NEU » Man from Snowy River scared his horse with the crac

The schools not from Power Five conferences are making the most of their inclusion in the New Years Six bowl lineup.Boise State of the Mountain West Conference earned the Group of Fives invitation two years ago and beat Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl. Houston of the American Athletic Conference followed that up last year with a win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl.The Group of Five -- conferences that arent part of the Power Five (the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conferences ) -- includes the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference Mountain West Conference and Sun Belt.Schools from the Group of Five will try to win a New Years Six bowl for the third consecutive year. Heres an alphabetical rundown of some teams that have shots at earning the Group of Fives one guaranteed invite to a Years Six bowl, which includes the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose and Sugar.---APPALACHIAN STATE: On the surface, this ones a long shot. The odds of a school from the Sun Belt Conference getting in the New Years Six are pretty stiff. But Appalachian State does have a path to that invitation, narrow as it may be. The Mountaineers return the nucleus a team that went 11-2 and won the Camellia Bowl last season. Taylor Lamb threw 31 touchdown passes and only nine interceptions a year ago, while Marcus Cox rushed for 1,423 yards. Appalachian State visits Tennessee and hosts Miami in two of its first three games. If Appalachian State manages to split those two games and wins the rest to go 11-1 -- and all the American and Mountain West teams have at least two losses -- thats one way a Sun Belt team could end up in the New Years Six.BOISE STATE: The Broncos went 9-4 and failed to reach the Mountain West championship game last season, but their 55-7 blowout of Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl should allow them to head into this season with plenty of momentum. Quarterback Brett Rypien is back after throwing for 3,353 yards as a freshman. Thomas Sperbeck also returns after catching 88 passes for 1,412 yards last season. A manageable schedule gives Boise State a reasonable chance of winning all its games. Boise States nonconference games are home matchups with Washington State and BYU, plus trips to Louisiana-Lafayette and Oregon State.HOUSTON: The 15th-ranked Cougars are the clear favorites to get the New Years Six bid from the Group of Five. Tom Herman enters his second year at Houston as arguably the nations hottest coaching prospect after leading the Cougars to a 13-1 record last season. Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. and Clemsons Deshaun Watson were the only Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks last season to combine for over 1,000 yards rushing and 2,000 yards passing, and Houstons only loss last season came to Connecticut in a game Ward didnt start due to injury. Houston gets an early chance to make a statement Saturday when it faces No. 3 Oklahoma at NRG Stadium, home of the NFLs Houston Texans.SAN DIEGO STATE: The Aztecs have one of the nations most underrated players in Donnel Pumphrey, who rushed for a school-record 1,867 yards in 2014 and 1,653 yards last season. San Diego State was a unanimous pick to win the Mountain Wests Western Division in the leagues preseason poll. The Aztecs have the Mountain Wests preseason offensive player of the year (Pumphrey), defensive player of the year (cornerback Damontae Kazee) and special teams player of the year (kick returner Rashaad Penny). Kazee had eight interceptions last season. San Diego State ended the 2015 season on a 10-game winning streak and finished 11-3 with a 42-7 Hawaii Bowl blowout of Cincinnati.SOUTH FLORIDA: This team could emerge as Houstons biggest challenger in the American Athletic Conference. USF returns seven starters on offense and seven more on defense from a team that went 8-5 last season, a marked improvement from a 4-8 campaign in 2014. Quarterback Quinton Flowers threw 22 touchdown passes and rushed for 991 yards and 12 scores last season. Marlon Mack has led the American in rushing each of the last two seasons. He had a school-record 1,381 yards rushing last season and reached the 100-yard mark nine times.WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Broncos are the Mid-American Conference preseason favorites according to the leagues media after going 8-5 and winning the Bahamas Bowl last season. Western Michigan has a chance to make an early statement, as it visits Big Ten programs Northwestern and Illinois in two of its first three games. The Broncos have a dynamic passing combination in Zach Terrell and Corey Davis, whose 3,785 career yards receiving lead all active FBS players. Western Michigan also returns Jamauri Bogan, a 1,000-yard rusher as a redshirt freshman last season.---Online: AP College Football: http://collegefootball.ap.org Air Jordan Sale . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Air Jordan Outlet . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. https://www.wholesalejordanshoeschina.com/ . LOUIS -- Attorneys for the St. Air Jordan 19 For Sale . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Cheap Air Jordan Online . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Its almost game time in Rio, but first theres the pageantry of the Olympic opening ceremony.Always splashy affairs, the parade of athletes this time around will take place Friday night at Maracana Stadium with a country-by-country show of fashion, along with speeches, flag-raising and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.For now, enjoy these moments from opening ceremonies of Olympics past:---LONDON 2012First there was the green of the English countryside, then along came the queen.Queen Elizabeth II parachuted into the stadium with James Bond, the one thats Daniel Craig. Craig played himself after a fictional trip from Buckingham Palace to the stadium. The queen did not actually take flight, FYI.More slapstick ensued when Mr. Bean actor Rowan Atkinson performed the theme from Chariots of Fire with the London Symphony Orchestra.Oh, and who lit the cauldron? Not David Beckham. He bowed out after failing to make the soccer squad.---BEIJING 2008Dazzling doesnt begin to cover it.First, more than 2,000 drummers played the Fou, a traditional Chinese instrument. They were followed by 10,000 highly rehearsed performers after giant Olympic rings sprang from the floor of the stadium. In all, there were more than 18,000 performers.There were fireworks, and more fireworks, and still more fireworks, including some that were computer simulated. Lots of openers have fireworks, but they were invented in China some 2,000 years ago, so theres that.Everything from the silk road to chanting disciples of Confucius was represented in this ceremony.OK, that was more than one moment, but this was a BIG opening ceremonyy.dddddddddddd---SYDNEY 2000Well, the Man from Snowy River scared his horse with the crack of a whip to open this opening ceremony, followed by a little girl who conked out in the middle of the stadium to introduce a dream sequence featuring huge jellyfish and other sea life.But the best part was the last torchbearer, who waded into water and seemingly lit a soggy, spaceship-like cauldron on fire as she stood in the center. It was then airlifted up and up on a set of tracks amid waterfalls and fireworks.Did I mention there were people on horses? Lots of them, including some who galloped into circles to form the Olympic rings.---LOS ANGELES 1984A dude arrived by jet pack. `nuf said. The Jetsons generation had been patient.---MOSCOW 1980This was the year of the U.S.-led Olympic boycott, reducing the number of participating countries to 80.It was also the year of the stackable human. Pyramids of gymnasts and dancers constructed towers, including one with participants all in white surrounded by a circle of other participants on the ground in pink.Another human construction came in yellow, with mad respect for the performers in the middle who had to lean out and hang upside down as the shape of the bodies fanned out.A childrens show featured legions of other humans dressed as brown bears dancing and prancing before even more legions of humans in white shorts danced and pranced on white-headed hobbyhorses.It wasnt real, kids, but you might want to NOT look at it on YouTube. ' ' '