ed players to play through injuries.dddddddddddd Beckman denied the accusations and said he was considering legal steps to defend himself before receiving a $250,000 settlement from the school.Fed

LAS VEGAS -- And then there were eight ...The Friday Football Showdown at the Golden Nugget is down to the eight quarterfinalists that qualified for its head-to-head playoffs. The contest, which is in its second year of being open to the public, drew a field of 96 entrants at $2,000 apiece. Participants made seven plays per week (NFL and NCAA sides and totals were used) for the first eight weeks and then nine plays each of the last two weeks.RoughRider39, a longtime advantage player and consistent top player in Las Vegas contests, finished with the best record at 50-22-2 (69.4 percent) for 51 contest points, as 1 point is awarded for each win and half a point for each push. FrankyP finished at 49.5 points, followed by @LasVegasCris & The D Las Vegas at 48 and then Hells Kitchen, Anthony Curtis and Mucked Nuts tied for fifth place at 47.5.The eighth spot in the playoffs goes to the winner of what the Golden Nugget called the Wild-Card Chase with the best record in Weeks 9-10. @LasVegasCris went 15-3 and FrankyP was 13-3-2 over the last two weeks, but since they already qualified, the last spot went to BBQ Guy, who went 13-4-1 to just edge out Big Lib (9-0 in Week 9 but only went 4-5 in Week 10 to finish 13-5).Each of the playoff qualifiers earns $3,000 to guarantee they all make a profit for the $192,000 contest, but now their records are wiped clean for the head-to-head matchups that will be held over the next four Fridays (thus the Friday Football Showdown name) on The Las Vegas Sportsline radio show with co-hosts Matt Youmans and Dave Cokin from 2-3 p.m. PT on ESPN AM 1100 here in Vegas and online at lvsportsnetwork.com. All entrants had to agree to appear on the radio show if they made the playoffs or designate a substitute to give out their plays. The only advantage for the top regular-season finishers is they get to choose (in seeding order) which weekend they want to compete. The Golden Nuggets Tony Miller and Aaron Kessler worked Tuesday to contact the qualifiers and here are the quarterfinal matchups:Nov. 18: No. 4 Derek Stevens vs. No. 5 Nancy Clark Nov. 25: No. 1 Randy McKay vs. No. 8 Michael Wright Dec. 2: No. 2 Frank Perez vs. No. 7 Christopher Kozak Dec. 9: No. 3 Cris Zeniuk vs. No. 6 Anthony CurtisThe quarterfinal winners will each win another $2,000 and advance to the semifinals on Dec. 16 and 23. The championship match is slated for Friday, Dec. 30. The remaining $160,000 is split up with $96,000 to the eventual champion (for a total haul of $101,000), $40,000 to the runner-up, $8,000 each to the semifinal losers and $8,000 to the winner of a bonus mini-contest held in NFL Weeks 15-17 for all contestants (even those eliminated earlier).SuperContest getting crowded at the topBy this time of the NFL season, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest usually has one or two players that have pulled away from the field. However, after 10 weeks there are five SuperContestants tied for first place with another nine within one game of the lead.Early-season leader Ripsaw has been able to stick around and is 32-15-3 (68.1 percent) for 33.5 points and tied with Johnny Vegas, Janknation, Mark Davis and Underdobs. Ripsaw was 0-3 this past weekend before winning with Seattle +7.5 on Sunday night and Cincinnati +2 on Monday night to maintain a portion of the lead.A record 1,854 entrants are in the SuperContest this year. They paid $1,500 to enter and make five NFL plays a week against the contest spread while playing for more than $2.5 million in prizes (after an administrative fee of 8 percent was taken out) and a first-place prize of $895,482 with payouts to the top 50.The top five consensus picks went 0-5 last week and are a woeful 15-33-2 (31.3 percent) through 10 weeks. Those plays are often the games that are off by the most points between the time the weekly lines are locked in on Wednesday afternoons and the deadline for picks at 11 a.m. PT Saturday, but those popular plays have been struggling all season. The overall consensus of all Week 10 games was 3-11 ATS (21.4 percent) and is just 63-79-3 (44.4 percent) for the season to date to hold down most records.In fact, the five co-leaders are the only players left that are over the 67-percent threshold that the Westgate splits among those that exceed that mark at the end of the season. Since the explosion of the SuperContest field started in 2011, the bonus has been paid out every year, but that streak is in jeopardy this season. The SuperContest also has a $20,000 mini-contest over the last three weeks on the NFL schedule. San Francisco 49ers Pro Shop . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. 49ers Jerseys China . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. https://www.49ersjerseysale.com/ . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph. Wholesale 49ers Jerseys . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. 49ers Jerseys 2020 . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. RALEIGH, N.C. -- Former Illinois head coach Tim Beckman will no longer serve as a volunteer assistant with No. 22 North Carolina.The school issued statements saying Beckman was out Thursday night, a day after Tar Heels head coach Larry Fedora defended allowing Beckman to work in the program a year after Illinois had fired him amid allegations of player mistreatment.UNC had said Beckman could do scouting and film work, as well as interact with players but not instruct them as a coach. Fedora said he had conferred with athletic director Bubba Cunningham before bringing Beckman on at the start of training camp on the Chapel Hill campus, but chancellor Carol Folt said in a statement Thursday night she was surprised and disappointed after learning of Beckmans role only a day earlier.The decision for Mr. Beckman to withdraw from his volunteer position was the right thing to do, and moving forward I dont expect this situation to recur, Folt said. I continue to put a great deal of trust in Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham and Coach Fedora to educate and develop our student-athletes and to ensure we meet the high standards we all expect at Carolina.Beckman and Fedora were assistants together at Oklahoma State in 2007. Beckman said in a statement that Fedoras willingness to help a friend was a benefit both personally and professionally but he didnt want to be a further distraction to the team or university.Illinois fired Beckman shortly before the 2015 opener after a law firm hired by the university concluded he interfered in player mediical decisions and pressured players to play through injuries.dddddddddddd Beckman denied the accusations and said he was considering legal steps to defend himself before receiving a $250,000 settlement from the school.Fedora fielded several questions from reporters about Beckman after Wednesdays practice. Asked about the perception of bringing Beckman into the program, Fedora responded: I dont believe everything I read, all right? I know Tim. I know his side of the story also. So I was comfortable with it.Fedora also added that: I promise you, I didnt see anywhere where the NCAA said that he should be banished from the game of football, you know? I mean, the guy didnt win enough games, thats all it was.In his statement Thursday, Fedora said he was trying to help a friend gain experience from our staff but said Beckmans presence had become too much of a distraction.Coach Fedoras interest was in helping a coaching colleague get back on his feet, Cunningham said. We will learn from this and continue preparing for the season.The Tar Heels beat the Illini 48-14 at home last season with Bill Cubit serving as Illinois interim coach. UNC visits Illinois, now led by former NFL coach Lovie Smith, on Sept. 10.The Tar Heels open the season Sept. 3 against No. 18 Georgia in Atlanta.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap and the APs college football site at http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '