NEWS » 9 record, and the most prolific rushing

As the U.S. womens gymnastics team prepares to take the floor in Tuesdays team all-around final in Rio de Janeiro, 5,000 miles away Robert Andrews will be triple-checking the Wi-Fi connection in his Houston home. A sports psychology coach who works with U.S. gymnasts Simone Biles and Laurie Hernandez, as well as a handful of other athletes competing in Rio, Andrews made the unforgivable mistake of waiting for the prime-time broadcast of Sundays womens gymnastics qualification.I wont make that mistake again, he says. This time, hell experience every tumbling pass and Amanar vault in real time. I blocked out my afternoon appointments all week and will be crying right along with them.In the month since making the Olympic team, Biles and Hernandez have discussed their relationship with Andrews and the role mental coaching has played in their ascents as candidly as any elite athletes have been willing to do. Thats a testament, Andrews says, to their openness and willingness to be vulnerable, look themselves in the mirror and work on their weaknesses. The fact that they admit those weaknesses exist in the first place, one of the toughest first steps for athletes of their caliber to take, is one of many reasons they are two of the most consistent gymnasts in the world.Its remarkable theyve been so vocal about it, Andrews says. Most athletes, particularly male athletes, wouldnt dare talk about seeing someone in my field. I hope they open the door to our field being more recognized and supported, because it is vital.That is precisely why Ron Biles called Andrews in March of 2013 to ask if he would work with his daughter, whom he told Andrews was gifted at her sport but struggling to maintain confidence. Hed done research, and he believed Andrews had the experience and credentials to help his Simone break through her mental blocks. He said, Ive got a young gymnast who is too nervous and anxious, and shes struggling, Andrews says. He asked if I could help.Andrews, the founder and director of the Institute of Sports Performance, is known around Houston for his work with the NFLs Texans, several collegiate programs and many gymnasts. In 2007, he began working with a handful of gymnasts who were being coached by U.S. mens national team coordinator Kevin Mazeika, including Raj Bhavsar, who went on to make the 2008 Olympics as an alternate before stepping up to help the team win bronze when Paul Hamm was injured shortly before the Beijing Games.The next year, Andrews began a four-year tenure with USA Gymnastics as the sports psychology consultant for the mens team. He resigned shortly after returning home from the 2012 London Games and had no plans to return to elite gymnastics. Even that fateful call from Ron Biles gave him no reason to anticipate that, three years later, he would be glued to his computer screen watching his newest athlete compete in Rio.When Ron called, Simone was having a really hard time, so I had no idea where she was going to go, Andrews says. Something clicked quickly, and I thought, Well, here we go again.The first time they met in his office, Biles was anything but the open, up-for-anything client she is today. She sat slumped in a chair, shrugging her shoulders in response to Andrews questions. After 30 frustrating minutes, Andrews finally got out of her why she was behaving with such resistance.She said a gymnast on the mens team told her only crazy people go to see me, Andrews says. So he spent the rest of the session listing the athletes hed worked with and what theyd accomplished together. Slowly, her posture changed. She agreed to continue their meetings, and each time they met, he says, she opened up a little more. Soon, Andrews was meeting regularly with Biles, her coach, Aimee Boorman, and her parents, all of which has been integral to the implementation of what he calls the plan.The plan is a methodical, focused path toward a goal, and it continues to evolve as the system evolves, he says. Part of the plan was to quit being so nervous and anxious and build her confidence. She did that, and that won a national championship. Next was to have a good meet at worlds. Its like the universe. The plan continues to expand.So too, did his clientele. After Hernandezs coach, Maggie Haney, read about Andrews work with Biles, she did some credential-checking of her own, tracked Andrews down and asked if he could help out Hernandez, whom she said was struggling with the anxiety of launching into the next stratosphere of her sport. We worked on what I call E plus R equals O, or event plus response equals