1984) and Archie Griffin (1,695, 1974). Big play receiver Devin Smith caught his 30th career touchdown pass in the Sugar Bowl – a 47-yard catch – and is averaging 27.7 yards per reception this season while scoring 12 TDs on 32 catches. The defensive standouts include weak-side linebacker Joshua Perry (team-leading 118 tackles), safety Vonn Bell (86 tackles, team-best six interceptions), defensive end Joey Bosa (team-high 13.5 sacks), strong-side linebacker Darron Lee (7.5 sacks) and cornerback Doran Grant (five interceptions).

Mariota guided the attack to Rose Bowl records for points and yardage (639) while accounting for three scores (two passing, one rushing), passing for 338 and rushing for 62 more. The Ducks have two fine backfield options in Royce Freeman (1,343 yards, 18 touchdowns) and Thomas Tyner (511 yards, five touchdowns) while receiver Darren Carrington (37 catches, 704 yards) is emerging as a star after having seven receptions for 165 yards and two touchdowns in the Rose Bowl. Defensively, free safety Erick Dargan leads the team with 90 tackles and seven interceptions and had one pick and one forced fumble in the Rose Bowl while outside linebacker Tony Washington (six sacks) was part of one of the memorable plays in the Rose Bowl when Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston lost a fumble and Washington returned it 58 yards for a touchdown.

The post Ohio State at Oregon Preview appeared first on IdealCapper.

“It’s crazy. I still can’t believe we’re here,” Early said. “You try to expect it, but you expect a lot of things that don’t happen. This really happened.”

Believe it. Wichita State is going to Atlanta, and these Shockers are no longer a surprise after the way the tenacious ninth seeds held off mighty Ohio State in the West Regional final.

Malcolm Armstead scored 14 points, Fred Van Vleet bounced in a big basket with 1 minute left, and Wichita State earned its first trip to the Final Four since 1965 with a 70-66 victory over the Buckeyes on Saturday.

Van Vleet scored 12 points as the Shockers (30-8) followed up last week’s win over top-ranked Gonzaga with a nail-biting victory over the second-seeded Buckeyes (29-8), whose 11-game winning streak ended one short of their second straight Final Four. Wichita State’s 20-point lead in the second half dwindled to three in the final minutes, but several Shockers stepped up with big plays to stop the surge, heeding coach Gregg Marshall’s halftime command to “play angry.”

All that anger turned into a joyous postgame party at midcourt, even though the Shockers realize they’ve got more work to do.

Wichita State is just the fifth team seeded ninth or higher to reach the Final Four since seeding began in 1979, but the second in three years following 11th-seeded VCU’s improbable run in 2011. The Shockers’ celebration was wild, if a bit disbelieving, in front of several thousand roaring fans.

“Last year we were watching all this on television,” said Early, who scored 12 points despite spraining his ankle in the second half. “Now I’m looking at a hat that says ‘Final Four Atlanta’ with my team on it. … It feels good, and it feels even better that I could experience it with these guys who had to struggle so hard to get here.”

Wichita State roared to a 20-point lead with 11 minutes to play after Ohio State played an awful first half, but LaQuinton Ross scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime, leading a ferocious rally that got the Buckeyes within three points in the final minutes.

Tekele Cotton hit a clutch 3-pointer for Wichita State with 2:20 left and grabbed a key offensive rebound moments later, allowing Van Vleet to score on a shot that bounced all over the rim before dropping. Ron Baker and Cotton hit last-minute free throws to secure the second Final Four trip in Wichita State’s history and a school-record 30th win.

“We’re happy, but I’m still shocked,” said Carl Hall, the glasses-wearing big man who scored eight points and led the Shockers’ strong defensive effort. “We’ve got a team full of fighters. I brought them all together near the end and said, `No matter what happens, I love y’all.’ We had to fight so hard. We’ve got each other’s backs, and it’s hard to beat a team that’s got five guys who work together like us.”

Deshaun Thomas scored 21 points after missing nine of his first 12 shots for Ohio State, which made just 24 percent of its first-half shots. Aaron Craft scored nine points on 2-for-12 shooting against Armstead and a host of defenders for the Buckeyes, who dug a hole too deep to escape with their second-half rally.

“The way we shot coming into the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, everything was falling,” Thomas said. “Today, it just wasn’t our night. Nothing was falling. We had great looks, some of them, but they just weren’t falling.”

Yet after two weeks of upsets in the wild West bracket, underdog Wichita State seemed an appropriate pick to cut down Staples Center’s nets. The Shockers’ well-balanced roster managed built that enormous lead with the same consummate team play that they’ve shown throughout the tournament.

The Shockers are also the kings of Kansas, reaching the national semifinals after the powerful Jayhawks and Kansas State both went down.

Two sections packed with cheering Shockers fans provided all the encouragement necessary for a team that didn’t win the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and was thought to be a bubble team for an NCAA berth. Now, Wichita State is the MVC’s first Final Four team since Larry Bird led Indiana State to the title game in 1979.

Another giant awaits the Shockers in Atlanta next weekend: They’ll face the winner of Sunday’s Midwest Regional final between Duke and Louisville.

“We’re all new to this, but I think we’re ready for this,” Early said. “We’re going to prepare ourselves, and this game was pretty good preparation. We started at the bottom, and we’ve been working our way up.”

