CHASKA, Minn. -- For those U.S. golf fans imagining what its like to have the Ryder Cup residing in America again, there were always going to be three words of caution:Davis Love III.When the U.S. captain sat down to fill out his lineup for Sundays 12 singles match, he had a healthy -- and rare -- 9 1/2-6 1/2 lead. On paper at least, Love also had a considerably more talented group of individuals. Consider: The average American player would be ranked 16th in the world; his European counterpart, 28th. The Americans have only two rookies; European captain Darren Clarke is saddled with six.But its worth remembering that the numbers were only slightly different heading into the final day the last time Love was in charge of a U.S. squad. That was in 2012 at Medinah, the biggest difference being that his team was leading 10-6. What happened next made golf history:European captain Jose Maria Olazabal front-loaded his best players, while Love took a too-cautious approach. He saved several of his best players for the last few matches, including Tiger Woods as the anchor. The Europeans won the first five matches and the day, 8 1/2-3 1/2, stealing a win and matching the largest comeback ever in the bargain.Love may have learned his lesson. This time around, hes got it right.No secret that they were going to load the boat, he said.And indeed, Clarke did just that, deciding to stash four of his rookies in the last five slots.Anticipating that, and needing only five points to win, Loves lineup looks balanced and very much based on an idea put forth by Jack Nicklaus, the greatest player ever but a more modest 1-1 as a Ryder Cup captain.Nicklaus argued against stacking your best players at either the front or the back. Instead, he came up with a compromise: Two of your best players to start, two more in the middle and the last two at the end. He felt that gave his team a chance to build momentum, but also to slow the other teams, not to mention some insurance if the result turned on the final matches. Love put Patrick Reed, an absolute bulldog at Hazeltine, off first, where hell face Rory McIlroy, Europes hottest player and its emotional leader thus far. Jordan Spieth is at No. 2, drawing British Open champion and Olympic silver medalist Henrik Stenson.From there, the U.S. looks less formidable -- J.B. Holmes, Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker are Nos. 3, 4 and 5, respectively -- but so does Europe, with Clarke forced to start salting in some of his newbies. Rookie Thomas Pieters goes third, followed by Justin Rose and then another rookie, Rafa Cabrera Bello.Phil Mickelson (5-5) and Sergio Garcia (3-4-1) clash at No. 6. Both are veterans with less than distinguished records in singles. But the longer the competition goes, the better the Americans odds look.U.S. rookie Ryan Moore gets Lee Westwood, 0-3 and mired in his worst Ryder Cup performance, at No. 7. Brandt Snedeker goes next against Andy Sullivan, whos appeared only once and has been locked in Europes team room ever since.In fact, the only match in the final four that looks close -- again, on paper -- pits U.S. rookie Brooks Koepka against Masters champion Danny Willett at No. 10.Its worth noting that Love was on both sides of the historic comebacks in singles. He played for the U.S. squad that first pulled off an 8 1/2-3 1/2 stunner. That came at Brookline in 1999, when Ben Crenshaw was his captain.Crenshaw handed in his front-loaded line-up and left the interview room Saturday night down by a 10-6 deficit -- but not before wagging his finger at reporters and saying, Ive got a good feeling about this.In the team room later that evening, future President George W. Bush read the Death or Victory speech given by Col. William Barrett Travis at the Alamo. Thus primed, the Americans piled up wins in the first seven matches and the Ryder Cup enjoyed a rare stay in the United States.Love was asked what might be discussed in his team room Saturday night, including whether what happened at Medinah four years ago would come up.Me bringing it up? In the team room? he asked.No, Love answered his own question a moment later. We keep looking forward.---Jim Litke is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and https://Twitter.com/JimLitke John Miller Jersey .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Kyle Williams Jersey . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.thebillsgearshop.com/Bills-Tre-Davious-White-Draft-Jersey/ . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. Andre Reed Jersey .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Shaq Lawson Jersey . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. AUSTIN, Texas -- The Charlie Strong era at Texas is over, and while brief, is not easily explained. Strong will be remembered as a good man and a great recruiter, one who has Texas well-positioned to compete for Big 12 titles again soon. He just wont get to lead that run.His bosses and players badly wanted Strong to succeed at Texas. He won huge games against Oklahoma, Baylor and Notre Dame that, for a moment, suggested his turning point was coming. He was fired, quite simply, because he didnt win enough games. Too many blowouts early in his tenure. Too many close losses late. Two completely inexplicable losses against Iowa State and Kansas.In the end, the results over three seasons were not there, university president Greg Fenves said in a statement. It was not clear the future was going to be at the levels expected of Longhorn football.He went 6-7, 5-7 and 5-7. You dont get to coach at Texas for long with those results. He will leave with the worst winning percentage of any coach in school history. The patience ran out when a season that started with so much promise ended up being more of the same.Strong left Louisville at the end of 2013 ready for a big challenge after a wildly successful rebuild of the Cardinals. At Texas, he stepped into an objectively messy situation, joining an athletic department in the middle of a major