BATON ROUGE, La. -- Regardless of how much hobbled LSU star running back Leonard Fournette plays, the No. 20 Tigers remain optimistic about their prospects for gaining yards on the ground against Mississippi State.LSU sophomore Derrius Guice rushed for 155 yards in his first career start last weekend, when Fournette sat out to rest his bruised left ankle.My whole mindset when I found out (Fournette) was not playing was to fill in, get first downs, stay focused and dont miss blocks, Guice recalled.He did better than that. But then, Jacksonville State is a team in the NCAAs second-tier Football Championship Subdivision, meaning fewer scholarships and fewer big-time recruits. This Saturday night in Death Valley, there could be far more resistance from the Bulldogs, who enter Death Valley giving up only 60 yards rushing per game.LSU has labored through quarterback play so spotty that coach Les Miles replaced starter Brandon Harris with Danny Etling in the Tigers second game of the season last Saturday. Etling flourished early on, leading touchdown drives on his first few series, but his passing production was non-existent in the second half, when the Tigers needed their running game to pad their lead.Mississippi State defensive players expect to see plenty more of LSUs running game this weekend.They didnt have Leonard Fournette last week and they still had a couple guys who still tote the ball pretty good and had a bunch of big runs, Bulldogs defensive end A.J. Jefferson said. So they want to run the football. Until we stop them from running the football, thats what theyre going to do.Miles, who is often purposely vague when a players status is in doubt, has been so in regard to Fournette this week.We really want to wait until hes 100 percent and hes really closing in on that right now, so we would expect that we may have him for Saturday, Miles said.Fournette, who rushed for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns last season, gained 138 yards in LSUs season-opening, 16-14 loss to Wisconsin. On his last carry, he took a hard hit to his ankle, hobbled to the sidelined and hasnt played since.Mississippi State is preparing to defend him regardless.Really, its the physical challenge of when you make contact, is the play over? MSU defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said of Fournette. He has the ability to bounce things and create -- not just first downs -- but hit home runs where you dont think home runs will be available. For us, its limiting yards after contact and how many hats we can get to the ball. Its 11 on one. Theres one ball and 11 of us.Even if Fournette plays, MSU can still expect to contend with the emerging Guice, who at 5-foot-11, 212-pounds, is smaller and somewhat less powerful than the 6-1, 235-pound Fournette. But Guice is explosive and shifty, and said he has become a much more refined and cerebral running back in his second season with the Tigers.I learned from last year that I have to be more patient with my runs, Guice said. I study the game more now. I have to know where every lineman is going on every play. I am more a student of the game. Thats what you do in the NFL. You practice 10 percent of the time. Then, you study and watch film.LSU has yet another change-of-pace running back in the 6-1, 233-pound Darrell Williams, who is more of a straight-ahead power runner.Were going to be very cognizant of how Leonard feels, Miles said. But were fortunate to have -- we used a kind of running back by committee with Leonard missing -- and I think it kept Derrius fresh and Darrel fresh and got some other guys in. ... Were fortunate to have real quality backs to turn to when you have a guy like Leonard Fournette out of the lineup.As long as LSUs offensive line performs well, it might not matter who carries the ball. Miles sees evidence of improvement there, and said guard Josh Boutte, who was suspended one game for a flagrant foul at the end of the season opener, will be back in the lineup.They will play better again; whether its a rotation or a spot for Josh Boutte, I think the five-some will play well, Miles said of his linemen. Theres six or seven guys here that can really play, and we look forward to them mixing and matching.---AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Starkville, Mississippi, contributed to this report---AP College Football: collegefootball.ap.org Wholesale Nike Air Max 270 .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Clearance Nike Air Max 270 . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. https://www.cheapnikeairmax270china.us/ . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. Cheap Nike Air Max 270 . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. Nike Air Max 270 Outlet . