Gainey goes in front at Chiquita Classic

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07/16/2010 - Maineville, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Gainey posted a six-under 66 on Friday to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of the inaugural Chiquita Classic.

Gainey finished 36 holes at 14-under 130 at TPC River's Bend and is one stroke clear.

Chris Kirk, the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour this year, fired an eight-under 64 on Friday to vault into a tie for second place with Justin Smith and Peter Gustafsson, both of whom had 66s in round two. The trio is knotted at 13-under 131.

Joe Affrunti (65), Colt Knost (66), Chris Nallen (66) and Brendan Steele (65) share fifth place at minus-12.

Gainey, who opened with an eight-under 64 on Thursday, flew out of the gate on Friday with three birdies in his first four holes. He recorded birdies at the next two par fives, Nos. 8 and 10 and added a birdied at the 11th.

"I had it going through 11," acknowledged Gainey. "Seven-under after 11 is pretty good. I wasn't thinking about 59 or 62 or anything like that. I just wanted to keep hitting good shots and keep making some birdies."

He accomplished half of his goal.

Gainey hit a good shot to 12 feet at the par-three 12th, but missed the birdie try. One hole later, Gainey knocked his approach to 10 feet, but once again, his birdie effort stayed above ground.

At the par-four 14th, Gainey played yet another strong iron shot, this time leaving himself 20 feet for birdie. He not only missed the birdie putt, but three-putted for a bogey to fall to 14-under par.

Gainey's group got behind thanks to the group in front looking for a ball and calling in a rules' official. He finished with four straight pars, but wasn't elated about the midway lead.

"The way I played the last five holes, I'm really not happy," admitted Gainey. "I just need to get away from it and relax. I had the momentum going after 11 and then we started waiting 15 to 20 minutes on every hole, that damaged my momentum. It's my fault. I'm the one who let it bother me."

Gainey won this year's Melwood Prince George's County Open for his only Nationwide Tour victory. He is fifth on the Nationwide Tour money list.

Stephen Poole (66) and David Mathis (64) are tied for ninth at 11-under 133.

NOTES: First-round leader Peter Tomasulo, who fired a 61 on Sunday to win last week's Wayne Gretzky Classic, followed his 10-under 62 on Thursday with an even-par 72 on Friday. He fell into a tie for 11th at 10-under par...The 36- hole cut fell at six-under 138 with Kevin Chappell, No. 2 on the money list, missing the weekend.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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