leadership transition.He was hired by Steve Patterson, the unpopular new athletic director whod be forced out 20 months into Strongs stint. Longtime UT president Bill Powers retired during his tenure. And, of course, Strong had to replace a legendary coach in Mack Brown whod let the proud program slip.Texas can be a hard place to coach, with the many cooks in the kitchen and the many factions to appease. Strong wasnt brought in to play the politician role like Brown. His job was to rebuild and win.Its difficult to contend that Strong was set up to fail, considering he put himself in trouble with the hiring decisions he made in his first 10 days on the job. He ended up demoting, firing or losing eight of the nine assistants he hired in 2014. He handed out in-season demotions to two coordinators -- Shawn Watson and Vance Bedford -- whod helped him build a contender at Louisville. His poorly handled hire of offensive line coach Joe Wickline led to an Oklahoma State lawsuit and regrettable depositions. Continuity eluded Strong throughout.Toward the end of his debut season, after clinching a bowl bid at 6-5, Strong promised a five-loss season will never happen in this program. Texas lost its next two games, including a 31-7 blowout against Arkansas in the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl, to finish 6-7.Strong was a year late on figuring out a real offensive direction in the high-scoring Big 12. After the Arkansas loss, he fired two coaches but kept Watson for the entire offseason. He asked Watson to redesign his West Coast-style offense into an up-tempo attack more similar to their conference foes.And when that new offense produced 3 points and 163 yards in a 35-point loss at Notre Dame to open 2015, Strong benched Watson and quarterback Tyrone Swoopes and Texas had to spend an entire season trying to survive offensively.When the Longhorns finally got that side of the ball right this season with offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert, the No. 1 rusher in college football (DOnta Foreman) and an exciting freshman QB (Shane Buechele), it was Texas play on defense that slipped.Strong responded with more change, putting himself in charge of the Longhorns defense four games into the season. The defense did improve. The results didnt change much.Strong operated the program with a steadfast belief that, once he brought in enough talent, a tuurning point would come soon that proved Texas was ready to get back on top of the college football world.ddddddddddddHe and his staff succeeded on the talent acquisition front with two loaded top-10-ranked recruiting classes. From his 2015 and 2016 classes, he added 29 ESPN 300 recruits. Hes an impressive relationship-builder who won over moms and dads with his low-pressure, education-first approach. And he was a confident closer, one who did his best work in January and February.And there were days when his team converted all that young talent into big statement wins. A 1-4 Texas team stepped up and stunned Oklahoma, a top-10 foe that would win the Big 12, in a 24-17 slugfest a year ago. The Longhorns finished that season in unexpected fashion with an upset of a quarterback-less No. 12 Baylor team in Waco.Strong believed the program was one big win away from finally taking off, and Texas got that win in a double-overtime thriller against then-No. 10 Notre Dame to open this season. His team jumped from unranked to No. 11 in the AP poll. The morning after knocking off the Fighting Irish, Strong vowed: This cant be a one-night wonder. It wont be. But it was fools gold, both for Texas and the 4-7 Irish.The difference with Strongs third season in Austin is that it wasnt undone by blowout losses. He endured nine of them by margins of 18 points or worse in his first two seasons. These setbacks occurred in big-time games (48-10 and 50-7 against TCU) and supposedly easier ones (24-0 at Iowa State). Five blowout losses in 2014, four more in 2015.Blowouts werent the problem in 2016. This season, it was close losses. He was 5-5 a week ago with four of those losses coming by margins of 7, 5, 3 and 4 points, respectively. Had Strong finished out 7-5, Texas president Greg Fenves and AD Mike Perrin likely wouldve been inclined to give Strong another year. A 7-5 season wouldve shown some growth.But Texas lost the one game it absolutely couldnt Saturday, blowing a 21-10 fourth-quarter lead and falling 24-21 in double overtime against a Kansas team that was 1-9 and hadnt won a Big 12 game in two years. By losing to Kansas, Strong lost his ability to prove hes making progress.During his first two years on the job, Strongs failures were met with finger-pointing at Brown about what he did or did not leave behind for his successor. Seven players that Brown left Strong are on NFL rosters today, while 10 were kicked off the team in Strongs first year. Strong never took part in that blame game and probably wouldnt indulge it today. He took on a big, hard job. He did things his way, to the best of his ability, and it didnt work out.Strongs lone legacy at Texas will ultimately be his young players. In all, 48 players on Texas roster are underclassmen who signed in the past two years. Twenty of them, led by players like Buechele and freshman All-Americans Malik Jefferson and Connor Williams, have started games this season.These players love Strong and respect him and bought in fully. Theyll take this coaching change hard, especially because theyre sick and tired of the constant tumult at Texas. As sophomore defensive end Breckyn Hager passionately argued midway through this season: We love him as a coach. Getting a new coach is just going to set the program back. Weve got one of the best in the business. Weve got to keep him.The amount of talent Strong brought in shouldve bought him more time and security. It didnt, but whoever replaces him is inheriting a lethal supply of young talent, enough to start winning a lot of games in 2017 and 2018. 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