The Pistons reached the .500 mark (10-10), but Smith | Forum

                                      Here are a few things to watch in the Southeastern Conference during college footballs opening weekend. Carolina Hurricanes Gear .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 Carolina Hurricanes Pro Shop . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Stitched Hurricanes Jerseys . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. https://www.cheaphurricanes.com/ . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. BOSTON -- The Detroit Pistons relaxed attitude is finally paying off with some road wins.Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 25 points and Tobias Harris had 21 to lead balanced scoring that carried the Pistons to a 121-114 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.Andre Drummond added 20 points and 17 rebounds, one night after he was ejected in the second quarter of a victory at Charlotte for a flagrant-2 foul.Marcus Morris had 20 points and Ish Smith 19 for the Pistons, who had lost eight of their first nine road games before winning away from home on consecutive nights.Were having fun, Drummond said. The more we play like that the better the season is going to be.The Pistons beat the Hornets by 23 points a night earlier.Coming in with the problems weve had on the road, to play the way weve played the last two nights against two teams that are over .500 and have good personnel, to be on a back-to-back is a heck of a win, Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said.Isaiah Thomas paced the Celtics with 27 points, and Kelly Olynyk scored a season-high 19. Boston had won five of seven.Its disappointing, but like I said, they were making shots, man, Celtics guard Avery Bradley said. Hats off to those guys. They played well. Their starters played very well. (Weve) just got to move on to the next game.The Pistons shot 55.2 percent. Boston finished at 44 percent, going 15 of 42 on 3-point attempts.They made shots, Olynyk said. They made shots when they needed to make shots. They made them four quarters in a row.Detroit used a 9-0 spree midway through the fourth quarter to open a 103-95 edge with 5:08 to play after Boston went on an 11-0 run to take its first lead since early in the opening period. Morris and Harris each hit a 3-pointer during the Pistons spurt.Detroit pushed its lead to 112-101 on Smiths basket before BBoston closed within four points in the final 30 seconds. Carolina Hurricanes Store. .The Pistons were shooting better than 55 percent midway through the third quarter and opened their biggest lead of the game, 90-80, on Jon Leuers dunk.Boston center Al Horford returned after missing Mondays win at Miami due to the birth of his second child. He scored nine points.TIP-INSPistons: Van Gundy said G Reggie Bullock hasnt gotten an appointment yet for a second opinion on the torn meniscus in his left knee.Celtics: Coach Brad Stevens said there was no longer a limit on F Jae Crowders minutes in his sixth game back from a sprained left ankle. ... G Marcus Smart went down to the floor hard early in the fourth, but walked slowly to the bench during a stoppage.SIMPLE FORMULAThe Pistons outrebounded Boston 52-33 and had a 13-9 edge on the offensive glass.Thats been a key for us, Van Gundy said. When weve rebounded the ball well, weve won. When we havent, we havent won.GET BETTERThe Pistons reached the .500 mark (10-10), but Smith said they can play a lot better.Its not bad. Weve got so much room for improvement, he said. Weve been a really good home team, defensively at home. We can get so much better.LOOKING GOODOlynyk shot the ball well despite having a cut on his right elbow that he sustained Monday in Miami. He had it wrapped and went 7 for 9 from the floor.Its good, Olynyk said. Obviously tender.UP NEXTPistons: At Atlanta on Friday in the finale of a three-game road trip before they return home for two straight.Celtics: Host Sacramento on Friday before they head on the road for three in a row. The Kings scheduled game at Philadelphia on Wednesday night was postponed due to condensation on the court. ' ' '