Ohio State Michigan Nough Said

LOOK FOR THE BUCKEYES THROWBACK UNIFORMS AGAINST MICHIGAN

Ohio-Michigan dislike more than just football
All of the different articles on the GAME!!!! www.espn.com, www.si.com, www.cbssportsline.com, www.msnbc.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The deep and abiding enmity between Ohio and Michigan is certainly nothing new.
When teams from No. 10 Ohio State and Michigan meet on Saturday to play football for the 106th time, it’ll just be the latest skirmish between two states and their residents who have despised each other for almost two centuries.
“We understand how important it is, not only here as a football squad, but the state as a whole, to get that victory against Michigan for the bragging rights for the year,” Ohio State linebacker Austin Spitler said.
The first offsides call took place early in the 19th century.
A disagreement over widely divergent surveys called into question the location of their border. Was Toledo in the new state of Ohio? Or in the territory of Michigan?
Ohio Gov. Robert Lucas, sounding a bit like a certain grumpy football coach, refused to even negotiate the line of scrimmage. In defiance, Lucas named the county in which Toledo was located after himself and appointed a sheriff and a judge.
Michigan’s territorial governor, 22-year-old Stevens T. Mason, was outraged. He assembled a 250-member posse and marched south, initiating what was called the Toledo War.
It really wasn’t much of a war. There was only one casualty, when an Ohioan named Two Stickney stabbed a Michigan sheriff in a tavern brawl.
Eventually, Michigan was forced to concede Toledo was in Ohio, but was pacified by a gift of 9,000 square miles of rich mining and timber land in the Upper Peninsula.
A Michigan government Web site sniffs, “In retrospect, it’s obvious who won the War.”
The two universities first met in football in 1897. They started playing annually in 1918, and since 1935 have renewed acquaintances in the final game of the season.
The vitriol between the two states and their two universities was magnified from 1969-78 when curmudgeonly Woody Hayes prowled and growled on the sidelines for the Buckeyes and Michigan was coached by the similarly stubborn and hardheaded Bo Schembechler — an Ohio native and former Hayes acolyte.
Hayes refused to even utter the name of “the state up north.” Legend has it — although no one doubts it — that the petulant, at times childish Hayes once ran out of gas in Michigan but pushed his car over the state line rather than spend his money there.
Something akin to that passion is handed down from generation to generation even today.
“I went to St. Mary’s down in Lancaster, a little Catholic school. We had to wear our (school) uniforms, but for the Ohio State-Michigan game we got to dress up in either Ohio State or Michigan clothes,” said Buckeyes offensive lineman Jim Cordle. “That was fun. We got to cheer into the PA system and then they’d measure (which team’s fans) had the loudest cheer. And then every year we went to an Ohio State-Michigan party to watch the game.”
The two states are so similar yet remain committed in their distaste for each other. Columbus drivers scowl at those behind the wheel of cars with Michigan plates. Graduates of the University of Michigan consider their rivals to be the Ivy League, Stanford, Cal — certainly not the agricultural school down in Columbus.
Over the years, the rivalry has found been manifested in sports.
In the 1940s, the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers were two of the best teams in the American League. Fans debated who was better, Bob Feller or Hal Newhouser? Lou Boudreau or Hank Greenberg?
From 1950 to 1957, the Cleveland Browns of Otto Graham and the Detroit Lions led by Bobby Layne each won three NFL championships. (These days they are competing for the title of the league’s worst team. That title will be decided on Sunday.)
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons have met in three physical, chippy playoff series this decade, the Pistons persevering in seven games in a second-round series in 2006, with the Cavs and LeBron James winning eight of 10 meetings in series wins in 2007 and last year.
Last spring the Columbus Blue Jackets made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time, but the upstarts were no match for the 11-time champion Detroit Red Wings. The Winged Wheels won in a sweep.
There are plenty of other ties between the states. Mark Dantonio, a former assistant coach at Ohio State, is now coach at Michigan State. Brian Kelly, a former head coach at Central Michigan, is now coach at fifth-ranked Cincinnati.
Just last week, Bruce Springsteen performed in Cleveland on Wednesday night and in Auburn Hills, Mich., two nights later. “The Boss” forgot where he was for the second gig and several times said, “Thank you, Ohio!” to silent Michiganders.
John Kerry made a similar gaffe during the 2004 presidential campaign, praising Ohio State’s football team after he had crossed into Michigan. Yet he still won the state in the general election — and lost Ohio.
The rivalry is clear to see when it comes to sports. And there’s nothing quite like the jealousy, dislike and mistrust that seems to accompany “The Game,” as the annual showdown has become known.
Ohio State wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher will be playing in only his third showdown with the Wolverines. But as a native of Toledo, he has a particularly vivid view of the heated rivalry on both sides.
“There’s always a little something extra when it comes to the Michigan game,” he said. “It has a lot to do with the history. It goes back a long time.”
All the way back to the days of posses and Two Stickney.



What are your favorite football traditions at your school?
Ohio State: "I love the Ohio State Marching Band performing Script Ohio. It's an amazing tradition at OSU, as is the singing of Carmen Ohio at the end of all games by the team."

Iowa: "The swarm which is the entrance by the football team where they are all holding hands. Magic Bus, Big A-- Turkey Leg, Black and Gold everywhere hours before the game. The Pink lockerroom for visitors. Touching of Nile Kinnick before the team enters the stadium. The fight song."

Michigan State: "Definitely the MSU Fight Song. (FIGHT! FIGHT! RAH TEAM FIGHT!) But some of the more recent additions are great, such as whenever the Spartan defense holds the offense til third down they play a popular line from the movie 300, "SPARTANS! What is your profession?""

Penn State: "School buses, painted blue, riding past the tailgate areas outside of Beaver Stadium and pulling up to the players entrance before the game, with JoePa and the starting QB riding in the front seats and exiting the bus first, to the cheers of fans old and young. Game-time in-stadium experience, including the chanting of "We Are - PENN STATE," plus the linkage of the current year's team to the great players and teams in the past, and, finally, and best of all, the black shoes, white helmets and plain uniforms, signifing a pedestrian-like approach to the concept of "team" being greater than any one individual."



Tress Owns Michigan
Jim Tressel may go on to win another national championship at Ohio State.
He'll likely win more BCS bowl games and more Big Ten titles. When he's finished coaching, he might enter politics or open his own sweater vest manufacturing company.
But when we look back on Tressel's place in college football history, he will always be remembered for this week. Michigan week.
No one does it better.
Head coaches of national powerhouses are judged primarily on their ability to win games in early January, and Tressel is no exception. But their records against archrivals aren't taken lightly, either. Tennessee's Phil Fulmer got the axe last year largely because of his struggles against rivals Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Florida's Urban Meyer wins national titles, but he also pleases fans by beating rivals Georgia, Tennessee, Miami and Florida State.
You can knock Tressel for his three-game losing streak in BCS bowls, his consecutive double-digit losses in the national title game, his management of quarterback Terrelle Pryor or his conservative play-calling. On those topics, swing away.
But when it comes to the Ohio State-Michigan game, Tressel is king. He boasts a 7-1 mark against Michigan, including wins in each of the last five games. He has beaten Michigan when Ohio State is the better team (2008, 2007, 2005, 2002) and even when Michigan might be the superior squad (2001, 2004). He beat Michigan in the most hyped regular-season game in recent years, the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in 2006 at Ohio Stadium.
Tressel is one of the reasons Lloyd Carr no longer coaches the Wolverines. Carr went 1-6 against The Vest. In Rich Rodriguez's first game against Tressel, Ohio State spanked Michigan 42-7.
And it's not just the record. Tressel plays up this rivalry the right way. He makes it a big deal without inciting the opponent. He doesn't need unique circumstances -- like Justin Boren's transfer from Michigan or Pryor's flirtation with Rodriguez -- to get his players motivated.
"It's an exciting week," Tressel said last year at the start of Michigan week. "Our guys can feel the excitement on the campus and in the community. It's the reason many of them chose to go to Ohio State or to go to Michigan was so they could be a part of this game for four or five years and it's just a little bit different feeling. It's a hard one to explain unless you've been there."
You can feel it at Ohio State.
Seven months before The Game, you walk into the office of co-defensive coordinator Jim Heacock. On the wall, Heacock has a sign that reads, "No Ohio State team has defeated Michigan 5 times in a row."
The 5 is crossed out and replaced with a 6.
Tressel puts this game on a pedestal, and it trickles down throughout the rest of the program. Ohio State already has a Rose Bowl berth essentially locked up, but if you think the Buckeyes will come out with any less fire Saturday at Michigan Stadium (ABC, noon ET), remember who coaches them.
After Saturday's overtime win against Iowa, Tressel said his players could enjoy the win until midnight.
"When the clock strikes 12, we know what week it is," he said, "and that's exciting."


Saine and Herron
As they do every season, Ohio State fans had plenty of burning questions about a Buckeyes running back this fall.
Jaamal Berry.
They wondered when Berry would see the field, how his injured hamstring was progressing and whether head coach Jim Tressel would end up redshirting the highly touted freshman from Miami. These questions peppered Tressel at his weekly news conference and filled up my inbox.
As the wait for Berry continued, it was clear that many Buckeye fans had seen enough of running backs Brandon Saine and Dan Herron. Chris "Beanie" Wells was sorely missed, and for the first time since 2004, when Lydell Ross and Antonio Pittman shared the carries load, Ohio State lacked a dominant runner.
Could the Buckeyes win the Big Ten without a bell cow in the backfield? The answer arrived last Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Saine and Herron turned in their best performances of the season in the biggest game of the season. The two backs combined for 200 rush yards and three touchdowns against a stout Iowa defense as Ohio State rode a run-heavy offense to a 27-24 overtime victory.
"Those are two tough kids and the seniors mean a lot to those two," Tressel said after the game. "They were not going to let those seniors down."
Ohio State didn't hide its intentions on offense from the get-go. Tressel didn't want to throw downfield against an Iowa defense that ranks second nationally in interceptions (19).
So the Buckeyes ran the ball a season-high 51 times, with 43 attempts going to either Saine or Herron. Ohio State's offensive line, which, like Saine and Herron, has drawn plenty of criticism this season, imposed its will against the Iowa defensive front.
"Boom [Herron] and Brandon were running the ball," quarterback Terrelle Pryor told reporters. "We really didn't need to pass."
The two backs accounted for almost all of Ohio State's big plays on offense.
Saine gave the Buckeyes their first lead with a 22-yard scoring burst late in the second quarter. After Iowa tied the score at 10-10, Herron sprinted 11 yards to the end zone out of the Wildcat formation. Moments later, following a Ross Homan interception, Saine scooted down the sideline for a 49-yard score.
"We were really just having fun out there and stepping up and doing what we knew how to do," Saine said. "We weren't trying to overthink anything. We were trying to be in the moment the whole time."
It has been a mixed bag this year for both Saine and Herron. Both have had decent performances -- Saine against Indiana and Illinois, Herron against Illinois and New Mexico State -- and both have battled injuries (concussion for Saine, ankle for Herron).
But when Ohio State needed to lean on the run game, both backs stepped up.
"They both learned their way as they backed up Beanie over the years," Tressel said. "They waited their turn and kept trying to improve along the way, and they're playing good football."

