AP - Left out of the national title game, Colt McCoy and Texas made the most of their trip to the Fiesta Bowl. They just hope they did enough to impress poll voters. McCoy hit Quan Cosby for a 26-yard touchdown with 16 seconds to play, lifting the third-ranked Longhorns to a 24-21 victory over No. 10 Ohio State on Monday night. The dramatic strike capped an 11-play, 78-yard drive that took only 1:42.

AP - Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points and had a season-high nine assists despite suffering a "probable" fracture in his right hand in the Denver Nuggets' 135-115 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

AP - There was the strained groin in 2004, the lingering rib injury in 2005, a jaw injury in 2006, the knee injury in last year's playoffs and then his jammed right big toe earlier this season.

AP - Raheem Morris' interviewing skills could make his promotion to defensive coordinator in Tampa Bay a moot point.

AP - Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith is due to appear in a New Jersey municipal court next week to face traffic summonses stemming from a car crash that killed a friend in 2007.

Reuters - The Los Angeles Angels have reached an outline agreement with Mike Scioscia to extend the manager's contract through the 2012 season, Major League Baseball reported on Monday.

AFP - A brilliant freekick by Chilean international Carlos Villanueva proved the difference between Premiership side Blackburn Rovers and non-league Blyth Spartans here on Monday as Rovers ran out 1-0 winners.

AP - Andrew Cogliano's goal midway through the third period gave the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Monday night.

AP - The Texas Longhorns will be No. 1 on at least one ballot. It belongs to coach Mack Brown. Brown said he made up his mind after Colt McCoy hit Quan Cosby for a 26-yard touchdown with 16 seconds to play, lifting the third-ranked Longhorns to a 24-21 Fiesta Bowl victory over No. 10 Ohio State on Monday night. The stunning strike capped an 11-play, 78-yard drive that took only 1:42.

AFP - Little-known Latvian Ernests Gulbis sent top seed and world number three Novak Djokovic crashing out of the first round of the Brisbane International here Tuesday.

AP - Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

AP - Cuba is ending one of its toughest economic years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as costly food imports and three devastating hurricanes held annual growth to 4.3 percent, barely half the government forecast, top officials said Saturday.

Reuters - Another forecaster predicted an active 2009 Atlantic hurricane season on Tuesday, six months ahead of the tropical cyclone period that begins on June 1.

AP - An $849 million Hurricane Katrina recovery program hobbled by red tape and the national credit crunch will seek to issue rebuilding money directly to small landlords without the involvement of banks, officials said Wednesday.

AFP - Hurricanes and earthquakes win more headlines but heatwaves claim most lives, according to a survey of mortality from natural threats in the United States, published on Wednesday.

AP - Housing advocates and low-income residents sued Wednesday to stop Mississippi from spending a half-billion federal dollars to expand a damaged port rather than replace homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

AP - Hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University on Wednesday predicted above-average activity in the Atlantic next year: 14 named storms, including seven hurricanes — three major.

Reuters - A prominent team of U.S.-based researchers predicted 14 tropical storms in the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season on Wednesday and said seven would develop into hurricanes.

AP - Hurricane Ike battered Kroger Co.'s third-quarter profits, and the grocery chain offered a cautious forecast Tuesday amid the churning U.S. economic storm.