Sports in Brief | Ga. Southern QB Foster wins Payton Award

Georgia Southern quarterback

Jayson Foster

won the Walter Payton Award last night as the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision, previously known as Division I-AA.

Foster ran for 1,844 yards and 24 touchdowns and completed 109 of 170 passes for 1,203 yards and six TDs.

He finished 40 points ahead of Northern Iowa quarterback

Eric Sanders

and 58 points ahead of San Diego quarterback

Josh Johnson

in a vote of 100 sports information directors and media.

Montana defensive end

Kroy Biermann

won the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player.

Mark Farley

of Northern Iowa won the Eddie Robinson Award as the top coach.

The awards were presented in Chattanooga, Tenn., on the eve of the championship game between Appalachian State and Delaware.

The University of Evansville held a memorial service to mark the 30th anniversary of an airplane crash that killed 29 people, including the entire men's basketball team.

The team plane, a twin-engine DC-3, crashed in rain and heavy fog on Dec. 13, 1977, shortly after takeoff from Evansville Dress Regional Airport to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for a game against Middle Tennessee State.

Linebacker

Lateef Ferguson

of West Chester was named a second-team Little all-American - an award for players in NCAA Divisions II and III and the NAIA - by the Associated Press. Ferguson is a senior from Dobbins Tech. The Golden Rams went 9-2 this fall.

Stuard Baldonado,

one of five Duquesne University basketball players shot 15 months ago, forfeited his college eligibility by signing with the minor league Miami Tropics.

Clemson linebacker

Cortney Vincent

is expected to start in the Chick-fil-A Bowl even though he was arrested on a drunken driving charge last weekend.

The 22-year-old Vincent was pulled over early Sunday by the South Carolina Highway Patrol and booked at the Pickens County jail, officials said.

The junior was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond, jail officials said.

Oklahoma assistant coach

Kevin Sumlin

will be hired as Houston's football coach, the Houston Chronicle reported. Sumlin would replace

Art Briles,

who took over at Baylor.

Louisville running back

Anthony Allen

has been granted a release from the program and will transfer.

Louisville spokesman

Rocco Gasparro

says Big East Conference rules prohibit Allen from transferring to another school in the conference.

Elsewhere:

Iowa State freshman forward

Clayton Vette,

the 2007 Iowa Mr. Basketball, is leaving the Cyclones for personal reasons, coach

Greg McDermott

said. . . .

Jerry Kill

was named football coach at Northern Illinois less than a week after he had Southern Illinois in a Football Championship Subdivision semifinal, in which the Salukis lost to Delaware. . . .

Jeff Jamrog

resigned Wednesday as football coach at Minnesota State-Mankato, to take an administrative position at Nebraska.

The judge overseeing the retrial of former NBA star

Jayson Williams

ordered prosecutors to provide all details surrounding a racial slur made by an officer investigating the 2002 shotgun killing of a hired driver.

New Jersey State Superior Court Judge

Edward M. Coleman

reviewed the material in his chambers in Newark with defense lawyers and prosecutors. He made no immediate ruling on what might be admissible.

The Football Association approved the appointment of

Fabio Capello

as England's new soccer coach, pending final contract negotiations.

The former Real Madrid coach will replace

Steve McClaren,

who was fired three weeks ago after failing to get England into next year's European Championship.

The United States will play Germany in the Fed Cup quarterfinals Feb. 2-3 at La Jolla, Calif.

The matches will be in a temporary stadium at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, the U.S. Tennis Association announced.

Tiger Woods

pulled his approach into the hazard on the 18th hole to finish with a double bogey for a 3-under 69, leaving him in a pack of players one shot behind

Jim Furyk

in the Target World Challenge at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The Target is the final PGA tournament of the year.