Richrod Knows the Rivalry
You could hear the frustration in Rich Rodriguez's voice Monday when he once again had to reiterate the obvious.
Michigan-Ohio State is a big deal. Um, yeah.
"Just because I did not coach here before, I did not play here, I'm not from the state of Michigan, doesn't mean I don't understand the rivalry," Rodriguez said. "I understand it as well as any coach can understand it. I've only [coached] in it in one game. Trust me, I understand the importance of the rivalry."
The fact that Rodriguez has to keep defending himself on this issue is ridiculous, and it perpetuates the argument that Michigan will always be skeptical of anyone outside the fraternity.
Yes, Rodriguez has changed some time-honored traditions (the way captains are picked, etc.) at Michigan. There's a different feeling around the program, one that many don't like. But he's not stupid or blind to the obvious. He knows Ohio State isn't just another game.
Rodriguez has repeatedly told the story of having a "Beat Ohio State" button slipped inside his coat pocket before his introductory news conference as Michigan's head coach in December 2007.
How many more times do people need to hear it?
I asked Rodriguez on Tuesday if he looked forward to the day when he wouldn't have to prove he understood the rivalry.
"It's kind of amusing," he said. "I kind of expected it the first year, coming from outside. But even then it was like, 'Geez, I think anybody in college football understands it.' And certainly after you’re here a while, whether you’re here a year or a month or a day, you’re going to hear about the rivalry and the importance of this ballgame.
"It'll pass in time, I'm sure."
Perhaps only after he beats the Buckeyes.

RIP Mrs. Spielman and Hang in there Chris
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The wife of former NFL and Ohio State star Chris Spielman has died after a lengthy battle with cancer.
WBNS radio in Columbus, where Chris Spielman co-hosts a show, says 42-year-old Stefanie Spielman died Thursday at the family's home in Upper Arlington.
Stefanie Spielman was 30 years old and three months pregnant in 1998 when she detected a lump in her breast. She later miscarried and discovered she had cancer.
Chris Spielman was playing linebacker with the Buffalo Bills when he decided to give up football for a year to stay home with his wife and children. When his wife lost her hair because of chemotherapy treatments, he shaved his head.
The Spielmans became advocates for breast-cancer detection and research, winning several awards for their dedication to the cause.
Chris Spielman was a standout linebacker at Ohio State and a 10-year NFL veteran. He's currently a college football analyst at ESPN.

Final Rankings for College Hoops 2010 and Ohio State Basketball

Class of 2010 Team Basketball Recruiting Rankings

1.Memphis
2.Ohio State
3.North Carolina
4.Syracuse
5.Michigan State
6.Wake Forest
7.Duke
8.Illinois
9.Florida
10.UCLA
11.LSU
12.North Carolina State
13.Missouri
14.Oklahoma
15.Stanford

Good Games Begining Tonight
It starts with No. 19 Georgia Tech vs. No. 21 Dayton (in Puerto Rico) and is followed by No. 6 North Carolina vs. No. 15 Ohio State (in New York). Then on Friday, either Georgia Tech or Dayton will play No. 6 Villanova while UNC or OSU plays No. 13 California. So these next 48 hours are going to be a lot of fun as we watch All-American candidates like Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech), Chris Wright (Dayton), Ed Davis (North Carolina), Evan Turner (Ohio State), Scottie Reynolds (Villanova) and Jerome Randle (California) participate in games that are supposed to be competitive, all perform on stages that can serve as trampolines to further stardom.
Me? I'm most excited about Turner.
He's gone from pretty-darn-good to un-freaking-believable in a span of eight months. The 6-7 converted point guard is averaging 19.0 points, 17.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists through two contests (as opposed to 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists last season), and he recorded just the second triple-double in program history last week against Alcorn State. If you have Turner on your fantasy college basketball team, you're golden. If you have to guard him, you're not. Either way, now Turner is taking his revamped game to Madison Square Garden, and the basketball junkies who pack the place to see LeBron James would be wise to do the same for this do-everything playmaker, if only because getting Turner in a Knicks uniform via the draft might be more possible than getting James in a Knicks uniform via free agency.

(But I digress.)
Will Turner post more crazy numbers at the Tar Heels' expense?
Can he grab 15 rebounds?
Against UNC's big frontline?
Those are interesting questions to consider.
Eleven days into the season, I'm just glad we finally have some.

Ohio State's Evan Turner adds new position to supersized game
www.si.com seth davis

There were certain parts of Chicago where it was not safe to be a squirrel last summer. That's because Evan Turner, Ohio State's 6-foot-7 junior forward, could often be found dribbling a basketball around his neighborhood and stopping at certain points to fire the ball at a variety of targets -- walls, street signs and yes, the occasional unsuspecting mammal. "I'd do the same thing while walking around on campus in Columbus," Turner says. "It's so beautiful at night. Sometimes I'd get bored, walk around, dribble down the street and try to hit targets."
There was a purpose to this strange exercise. Turner was preparing to do something he had not done since grade school: Play point guard fulltime. Ohio State coach Thad Matta had been telling Turner since his freshman year that he might someday take over the position, but it wasn't until last August, as the Buckeyes were practicing for an exhibition tour to Canada, that Matta officially handed Turner the keys to his offense. "I told him after last season was over, 'Hey, you need to be ready,'" Matta says. "I think that was the first time he realized I wasn't messing around."
When the season began on Nov. 9, Turner was ready. During Ohio State's 40-point drubbing of Alcorn State, he posted the second triple-double in school history by putting up 14 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Turner followed that up with 24 points, 17 rebounds and four assists in a win over James Madison. On Thursday night the stakes get higher as Turner and the Buckeyes will play North Carolina in the first of two nights in Madison Square Garden, site of the 2K Sports Classic to benefit Coaches Versus Cancer. The reigning NCAA champs are in the field along with Syracuse and California, but this is New York City, where people know their hoops and value their stars. There is no doubt the biggest star in town will be Turner -- and he's not coming for the squirrels.
"I'm pumped," Turner says. "That's something you really dream about when you're a little kid is to play in one of the best basketball arenas in the world. Everybody is going to be watching."
What they will see is a player with impressive versatility yet much room for improvement. Though Matta has always pushed Turner to develop his all-around game, the decision to play him at point guard was borne out of necessity. Two of Turner's teammates, 6-1 senior P.J. Hill and 6-2 senior Jeremie Simmons, rotated at the point for most of last season, but neither fared well and both are more comfortable on the wing.
The player whom Matta recruited to be his point guard, Anthony Crater, transferred last December because Matta had the temerity to make him earn a starting position instead of giving it to him from day one. Moreover, because this program scored such a low rating in the last Academic Progress Report (which was partially the result of having lost so many players early to the NBA draft), Matta only has 11 scholarships to give instead of the usual 13. Thus, he was unable to recruit a freshman to play the point. (There are no freshmen on this team.)
Matta has used Turner as a de facto point forward in the past, but he was reluctant to shift him to the lead spot until Turner proved he could handle it. Last spring, Matta asked Turner to throw 10 passes with his left hand at a target. He missed all 10 times. A couple of weeks later, Turner came to Matta and pointed at a spot on a far wall. Then he fired the ball with his left hand and nailed it. "I said wow, how did you do that? He said when he walked through campus, he picked up rocks and threw them at street signs with his left hand," Matta says. "That shows you the type of kid he is."
During his first two seasons in Columbus, Turner had nearly as many turnovers (216) as assists (229). His most obvious weakness has been his long-range shooting. (After shooting 33.3 percent from three-point range as a freshman, Turner made just 11 threes all last season. He is 1 for 3 this season.) His game evolved over the summer as he played for USA Basketball at the World University Games in Serbia. Though he only averaged 4.0 points and 3.7 rebounds, he led the team in assists and had a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. "He contributed in every area. He handled the ball, he scored, he rebounded. Defensively he did a good job whether he was guarding who was smaller or a guy who was bigger," says Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, who coached that team. "He also really likes to compete. So it doesn't surprise me he got a triple double."
Turner's initial foray at the point during the Canada tour was not exactly a smashing success. "He forced situations a little too much," Matta says. The improvement since then, however, has been steady as Turner figures out the nuances of the position. "He's 10 times better now than he was in Canada," Matta says. "He's just got more of a pace about him. He's more patient, more explosive. It's mostly because he's just getting a lot of reps."
Matta has also emphasized that Turner will not be a traditional point guard. For example, while most point guards flare to the wing to receive an outlet pass off of a defensive rebound, Turner aggressively crashes the boards. "I feel like once that ball goes up, it should be mine," he says. This gives the Buckeyes a devastating weapon. Once Turner snares the ball, he can power dribble down the middle of the floor and lead the fast break without needing an outlet pass. With 6-5 junior David Lighty and 6-5 sophomore William Buford filling the lanes, and with junior sharpshooter Jon Diebler ready to spot up from behind the three-point line, Ohio State has one of the most lethal transition games in the country. "I wish we could run every single possession," Matta says. "I'm advocating for a 24-second shot clock in college basketball."
Then there's the swagger factor. Turner is a laid-back, cerebral young man who is still assuming the persona of the vocal, domineering point guard, the kind who will chastise a teammate in the name of leadership. "I think he may still have some work to do in that regard, just the surrealness of thinking, 'This is my team,'" Matta says. "I want him to always have that in his mind. I tell him, 'You're the coach on the floor right now.'"
Slowly but surely, Turner is warming up to that role. It helps that his confidence has never been higher -- for good reason. "For once, I feel like I'm totally free on the floor," he says. "Coach Matta has instilled confidence in me, and he trusts that I'm doing the right thing."
Now it's time for him to take his thing to Madison Square Garden, one of the few stages that is big enough to hold his supersized game.

