NEWS » tle with its third-string quarterback. N

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Move over Fitz Magic. Its Petty Time.Bryce Petty is starting at quarterback for the New York Jets on Sunday, replacing an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Los Angeles Rams.It is the first regular-season NFL start for Petty, a fourth-round draft pick out of Baylor last year.Fitzpatrick was listed as questionable with a sprained left knee , suffered last weekend at Miami. Petty filled in briefly, going 2 of 2 for 19 yards before Fitzpatrick returned.Coach Todd Bowles said throughout the week that Fitzpatrick would remain the starter for Sundays game -- as long as he was healthy enough to play. The Jets apparently determined theyd prefer to go with the healthy but inexperienced Petty over the still banged-up Fitzpatrick. The two split first-team snaps during practice all week.Fitzpatrick is active for the game and will serve as Pettys backup against Los Angeles. Rookie Christian Hackenberg is inactive.Petty moved into the backup role behind Fitzpatrick a few weeks ago when Geno Smith was lost for the season with a torn knee ligament. Petty was on the roster bubble through training camp, but he injured his throwing shoulder in the preseason finale against Philadelphia and the Jets chose to carry four quarterbacks on their active roster, the only team to do so.Petty missed the first several weeks with the injury before returning to practice and showed marked improvement in his grasp of Chan Gaileys offense during the last few weeks.Since Joe Namaths last game with the Jets in 1976, Petty becomes the 29th quarterback to start for the franchise.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Custom Tony Phillips Jersey . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Athletics Jerseys China . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. http://www.customathleticsjersey.com/ . "Theyve both been real good," said Babcock. "Havent changed our minds." A decision has seemingly been made - Sundays Group B-deciding tilt against Finland ahead - but it could not have been an easy one. Price opened the tournament with a sturdy 19-save performance against the Norwegians, yielding just one goal. Custom Athletics Jerseys . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Tony Phillips Jersey Large . Just not the game. Kyle Palmieri scored two straight goals in the third period to rally the Anaheim Ducks past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night. Choosing the four teams for the College Football Playoff is one of the most subjective, ambiguous processes of determining a national champion in all of college sports.That is, unless you follow the selection committees 11 commandments.Believe it or not, theres a method to the madness. There is protocol to be followed, and now there is two years of data to be analyzed. You want in, TCU? Michigan? LSU? Pay attention.The committee says thou shalt ...1. Play a challenging scheduleThe committee wants to know whom you beat. Its that simple. One of the biggest justifications for their weekly rankings has been wins over top-25 opponents and wins against teams with records of .500 or better. Its why the Big Ten no longer schedules FCS teams and has gone to a nine-game league format. Its why Week 1 features four matchups between two ranked teams. Teams arent penalized for a good loss (see: Notre Dame at Clemson last year) but also arent rewarded for FCS wins (looking at you, North Carolina).One of the top criteria we have in our rankings is strength of schedule. We look at all of those things. I know when were comparing schools or looking at schools, we throw it right up on the screen: whod they play, what their opponents records were. Thats very important -- your quality wins. -- CFP committee member Barry Alvarez2. Win your conferenceNowhere does it say specifically teams have to win a conference championship game (Oklahoma didnt need one last year), but there is heavy weight given to that so-called 13th data point, which was the very reason Ohio State finished in the top four in 2014. The Buckeyes romp of Wisconsin was exactly what it needed to sneak into the top four for the first time all season, pushing the Big 12 out. A conference title is used to help the committee members choose between comparable teams. Its why Michigan State bumped Iowa out of the top four last year and why it jumped Oklahoma in the final ranking.I think that win over that highly ranked team added to the rest of their body of work caused Michigan State to be ranked ahead of Oklahoma. -- Former committee chairman Jeff Long on Dec. 6, 20153. Lose early, not lateNobody within the CFP will concede this publicly, but by the nature of the sport, a November loss is far more damaging than one in September. Ask the Buckeyes, who suffered a devastating Nov. 