outcome, Andrews says. Whatever happens, you choose how to respond, and the more mindful you are, the better choices you make.He also taught Hernandez a breathing technique to help her relax before competitions. Watch Hernandez before each rotation, and she will place her right hand on her stomach, close her eyes and take a deep breath. Its something we do at the office, but I never thought she would do it on the floor at a meet, he says. I saw her do it at trials and thought, Man, thats pretty cool.Andrews says he knows the two women so well by now that he knew by the end of their floor routines Sunday that it was going to be a good night. With Hernandez, 16, whom gymnastics fans have dubbed The Human Emoji, its all about her eyes. If her eyes look light, her personality is right and her body will do what its supposed to, he says.With Biles, 19, Andrews watches the landing on her first tumbling pass. When she over-rotates, shes too amped up, he says. When she sticks it, shes in the zone.That Andrews is not in Rio to coach the women in person speaks volumes to their readiness. That is the ultimate compliment, for an athlete not to need me at the Olympics, he says. Weve done the work.Just as important with both gymnasts is the strength of the circles around them. Think of the athlete, the coach and the parents or family system as the three legs of a stool, he says. If there is a weakness in any one of those legs, it becomes unstable. With Simone, the stool is solid. Anything that causes instability in the plan diverts energy away from her training and performance. I dont know Lauries family as well, but I believe her support system is just as solid. Thats important.Gymnastics is such an internal sport. Theres not a lot of crowd interaction. Its you and the apparatus, and the more focused and confident you are, the more belief you have, the better you are able to deal with distractions.Over the past three years, as Biles has amassed four national and three world championship titles, her narrative has reached fairytale status. But her story is more superhero saga than fairytale, her meeting with Andrews the spider-bite scene and -- to continue the Spider-Man analogy -- her woeful performance at the 2013 Secret Classic four months later the Uncle Ben moment that sparked her transformation from struggling, anxiety-riddled gymnast with potential into the greatest the sport has ever seen.Sometimes when great athletes struggle, they try even harder, which creates more struggle, Andrews says. Theyre not trusting the talent they worked so hard to develop, and that creates more stress and frustration. She was a snowball rolling downhill. I had to convince her to take her foot off the gas, enjoy the game again. She was so stoic at meets. It didnt look like she was having fun. Once she began interjecting that Simone smile into her floor routine, the fans and judges started smiling, too.In the three years since the Secret Classic, Biles is undefeated in all-around competition, an almost unthinkable truth in a sport as finicky as gymnastics, where only one gymnast since 1972 -- Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine in 1996 -- has held the world and Olympic all-around titles simultaneously.By the time Biles leaves Rio, it is almost assured she will do so as the most decorated gymnast of all time. Hernandez, who is competing in her first major world meet in Rio, has been a rock for the U.S. team and could leave with two gold medals of her own.It hasnt hit me that were getting ready to watch Simone at the Olympics, Andrews says. Some would say she is the marquee athlete of the Games and the greatest athlete in the world right now. And Laurie could win a gold medal on beam. I havent really absorbed it all yet.At each Olympics, as we watch the greatest in the world compete, we launch investigations in an attempt to understand what makes them great. In 2008, crowds gathered around Debbie Phelps and asked about her son Michaels childhood, what he ate for breakfast, if his oversized feet really gave him an advantage in the pool. In 2012, it was Usain Bolt whose otherworldly speed the world attempted to dissect and understand. And here in Rio, Biles is the athlete whose talent is proving most difficult to decipher.What makes a gymnast great is tough to pin down. The sport exists largely outside of the PED debate, and all the talent, power, flexibility, grace -- or drugs -- in the world wont keep a gymnasts feet on a 4-inch beam while the world watches and the weight of expectations presses down on her 4-foot-8 frame.Unless, of course, her drug of choice is the power of