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MINNEAPOLIS -- The entire Minnesota football team said Thursday that it is boycotting all football activities, which could include its bowl game, until it gets satisfactory answers from the university about the suspension of 10 players.The school suspended the players Tuesday after an internal investigation into a sexual assault case. Police declined to arrest or charge any of the players, but the school suspended them based on its own standards for conduct.The teams players said they havent ruled out skipping the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 against Washington State in San Diego. They asked the bowls committee to be patient while they work through the situation.The boycott will remain in effect until due process is followed and the suspensions for all 10 players are lifted, senior receiver Drew Wolitarsky said, reading from a prepared statement while flanked by all of his teammates. We further request that (President Eric) Kaler and (athletic director Mark) Coyle (apologize) and demand that these leaders are held accountable for their actions. This decision for the players to take this stance is not easy, but important to preserve the integrity of the program and ourselves.The university announced the suspensions Tuesday night without disclosing why. The incident at an off-campus apartment in September led to three-game suspensions of four of the players earlier this season. Another six were added to that list this week after the internal investigation for reasons that remain unclear.A joint statement issued by Kaler and Coyle on Thursday night said the schools decision was based on facts and is reflective of the universitys values.We understand that a lot of confusion and frustration exists as a result of this weeks suspension of ten Gopher football players from all team activities, the statement read. The reality is that not everyone can have all of the facts, and unfortunately the university cannot share more information due to federal laws regarding student privacy.Kaler and Coyle said they want to continue an open dialogue with our players.Ray Buford Sr., the father of defensive back Ray Buford Jr., said the new suspensions resulted from an investigation by the universitys Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action that was separate from earlier investigations into the alleged assault in the early hours of Sept. 3.Buford Jr., KiAnte Hardin, Dior Johnson and Tamarion Johnson were suspended for three games when their names came up in the police investigation. The players were not arrested, prosecutors decided not to press charges and the players returned to the team. The restraining order was lifted after a settlement on Nov. 2.The other six players are defensive backs Antonio Shenault and Antoine Winfield Jr., running backs Carlton Djam and Kobe McCrary, and quarterbacks Seth Green and Mark Williams. Hardin and Winfield are starters and Buford and Shenault are key reserves.The school has recommended expulsion for Buford, Hardin, Dior Johnson, Tamarion Johnson and Djam and one-year suspensions for the other five players.According to police records released Wednesday, the woman told police she was drunk when she was sexually assaulted in Djams apartment by several men, including some of the suspended players. She said her sexual contact with two men may have been consensual, but her contact with four of them was not. Several players told police it was consensual.The players boycotted practice Thursday, one day after meeting with Coyle. Then they all lined up in the teams indoor practice facility, wearing their maroon jerseys with gold numbers and vowing to stay united.When we had questions for him, he basically told us that he didnt have answers, Wolitarsky said. So that led us basically to believe that this is kind of unjust and he has the power to reverse this and he wont.In recent seasons, big-time college football teams have been much more aggressive about exercising their collective right to protest by threatening not to play when they are dissatisfied with issues they confront on campus.Just last season, more than 30 members of the Missouri football joined campus protests and threatened to boycott team activities unless school president Tim Wolfe resigned after his handling of several racially charged incidents on campus. The coaching staff and entire team threw support behind the boycott -- which could have threatened a game against BYU -- but the Tigers ended up never even missing a practice when Wolfe stepped down two days later.When asked if the Golden Gophers would boycott their bowl game, Wolitarsky said they would take it day by day.The thing of it is, all these kids reputations are destroyed, quarterback Mitch Leidner said. Their names are destroyed. Its extremely difficult to get back and its very unfair for them and thats why were sticking together through this thing.There has been some confusion about whether Gophers coach Tracy Claeys backed the decision to suspend the players or not. Coyle and Kaler said he was consulted, but the players said Thursday night they did not believe their coach had a say in the matter.Have never been more proud of our kids, Claeys tweeted. I respect their rights (and) support their effort to make a better world!Former Minnesota Vikings star cornerback Antoine Winfield Sr. said his son did nothing