College Football Week Review and Jim Tressel

Article on Tressel
www.espn.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Jim Tressel, this is your life:
You sing "Carmen Ohio" with the band after glorious triumphs. You listen to the victory bell ring. You watch the field at the Horseshoe become a teeming sea of celebrating scarlet as fans pour from the stands after beating Iowa 27-24 in overtime to win a Big Ten title.
And when you walk into the postgame news conference in your trademark vest and tie, the personification of Midwestern primness, you are greeted with a bouquet of roses.
You are Rose Bowl-bound. You have done it again -- clinching a fifth straight BCS bowl bid, your seventh in nine years at Ohio State. You will demolish Michigan next Saturday, extending a record winning streak over your hated rival to six. You are a relentless, perennial, inevitable winner.
You might be the most conservative coach in America, but you don't care. You obsessively play not to lose, instead of playing to win, but you don't apologize. You often allow less-talented teams to stay in games -- like the gutty Hawkeyes -- because of your buttoned-down dogma, but that's who you are.
You don't worry about your three-game bowl losing streak, or your recent futility against ranked nonconference opponents, or the fact that being the best team in the Big Ten means being a cut below the best teams in the nation these days. You don't listen to the people who squawk about the squandering of quarterback Terrelle Pryor's talents, or the people who howl at your affinity for punts, or the people who wonder what unholy circumstance would force you to ever take a certifiable football gamble.
You shrug when critics wonder why your team is 10th in the Big Ten in passing offense, attempting the fewest passes per game of any team in the league. You prefer the stats that show your team at the top of the league in rushing defense, total defense and turnover margin.
You point to your record -- now 92-21 at Ohio State -- and let it speak for itself.
Your 92nd victory was TresselBall in a microcosm. All that was good about it. All that was bad.
Your team pounded between the tackles for 229 rushing yards. Your team did not commit a turnover, while forcing three. Your defense made the last stop, when it had to. And your kicker made the last kick, when he had to.
But this is TresselBall, too:
Your team blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter in part by crawling even deeper into your familiar offensive shell. You were conservative in coming from ahead at home against USC, too, but this took it to another level.
The longest of your team's three passes in the final quarter went for 3 yards. Your final three offensive possessions of the game featured 12 runs and two passes, gaining a total of 31 yards and resulting in three points.
You recruited the No. 1 quarterback in the country two years ago, a player of lavish physical gifts. Yet here at the end of his 21st career start, with the Big Ten title on the line, you trusted the sandlot sophomore about as much as you'd trust a felon to be your house sitter.
You sat on the ball in the middle of the fourth quarter with great field position, starting on Iowa's side of the 50. You ran up the middle six straight times and left your backup kicker with a 47-yard field goal try to clinch the game. He missed. And then Iowa drove 70 amazing yards to tie the game with 2:42 left.
You got the ball back with plenty of time to go for the win. But from the moment you gave Pryor his most urgent instruction ("Don't turn the ball over") it was obvious that going for the win was hardly the first priority.
You took 1:38 to run five tentative plays, then punted it back to the Hawkeyes. You ignored the boos emanating from the 105,455 fans in Ohio Stadium, because you adhered to the TresselBall dogma: you avoided mistakes.
Your conservatism was rewarded when Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz responded in kind, running out the clock and playing for overtime. This suddenly seemed like the famous 10-10 tie between Michigan State and Notre Dame -- a game played in 1966, when the hurry-up offense was far from its current modern science and the passing game was rudimentary.
You and Ferentz are kindred spirits. Good coaches. Successful coaches. Yet your combined management of the end of this game is why the rest of the nation rolls its eyes at the bland Big Ten.
But do you care? No. You don't care. Because here in this tunnel-visioned, tradition-addicted conference, going to the Rose Bowl is just about as joyful a result as playing for the national title.
And you don't care because even after the fans voiced their dismay, hyper-conservatism triumphed in the end. Your painful-to-watch pragmatism was rewarded. The Vest knew best.
Your tight end, Jake Ballard, said this: "Tressel's way usually works out. He's our leader and we'll follow him everywhere."
To Pasadena now. But not after some tension Saturday night.
You should have heard the guy walking out of the stadium when it was over, shouting repeatedly, "Jim Tressel is a genius!" Twenty minutes earlier, when the lead had been squandered and overtime was upon us, he might well have been shouting, "Jim Tressel is an idiot!" But not at the end.
You were a genius at the end because your backup kicker had a fantasy moment. Devin Barclay, a 26-year-old former Major League Soccer player who just became your No. 1 kicker two weeks ago after an injury to Aaron Pettrey, won the game with a 39-yard field goal in overtime. Then Barclay lost his mind.
"I just took off running," said Barclay, who accidentally mimicked a soccer-goal celebration by sprinting away from his onrushing teammates. "I don't really know where I was going, or what my plan was. Apparently I took my helmet off."
In the postgame scrum, someone ripped Barclay's name off the back of his jersey. It is the souvenir of the night in Columbus.
You cherish the kicking game, so you loved seeing it come down to a successful field goal. It helped you forget that 99-yard kickoff return your coverage unit surrendered. That play will have you rewinding the videotape over and over Sunday.
But Saturday was for celebration -- and nobody knows how to celebrate like you, Jimmy T. When last we saw you, your wife was driving a very sensible, pragmatic Toyota Venza underneath the Ohio Stadium stands. You were sitting in the passenger seat, placidly eating a sandwich.
Surely, there was a glass of milk waiting for you when you got home.


Gameday Final
Having seen No. 3 Texas and No. 4 TCU win in similar fashion 90 miles apart on Saturday, duty demands that I provide my assessment of the two teams.
I can say without hesitation that the Longhorns could stay on the field with the Horned Frogs.
How would TCU match up with Texas this season?
Relax, Orangebloods, just having a little fun with you, although Mountain West Conference teams are 2-0 in BCS bowl games.
History, of course, dictates that the teams be viewed through the other end of the lens. The University of Texas first played TCU in 1897, Texas winning 18-10 in Waco, and the Horned Frogs have been chasing the Longhorns ever since.
They haven't caught them very often. TCU held sway in the 1930s, winning four straight, and took five of seven from 1955 to 1961. The last one, a 6-0 upset of the No. 1 Horns on the next-to-last weekend, was when Texas coach Darrell Royal uttered his immortal description of TCU.
"They're like a bunch of cockroaches," Royal said. "It's not what they eat and tote off, it's what they fall into and mess up that hurts."
When the Southwest Conference dissolved in 1995, Texas led the series 61-20-1. Texas added a 34-13 victory in 2007, in case anyone had any questions. Yet the Horned Frogs are back, cockroachy as ever.
No. 3 Texas races out to a 40-0 halftime lead at Baylor and cruises to a 47-14 victory. No. 4 TCU blows through No. 16 Utah, goes up 38-14 at the half and cruises to a 55-28 decision.
Texas is big and fast and playing with a vibe that went missing during the first half of the season.
"We're relaxed and playing and having fun," Longhorns coach Mack Brown said after Saturday's game. "'Let's see how good we really are.' They are playing that way."
TCU is fast, not quite as big as Texas and playing better than any team from a non-automatic qualifying conference ever has. The Horned Frogs made more mistakes Saturday than did the Longhorns, but they played a tougher opponent. The comparisons are fun to make, but in the end, the BCS formula will spit out two teams and the other BCS bowls will make business decisions.
"It doesn't do much good this time of year to complain," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "Most people don't like complainers."
With Texas and TCU undefeated and Houston disappointed to be 8-2, it's been fun to say that the best conference in the nation this season is the Southwest Conference. Of course, the Longhorns play in the Big 12, the Horned Frogs in the Mountain West and the Cougars in Conference USA. The Southwest Conference expired for a reason.
Saturday illustrated why it died.
Baylor was taken into the Big 12 in part because the governor of Texas at the time, Ann Richards, graduated from there. The Bears have won 14 conference games in 14 conference seasons. About two of every five spectators at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco on Saturday wore burnt orange. It's a longer-lasting color. By the fourth quarter, the yellow and green pretty much had disappeared from the stands.
TCU has flourished since the end of the SWC. The Horned Frogs hired a winning coach, Dennis Franchione, and when he left for Alabama in 2001, TCU had the smarts to promote Patterson, the defensive coordinator.
He has built a formidable program. The Horned Frogs have several players who could slip into Texas' lineup undetected. They also have several who couldn't. That would be the fun of a Texas-TCU bowl game. It would take some upsets along the way.
"It would be a great opportunity," TCU linebacker Tank Carder said.

CINCINNATI -- Mardy Gilyard is fast on the football field, and his mouth moves with comparable speed off it. When asked to compare his Cincinnati Bearcats to the Ohio State Buckeyes 100 miles up I-71, the wide receiver was ready.
"They can chill up there and run the ball all day in the Big Ten," Gilyard said Friday night after UC beat West Virginia 24-21. "We'll be down here gunslingin', throwing the football and having fun and winning games."
Any doubt in your mind which is the No. 1 team in Ohio, Mardy?
"Never been no doubt," he said. "We aren't the little brother no more. We're the scrappy little cousin, I guess."
They are not kissing cousins these days. The previously moot debate about the pre-eminent football program is now sizzling across the Buckeye State. Or the bUCkeye state, if you ask Bearcats fans.
For just about the first time ever, football pauper Cincinnati has the upper hand on lordly Ohio State. Throughout the decades the Buckeyes have accumulated national championships and Heisman trophies and a vast army of fans, while the Bearcats have accumulated a lot of funky uniform combinations. But this year, Cincinnati is ranked higher in the BCS standings (No. 5 for UC to OSU's No. 11) and in every poll. It is undefeated and on the fringe of the national title hunt, while Ohio State has lost twice and long ago excused itself from that race.
In a city that almost amounts to a separate island state on the southern border of Ohio, the Bearcats faithful are eating this up like a bowl of Skyline Chili.
The big AM radio station in Cincinnati is WLW 700, and it has been peppering Ohio State fans with trash-talking promos all season. (They can be heard here.) Buckeye Nation, which tends to take itself rather seriously, has responded with a barrage of disdain aimed at reminding Cincinnati of its place in the historical pecking order.
The best thing about this nonrivalry rivalry is the stylistic differences between the two programs and the two universities.
Cincinnati is an urban commuter school in the remodeled Big East. Ohio State is a state university -- THE state university, its graduates haughtily point out -- in the old-money Big Ten.
Cincinnati is flashy and trendy, throwing the ball 34 times per game and ranking seventh nationally in passing offense. Ohio State is button-down and old-school, ranking 102nd in passing yards but fifth in total defense.
Cincinnati is led by the glib, daring Brian Kelly, who is wont to wear all black on the sideline. Ohio State is led by the staid, cautious Jim Tressel, who would sooner open a game with an onside kick than wear all black.
Cincinnati's most exciting player is Gilyard, who wears shells in his braided hair -- a look that probably wouldn't fly at Ohio State. The Buckeyes' most exciting player is quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who is kept on a leash of Tresselian shortness.
Cincinnati is tickled to be selling out "The Nip," its 34,000-seat stadium. Ohio State has long been accustomed to selling out "The Shoe," its 105,000-seat monolith.
Cincinnati fans tailgate in parking garages, because that's the only available space. Ohio State fans tailgate near the banks of the Olentangy River, which flows picturesquely outside Ohio Stadium.
The best way to settle their differences is on the field, and Gilyard would be fine with that.
"We want to play them guys," he said.
It won't happen this year. But that won't stop everyone here from talking about it.

