GAMEDAY NEWS & NOTES

ALABAMA-- RB Ingram has 54.2% of his rushing yds after contact (645/1190). 

SOUTH CAROLINA- Spurrier said Thurs “Our plan is within  the next 3 yrs we’ve got a tm that can compete for the SEC Championship. That’s our plan. If we can’t do it within 3 yrs they probably need to hire another HC here and let him start his plan”

TENNESSEE- PK Lincoln (out last gm) will be a game time decision. Did kick in practice Wed.

FS Janzen Jackson (7 sts, appears to be susp for the Memphis gm but Kiffin wouldn’t confirm that to the media. He sat out of practice on Thurs and that’s the rumor.

Arizona St- Sun Devils lead the league in rushing defense and are the only Conference team holding opponents under 100 yards rushing per game (80.1).

California- Cal is averaging 427.4 yards per game total offense, roughly 50 yards more per game than last year (376.0). Cal has outscored opponents 56-10 in the first quarter over the last three games.

Stanford- HC Jim Harbaugh called Andrew Luck the best QB in the country during the bye week. This was even in comparison to Tebow and McCoy.

USC- Despite the 27-point embarrassment, Carroll said there will be no major changes made to a program that's had one of the most successful conference runs in the history of college football."We're not going to change our philosophy," Carroll said. "We've got to nail down some technique stuff.

Washington- Jake Locker used the bye week to rest his deep thigh bruise that he suffered vs Oregon.

Illinois- Zook said after LW’s game that WR Benn hasn’t been healthy all year dealing with ankle and shoulder injuries since he was injured in the opener.

Indiana- The Hoosiers are expected to be without the Big Ten’s top returnman CB Ray Fisher (#4 NCAA KR 37.4 w/ 2 TD & 9.8 on PR) and the team’s leading rusher RB Darius WIllis (ankle) and starting S Nick Polk (ankle) are both questionable.   

Michigan St- MSU has reverted to ‘bunker mentality’ vs W Michigan this week by closing all practices, not allowing players to talk to the media and refusing to discuss injuries after LW’s loss.

Northwestern- Due to injuries NW has had 20 different players start on defense this season including 9 in the secondary.  

Purdue- 11 game road losing streak is tied with Utah St for the longest in the country.

Notre Dame- QB Crist (ACL) is out for the season. QB Clausen reaggravated his toe injury vs Wash St and sat out Tuesday’s practice. Weis has said that Clausen’s injury has been blown out of proportion & “He’ll be fine to run the entire operation.” 

Baylor- CB Antareis Bryan (foot) played some last week & could move back into starting role (out L/6 wks).

Colorado- RB Darrell Scott expected to transfer to UCLA.

Iowa St- HC Rhoads said Monday that quarterback Arnaud will return to the starting lineup for Saturday's game vs OSU.

Kansas- QB Reesing has struggled with a groin injury that occurred late in the Jayhawks’ loss to Colorado on Oct. 17. He continued to play with the injury during losses to OU and Tech during the L2W. And while Mangino didn’t blame Reesing or his injuries for the recent losses.

Missouri- After being hobbled by a sprained ankle for the past several weeks, QB Gabbert said he was healthy and ready to go for the Tigers' against Baylor.

Nebraska- Despite producing 145 yards rushing vs BU LW (most by NU since the 3^rd gm of the season), HC Pelini was disappointed with how the Huskers finished the game in their rushing attack. Nebraska avg 6.7 ypc in the 1Q against the Bears. But they produced only 78 yards on 28 carries over the final 3Q for an avg of 2.8 ypc. Cody Green was the first freshman quarterback to start for Nebraska since Tommie Frazier in 1992.

Oklahoma- OC Wilson said this weeks primary concern will be the OL, especially the RT “Our weakest position has been RT”, this will be big because of the dominating NU DL.

Oklahoma St- OSU has not won in Ames since 1999.

Texas- “Everyone is impressed with how our defense is playing at a championship level” HC Mack Brown “And out special teams continue to perform as well as they have since we’ve been here.

Texas A&M- A&M hasn’t won more than 2 gms in November since 1999

Cincinnati- Tony Pike will be available vs Conn, but HC Kelly has been hesitant to name the starter, especially after hisbackup Collaros has the hot hand.

Connecticut- Cody Endres injured his shoulder 1Q vs Rutgers and will have surgery is out for the year. Notre Dame transfer Zach Frazer (PS#7) will make his 1st start since week 2 after injuring his knee and has been available, but Edsall liked the progress that Endres had made week to week.

Pittsburgh- Pitt is off to it’s best start in 27 years, but you wouldn’t  know it by talking to Wannstedt. Pitt is not looking forward to Notre Dame, West Virginia or Cincinnati because they are all focused on the Orange. “It will not be a trap game,” Wannstedt said. “Our players, they respect and know what goes into this - it’s a conference game.”

