Pitt’s Rutherford Won’t Start Opener

Although senior quarterback Rod Rutherford is expected to play in Pittsburgh’s opener Saturday against Kent State, he won’t be allowed to start because a dispute he was involved in violated team rules.

Coach Walt Harris said Thursday that Rutherford also will be disciplined in other ways, but he wouldn’t give specifics.

The decision came as Pittsburgh police investigate a complaint by a 19-year-old woman that Rutherford confronted her and two other women outside a nightspot Monday, kicked in a car window and grabbed her arm. Rutherford disputes that account, saying the woman threw a glass at him in a parking lot. No charges have been filed.

Harris’ decision likely means redshirt freshman Luke Getsy, who did not play last season, will start against the Golden Flashes (1-0).

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Micky D’Angelo threw for 197 yards and a touchdown at Birmingham, Ala., to lead Southern Mississippi to a 17-12 victory over mistake-prone Alabama Birmingham.

Southern Mississippi (1-1) took advantage of two turnovers by Alabama Birmingham (1-1) in the second quarter to take a 14-3 lead, but the Blazers staged a rally in the fourth quarter, closing within 17-12 on Darrell Hackney’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Bradly Chavez. A two-point conversion pass was incomplete.

The Blazers’ final drive ended when receiver Jhun Cook fumbled, and the Eagles’ Etric Pruitt recovered.

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Travis Glasford ran for 135 yards and three touchdowns as Western Illinois defeated Eastern Michigan, 34-12, at Ypsilanti, Mich.

The Leathernecks (2-0), ranked No. 4 in Division I-AA, held the Eagles of the Mid-American Conference to minus-2 rushing yards.

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Maurice Clarett and his mother, Michelle, are considering suing the NFL for a chance to enter the league a year early, family attorney Alan C. Milstein said. The NFL does not permit players to be eligible for its draft until they have been out of high school at least three years. Clarett is a sophomore and, under the rule, could not be selected until the 2005 draft at the earliest.... Notre Dame tight end Gary Godsey will undergo surgery on his knee and probably will not play this season. Godsey tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl and re-injured it during the first week of practices last month. Godsey, a fifth-year senior, will seek a medical redshirt.

The man convicted of killing Minnesota player Brandon Hall was sentenced to more than 35 years in prison. Jermaine Stansberry was convicted in July of second-degree murder and other charges in the shooting of Hall, a defensive lineman, who was killed hours after playing in his first college game.... Washington Coach Keith Gilbertson said that fullback Zach Tuiasosopo, who this week entered a modified guilty plea in a misdemeanor case, will play Saturday against Indiana.

While reluctant to take any action, lawmakers put college football on notice that they don’t care for what they called an emphasis on marketing over fairness in the way it picks a national champion during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Bowl Championship Series.