Three Weekend Observations
By Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com
1. USC played six of its first nine games on the road, and Trojans fans used that as an explanation for the team's sputtering performances the past few weeks. Coach Pete Carroll's Songs of the Week: "Mama, I'm Coming Home" by Ozzy Osbourne and "Homeward Bound" by Simon & Garfunkel. USC responded by giving up the most points in its history and losing 55-21 to Stanford. Another definition of home: where they have to take you in when you have nowhere else to go.

2. Fiesta Bowl honchos John Junker and Alan Young came away as impressed with TCU off the field Saturday night as on it. Bowls want fans who will travel. "We came here to get a feel for a level of excitement," Junker said after seeing 50,307 fill Amon Carter Stadium, breaking a 25-year-old attendance record by some 3,000. "It was a great atmosphere. That's something we can feel."

3. Stanford may be the hottest team in the Pac-10, but the Cardinal, despite holding sole possession of second place in the league at 6-2, have the longest road to the Rose Bowl of the top four teams. Arizona, despite its loss to Cal on Saturday night, can get its first trip to Pasadena in 32 conference seasons by winning out. That would mean the Wildcats would have beaten the other possible two-loss teams (Oregon, Stanford, Oregon State).

2010 College Basketball Top 50 Recruits and Signings

MAXPREPS TOP PLAYERS:
Select Sport Season:
Boys Basketball Winter 09-10Winter 08-09 Select Category:
2010 Players to Watch2011 Players to Watch2012 Players to Watch2013 Players to Watch

RNK NAME POS HT/WT SCHOOLS
1. Brandon Knight
Pine Crest (Fort Lauderdale, FL) G 6-4/185
Joined LeBron James and Greg Oden as only juniors to earn Gatorade National Player of the Year as a junior.
2. Jared Sullinger
Northland (Columbus, OH) P 6-9/280 Ohio State
Whether it be high school or AAU ball, always in the lead for a successful team.
3. Will Barton
Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, NH) G, W 6-6/165 Memphis
Scorer will prep at Brewster Academy after leading Baltimore's Lake Clifton to state title in Maryland last year.
4. Harrison Barnes
Ames (IA) W 6-6/190
Blue chipper led Little Cyclones to perfect season, state title as a junior.
5. Reggie Bullock
Kinston (NC) W 6-7/190 North Carolina
Blue chip guard hails from same high school that produced Jerry Stackhouse.
6. Joshua Smith
Kentwood (Covington, WA) P 6-10/280 UCLA
Broke the hearts of Washington fans with commitment to Bruins.
7. Perry Jones
Duncanville (TX) 6-11/220 Baylor
Blew onlookers away at Las Vegas Center Stage event with athleticism and shooting touch.
8. Fabricio De Melo
Sagemont (Weston, FL) P 7-0/270 Syracuse
Brazilian burst on summer circuit scene after sitting out at Sagemont as a junior.
9. Deshaun Thomas
Bishop Luers (Fort Wayne, IN) W, P 6-7/220 Ohio State
Averaged 30.3 points, 15.1 rebounds per game for Indiana 2A state champions.
10. Tristan Thompson
Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) F 6-10/235 Texas
Has No. 1 player potential but needs to dial in the consistency.
11. Joe Jackson
White Station (Memphis, TN) G 6-0/170 Memphis
Arguably the top scoring guard in the class of 2010.
12. Terrence Jones
Jefferson (Portland, OR) P 6-9/220
Stock soaring with each stop on the summer circuit.
13. Kendall Marshall
O'Connell (Arlington, VA) G 6-3/175 North Carolina
Cemented elite status at NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp.
14. Josh Selby
Lake Clifton (Baltimore, MD) G 6-1/180
Recent decommitment has several powerhouse programs circling.
15. Ray McCallum
Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, MI) PG 6-1/170
Led loaded Country Day squad to 24-2 record, state title game as junior.
16. Jelan Kendrick
Wheeler (Marietta, GA) G, W 6-6/185
Athletic, smooth point forward-type led Westlake to 22-7 record as a junior before deciding to move on to defending state champion Wheeler.
17. C. J. Leslie
Word of God Christian Academy (Raleigh, NC) P 6-8/190
Thriving this summer after forming dynamic duo with John Wall at Word of God.
18. Doron Lamb
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) G 6-4/185
New York City native will be Oak Hill Academy's go-to scorer next winter.
19. Kyrie Irving
St. Patrick (Elizabeth, NJ) PG 6-1/175 Duke
Elite guard prospect will see plenty of time in spotlight as senior playing for powerhouse St. Patrick program.
20. Cory Joseph
Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) PG 6-3/180
Native of Canada looking to lead Findlay Prep to second straight national championship.
21. Tobias Harris
Half Hollow Hills West (Dix Hills, NY) P 6-8/230
Returning to Half Hollow Hills West after standout junior year at Long Island Lutheran.
22. Dwight Powell
IMG Academies (Bradenton, FL) P 6-10/210 Stanford
A long, skilled post player that could be on the verge of putting it all together and becoming an elite prospect.
23. Keith Appling
Pershing (Detroit, MI) G 6-3/175 Michigan State
Capped junior season with 49-point performance in state championship game.
24. Trey Zeigler
Mt. Pleasant (MI) G, W 6-5/185
Son of Central Michigan head coach Ernie Zeigler knows how to put the ball in the basket.
25. Dion Waiters
Life Center Academy (Burlington, NJ) PG 6-4/215 Syracuse
Forms a potent 1-2 punch with 2011 star Michael Gilchrist for travel circuit club Team Final.
26. Roscoe Smith
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) P, W 6-8/190
Long scoring wing could really blow up this winter at Oak Hill Academy.
27. Dwayne Polee
Westchester (Los Angeles, CA) W 6-6/180 USC
Length and athleticism give him the presence of a 6-10 player at times defensively.
28. Daniel Bejarano
North (Phoenix, AZ) W 6-5/200 Arizona
Wing put up 23.0 points, 10.1 rebounds per game as junior.
29. Jereme Richmond
Waukegan (IL) W 6-6/190 Illinois
Leads the way for a nice 2010 haul for Bruce Weber at Illinois.
30. Terrence Ross
Montrose Christian (Rockville, MD) G 6-5/185 Maryland
Transferred to Montrose from Jefferson (Portland, Ore.), where he played with Terrence Jones.
31. Bryce Jones
Taft (Woodland Hills, CA) G, W 6-5/175 USC
After sitting out due to tranfer rules at Taft last year, was extremely impressive at July's adidas Super 64.
32. Andre Stringer
Forest Hill (Jackson, MS) PG 5-10/160 LSU
Mississippi loaded with talent, but Stringer was a step above the rest as a junior averaging over 25 points per game.
33. Phil Pressey
Episcopal (Dallas, TX) PG 5-10/155 Missouri
Son of former NBA guard averaged 18.3 points and nearly 10 assists per game as junior.
34. Patric Young
Providence (Jacksonville, FL) P 6-9/225 Florida
Rebounding machine impressive at Reebok camp in Philadelphia this summer.
35. Tarik Black
Ridgeway (Memphis, TN) P 6-8/235
Muscling his way up the rankings with a very solid summer.
37. Michael Cobbins
Palo Duro (Amarillo, TX) P 6-8/200 Oklahoma State
District player of the year also an outstanding student.
38. Luke Cothron
Macdonald Academy (Red Springs, NC) P 6-8/220 North Carolina State
More than a dozen major conference college programs actively courting big man.
39. Ryan Harrow
Walton (Marietta, GA) G 6-1/150 North Carolina State
After first team Class AAAAA All-State honors as junior, reputation really soaring this summer.
40. Joshua Hairston
Montrose Christian (Rockville, MD) P 6-8/200 Duke
Face-up four man in the mold of recent Blue Devil forwards.
41. J. T. Terrell
West Charlotte (Charlotte, NC) G 6-2/175 Wake Forest
Streaky scorer lands at West Charlotte after playing at Burlington Cummings as a junior.
42. Allen Crabbe
Price (Los Angeles, CA) G 6-4/175 California
A star performer on the summer circuit with Compton Magic Black.
43. Terrell Stoglin
Santa Rita (Tucson, AZ) G 6-1/180 Maryland
Averaged 23.3 points per game as junior.
44. Terone Johnson
North Central (Indianapolis, IN) G 6-3/190 Purdue
Another exciting addition for Matt Painter's Boilermakers.
45. Taran Buie
State College (PA) PG 6-2/170 Penn State
Headed to State College early for final year of high school ball.
46. Charles Hankerson Jr.
Coral Reef (Miami, FL) G 6-5/215 Alabama
Well-built wing led Coral Reef to 6A state title.
47. Ian Miller
United Faith Christian Academy (Charlotte, NC) G 6-1/175 Florida State
Leonard Hamilton pulling together very solid 2010 class.
48. Phillip Taylor
Wheeler (Marietta, GA) PG 5-9/160 Florida International
Scoring point guard thrilled about the prospect of playing for Isiah Thomas.
49. Kendall Williams
Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) PG 6-3
Posted 22.8 points per game as junior.
50. Jordan Sibert
Princeton (Cincinnati, OH) G 6-4/180 Ohio State
Helped lead Princeton to a 25-2 record, state championship game appearance as a junior.



Some Top Signings Ncaa College Basketball
www.si.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky coach John Calipari has added another top recruit. The Wildcats signed 6-foot-5 small forward Stacey Poole Jr. on Wednesday during the beginning of the fall signing period.
Poole averaged 17.3 points as a junior last year for Providence High in Jacksonville, Fla. Poole is the son of former University of Florida star Stacey Poole Sr., who still ranks fourth on the school's all-time scoring list.
Poole is rated the fourth-best small forward in the Class of 2010 by Rivals.com.
Calipari said Poole will play multiple positions with the Wildcats and said his defensive ability and work ethic should help him fit in with the Wildcats. Calipari said he hopes to add more players during the fall signing period.

Iowa signs four
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa has signed prep basketball players Ben Brust, Cody Larson, Devyn Marble, and Zach McCabe to national letters of intent.
Brust is a point guard from Illinois who averaged 27.5 points per game last season.
Larson, a 6-foot-9 forward from Sioux Falls, S.D., was a first-team all-state pick in 2008-09.
Marble, a 6-foot-5 wing player, is the son of former Hawkeyes legend Roy Marble.
McCabe was a teammate of current Iowa post player Brennan Cougill. McCabe is from Sioux City and helped lead Bishop Heelan to a state title last season.
Hawkeyes coach Todd Lickliter praised his latest recruiting class for its skills, versatility and basketball knowledge.
Wednesday marks the start of the early signing period for recruits.