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. A batsmans peak years are supposed to be between the ages of 28 and 35, but obviously Misbah-ul-Haq hasnt been told about it. In May this year he turned 42, and in the Lords Test he proved that it was just a meaningless number, as he went on to become the oldest captain to ever score a Test hundred, and the oldest batsman in the last 82 years to score one. All that in his first ever Test match in England. At the grand age of 42, Misbah is in the midst of an incredible batting run.It is remarkable that 84% of Misbahs Test runs have been scored after he turned 35 (3753 out of 4466). Only Graham Gooch and Sachin Tendulkar have scored more runs than him after turning 35, though Misbah has a marginally better average than both of them.Till 2009, though, it was scarcely believable that Misbah could go on to have such a long and prolific Test career. At the end of that year, he had played just 18 Tests after making his debut in 2001. Eight of those Tests were in 2009 itself, but he averaged just 27.16 from 13 innings in those Tests, with no score of over 70.All of that changed from the series against South Africa in the UAE, when Misbah scored three fifties from four innings. In 17 series since then (excluding one-off Tests), he has averaged 50 or more in 11, and the average since the start of 2010 has soared to 55.06. Its a reflection of the overall dominance of batting that six batsmen average more than him during this period (with a 3000-run cut-off). Unlike many batsmen who move up the batting order as they gain experience, Misbah has stayed at No. 5 and made a success of it as well. Of his 4466 runs, 3992 have come at that position, which is 89% of his aggregate. Only four batsmen have scored more Test runs from that slot, while Misbahs average of 53.94 at the position compares favourably with most of the batsmen on the list below. Drilling down a bit deeper into those stats at No. 5, here is a look at how the top batsmen perform depending on when they come in to bat. Given Pakistans relatively brittle top order, Misbah had found himself coming in to bat early quite often: 25 times in 89 innings he has come in when Pakistan have been three down with 50 or fewer runs on the board. While he has had a few meaty contributions in these situations, his overall average in these 25 innings is underwhelming - 34.83, with eight fifties, but no hundreds. His highest in these situations is 97, against Sri Lanka in Dubai in 2014, when he came in at 19 for 3. A couple of months earlier against South Africa at the same venue, he made 88 when Pakistan were 48 for 3, his second-highest score in these situations.He has done much better, though, when Pakistans top three wickets havee done slightly better: in innings when Pakistan have been between 51 and 100 for 3, Misbah has averaged an impressive 59.dddddddddddd05, with four hundreds and eight fifties in 27 innings. His Lords century, which came from a team position of 77 for 3, is the lowest entry point from which he has gone on to score a hundred in his Test career so far. His previous lowest entry score had been 83 for 3, when he scored 135 against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in 2013-14.His best numbers, though, have come when the top four have scored more than 150. Six of his ten hundreds have come in these situations, in which he averages nearly 70. The three tables below compare those numbers with those of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Steve Waugh and Michael Clarke, the top three run-getters at that position. All three have done better when coming in to bat early, with Clarke having outstanding numbers when coming in before 50: his unbeaten knocks of 329 against India and 259 against South Africa both came from early entries. Waugh averages nearly 60 too from early entries.What also stands out about these stats is the number of times Misbah has come in to bat at 100 or earlier, compared to the two Australians: for Misbah it has happened 52 times in 89 innings (58%), compared to 43% for Waugh and 44% for Clarke. Those numbers arent necessarily flattering towards Misbah, but what is undeniable is the improvement he has shown throughout his career. Nowhere is that more visible than in his stats against pace. He still shows some discomfort against fast bowling, especially the short stuff, but his average against pace has doubled, from 26.52 to 52.40, though the strike rates indicate he still prefers to bat against spin.* Excludes the first two innings of his Test career, against New Zealand in March 2001 It took Misbah more than 15 years in international cricket to play his first Test in England, but looking at the way he batted and enjoyed the occasion, it seems unlikely he would want to give it up any time soon. The team is performing superbly under his leadership, and his decision to retire from the limited-overs formats should help him retain his hunger and appetite for the game. Already he has scored 1248 Test runs after turning 40, which is third highest of all time, after Jack Hobbs 2440 and Patsy Hendrens 1901. Most of the others who are on the top of this list played their cricket before 1970. Misbah has been an exception to many rules over his international career, and given his recent form and hunger, he could go on and break a few more before he is done. ' ' '
