College football

LSU dismisses Mathieu

for violating rules

Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu was kicked off the Louisiana State team Friday for breaking an athletic-department rule.

The junior cornerback — nicknamed Honey Badger for his tenacious style and blond streak of hair — won the Chuck Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year last season.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said Mathieu, who was suspended for a game last season after failing a drug test, had his scholarship revoked.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, citing an unidentified person close to the player, reported the 20-year-old Mathieu failed another drug test.

LSU hosts Washington on Sept. 8 in the second game of the season for both teams.

Of Mathieu, Tigers coach Les Miles said, "We'll miss the guy. The football team's got to go on. We'll have to fill the void."

LSU is ranked No. 1 in the coaches preseason poll; the Associated Press media poll is to be released next Saturday.

UCLA picks Hundley

to start at quarterback

Redshirt freshman Brett Hundley will be UCLA's starting quarterback, coach Jim Mora announced. Senior Kevin Prince has made the bulk of the starts at quarterback for the Bruins over the past three seasons.

Harris tears ligament

Louisville sophomore receiver Michaelee Harris, who was expected to start, will miss the season after tearing a ligament in his left knee Thursday in practice.

NFL

Judge doesn't rule

in Vilma case

U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan questioned the fairness of the league's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints, but held off on making rulings and urged all sides to settle the matter on their own.

Berrigan, in a hearing in New Orleans, said the seasonlong suspension of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was excessive and added she would be inclined to rule in his favor if she were certain she had jurisdiction to do so.

Berrigan heard arguments on the NFL's motion to dismiss Vilma's lawsuit seeking to overturn his bounty suspension.

Vilma, several teammates and assistant head coach Joe Vitt have testified Vilma never paid or accepted money for injuring another player.

Giants lose exhibition

opener to Jaguars

Eli Manning played two series and produced three points for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants before taking the rest of the night off as the Giants lost to host Jacksonville 32-31 in the exhibition opener for both teams.

Manning was 4 of 8 for 60 yards.

Ex-Denver quarterback Tim Tebow made his New York Jets debut in a 17-6 loss at Cincinnati. Tebow was 4 of 8 for 27 yards and was intercepted once.

In other games, San Francisco defeated Minnesota 17-6; Cleveland edged Detroit 19-17; Kansas City beat Arizona 27-17 and Tampa Bay beat Miami 20-7.

Miami rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M was 14 of 21 for 167 yards.

Dolphins QB Garrard

to have surgery

Miami Dolphins quarterback David Garrard, 34, will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and is expected to be sidelined from two to four weeks, said his agent, Al Irby.

Elsewhere

• Caleb King, a former Minnesota Vikings running back, has been charged with assault for allegedly punching a 22-year-old man outside a birthday party in Oak Grove, Minn., on April 28.

King, 24, was released by the Vikings three days after his arrest.

• U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks had tough questions for U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials about the fairness of their effort to prove cyclist Lance Armstrong cheated, grilling them at length in a hearing in Austin, Texas.

But Sparks also asked attorneys for seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong why the federal court should step into an arbitration process already set up to handle doping cases in sports.

Sparks criticized USADA about the vagueness of its charges.

• Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka of Belarus withdrew from the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Montreal because of a knee injury, but said she hopes to be ready for the U.S. Open. The Open starts Aug. 27 in New York.

Seattle Times news services