Ohio State signs one of the top recruiting classes
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A six-player recruiting class, dubbed by some analysts as the best in the nation, has signed with No. 16 Ohio State.
The centerpiece is 6-foot-9 power forward Jared Sullinger from Columbus' Northland High School. The brother of former Ohio State player J.J. Sullinger is joined by his high school teammate, 6-6 small forward J.D. Weatherspoon.
Deshaun Thomas, a 6-7 native of Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and Lenzelle Smith, Jr., a 6-4 guard from Zion, Ill.; also became Buckeyes on the first day for the signing of Division I national letters of intent.
Rounding out the class are guards Aaron Craft from Findlay Liberty-Benton and 6-4 Jordan Sibert of Cincinnati.
Coach Thad Matta said all six are versatile players who come from winning programs that have won or played for state championships.

Isiah Thomas signs 3 recruits to play for FIU
MIAMI (AP) -- Isiah Thomas' first recruiting class at Florida International already appears to be the best in school history.
Thomas got three players to sign letters of intent Wednesday, including 6-foot-8 forward Dominique Ferguson -- who originally committed to Kentucky and was ranked among the nation's top 50 prospects by multiple recruiting services.
Thomas called it "a special day."
DeJuan Wright, a 6-foot-4 guard who will transfer in from Gillette (Wyo.) Junior College, also signed. So did 6-foot-3 guard Richaud Pack of Birmingham, Mich.
Wright committed to FIU on the day Thomas was hired.
All three players will be eligible next season for FIU.

Izzo: Recruiting class fits Michigan St. program
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says his latest recruiting class fits a program with five Final Four appearances in 11 seasons.
The Spartans on Wednesday signed guard Keith Appling from Detroit Pershing, center Adreian Payne from Dayton Jefferson in Ohio, swingman Russell Byrd from Blackhawk Christian in Fort Wayne, Ind. and forward Alex Gauna from Eaton Rapids.
The 6-foot-2 Appling was the 2009 Associated Press Class A Player of the Year in Michigan. The guard averaged 23.9 points, six assists and five rebounds and led his team to a state title with 49 points.
The 6-foot-10 Payne averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. The 6-foot-7 Byrd averaged 19.1 points and 8.3 rebounds, and the 6-foot-9 Gauna averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds.

Arizona star signs with Jayhawks
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- No. 1 Kansas has signed Royce Woolridge, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard from Phoenix who averaged almost 29 points per game last year.
The Jayhawks announced the signing Wednesday.
Playing for Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix, Woolridge made 50 percent of his field goals and was 34 percent from behind the 3-point arc as a junior. He also averaged 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals last year.
Woolridge verbally committed to Kansas in 2008. He was ranked the No. 31 shooting guard by Rivals.com. and led his high school to a 24-5 record last year.
Woolridge is the son of former Notre Dame and NBA player Orlando Woolridge.

Michigan signs NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway's son
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan's men's basketball coach John Beilein says the son of five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway has signed a letter of intent to play for the Wolverines.
Tim Hardaway Jr. is a 6-foot-5-inch forward from Palmetto High School in Miami. He averaged 23.4 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.8 steals last season.
Beilein also announced Wednesday Michigan has received a letter of intent from 6-9 forward Evan Smotrycz from New Hampton Prep in New Hampton, N.H. He averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season.

Washington signs Desmond Simmons
SEATTLE (AP) -- Washington has signed Bay Area high school standout Desmond Simmons to a letter of intent.
Coach Lorenzo Romar said Wednesday the power forward reminds him of energetic former Huskies team leader Bobby Jones.
Simmons is expected to enroll in time for the 2010-11 season.
Romar says the 6-foot-7 Simmons has mental and physical toughness and a "motor (that) is always running."
Simmons scored 31 points and 19 rebounds for Salesian High School of Richmond, Calif., in the Northern California championship game last spring.
He will join former Utah prep scoring leader C.J. Wilcox as additions next season. Romar has announced Wilcox will redshirt as a freshman this season.

Illini sign three in top 100
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- A year after signing a class of recruits that helped pushed Illinois back into the Top 25 this season, Illini have signed three players considered to be among the country's 100 best.
Forward Jerome Richmond, guard Crandall Head -- the younger brother of former Illinois standout and current Indiana Pacer Luther Head -- and center Meyers Leonard signed letters of intent Wednesday indicating they'll join the 23rd-ranked Illini next season, Illinois basketball spokesman Derrick Burson said.
Coach Bruce Weber was not available for comment. He delayed a news conference to discuss the signings until Thursday because of Veterans Day, Burson said.
The 6-7 Richmond is from Waukegan High School in Waukegan. College sports Web site Rivals.com calls him the 36th best player among college recruits this year.
He'll be joined by Crandall Head, a 6-5 shooting guard from Rich South High School in Richton Park. Rivals.com considers him No. 81 on the list of the top recruits. Luther Head was part of the Illini team that went to the 2005 NCAA championship game, losing to North Carolina.
Leonard is a 7-0 center from Robinson High School in Robinson. He is No. 39 on Rivals' list of top recruits.
The Illini, who start play Friday against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, added four top recruits to this season's team: guards D.J. Richardson, Joseph Bertrand and Brandon Paul and forward Tyler Griffey.
Richardson and Paul are both expected to get serious minutes this season and, combined with returning junior Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale, a part of the reason Illinois is in the Top 25 and considered one of the Top Big Ten teams.

Texas signs top 10 recruit
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas has signed forward Tristan Thompson of Brampton, Ontario, to play for the Longhorns starting in the 2010-2011 season.
Thompson plays at Findley College Prep in Henderson, Nev. The 6-foot-9, 240-pounds forward is ranked as a top 10 recruit by some recruiting services.
He played 21 games last season at St. Benedict's Prep Academy in New Jersey before transferring to Findley, where he played five games with current Texas freshman Avery Bradley.

South Carolina has impressive showing, signs five
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina coach Darrin Horn signed five players for next year, a class that one recruiting service lists among the country's top 10.
The Gamecocks announced Wednesday they had signed guards Bruce Ellington, Brian Richardson and Eric Smith; and forwards Damontre Harris and RJ Slawson.
Scout.com put South Carolina No. 10 in the country. Rivals.com had the Gamecocks signees at No. 12.
The 5-foot-10 Ellington is considered one of the top point guards in the country. He averaged 28.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists his junior year at Berkeley High.
Harris, a 6-9 forward from Fayetteville, N.C., was rated as the country's No. 5 center according to ESPN.com.
Horn said his second full signing class moves South Carolina closer to where he wants it to be.

Tulsa signs 3, including top Texas prospect
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Conference USA favorite Tulsa signed three basketball players on Wednesday, including a top Texas high school prospect.
Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik signed guards Jordan Clarkson of San Antonio and Tim Peete of Memphis, Tenn., along with forward Blondy Baruti of Mesa, Ariz.
Clarkson has led Wagner High School to a 67-12 record the past two seasons and the 6-foot-4 guard is rated by one recruiting service as the fourth-best prospect in Texas. He averaged 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game as a junior.
The 6-foot-4 Peete has helped Memphis Central High School to 72 wins the past three seasons. He averaged 14.4 points per game last season.
Baruti, a 6-foot-9 native of the Congo, was a high school teammate of current Tulsa guard Donte Medder. Baruit averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds per game in his first season of high school competition.

Penn State signs star's brother
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Penn State has signed touted high school guard Taran Buie to a letter of intent.
The 6-foot-2 Buie is very familiar with Happy Valley -- his half-brother is Penn State junior and point guard Talor Battle.
The Nittany Lions say they landed one of the most highly sought-after recruits in the basketball program's history.
Buie led his high school team in Albany, N.Y., to a state title and two straight undefeated regular seasons. He and his family moved over the summer to State College, where he will play his high school senior year.
Scout.com listed Buie as the No. 28 shooting guard prospect in the country, while Rivals.com listed him at No. 32 at point guard.
Battle and Buie would play together for Penn State next year.

Tide's Grant signs 2 out-of-state players
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama coach Anthony Grant has signed two out-of-state players in the early signing period.
Grant said Wednesday that Kansas point guard Trevor Releford and Florida guard/forward Charles Hankerson Jr. have signed to play for the Crimson Tide next season.
He said both come from great high school programs and know what it takes to be successful.
Releford was rated the No. 11 point guard prospect nationally by Scout.com. He led his team to the 5A state championship game as a junior, averaging 18.6 points and 6.3 assists.
Hankerson is also rated a four-star prospect after averaging 21.6 points and six rebounds a game to lead Coral Reef High School to its first state title.

Cottrill signs with West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Guard Noah Cottrill has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at West Virginia.
WVU coach Bob Huggins announced Cottrill's signing Thursday.
Cottrill is a senior at Logan High School. He averaged nearly 26 points per game last season at Mountain State Academy in Beckley and spent his first two years at Poca High School.
Cottrill made news after his freshman season when he gave a verbal commitment to the Mountaineers.

Week 11 College Football TV Schedule, Buckeyes, and Memorial Stadiums

2009 College Football TV Schedule: Week 11
Thursday, Nov. 12 Network Time (EST)
Ball State at Northern Illinois ESPN U 6 p.m.
South Florida at Rutgers ESPN 7:45 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 13 Network Time (EST)
West Virginia at Cincinnati ESPN2 8 p.m.
Temple at Akron ESPN U 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 14 Network Time (ET)
Tennessee at Mississippi CBS Noon
Michigan State at Purdue ESPN Noon
Georgia Tech at Duke ESPN2 Noon
Texas at Baylor FSN Noon
Florida State at Wake Forest ESPN U Noon
Northwestern at Illinois ESPN Classic Noon
Houston at UCF CBS CS Noon
Indiana at Penn State Big Ten Noon
Michigan at Wisconsin Big Ten Noon
South Dakota State at Minnesota Big Ten Noon
Kentucky at Vanderbilt SEC 12:21 p.m.
Missouri at Kansas State Versus 12:30 p.m.
BYU at New Mexico MTN 2 p.m.
Miami (Fla.) at North Carolina ABC 3:30 p.m.
Iowa at Ohio State ABC 3:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Kansas ABC 3:30 p.m.
Florida at South Carolina CBS 3:30 p.m.
Stanford at USC FSN 3:30 p.m.
Idaho at Boise State ESPN U 3:30 p.m.
Delaware at Navy CBS CS 3:30 p.m.
UNLV at Air Force MTN 6 p.m.
Alabama at Mississippi State ESPN 7 p.m.
Auburn at Georgia ESPN2 7 p.m.
Texas A&M at Oklahoma FSN 7 p.m.
Louisiana Tech at LSU ESPN U 7 p.m.
Arizona at California Versus 7 p.m.
Utah at TCU CBS CS 7:30 p.m.
Notre Dame at Pitt ABC 8 p.m.
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State ABC 8 p.m.
Wyoming at San Diego State MTN 10 p.m.
Arizona State at Oregon ESPN 10:15 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 15 Network Time (EST)
East Carolina at Tulsa


