Kasay's 4th field goal pushes Carolina to 19-3 lead

John Kasay's fourth field goal -- a 43-yarder -- just gave the Panthers a 19-3 lead with the third quarter at an end. Unless Arizona can score a couple of touchdowns and two-point conversions in the fourth quarter, Carolina (1-12) is on its way to its second win of the season.

Kasay is 4-for-4 today on field goals. That drive would never have happened except the Cardinals -- after forcing a Carolina punt -- roughed punter Jason Baker and gave Carolina a new set of downs starting at the Arizona 35.

For those curious about how this would affect the Panthers' draft status -- for now, they have the No.1 pick in the 2011 draft -- so far it won't. Cincinnati (2-11) is beating Cleveland by nine points at the moment, so this could be a guilt-free win.

Knowing the 2010 Panthers, though, there may be one more surprise in store before this day is over.

Carolina extends lead to 16-3 on Kasay's 3rd FG

Carolina has extended its lead to 16-3 with a field goal early in the third quarter, helped by an Arizona onside kick to open the second half that went awry.

Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt called for his kicker, Jay Feely, to try an onside kick down 13-3 at halftime. But Feely hit it poorly, knocking it only 7 yards instead of the required 10.

Carolina's Jordan Senn recovered at the Arizona 37. The Panthers moved to a third-and-4 from the Arizona 6, where Jimmy Clausen tried to throw a fade pass to Steve Smith but had it batted away. Kasay then came on to kick his third short field goal of the game.

Carolina leads 13-3 at halftime

Arizona is finally on the board at Bank of America Stadium with a field goal, but Carolina still leads, 13-3, at halftime.

Arizona went 46 yards in 12 plays to get to the Panther 5 before Tyler Brayton knocked away a third-down pass from rookie John Skelton, who has so far been outplayed today by Carolina's Jimmy Clausen. Jay Feely's 25-yard field goal cut the Panthers lead to 10.

Carolina then ran out the clock to go into halftime with a 10-point lead. Clausen is 6-for-10 for 87 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Stewart has rushed for about 80 yards at halftime.

Panthers take 13-0 lead on King TD

The Panthers have taken a 13-0 lead midway through the second quarter on a 16-yard TD pass from Jimmy Clausen to tight end Jeff King. The play was set up by Sherrod Martin's interception return to the Arizona 16 of a terrible pass by Arizona rookie QB John Skelton.

Carolina then took only one play to score, as a fake to Jonathan Stewart (who has already rushed for more than 70 yards) totally fooled the Arizona defense. King ran into the end zone, spiked the ball between his legs and then looked like he was surfing.

It was Clausen's second TD pass of his career and his first since Oct.3rd.

Carolina ups lead to 6-0 at end of 1st quarter

The Panthers have extended their lead to 6-0 with 14 seconds left in the first quarter -- John Kasay hit his second field goal of the game, this one a 29-yarder.

It was another impressive drive for Carolina -- 14 plays and 80 yards, starting from its own 9-yard line. The biggest play was a 29-yard strike from Jimmy Clausen down the sideline to David Gettis, who fought off defensive holding to make an acrobatic catch. Jonathan Stewart also had several good runs.

On third-and-12 from the Arizona 14, the Panthers ran a draw to Stewart that didn't work. This brought a gush of boos from the stands, which are about half full at this point.

Still, Carolina leads 6-0 as the first quarter comes to a conclusion. Arizona has yet to offer any sort of scoring threat.

Carolina takes early 3-0 lead on Arizona

The Panthers started Sunday's final home game of the season nicely, taking a 3-0 lead on a 28-yard field goal by John Kasay less than five minutes into the game.

Carolina's defense started with a 3-and-out on Arizona. Following came a punt, and Captain Munnerlyn ran it back 71 yards inside the Arizona 20 -- only to have that return nullified by an illegal block on Greg Hardy.

It didn't take Carolina long to get back there, however -- Jonathan Stewart broke a 35-yard run on the Panthers' first offensive play and then Jimmy Clausen hit a short pass that Brandon LaFell turned into a 20-yard gain.

The drive sputtered, however, when Clausen put a third-down pass that could have been a touchdown way too low for Mike Goodson. Kasay's field goal made it 3-0, Carolina, with 10:22 left in the first quarter.

Charlotte's amazing upset will make some believers

This is why I never bet on sports events.

How in the world, I would have asked you before Friday night, could the Charlotte 49ers ever hope to beat Tennessee?

The 49ers’ roster was severely depleted due to injuries and new coach Alan Major’s dismissal of Shamari Spears, the team’s best and most problem-plagued big man.

I watched the 49ers get absolutely hammered in the second half at Davidson last week, losing by 14 to the Wildcats.

Tennessee, meanwhile, was ranked No.7 and coming off an upset loss to Oakland. Surely the Volunteers would be primed and ready for this one.

No, they weren’t, and stop calling me Shirley.

The 49ers, fittingly, scored 49 points. That was just enough to beat the Vols by one, 49-48, Friday in a game I didn’t attend but wish I had.

Charlotte (5-6) totally outplayed a wilting Tennessee squad down the stretch, paced by playmaking guards Jamar Briscoe and Derrio Green. And Major totally outcoached Tennessee loudmouth Bruce Pearl, keeping the game at exactly the languid pace the 49ers needed to thrive.

The win came at the Charlotte Bobcats’ home arena, where there hasn’t been much excitement this season given the Bobcats’ 9-17 start.

But on this nutty night, some Charlotte fans – 49ers, not Bobcats – got to storm the court.

This was the first signature victory of Major’s very first season at Charlotte, one that the coach no doubt will remember 30 years from now.

It’s the sort of win that can start to make believers of a lot of people – including me.