belief, one of the most potent PEDs on the planet.There is confidence, but then there is belief, Andrews says. Belief is powerful. Confidence can get shaken or rattled, but belief is a knowingness in your heart that no matter what, you are great. A wobble on beam might shake Simones confidence for a few seconds, but her belief in her ability will remain rock solid.Believe youre the best in the world -- and back it up with talent and hard work -- and you will be. As the late Yogi Berra once said of the game of baseball, gymnastics is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical. Biles has mastered both sides of that equation, even if, on paper, they simply shouldnt add up.Jack Butler Steelers Jersey . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Lynn Swann Jersey . It says Pocklingtons lawyer filed the appeal Friday in a California court. CTV Edmonton also says Pocklington gave a $100,000 cash deposit as part of the conditions of his bail, and that he will be out on bail until his appeal is heard. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Rocky-Bleier-Jersey/ . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Terry Bradshaw Jersey . LOUIS -- St. Jack Ham Steelers Jersey . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence.STARS-Joe Williams, Utah rushed for a school-record 332 yards and four TDs to help the No. 19 Utes hold off UCLA 52-45.-Lamar Jackson, Louisville, accounted for 431 yards and four TDs to lead the seventh-ranked Cardinals past North Carolina State, 54-13.-Zach Terrell, Western Michigan, threw for 398 yards and three TDs to lead the No. 20 Broncos to a 45-31 victory over Eastern Michigan.-Will Worth, Navy, rushed for a career-high 201 yards and accounted for five TDs, leading the No. 24 Midshipmen to a 42-28 victory over Memphis.-Gage Gubrud, Eastern Washington, threw for a school-record 520 yards and four TDs to lead the Eagles to a 41-17 win over Montana State.-Eric Dungey, Syracuse, threw for 434 yards and three TDs to help the Orange beat Boston College 28-20.-Anthony Lawrence, San Diego, threw for 301 yards and a career-high five TDs in a 49-10 win over Valparaiso.-Anthony Maddie, Northern Illinois, threw for 199 yards, ran for 125 more, and had five total TDs a 44-7 win over Buffalo.-Dallas Sealey, Abilene Christian, threw for 346 yards and a career-high five TDs in a 52-27 win over Incarnate Word.-Tyler Stehling, Rice, threw for 407 yards and five TDs, both career highs, and the Owls raced to a 65-44 victory over Prairie View.---DEFENSIVE TIDEWhen Alabama couldnt shake Texas A&M in a battle of unbeaten, Top 10 teams, it was Jonathan Allens scoop-and-score defensive touchdown that effectively brushed aside the latest would-be challenger.What else?A star defensive end, Allen returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown in the final seconds of the third quarter to help Alabama beat the sixth-ranked Aggies 33-14 and continue a non-offensive scoring streak thats as impressive as those 20 consecuutive wins.ddddddddddddhe Crimson Tide moved on as the powerhouse leagues last unbeaten team, getting yet another in a long string of defensive scores. Allen scooped up the ball after Ryan Anderson knocked it loose from Keith Ford to finally build a cushion over the Aggies, who led 14-13 well into the third.The score was 20-14 when Allen extended Alabamas streak to 10 games with a score on defense or special teams, pushing the seasons total to 12. Allen now has scored twice on fumble returns.---NUMBERS10-Years since Colorado had been bowl eligible before a 10-5 win over Stanford.21-Straight losses to FBS opponents by Kansas after losing to Oklahoma State 44-20.57-Career touchdowns by Bryants Dalton Easton , breaking the previous school record held by Charlie Granatell.543-Yards rushing by No. 21 Auburn in a 56-3 victory over No. 17 Arkansas, the most by the Tigers in an SEC.---RUN JOE, RUNFive years after Utah running back Joe Williams and UCLA quarterback Mike Fafaul left Fork Union Military Academy together, they both posted record-breaking performances on the same wild afternoon.Only Williams left the Rose Bowl happy with his effort -- and his decision to get back in the game with the Utes.Williams rushed for a school-record 332 yards and four touchdowns in his second game back from retirement, and No. 19 Utah held off pass-happy UCLA 52-45.Williams broke off TD runs of 3, 43, 64 and 55 yards during the greatest rushing day in Utah (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) history, surpassing Mike Andersons 1999 record, and the most prolific rushing p9 record, and the most prolific rushing