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/09/02/tv-schedule-2009/index.html#ixzz0WecMuhE6
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Pryor says Buckeyes must avoid letdown with Hawkeyes on deck
CBSSports.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Terrelle Pryor has a warning for his Ohio State teammates: Forget last week and take Iowa seriously.
Pryor said Wednesday night that the 10th-ranked Buckeyes must be careful not to follow last week's big victory over Penn State with a letdown in the winner-take-all Rose Bowl battle against No. 15 Iowa on Saturday.
The sophomore quarterback said coach Jim Tressel had illustrated the pitfalls of resting on week-old laurels.
"Coach Tres showed a statistic how all these teams go and beat a big team and then come in the next game [and lose]," Pryor said after practice.
He cited the Buckeyes' loss to Purdue, which was just 1-5 at the time, earlier this season. He said Ohio State was coming off an emotional victory against Wisconsin and didn't see the Boilermakers waiting to ambush them.
Pryor also used Oregon as an example. The Ducks walloped Southern California two weeks ago and then turned around and lost to Stanford last week.
"Maybe sometimes there's a mindset where you think you accomplished something," he said. "It happens a lot, I'm sure, and we can't let that happen to us. Because we have a goal that we want to reach and we have places that we want to go and if we do that, we're definitely getting knocked off by this [Iowa] team because this team is pretty good. They're the real deal on defense. We have to come in focused."
The winner of the game at Ohio Stadium will get the Big Ten's automatic Bowl Championship Series berth in the Rose Bowl and be assured of at least a share of the conference title. The Buckeyes are seeking at least a piece of their fifth consecutive Big Ten crown.
Whether the winner is Ohio State (8-2, 5-1) or Iowa (9-1, 5-1), even if that team lost a week later in the regular-season finale, it would win any tiebreaker and earn the spot in the Rose Bowl.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has seen the films of Pryor and is impressed with how he has developed this year in his first full season as the Buckeyes' starting quarterback.
"He's found a rhythm. He's more comfortable now. He's more experienced, certainly," Ferentz said. "He's always been a phenomenal athlete and now he's becoming a better quarterback, a more comfortable quarterback. And it takes time."
Pryor's teammates think he has found a calmness that has helped him handle the pressures and problems of being in the spotlight so early in his college career.
DeVier Posey has become Pryor's No. 1 target as a receiver -- and one of his best friends. He said the players surrounding Pryor have helped ease the burden on him.
"We've taken some pressure off of him. We've been trying to focus on team concepts and let Terrelle know that he's our guy, that he really doesn't have to get into too much what the media's saying about him and the criticism," Posey said. "I feel like he's playing with no pressure now. You can see him a lot more comfortable in the pocket and he's actually running the offense now. He's just being more of a leader and he's getting better and better every week. You can see what kind of player he's going to be in the future."
The game against Penn State might have been a glimpse into how far Pryor has come. Considered the nation's No. 1 quarterback recruit when he came out of Jeannette, Pa., he had included Penn State on his list of finalists before deciding on Ohio State.
A large crowd at Beaver Stadium taunted him and held up derisive signs on Saturday night but he seemed to shut all that out while playing one of his finest games.
"His decision-making grade was, I think, one of the best he's had," Tressel said. "He needs to do some of the little things better, things like carrying out fakes and this and that, but his decision-making was very good."
Earlier in the season, Pryor was hurt by poor decisions. He arced long passes that led to costly interceptions and made ill-advised pitches on the option.
Pryor's position coach, Nick Siciliano, said Pryor has gotten calmer when there is more riding on the game.
"I don't know why it happened that way but it did and I'm sure glad that it happened that way Saturday night," Siciliano said. "He did seem to be a little bit calmer. He did make great decisions with the football. There were a couple of bad ones here and there [but] that's part of the deal. But we didn't turn the ball over and there wasn't anything even close to a turnover. If we can do that again this week, we've got a chance."
Pryor, who said he is still sore from several hard hits in recent weeks, feels he is improving at letting the game come to him.
"Sometimes I get caught up in different emotions in a game," he said. "I thought I was pretty calm, though [against Penn State]."




College Football's Memorial Stadiums
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The words "Memorial Stadium" appear in stories before millions of eyes every college football season without ever being read. It's a name glossed over in the search for news of this team or that game.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is dedicated to those who have and will serve.
The teams come, the games go. The memorials at 15 college football stadiums named in honor of this nation's military veterans stand in vigil, commemorating the men and women who died and those who came home in service of the nation.
They are as old as the 1920s, when several universities built stadiums to honor the deceased in "The Great War," and as modern as today, when Texas installs a statue of a World War I "doughboy" in a plaza outside of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.



The older stadiums honor the memory of the deceased with elegance. It is difficult not to be moved by the 200 Doric columns at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium. At the United States Naval Academy, the recently refurbished Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium combines classic arches with education. Within the arches are large bronze plaques that describe historic battles.
The names of those great battles -- Guadalcanal, Wake Island, Iwo Jima, etc. -- adorn the facade of the stadium. Legend has it that a William & Mary player, upon arriving at the stadium, looked at the names and said, "Man, these guys have a tough schedule!"
Opened in 1923, Cal's Memorial Stadium honors World War I participants who lost their lives.
Building a stadium to honor the dead illustrates the idea of the "living memorial" that created public debate after World War I. Up to that time, writes University of California professor Andrew M. Shanken in "Art Bulletin," communities built statues, obelisks, arches or other constructs meant only to memorialize. The living memorials, such as stadiums, highways or libraries, would remember the dead and serve the living.
That is a concept easy to forget in a time when stadium names change with the expiration of a business deal. It used to be that they named a stadium to honor the dead. Now, they name a stadium to honor whoever shows up with the dead presidents.


The living memorial satisfied a strong desire to mourn. Approximately 116,500 Americans died overseas during the Great War. Another 675,000 died at home in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. The nation mourned so often that the black dress crossed a threshold. In 1921, "The New Republic" wrote of how that piece of mourning attire had become a staple of the American woman's wardrobe.
To be honest, the motivation to build stadiums after World War I didn't emanate from a purely selfless place. Some campuses needed bigger places to play. Both Nebraska and Illinois had been yearning for a new stadium for some time. Each university hitched its drive to the national desire to remember the dead.
Illinois Memorial Stadium opened in 1923.
The initial grand plans dreamt up by Illinois athletic director George Huff and coach Bob Zuppke included memorial plazas on each side of the stadium flanked by towers with a campanile in front and 75,000 seats. The towers should be so high, Zuppke said, that a spotlight atop them "will illuminate the name of Illinois from the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate."
Such plans would cost $2.5 million to execute. Financial reality reduced those plans to what $1.7 million could buy: 57,000 seats and the stately 22-foot columns that endure to this day.
On nearly every column is the name of an Illini alumnus who perished in the war. There are a few exceptions: One memorializes the Student Army Training Corps; one, the Student Navy Training Corps; and another, the unknown soldier.


Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost asked to dedicate a column to Curtis Redden, a Wolverines athlete and native of Illinois. Yost, like other donors who pledged $1,000, could choose the alum whose column he would sponsor. Those donors would be listed on bronze tablets at the end of the colonnade.
Among them was Jake Stahl, a two-sport star at Illinois who, as a player-manager, led the Boston Red Sox to their 1912 World Series victory. He died at age 43 of heart disease in 1922, a year before the Illini would play in the new stadium.
Not all of those with a stake in the memorial approved of honoring the donors. E.R. Branham, a local carpenter whose son Marcus, Class of '20, would be memorialized on one of the columns, wrote to university president David Kinley:
"I feel that as it is a memorial to the boys who fought to 'make the world safe for Democracy' that it should be as Democratic as possible and in that case it should treat all donors equal. In fact I think they should build the memorial and forget the donors," Branham wrote.
The university sent out a monthly newsletter updating the construction progress and hectoring donors who had fallen behind in fulfilling their pledges. The newsletter also included Illini athletic news. The September 1923 issue included a lengthy preview of the football team. Near the end came a list of the previous year's promising freshmen, now eligible for varsity play, their positions and weights. Among the halfbacks: "Grange, 165."
Illinois played games in the new stadium in 1923 as construction continued. Memorial Stadium wouldn't be dedicated until Friday, Oct. 17, 1924. The dedication is remembered more for what happened the next day against mighty Michigan, when junior Harold "Red" Grange put on one of the great displays in the history of the game.
Grange returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. His first five carries of the game included touchdown runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards -- all in the opening quarter. The Galloping Ghost accounted for six touchdowns in a 39-14 victory.
"Withdrawn from the game at the end of the first quarter completely exhausted from the sheer running, never mind the bumps and knocks, 70,000 spectators gave him a five-minute standing ovation, one of the greatest ever accorded an athlete," wrote the sports writer Paul Gallico.
That kind of performance would overshadow any ceremony, even one as stirring as Illinois held the previous day. Huff, the athletic director who traveled across the country to spearhead a fundraising campaign that would include 21,000 donors, reminded those gathered why the university had built the stadium.
"Standing here in the shadow of this everlasting monument," Huff said, "we can, and we will, resolve to keep alive that spirit which they so nobly exemplified in camp and on the field of battle."
The ceremony concluded when Lew Sarett, Illinois '16, read his "Ode to Illinois," a poem of seven stanzas that traced the history of the state from pioneer to that very day.
Know that the broken hosts
Of martial-moving ghosts,
Who gave to a warring world their last full breath,
And won to immortality in death,
Hovering in stadium shaft and tower height,
In memorial court and buttressed peak,
Shall watch for you, and speak
To you of Great Moments in a Greater Fight.
O Men of Illinois, in war and peace and play,
So may we live that when the crucial fight is won,
And the long race run,
These spirits of an elder day
Shall bend to each of us and say:
Well done! Well done!
Yours is the will to win. Well done, my prairie son.

