heir defense, which had been among the best in Division I football, has be

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- About the only change to NASCAR Sprint Cup cars since their last trip to Talladega Superspeedway is the addition of 20 pounds.The addition of the weight, theoretically, could have a small -- very small -- impact on whether a 3,300-pound stock car gets airborne, one of the concerns of drivers as they left the track in May. The changes arent made to keep the cars on the ground but to protect the drivers who hit the wall.The weight is part of a new construction of the footbox area, which includes a new design plus foam and is meant to protect a drivers lower extremities. Kyle Busch missed 11 races when he broke his right leg and left foot in an Xfinity Series accident at Daytona in 2015.The new floorboard chassis requirements go into effect in 2017 for restrictor-plate tracks and 2018 for all tracks. Teams have the option to use it at Talladega this weekend. The four Joe Gibbs Racing cars, the Furniture Row Racing car and the Roush Fenway Racing car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are among the cars with the changes.It would make sense that drivers are very aware of whether they have the added protection in their cars for the race Sunday. But at least some drivers mired in Chase cutoff drama didnt know.Carl Edwards appeared puzzled when asked about it after practice Friday.We focused 100 percent on Kansas and then [on the test this week at] Homestead and now Talladega and so, yeah, Im not up to speed on it, Edwards said. I should be.There was one superspeedway race -- I believe it was here -- where I actually ran into a car that was pulling off of pit road and I hit that car so hard and went up in the air that looking at it afterwards, seeing what could have possibly happened with that foot box, Im really excited to have more shielding there.Joey Logano didnt know whether his car had the new components. He does not.I focus on things that I can affect and things that involve me, Logano said. Yes, you can make an argument that involves me quite a bit, but it doesnt have an effect on the way Im going to approach this race ... so I didnt really get in the middle of that.Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin were aware their cars had the changes. They couldnt tell the difference when driving. Hamlin conceded he only knew because there was some talk about it at the drivers council meeting last week at Kansas.Were focused on doing everything inside the car to go faster, Hamlin said. I didnt notice any difference. ... Hopefully I wont see the difference because I wont be hitting anything on Sunday.That is typical driver talk. They try not to think about the dangers until it, literally, hits them.You cant tell any difference unless you get under there and really look at it, Truex said. Everything is fine from what I can see and obviously the weight is not a big deal here either.Hopefully we wont have to test the safety features of that new panel, but glad to know its in there for sure.The weight is the main concern of teams, who wouldnt even think about using the new construction -- it has to be certified by NASCAR because it is so different from the 2016 chassis -- until NASCAR mandated that all cars at Talladega must have the extra 20 pounds for the cars that are running the 2016 package. Where the weight is located in the footbox area, though, is different from where teams would put the weight in the 2016 chassis. At other tracks where weight distribution is more important, teams cant afford to make the change and be at a competitive disadvantage.Among other safety improvements NASCAR will implement next year: All drivers will have roof hatches in their cars for 2017 restrictor-plate races. And the size of the holes in the restrictor plate will change by 1/64th of an inch. There will also be a change to the steering column so that it wont come back into the drivers lap as forcefully as in recent crashes such as Danica Patricks at Talladega in May.It makes us feel a lot better in the cars to know they go in that direction, said Tony Stewart, whose car does not have the changes. Its a lot of weight theyre adding to the car, but Id rather have safety than weight [savings].Will the weight help cars from getting airborne?Its not going to hurt it, keeping it down for sure, but ... Im fairly certain that they can already pick them up [in the air] with 3,300 pounds; 20 probably isnt going to be a big deal, Stewart said.Air Force 1 Cheap Wholesale . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Air Force 1 Cheap Outlet . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. http://www.discountairforce1.com/ . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. Air Force 1 Clearance Sale . Sgt. Eric ONeal says most of the arrests at Monday nights game were for public drunkenness, though one person was taken into custody on suspicion of trying to steal a seat from the stadium. Air Force 1 Clearance . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth.MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Kansas State has dropped two of its first three Big 12 games, sits squarely at .500 at the midway point of the season and now has Texas looming with injury uncertainty at quarterback.Make no mistake: These Wildcats are wounded.You win some, you lose some. You have to keep moving on to the next week, Kansas State linebacker Elijah Lee said. We have six games left -- a half of a season in front of us.Those six games will determine whether the Wildcats will qualify for a bowl game, build some momentum heading into next season, and perhaps even whether 77-year-old Bill Snyder decides to come back for yet another pursuit of a conference championship in his second go-around as head coach.The next couple of games are particularly crucial.First up is Texas, which has looked imminently beatable this season but nearly knocked off the same Oklahoma team that trounced the Wildcats on Saturday. Then comes a trip to Iowa State, which has given a hard time to just about everybody it has played but is still seeking its first league win.Win those two games and the Wildcats could still salvage a solid season.Lose both and the season could have slipped away.Making things even more desperate for the Wildcats is that they could be facing the Longhorns without quarterback Jesse Ertz, who was hurt just before halftime on Saturday. He tried to continue in the second half but pulled himself from the game after attempting one pass.Joe Hubener, who started after Ertz was lost for the season a year ago, entered in relief and had a hard time moving the offense. He was just 12 of 23 for 157 yards, but a big chunk of that came on a 54-yard touchdown toss to Dominique Heath that took advantage of some rare broken coverage.Hubener was sacked twice by a Sooners defense that has been regularly shredded.I think he was ready, Snyder insistted afterward.dddddddddddd He made some mistakes and threw some balls in the dirt, but I think if you took those away he would grade out comfortably well.The Wildcats certainly werent willing to put the blame on their quarterback. After all, those who were around last season have actually spent more time with Hubener than Ertz on the field.Im already used to Joe, said running back Charles Jones, who was held to 34 yards rushing by the Sooners. We played with him last year so it wasnt a big change. I felt he stepped up, made some plays but too little, too late. We all didnt make the plays.That has been a common problem for the Wildcats this season.Their offense was lackluster in a season-opening loss to Stanford, then had to settle for three field goals in a 17-16 loss at West Virginia. Their slow start on Saturday allowed the Sooners to get out to an early lead, forcing them to bail out of what has been a relatively productive run game.Perhaps more worrying for the Wildcats? Their defense, which had been among the best in Division I football, has been exposed in consecutive games against Texas Tech and the Sooners.They werent doing anything that we werent expecting. It was just struggling on the tackling, Kansas State defensive end Jordan Willis said. Guys were hitting them, but they just werent wrapping up -- just fundamental things. Its small things that just didnt go our way.Those are the kind of mistakes that were once rarely seen in Snyder-coached teams, but that have become a source of frustration last season and again this season.Not doing the assignment that was asked of you was really what happened, Willis said. Its a matter of correcting mistakes. Its the biggest thing weve got to do. ' ' '