wrong and blistered university leadership for what he said was a lack of communication.If the president and athletic director keep their jobs, my son, Antoine Winfield Jr., will not attend the University of Minnesota, Winfield Sr. said.When asked if he was concerned about the threat of the university pulling their scholarships in reaction to this show of force, Wolitarsky struck a defiant tone.Were in this together, he said. What, are they going to pull 120 guys off the team? I mean, theyre not going to have a team if thats the case.Holiday Bowl executive director Mark Neville said they were monitoring it closely. A request for comment from the Big Ten was not immediately returned.Washington State sold out its 7,000-ticket allotment in less than two days and has already requested more.Getting a team to fill the bowl spot on short notice would be difficult, if not impossible. But the next team in line to receive a bid is Northern Illinois, which finished 5-7 but has the highest Academic Progress Rate among teams with that record.---AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 Miro Heiskanen Jersey .com) - The red-hot Los Angeles Kings will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Sundays clash at Rexall Place. Radek Faksa Jersey . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. 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TORONTO -- Scott Dixon used a fast final lap to snatch the pole away from Helio Castroneves at the buzzer in qualifying Saturday for Indy Toronto.Dixon turned a lap of 59.9073 seconds to win the pole for the race Sunday. It is his 24th career pole and first since Mid-Ohio last year. Castroneves wound up second with a lap of 59.9425 on the temporary street course at Exhibition Place.Whenever you can start on the pole, especially on the street courses, its a big help, said Dixon, who squeezed in his final lap.I was just trying to get the most out of it, man. Each lap just kept getting a bit better. Its not what we planned on; we just planned to do three laps. We luckily had a little bit more gas in the car to do a fourth. Worked out nicely for a change.The pole moved Dixon ahead of Johnny Rutherford for 12th on the career poles list. Dixon is one pole victory behind Toronto native Paul Tracy.Castroneves thought he had the pole until Dixons final lap flier.What can I say? he asked before praising Dixon and his Chip Ganassi Racing team. Ganassi is not a rookie team. Theyre champions. They know what theyre doing. Good job by Scott.IndyCar Series points leader Simon Pagenaud qualified third and Will Power was fourth as Team Penske took the three spots behind Dixon.Sebastien Bourdais qualified fifth, while Toronto native James Hinchcliffe was sixth to earn his best career start in his home race.Its really tough to win races from outside the top 10 in this series, especially at a track like this, Hinchcliffe said. Theres good opportunities for some passes here. The guys in front of us have pretty solid pace. Were going to have to find a little bit in ourselves over the course of the evening and warm-up, [but] definitely were in as good a position here this weekend as weve ever been here.Hinchcliffe was the highest qualifying Honda driver as Chevrolet teams took the top five spots.It was a rough qualifying session for the quartet from Andretti Autosport. Carlos Munoz qualified a team-best 15th, Ryan Hunter-Reay was 18th, Alexander Rossi was 19th and Marco Andretti was 22nd -- last in the field.ddddddddddddWhat were missing is overall grip and compliance. Thats so important on a track like this, Hunter-Reay said. Were not even on the same planet as the front-runners when it comes to grip. Were fighting the car. Really swatting at flies.Rossi called the qualifying effort abysmal and noted how challenging it will be for the Andretti drivers to salvage the weekend.As a team we have to work on it, because we shouldnt be here, said Hunter-Reay. Its really unfortunate. Its not fun at the moment.Rahal added, I [went for it] and we hit the fence. The car is still ill-handling. I told the guys it was going to take a magic lap to advance; I knew it. Our basic balance, all weekend, weve been killing the rear tires, cant put power down at all. I went for it and the sucker went straight and we just tagged the wall.Conor Daly qualified a career-best seventh and just missed advancing into the final round of six.Everyone is so good in this series, he said. Its just cool to be in that group and kind of fighting for those positions.Josef Newgarden, the defending race winner, was eighth. He led all but 18 laps last week and won at Iowa, moving to second in the IndyCar standings behind Pagenaud.Im always optimistic. Theres always something that can happen in the race, Newgarden said. This is our best session; qualifying is the highest weve been this weekend. You hate to say eighth is the best weve been this weekend, but Ive always got faith we can figure it out. Thats what happens when you get to racetracks, you try to solve the puzzle.Were going to have to figure it out, man, were the defending champs. Well see what we can do.On Saturday morning, IndyCar altered the course so the wall in Turn 8 is now the same as the configuration used in previous years. The change provides an additional 6 feet on the inside of the track, and concrete patches in Turns 1 and 9 were worked on to provide more consistent grip. ' ' '