chy grass, the ball will bite into for the quicks it should a

Here are a few things to watch in the Southeastern Conference during college footballs opening weekend.GAME OF THE WEEK: No. 11 Mississippi vs. No. 4 Florida State in Orlando, Florida. The Rebels are involved in one of the nations premier games this week, facing the Seminoles on Monday night at the Citrus Bowl. Ole Miss returns QB Chad Kelly, who threw for more than 4,000 yards last season. Florida State will counter with redshirt freshman Deondre Francois, who will be making his first career start under center. Francois will have help on offense: RB Dalvin Cook returns after running for 1,691 yards last season.MATCHUP OF THE WEEK: UCLA offensive tackle Conor McDermott vs. Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett: McDermott, a fifth-year senior, earned second-team all-Pac-12 honors last season as part of an offensive line that yielded only 14 sacks. McDermott will have his hands full Saturday lining up against Garrett, arguably the nations premier pass rusher. Garrett recorded 11 + sacks as a freshman in 2014 and followed that up by delivering 12 + sacks and 19 + tackles for loss last season.NUMBERS GAME: The SEC owns a 496-110 record and an .818 winning percentage since 2006. Thats the highest nonconference winning percentage of any league during that stretch. ... No. 5 LSU owns an FBS record 52 consecutive regular-season nonconference victories heading into Saturdays game with Wisconsin. LSU hasnt lost a regular-season nonconference game since falling 26-8 to Virginia Tech in its 2002 opener. ... No. 9 Tennessee is in the top 10 for the first time since it was ranked eighth on Oct. 29, 2006. ... Missouris visit to West Virginia marks the first time the Tigers have opened the season with a true road game since a 40-10 loss at Texas in 1996. .... No. 25 Florida has the lowest preseason ranking ever of a defending SEC East champion. Missouri was ranked 24th to start each of the last two seasons as a defending East Division champion.LONG SHOT: Wisconsin vs. No. 5 LSU: LSU should be really good this season, but its still surprising to see Wisconsin as a 10-point underdog, especially when its essentially a home game for the Badgers at Lambeau Field. LSU has one of the nations best running backs in Leonard Fournette, but needs improvement from junior quarterback Brandon Harris, who threw for 2,165 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.IMPACT PERFORMER: Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason: This true freshman from Lake Stevens, Washington, is competing with graduate student Greyson Lambert for the right to start No. 18 Georgias season opener Saturday against No. 22 North Carolina in Atlanta. Eason, who enrolled at Georgia in time to participate in spring practice, went 19 of 29 for 244 yards and a touchdown in the Bulldogs spring game.---AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee in Knoxville, Tennessee, and David Brandt in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this story.---AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Dino Ciccarelli Stars Jersey .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy. Radek Faksa Jersey . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. http://www.thedallasstarshockey.com/jamie-benn-hockey-jersey/ . 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Adelaide Ovals carefully prepared day/night Test pitch has been tweaked as a result of last summers day three finish to offer less to bowlers - two millimetres less to be precise.The height of the grass on the surface was a major talking point in the aftermath of the inaugural floodlit Test, with Australias captain Steven Smith and his New Zealand counterpart Brendon McCullum both reasoning the experimental pink ball would be no worse off for more extensive use of the lawn mower.What would change, though, was the amount of seam movement on offer to the bowlers. Batsmen, administrators, broadcasters and sponsors would all prefer a match that lasts until the fourth evening at least, meaning the seamers who prospered last year will likely be the chief parties disappointed by the curator Damian Houghs latest creation.Preparation-wise still leaving a bit of grass on it, he said. Were bringing the starting height down and the finished height will be down another 2mm from last year.In review of last year, which was a good learning experience, leaving the grass on it assisted the quicks a little bit more. We were really happy with the game but feel a couple millimetres less will hopefully still keep it a good contest between bat and ball - thats what were after.It mightnt nip around quite as much. You still think it will hoop around a bit at night with the ball but we thought maybe well get that balance a bit better.Houghs work with Adelaides drop-in surfaces has evolved considerably since they were first installed for the summer of 2013-14. The surface then was prepared to be dry after the fashion of Adelaides original square, but a lack of thee desired deterioration pushed Hough to take a different approach in which thatchy grass coverage could assist both pacemen and spinners throughout a match.ddddddddddddOur game plan with leaving the grass on is to leave a coarse thatchy grass, the ball will bite into for the quicks it should also do the same for the spinner, Hough said. Weve ben doing that for two years now and the feedback has been the spinners have still been able to get purchase out of that grass and get a bit of turn.The grass we leave on it, were not going to get a lot of breaking up. We havent had that for 3-4 years. Were going down that path, dont get that natural deterioration so well get the grass to assist the ball biting in and moving around a little bit.While Hough has been lauded about his work with drop-in surfaces, he admitted there was still much unknown about them, for wickets can take years of use to mature in their characteristics.Its still new. Is it the drop-in pitch thats preventing the pitch from deteriorating or is it a brand new wicket area and brand new soil that needs time to mature? Who knows, he said. Weve got different pitches that weve remade, or rebuilt some drop-in pitches with a different grass variety that is opening up. Well keep working on it and keep assessing it and adjusting as we see fit.Where were at now, were really comfortable with the feedback from all the visiting players, coaches at Shield level has been really positive. Were trying to produce a pitch with a really good contest from bat and ball. ' ' '