College notes: Florida State's Manuel paces South in Senior Bowl

Florida State's E.J. Manuel passed for a touchdown and rushed for another on the South's first two possessions in a 21-16 victory over the North in the Senior Bowl on Saturday in Mobile, Ala.

Manuel and running backs Stepfan Taylor and Mike James combined to put away the game for senior NFL prospects on the final drive.

Stanford's Taylor, from Mansfield, carried five times for 32 yards and caught a 6-yard pass from Manuel.

Manuel converted a fourth-and-1 play on a sneak to set up a 5-yard touchdown run for Miami's James with 2:41 left.

Manuel was selected the game's Most Outstanding Player after completing 7 of 10 passes for 76 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Alabama tight end Michael Williams. Manuel also scored on a 2-yard run. BYU defensive end Ezekiel Ansah received the honors for the South team, while Purdue defensive lineman Kawann Short was the North's top player.

4-point first half

Northern Illinois broke its own NCAA Division I record for futility, scoring just four points in the first half of a 42-25 loss at Eastern Michigan.

The Huskies (4-14, 2-4 Mid-American) also broke the record for lowest field goal percentage in a half of the shot clock era and tied the mark for fewest field goals after hitting 1 of 31 attempts for 3.2 percent.

Abdel Bader scored on a fast break one minute into the game to put NIU up 2-0 for its only bucket of the half, followed by 29 straight misses.

On Dec. 1, NIU had set the record for fewest points in a half by scoring five points against Dayton.

Savannah State had held the record of 4.3 percent shooting against Kansas State on Jan. 7, 2008, a game in which it also made just one field goal in the half.

TCU roundup

Men's tennis: TCU took its second straight 7-0 win of the weekend, beating UT San Antonio. The Frogs (3-1) beat UT Arlington 7-0 on Friday.

Track and field: Tricia Terry placed second in the women's 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:45.02 at the Texas A&M Challenge. The men's 4x400-meter relay team was second with a 3:10.77.

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