They don't write 'em like that anymore.
The sentiments hearken to a less cynical time when the nation felt no ambiguity about the aims of the war. If anything, some of the sentiments could have used a dose of, if not cynicism, perspective.
Take the groundbreaking ceremony for Memorial Stadium at Nebraska, on April 26, 1923, when John R. Webster, a member of the Board of Regents, implored the athletes, "As you struggle in this arena, as charge across this field, we want you to have a vision of our boys in their more desperate charge in the Argonne Forest, and victory will surely be yours."
Webster may not have been aware that Oklahoma Sooners and Missouri Tigers died in France, too. His words would fade into history. To this day, any Cornhusker looking for perspective need only look upward. On the outside walls of Memorial Stadium are four inscriptions written by philosopher Hartley Burr Alexander, then a professor at Nebraska.
Alexander, as an undergraduate, had worked on a student publication with Willa Cather, who would become one of the great American writers of the early 20th century. Alexander's phrases would be captured in the stone of the state capitols of Nebraska and Oregon as well as in Rockefeller Center in New York. But his best-known work is carved into the stone of Memorial Stadium.
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory," reads one.
"Their Lives they held their countrys trust; They kept its faith; They died its heroes," reads another.
The eloquence is not limited to Nebraska, to the soldiers who didn't return home, or even to the stadiums built in the 1920s. On the exterior of Memorial Stadium at Indiana, built in 1960, the dedication reads, "In honor of the sons and daughters of Indiana University who have served in the wars of the republic."
The stadiums stand to this day as living memorials, even as they have been enlarged, modernized and enlarged again. In Austin, the doughboy statue arrives Wednesday, 85 years after the stadium opened its gates. The university searched the country for a "used" doughboy, a statue whose commemoration had outlived its purpose. It's a credit to the nation that Texas gave up the search and commissioned a new sculpture.
Americans, it turns out, don't forget so easily.

College Football Week 10 Review

AP Top 25
1 Florida (39) 9-0 1467
2 Texas (10) 9-0 1430
3 Alabama (11) 9-0 1422
4 TCU 9-0 1271
5 Cincinnati 9-0 1263
6 Boise State 9-0 1228
7 Georgia Tech 9-1 1127
8 Pittsburgh 8-1 945
9 LSU 7-2 904
10 Ohio State 8-2 898
11 USC 7-2 834
12 Miami (FL) 7-2 805
13 Houston 8-1 783
14 Oregon 7-2 752
15 Iowa 9-1 741
16 Utah 8-1 706
17 Oklahoma State 7-2 492
18 Arizona 6-2 476
19 Penn State 8-2 467
20 Virginia Tech 6-3 275
21 Wisconsin 7-2 274
22 Brigham Young 7-2 219
23 South Florida 6-2 167
24 Clemson 6-3 149
25 Stanford 6-3 107


3 Week 10 Observations
1. On one side of the BCS at-large pool will be the 10-2 conference runners-up, teams with big names and sputtering offenses, teams like Penn State, Iowa and USC. On the other side of the at-large pool will be teams with 10-12 wins, exciting styles and no names, teams like TCU, Boise State, Houston and Oklahoma State. Bowls want teams with ticket-buying fans who will attract TV viewers. It doesn't bode well for the latter group.

2. Michigan and Notre Dame, together again. How? Both teams are improved from last year but maybe not enough to satisfy their fans. Michigan, 3-9 last season, is 5-5 and thoroughly mediocre. But Wolverine fans don't acknowledge that mediocre is better than bad. The Irish, 6-3, could win their last three (Pitt, UConn, Stanford). They also could lose them. Charlie Weis is a proud guy. If his future comes into question, he may not wait around for the university to pass judgment.

3. The fourth-quarter interception that LSU corner Patrick Peterson did (according to video) or didn't (according to the SEC officials) make enthralled conspiracy theorists. I think they need a hobby. If the Tigers had gotten the ball, they would have been on the Alabama 37, trailing 21-15, with a backup quarterback and a backup tailback. On the Tigers' last two possessions, Jarrett Lee went 1-for-7 with two sacks and one pick. In other words, that call didn't decide the game.


Magic Runs Out

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Derrell Johnson-Koulianos had forgotten what it felt like to have someone other than Ricky Stanzi calling signals at the line of scrimmage.
Without Ricky Stanzi, Iowa lost its comeback magic.
Johnson-Koulianos also had forgotten what it felt like to lose.
Unfortunately for the Iowa wide receiver, he experienced both sentiments Saturday against Northwestern. And he won't forget either feeling any time soon.
The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes lost their quest for perfection Saturday, unable to summon enough magic without Stanzi as they fell 17-10 to Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium.
"That was always in the back of my mind, something I really wanted for everybody," Johnson-Koulianos said of going undefeated. "It's never been done here. We had the opportunity to do something prestigious.
"Now that dream, in a blink of an eye, is gone."
Iowa lost its undefeated season, its quarterback and possibly the inside track to the Rose Bowl on Saturday. The Hawkeyes saw their 13-game win streak, the second-longest in the nation, snapped in front of a stunned crowd of 70,585, thousands of whom remained in their seats long after the game ended.
The margin for error had always been slim at Iowa, both on the field and the depth chart. Until Saturday, the Hawkeyes had overcome every challenge, from losing running backs Jewel Hampton and Adam Robinson, to playing several games without left tackle Bryan Bulaga and tight end Tony Moeaki, to facing eight deficits in nine weeks.
But the loss of Stanzi to a right ankle sprain in the second quarter proved too big an obstacle.




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College Football Power Rankings - Week 10
RK (LW) TEAM REC PTS COMMENT
1 (1) Florida (11) 9-0 370 It wasn't exciting, but after a week that cost Brandon Spikes one game and Urban Meyer a lot of money, maybe boring was what Florida needed. The Gators beat Vanderbilt 27-3, their 19th straight win overall and 19th straight over the Commodores.
2 (2) Texas (1) 9-0 356 Career days for Colt McCoy (470 yards passing) and Jordan Shipley (273 yards receiving) fueled Texas in a 35-3 win over Central Florida. Shipley's output was a school record. The Longhorns visit Baylor on Saturday.
3 (3) Alabama (3) 9-0 354 Julio Jones redeemed himself with a 73-yard TD catch that sent Alabama on its way to a 24-15 win over LSU, as well as punching the Crimson Tide's ticket to Atlanta to face Florida in the SEC championship game.
4 (4) TCU 9-0 326 TCU racked up 551 yards of total offense, including 312 yards rushing, in a 55-12 win over San Diego State. It was a comfortable tune-up for the Horned Frogs, who battle for MWC supremacy when Utah visits on Saturday.
5 (5) Cincinnati 9-0 317 Cincinnati led UConn 30-10 at halftime, but the Bearcats were pushed until the closing seconds by the Huskies in a 47-45 win. Zach Collaros turned in 555 total yards, and the Bearcats set a school record with 711 yards of total offense.
6 (6) Boise State 9-0 301 Louisiana Tech did its best to make things uncomfortable for Boise State late, but that's all the Bulldogs could manage as the Broncos held on for a 45-35 win. Kellen Moore threw for 354 yards and three TDs for Boise State, which hosts Idaho on Saturday.
7 (10) Georgia Tech 9-1 283 Josh Nesbitt delivered on a crucial fourth-down conversion before stumbling in for the game-winning touchdown in overtime to push Georgia Tech over Wake Forest, 30-27. Jonathan Dwyer turned in a career-high 189 rushing yards.
8 (13) Pittsburgh 8-1 243 Pitt was having trouble unlocking Syracuse's defense, but Greg Williams' 51-yard INT return just before halftime opened the floodgates for the Panthers in a 37-10 win. Dion Lewis turned in his fourth-straight game with more than 100 yards rushing.
9 (9) LSU 7-2 235 Leading Alabama on the road heading into the fourth quarter, LSU was close to moving into the driver's seat in the SEC West. But luck turned against the Tigers late, as injuries and missed opportunities turned a 15-10 lead into a 24-15 loss.
10 (12) USC 7-2 224 USC's defense redeemed itself after its embarrassing performance against Oregon. It couldn't have come at a better time, as the Trojans' offense struggled mightily in a 14-9 win over Arizona State.
11 (8) Oregon 7-2 215 Oregon got a taste of its own medicine against Stanford, as the Cardinal delivered the kind of knockout blow against the Ducks that they dropped on USC the week before in a 51-42 loss.
12 (16) Ohio State 8-2 207 Iowa's loss meant the Buckeyes could put their Big Ten destiny in their own hands against Penn State. Ohio State seized the opportunity with a 24-7 win. Terrelle Pryor threw for two TDs and ran for another for OSU, which hosts the Hawkeyes on Saturday.
13 (15) Miami (FL) 7-2 205 It was a tale of two halves. The first half was close. The second half wasn't. Graig Cooper rushed for a career-high 152 yards as Miami outscored the Cavaliers 28-0 after halftime to cruise to a 52-17 win.
14 (7) Iowa 9-1 193 Once again, Iowa played with fire. But this time, against Northwestern, the Hawkeyes didn't have QB Ricky Stanzi when it came time to mount a comeback. The result: a crushing 17-10 loss to the Wildcats.
15 (14) Houston 8-1 175 Matt Hogan's 51-yard field goal as time expired capped a furious Houston rally that gave the Cougars a 46-45 win over Tulsa. Case Keenum (522 yards) turned in his second consecutive game with more than 500 yards passing.
16 (17) Utah 8-1 170 Utah made easy work of New Mexico as the Utes won their sixth straight game with Eddie Wide and Sausan Shakerin leading the way with a combined 245 yards rushing and three TDs. The Utes face fellow MWC unbeaten TCU on Saturday.
17 (18) Arizona 6-2 139 Arizona demolished Washington State 48-7 as the Wildcats racked up 294 yards rushing against the Cougars. But it was Oregon's loss that had the Wildcats cheering as it moved them level with the Ducks in the loss column in the Pac-10 standings.
18 (21) Oklahoma State 7-2 104 Keith Toston turned in a career-high 206 yards as OSU racked up 331 total yards on the ground in the Cowboys' 34-8 win over Iowa State. Zac Robinson was 19-for-24 passing for a TD and no INTs a week after his dreadful outing against Texas.
19 (11) Penn State 8-2 86 Penn State managed just nine first downs and 76 yards rushing at home in a 24-7 loss to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions host Indiana on Saturday.
20 (24) Wisconsin 7-2 73 Wisconsin racked up 294 rushing yards and needed every single one of them to hold off Indiana in a 31-28 win. John Clay and Montee Ball combined for 249 yards and three TDs for the Badgers, who will try to add to Michigan's misery Saturday.
21 (23) Virginia Tech 6-3 68 Ryan Williams ensured that Virginia Tech would avoid a third consecutive loss, rushing for a career-high 179 yards in a 16-3 win over East Carolina. The Hokies visit Maryland on Saturday.
22 (NR) Stanford 6-3 49 Stanford did its part to open up the Pac-10 race with a 51-42 win over Oregon. Toby Gerhart ran for a school-record 223 yards and three TDs, and Andrew Luck threw for 251 yards and two TDs in the Cardinal's win.
22 (26) South Florida 6-2 49 South Florida spent its bye week watching the three Big East teams ahead of it in the standings pick up wins. The Bulls travel to Rutgers in this week's Thursday night matchup.
24 (27) Clemson 6-3 42 C.J. Spiller bested himself in a 40-24 win over Florida State, turning in 312 all-purpose yards, two weeks after setting a school record with 310 yards in a win over Miami. The win was the fourth straight for the Tigers.
25 (25) Brigham Young 7-2 36 BYU enjoyed a stroll in the park in Wyoming, crushing the Cowboys 52-0. Max Hall was 20-for-22 passing for 312 yards and four TDs for the Cougars, who stay on the road with a visit to New Mexico on Saturday.



