BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The best news for the UAB Blazers coming off a near-miss against No. 3 Tennessee: Coach Watson Brown thinks his team can play much better. “I thought our guys gave a great effort and showed a lot of physical toughness,” Brown said Monday of the Blazers’ 17-10 defeat. “But we can…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Reserve quarterback Will Hudgens put the Memphis Tigers in position to win. But then inexperience caught up with him in his first college game. Linebacker Garry Pack intercepted Hudgens’ pass at the goal line with about 15 seconds left to help Mississippi hold off Memphis 10-6 on Monday for the Rebels’ first…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Mission No. 1 for the Vanderbilt football team has been accomplished: Win a road game. Mission No. 2 starts this week: Win a Southeastern Conference road game. With the Commodores 24-20 season-opening victory against Wake Forest, coach Bobby Johnson recorded his first win away from home since taking over the program in…

By TERESA M. WALKER / AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE — Linebacker Keith Bulluck knows exactly how to teach his young Tennessee teammates about the Titans’ rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers: Roll some videotape. Talking simply won’t do the trick in explaining how physical games between these one-time AFC Central Division foes are, with both the…

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Folic acid and vitamin B pills do not ward off heart attacks or strokes and may even be harmful when combined, new research suggests. Studies showing that the vitamins lower levels of a substance in the blood suspected of playing a role in the development of heart disease have prompted hundreds…

NEW YORK (AP) — Labor Day traffic slowed around the country as drivers lucky to find gas stations open paid over 30 percent more than before Hurricane Katrina disrupted Gulf Coast refinery and pipeline operations a week ago. Pump prices are starting to level off, but analysts say the dramatic rise in gasoline costs has…

WASHINGTON (AP) — By issuing an early call for a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, Sen. Russ Feingold could emerge as the Democrats’ anti-war candidate of 2008, in the tradition of Eugene McCarthy and Howard Dean. Although Democrats have been critical of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, they have been…

ATLANTA (AP) — About 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes that have loaded and unlocked guns, according to what is being called the first comprehensive national survey of gun storage in homes across the country. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, found that 2.5 percent of children live in homes with loaded…

BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — The people who have chosen to stay or are stuck in demolished communities along the Mississippi coast scavenge for basics each day, as convoys of soldiers and supplies pass them by, headed for the nearly empty city of New Orleans. Some are staying with the hope of rebuilding their communities. Others…

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Among the thousands of crushing moments from last week’s deadly hurricane, one image brought the anguish home to many: a tearful little boy torn from his dog while being shuttled to safety. It tugged at the heartstrings, prompting an outpouring from around the country of people on the hunt for both…