Syracuse- After a 28-7 loss to the Bearcats last week more defections occured during the week, Their Top WR and future NFL draft choice Mike Williams quit the team. The very next day Marrone suspended RB Antwon Bailey (#2RB, #3WR), #1 OG Andrew Tiller, #2 DE Torrey Ball and then lost #1 DE Jared Kimmel for the season to a knee injury. Backup DB John Mark Henderson also left the team putting the number of scholarship players to defect at 21 since Marrone arrived at Syracuse.

Memphis- HC West said WR Duke Calhoun has been one bright spot in a poor season. West said “Duke’s played well with the ball, without the ball, he’s blocked. He has played more physical than he’s ever played, he’s played faster than he’s ever played.”

Rice- DE Ozougwu may have provided some bulletin board material for SMU as he said “I haven’t lost to SMU since I’ve been here and I don’t intend to now.”

SMU- RB Shawnbrey McNeal has a slight AC joint separation in his right shoulder. HC Jones said he should practice & be ready to go.

Tulane- C Nierman is out. He started the 1^st 7 games before missing last week. Joey Ray made his 1^st career start in Nierman’s place last week, but broke his snapping hand. HC Toledo said he will try to snap though the pain or possibly snap left-handed.

Tulsa- OT Tyler Holmes returned to practice this week & HC Graham is “optimistic” that Holmes will play. Kinne will start at QB for TU after being benched after throwing 2 ints early in the game vs SMU. Kinne actually suffered a mild concussion vs SMU.

UAB- RB Slaughter has been banged up all season, but made his 1^st start LW.

UTEP- UTEP plays 3 straight road games and will not play at home for almost a month. HC Price sees it as an opportunity for the team to come together.

Boston College- Steve Aponavicius became BC all-time scoring leader. Aponavicius had an 18 yd FG and 4 PATs vs CM, giving him 267 total points to passed PK Brian Lowe's (1986-89) mark of 262. LB Mark Herzlich will be awarded an honorary Lott Trophy. He is only the 2^nd person to be rewarded it.

Clemson- Starting DE Da'Quan Bowers could be out for the next couple of weeks with a sprained MCL.

Duke- QB Thaddeus Lewis is the first Duke quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards in fourth consecutive seasons. WR Conner Vernon has set a Duke freshman record with 38 catches this season.

Florida St- After 26 years, DC Mickey Andrews announced this will be his last season.

Georgia Tech- HC Paul Johnson said there will be changes to special teams and the defense this week. GT allowed an 80 yd KR TD, 28 pts & 257 yds in the 1H vs Vandy.

Maryland- "The one thing I think people forget is before Ralph got here ... what the program was like. I don't think there is enough appreciation for what he's done for this university, for this community. But I guess that's the world we live in." -- OC James Franklin.

N Carolina- C Lowell Dyer (shoulder) returned to the starting lineup for the first since the opener.

NC State- Starting LB & leading tklr Ray Michel is week to week w/an ankle inj. Starting RG R.J. Mattes is out the year with a torn knee ligament. WR/KR TJ Graham is also out for the year with a fractured leg.

Virginia- AD Craig Littlepage said that HC Al Groh’s future at the school will be evaluated at the end of the season.

Akron- RB Broderick Alexander become 1st true frosh to start at RB since 1973.

E Michigan- EM has traveled  2082 miles in less than a week.

Ohio- Ohio leads the NCAA with 26 takeaways.

FAU– QB Jeff Van Camp is excited about making his first career start Saturday (at UAB). He is confident that with spending 4 years in the system he knows everything about the offense.

ULL- Three of the top four TE will be out – Ladarius Green (neck), Brandon Williams (foot) and Dustin Mack (shoulder).

NAVY--HC Niumatalolo said “We could pretty much have all 22 starters in green (no contact). Everybody has something. We’re beat up. We’re beat to heck” after 9 straight games without a bye.

Boise St- To say BSU QB Kellen Moore has been efficient this season would be an understatement as the poised sophomore QB leads the nation in pass efficiency (171.02).

Idaho- Four of Idaho’s seven wins this season have been be four points or less.

Louisiana Tech- Starting QB Ross Jenkins was replaced in last week’s game by backup Colby Cameron (made his LT debut) but Jenkins will likely play & start this week.

N Mexico St- New Mexico State appears to have settled on QB Jeff Fleming as the starter over Trevor Walls. The duo has alternated at the position this year.

San Jose St- Starting C Ronnie Castillo started the first 7 games and is likely out this week with an ankle injury and could possibly be out for the rest of the season (missed last week).

San Diego St- WR Vincent Brown out 2-3 weeks (thumb surg).

Wyoming- 31 different players have started on offense and defense TY. 5 different starting lineups offensively