Irish need to speed it up if they want to replace Weis
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It's called the First Plane in the Air strategy. I just made it up, but it fits the current situation in South Bend.
Notre Dame didn't have it -- the plane in air or the strategy -- back in 2004 when Urban Meyer was the top coaching hottie. Instead, Florida AD Jeremy Foley packed up his spread sheets, charm and checkbook on a charter Dec. 2 of that year headed to Salt Lake City.
Foley beat Notre Dame to the doorstep of Utah's Meyer by a few hours. Yes, Florida had gotten a head start firing Ron Zook in late October. ND waited until later to dispose of Tyrone Willingham. But the shouts of joy (and perhaps anguish) from that whirlwind courtship still echo almost five years later.
Florida got to Meyer making the first, and best, pitch, eventually coming away with its man. You might have heard what has happened in Gainesville the past few years. The hire kind of worked out.
Notre Dame? Well, it got its man. He just wasn't Meyer. ND had its own private aircraft and own lavish presentation headed for SLC that same day, but it lost in the sense that two national championships (Meyer) trumps two games below .500 the past three seasons (Charlie Weis).
So here we are again, Notre Dame perhaps at another coaching crossroads with some hard decisions to make sooner rather than later. Saturday's 23-21 loss to Navy officially ended the school's pursuit of a BCS bowl. The way the Irish played with everything on the line, it now looks like 8-4 or even 7-5 might be possible.
That might make The Decision easier. The point is, Notre Dame cannot wait. You do not lose to a Navy team that had been beaten by Temple the previous week. You do not lose to a Navy team that had become a guaranteed W over the years. Now the Middies have won two of the past three in the series after losing the previous 43. For the first time since 1936, an unranked Navy beat a ranked Notre Dame.
"There never has been a Notre Dame team to lose to Navy twice in the past 50 years," Irish linebacker Brian Smith told the Chicago Tribune. "I mean, we beat them 43 straight times and I've lost to them twice already. It's frustrating."
Notre Dame can't be the second plane in the air again. That is a figurative reference but altogether relevant with the school having to decide, now, what to do with Weis. That doesn't mean it should necessarily get rid of the coach who has brought his heart, soul and ravaged knees to the job. The man's commitment to, and love of, Notre Dame cannot be denied.
But AD Jack Swarbrick, the trustees and Father John Jenkins have to decide now, today preferably, if a) they want to make a change and b) if it's possible, quickly followed by c) where to go from here. There are too many balls in the air to miss out on the first choice for the second time in five years.

Dodd's Power Poll
1.Texas
2. Florida
3. Alabama
4. TCU
5. Cincinnati
6. Boise State
7. Ohio State
8. Georgia Tech
9. Iowa
10. Miami
11. Pittsburgh
12. Oregon
13. Utah
14. Houston
15. USC
16. Arizona
17. LSU
18. Penn State
19. BYU
20. Oklahoma State
21. Stanford
22. Navy
23. Wisconsin
24. South Florida
25. Temple

This year's top model, Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, is out there, a Roman Catholic with a magic touch about to lock down his second consecutive Big East title. All indications are that Kelly would be available if, and only if at this point, Notre Dame came calling.
Kelly is the 2009 version of Meyer in 2004, a coach who would leave his current job better than he found it and significantly enhance his new program. Kelly's team is undefeated, having won the last three games with a backup quarterback. Zach Collaros replaced injured Tony Pike, who began 2008 something like fifth on the depth chart.
Notre Dame, though, has to reach out. It has to contact Kelly and judge his interest. If he stays committed to Cincinnati, then fine, move on. ND can keep Weis or perhaps go to the next name on its list.
Judging by what Paul Johnson has done at Navy and to Notre Dame, how do you scratch him off? Meyer has denied that he is going to ND several times, but he cannot deny calling it his "dream job." After winning a possible third national championship in four years at Florida, there would be nowhere to go but down in Gainesville.
Besides, there's no commissioner to answer to at Notre Dame when some zebra blows a call.
If you haven't noticed, the silly season is beginning. This is the time of year when the coaching carousel starts spinning. Colorado has to decide if it wants to spend $3.2 million to buy out Dan Hawkins. This is out of left field, but Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald sounds like an ideal candidate.
Virginia looks like it's going to be open, with Temple's Al Golden and Richmond's Mike London most prominently mentioned as replacements for Al Groh.
Proven winners Tommy Tuberville and Phil Fulmer are eager to get back in the game.
This isn't to say the silly season should claim Weis. Who knows? Charlie might get a vote of confidence for 2010 this week. Swarbrick told me before the USC game that he would consider 10-2 "progress." The Irish can finish, at best, 9-3. A Gator Bowl is an upgrade on the Hawaii Bowl but by how much?
ND can't dally. It has to have a plan. Let the school say whatever it wants publicly, but if Kelly, through channels, shows interest, you bring the house. Now.
This is pure speculation, but Kelly might have rejected interest from Washington and Tennessee last year because he sensed that Notre Dame might be opening.
ND would owe Weis a reported $18 million in buyout money. That's the part of b) above that would have to be worked out. Something tells me the debate over whether ND could afford it would end quickly if Kelly, secretly and from a distance, blinked twice for yes.
Direct contact with Kelly (or whoever) would be unethical at this point. We know that. We also know that Notre Dame doesn't hesitate to help Notre Dame. Ask the College Football Association about the Irish leaving for NBC almost 20 years ago. That's part of the reason we have the BCS today. Look it up.

There are ways that these schools get these things done. It is similar to junior high where Johnny passes a note to Janie in class and asks her to check one:
Do you like me? Yes ___ No ___

It's called third-party contact and the tactic is used all the time. It's how things get done in coaching searches, especially at this time of year. That's why coaches employ agents and lawyers. In the middle of a season, they might not want to take a call from a suitor. At least a representative can be the filter. Everyone has plausible deniability.
Check out this 2004 passage from the Gainesville Sun chronicling Foley's coaching search that ended with Meyer.
Foley did not contact the coaches directly because of the pledge he and UF President Bernie Machen made Oct. 25 not to talk to coaches until their regular seasons were over. Instead, Foley talked to agents, lawyers and close friends of the coaches on his list.
Notre Dame was slightly late on Meyer and maybe went in with a little bit of hubris. It cannot delay again. Publicly, Swarbrick can say he will evaluate at the end of season. Privately, he has to find out as soon as possible if Kelly would be willing to come.
Whoever runs the Irish in 2010 is probably going to be without Jimmy Clausen, who looks like he is headed to the NFL. The defense has to be marginally better but has been the weak point of the team.
That's bad for Weis, a fresh start for Kelly. Weis is a quarterback coach. Kelly is a hotter quarterback coach. Are you kidding me with Zach Freakin' Collaros? The schedule remains, shall we say, manageable. The BCS remains in love with the Irish to the point that in any given year, nine victories could land them in a major bowl.
Weis doesn't have to go. His bosses, though, have to figure out a quick, smooth and efficient way to make the transition if they decide he does. The friendly skies are wide open. Ladies and gentlemen of the Notre Dame administration, start your (jet) engines.

NFL and College Football TV Schedules

NCAA College FootballFriday, Nov. 6 Network Time (EST)

Boise State at Louisiana Tech ESPN2 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 7 Network Time (ET)
Northwestern at Iowa ESPN Noon
UCF at Texas FSN Noon
Syracuse at Pitt ESPN U Noon
Wisconsin at Indiana Big Ten Noon
Illinois at Minnesota Big Ten Noon
Western Michigan at Michigan State Big Ten Noon
Purdue at Michigan Big Ten Noon
South Carolina at Arkansas SEC 12:21 p.m.
Kansas at Kansas State Versus 12:30 p.m.
BYU at Wyoming MTN 2 p.m.
Navy at Notre Dame NBC 2:30 p.m.
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech ABC 3:30 p.m.
Ohio State at Penn State ABC 3:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Iowa State ABC 3:30 p.m.
LSU at Alabama CBS 3:30 p.m.
Oregon at Stanford FSN 3:30 p.m.
Duke at North Carolina ESPN U 3:30 p.m.
Army at Air Force CBS CS 3:30 p.m.
TCU at San Diego State Versus 4 p.m.
New Mexico at Utah MTN 6 p.m.
Oregon State at California FSN 7 p.m.
Memphis at Tennessee ESPN U 7 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Florida ESPN2 7:15 p.m.
Houston at Tulsa CBS CS 7:30 p.m.
Florida State at Clemson ESPN 7:45 p.m.
Connecticut at Cincinnati ABC 8 p.m.
Oklahoma at Nebraska ABC 8 p.m.
USC at Arizona State ABC 8 p.m.
Colorado State at UNLV MTN 10 p.m.
Fresno State at Idaho ESPN U 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 8 Network Time (EST)
Nevada at San Jose State ESPN 8:30 p.m.

NFL
Week 9
Sun, Nov 08 Stadium Time (ET) Tickets Network DIRECTV SIRIUS Westwood One
BAL @ CIN Paul Brown Stadium 1:00 PM Tickets CBS 704 129 (BAL) 91 (CIN)
HOU @ IND Lucas Oil Stadium 1:00 PM Tickets CBS 705 154 (HOU) 123 (IND)
GB @ TB Raymond James Stadium 1:00 PM Tickets FOX 710 126 (GB) 158 (TB)
ARI @ CHI Soldier Field 1:00 PM Tickets FOX 709 130 (ARI) 127 (CHI)
KC @ JAC Jacksonville Municipal Stadium 1:00 PM Tickets CBS 706 108 (KC) 121 (JAC)
MIA @ NE Gillette Stadium 1:00 PM Tickets CBS 707 153 (MIA) 122 (NE)
WAS @ ATL Georgia Dome 1:00 PM Tickets FOX 708 152 (WAS) 125 (ATL)
CAR @ NO Superdome 4:05 PM Tickets FOX 711 91 (CAR) 121 (NO)
DET @ SEA Qwest Field 4:05 PM Tickets FOX 712 122 (DET) 125 (SEA)
TEN @ SF Candlestick Park 4:15 PM Tickets CBS 714 126 (SF)
SD @ NYG Giants Stadium 4:15 PM Tickets CBS 713 127 (SD) 123 (NYG)
DAL @ PHI Lincoln Financial Field 8:20 PM Tickets NBC 127 (DAL) 126 (PHI) Radio
Mon, Nov 09 Stadium Time (ET) Tickets Network DIRECTV SIRIUS Westwood One
PIT @ DEN Invesco Field at Mile High 8:30 PM Tickets ESPN 206 126 (PIT) 125 (DEN) Radio
Byes: Bills, Browns, Vikings, Jets, Raiders, Rams