21 loss to Michigan State last year, or Stanford, which won the Pac-12 but couldnt overcome that Nov. 14 home loss to Oregon. Or Notre Dame, which was eliminated with a Nov. 28 loss to Stanford.4. Win the head-to-head debateSee: TCU vs. Baylor. For committee members who wrestled with which Big 12 co-champ was better in 2014, the protocol helped guide them, as it says that head-to-head results should be used to help rank comparable teams. That could come into play this year with teams like Florida State and Clemson or LSU and Alabama.TCU went behind Baylor because I think people when they voted took into account finally the head-to-head. People would say why dont you take the head-to-head during the season? Because at that point, there are games that are being played, and one teams schedule might be significantly more challenging than another teams schedule, but once youve been through playing the whole conference slate and youre on even footing, and thats when you have to get it right. -- Former committee member Mike Tranghese5. Pass the eye testOK, so theres a wee bit of subjectivity in this system, but if you dont impress the five former coaches in the room, odds are the rest of the committee isnt impressed, either. Alabama lost at home to Ole Miss last year but was sttill one of the committees top four teams based in large part on its strength of schedule (see No.dddddddddddd 1 on this list) and simply how good it looked.6. Dont assume undefeated means No. 1Undefeated Florida State from 2014 can attest to this, along with Ohio State from 2015. The Seminoles were undefeated in the first year of the playoff, were never ranked No. 1 and were consistently ranked as low as No. 3. In Week 11 last year, a one-loss Alabama team jumped to No. 2 over undefeated Ohio State.There is debate about that. Theres certainly those who view a team coming from behind and winning as a sign of a strong team, and theres others who might believe that theyre a good enough team, they should have been in front or more in control of the game as they progressed. -- Long on FSU, Nov. 25, 20147. Find a Heisman-caliber QB (unless youre Alabama)Almost every team that has been in the CFP so far has had an elite quarterback. Oregon QB Marcus Mariota? Heisman winner. Florida State QB Jameis Winston? Heisman winner. Clemson QB Deshaun Watson? Hell win it this year. Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield, Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook and Ohio State QBs Cardale Jones and?J.T. Barrett?were household names, too. Somehow, Alabama?continues to be the exception to this rule.8. Dont write anyone off in Week 1 (except Houston)Admit it. You eliminated Ohio State from the playoff after it lost at home to Virginia Tech in 2014. How about Stanford after it lost to Northwestern last year? It will be tempting to toss somebody out in Week 1 with so many high-profile games, but dont do it. The only deal-breaker is if Houston loses to OU, which would likely eliminate the Group of 5s best hope at an undefeated top-four team. Everyone else will be forgiven.You can recover. Teams change from the beginning of the year to the end of year. -- Alvarez9. Two teams from the same conference can be in the top fourThe committee has the freedom to put LSU and Alabama in together or Clemson and Florida State in together. In the first ranking of 2014, the committee put three teams in the top four from the SEC West. Their job is to determine the four best teams. Period. A team that doesnt win a league title, though, has to be unequivocally one of the four best and carries a greater burden to unseat a league champ. The committee hasnt had to tackle that debate yet.Our protocol clearly says there can be more than one team from a conference in the final four, so thats definitely a possibility, -- Long on Dec. 1, 201510. Dont panic over injuriesOhio State managed to win a national title with its third-string quarterback. Notre Dame kept its playoff hopes alive with DeShone Kizer after Malik Zaire was injured. The committee doesnt eliminate teams because of injuries. It waits to see how those teams perform without the starter. If it still looks like a top-four team, it will be ranked as such.One notable injury this week to Ohio States quarterback, J.T. Barrett, did not affect the weeks rankings. The committee will evaluate the Buckeyes without him in the Big Ten championship game this weekend. -- Long, Dec. 2, 201411. Dont get comfortable until the final ranking is revealedJust ask TCU, which dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 in the final ranking of 2014.I dont really care if I get it right during the year. Im not worried about it. Im only worried about getting it right the last week of the year. If we get every week wrong but we get it right at the end of the year, then we get it right. -- Tranghese ' ' '