Penn State defensive end Jerome Hayes has a torn left ACL. And will miss the remainder of the season, the school announced Sunday.

Hayes suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Saturdays 45-14 victory over Oregon State. The redshirt junior will undergo surgery in the next three weeks and will need nine months to rehabilitate from the injury.

It marks the second time that Hayes has suffered a season-ending injury in his collegiate career. The New Jersey native tore his right ACL last October against Wisconsin and missed the final six games of the campaign.

The 6-2 Hayes made his first career start Saturday and recorded two tackles. The 248-pounder had 17 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks last season.

Hayes became the fourth defensive player to suffer a season-ending injury for the 17th-ranked Nittany Lions, who visit Syracuse next weekend.

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ECU enters AP poll at No. 14.

One day after pulling off another stunning upset, East Carolina received some long-awaited national recognition.

East Carolina was ranked 14th, the schools highest ranking in over 16 years, in the latest Associated Press college football poll released Sunday.

Southern California, which was idle this weekend, retained the No. 1 overall ranking and received 33 first-place votes.

But the big story involved the Pirates (2-0), who rolled to a 24-3 upset of West Virginia on Saturday – seven days after stunning Virginia Tech. It was East Carolinas third consecutive win against a ranked foe and its first victory over a top-10 opponent since the 1999 season.

The No. 14 ranking is East Carolinas highest position in the AP poll since the close of the 1991 season, when the Pirates finished with the No. 9 spot. East Carolina had not been in the AP poll since holding a ranking of No. 20 in December 1999.

Southern Cal (1-0) received 1,577 total points – 52 more than No. 2 Georgia. The Bulldogs (2-0) were given 23 first-place votes.

Oklahoma (2-0) climbed one spot to No. 3 and received two first-place votes. The remaining 14 first-place votes were spread among fourth-ranked Florida (2-0), No. 5 Ohio State (2-0), sixth-ranked Missouri (2-0) and No. 7 Louisiana State (1-0).

Texas (2-0), Auburn (2-0) and Wisconsin (2-0) rounded out the top 10. Alabama (2-0) climbed two spots to No. 11, followed by Texas Tech (2-0), Kansas (2-0), East Carolina and Arizona State (2-0).

Oregon (2-0), Penn State (2-0), Brigham Young (2-0), South Florida and Wake Forest (2-0) rounded out the top 20.

Fresno State (1-0), Utah (2-0), California (2-0), Illinois (1-1) and West Virginia (1-1) completed the poll. The Mountaineers plummeted 17 spots following their embarrassing loss to the Pirates.

Cal joined East Carolina as a newcomer to the poll while South Carolina and UCLA fell from the rankings.

Posted on September 8th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: College football news, NCAA college football