Seven seasons after underdog George Mason crashed the Final Four and underlined college basketball’s growing parity, the Shockers are the latest smallish school to get on a big roll in the tournament. Butler made the national championship game in 2010 and 2011, and the Bulldogs were joined by that VCU team in the Final Four two years ago.

This year’s tournament included stunning wins by Florida Gulf Coast, La Salle and Harvard, but nobody kept it going longer than Wichita State.

Although the Shockers have a beautiful home arena and robust support from fans and donors in Kansas’ largest city, Marshall acknowledged that Wichita State’s athletic budget is a fraction of what a BCS school can spend. He hasn’t let it slow the Shockers, who made the NCAA tournament last year only to lose to 12th-seeded VCU in the first round.

After the Shockers easily beat La Salle two days ago to reach their first regional final since 1981, Marshall’s pregame speech to the Shockers on Saturday finished with talk of cutting down the nets at Staples Center before getting on that plane back to Kansas, saying Wichita State didn’t have to play “a perfect game” to beat mighty Ohio State.

“The Mecca awaits in Atlanta,” he said.

Marshall was right, but he couldn’t have anticipated just how imperfect Ohio State would be.

The postseason-tested Buckeyes appeared calm and confident during warmups in front of their healthy fan contingent, yet they proceeded to play the first half just like NCAA newbies.

They missed their first seven shots after the opening tip in a string capped by an airballed 3-pointer from Thomas, who missed his first five overall. The junior star was labeled “a bad-shot taker and a bad-shot maker” by Marshall on Friday, but he only lived up to the first part of that billing while going 4 for 13 in the first half.

Early hit two 3-pointers in the opening minutes, and the Shockers stretched their lead to 13 points shortly before halftime.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Craft said. “They really came out firing and we really didn’t regain our footing until it was too late.”

Hall went to the locker room after drawing a charge from Thomas early in the second half, holding the back of his head after Thomas’ elbow clipped him on the jaw. Hall found his glasses and got back in the game 66 seconds later.

Wichita State gradually stretched its lead early in the second half, with Early’s layup putting the Shockers up 53-33 with 12:09 to play.

Ross desperately tried to rally the Buckeyes, scoring eight consecutive points and leading a 23-6 run midway through the second half. Ohio State went into a full-court inbounds defense, and Shannon Scott’s free throws with 2:49 left cut the lead to 62-59 — but Ohio State couldn’t get any closer.

The post Wichita State upsets Buckeyes to reach Final Four appeared first on IdealCapper.

He bounced back to play again and Derrick Nix scored 17 points to help No. 22 Michigan State pull away for a 66-56 victory over Nebraska on Sunday night.

The Spartans — and Dawson in particular — held their breath early in the second half when the sophomore forward tumbled to the court in pain. He missed the Big Ten and NCAA tournament last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee.

“I was scared for a minute and said, ‘Not again,’ ” he said.

Nebraska’s Ray Gallegos was called for a foul when he trailed Dawson on his layup attempt.

“He really didn’t clip me,” Dawson said. “When I planted, the knee buckled.”

After Dawson was examined, he walked slowly off the court and later was able to jog back onto it.

“All of a sudden he came out running like Superman,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Dawson was cleared to return much to the delight of the fans, who gave him a standing ovation with ear-to-ear grins.

“I think my smile was even bigger,” Izzo said. “I was scared to death.”

Dawson showed his knee was very healthy in the final seconds, soaring to slam an alley-oop pass from Keith Appling for the game’s final basket.

Michigan State didn’t have much else to cheer about until late in what was a closely contested game for much of the night.

“I have no idea why we looked so lethargic and why we missed so many shots,” Izzo said. “I am very disappointed in the performance.”

The Spartans (14-3, 3-1 Big Ten) have won three straight and kept the Cornhuskers (9-8, 0-4) from winning their first conference game this season.

Nebraska, which lost its two previous Big Ten road games to Michigan and Ohio State by an average of 20-plus points, was very competitive for much of the game at Michigan State.

“We’re not in it for any sort of consolation prize,” first-year Cornhuskers coach Tim Miles said. “We want to win the game.

“Credit Michigan State, they made winning plays. We had a bad shot and two turnovers late that hurt us. We don’t have enough things going our way to make errors late in the game.”

Nebraska’s David Rivers was put in the starting lineup and had 18 points — two points from his career high — in a breakout performance for a player averaging 5-plus points a game.

“I was more focused,” he said. “I knew someone had to step up and it just happened to be me who made some shots.”

Dylan Talley scored 17 points and Gallegos added 12 while Cornhuskers center Andre Almeida was held scoreless. The Huskers were without Brandon Ubel, who missed the game with an elbow injury. The 6-foot-10 senior is Nebraska’s leading rebounder and third-leading scorer.

Spartans reserve center Adreian Payne scored 14 points, combining with Nix to score 31 points.

“Their big kids went 12 of 17 and our center was 0 for 4,” Miles said. “We need Andre to match those guys if we’re going to be successful.”

Nix broke a 50-all tie with a layup with 6:17 left and Appling later connected on three free throws to give the Spartans a five-point lead, matching their largest to that time. After Nebraska pulled within a point, freshman Gary Harris responded with a 3-pointer — after missing his first 10 shots — that put Michigan State ahead 58-54 with 1:49 remaining during a 14-4 run.

Izzo, though, was not happy.

“They played harder than us, they coached better than us,” Izzo said. “They probably deserved to win the game in every way.”

The post No. 22 Michigan State pulls away from Nebraska late appeared first on IdealCapper.