Oregon State's Malcolm Marable (22) was cited for driving 104 mph on the interstate. (US PRESSWIRE)

Just when it seems we’re in for a quiet week of an already interminable offseason, up pops a cluster of frolicsome arrests and citations to help us forget, however momentarily, that it is February and these kinds of stories are all we have to divert us from our daily spins on the hamster wheel between now and September. Cast your vote below for the Allstate Police Blotter Item of the Week:*

Candidate 1: Malcolm Marable, CB, Oregon State.
The Incident: Clocked at 104 mph (in a 65-mph zone, as though speed limits really matter here) on the interstate.
The Case For: Was also driving without proof of insurance, just to be cheeky.
The Case Against: Already drawing inevitable comparisons to former Oregon rival Cliff Harris’ infamous speeding arrest. And Harris was going faster.
Bonus Trivia: Both Harris and Marable were driving Altimas at the time of their law enforcement run-ins. Shrieking pundit class ready to suggest the abolition of college football every time a high-profile student-athlete is arrested or seriously injured, now’s your chance to get on the anti-Nissan bandwagon, and warn a grateful nation against these cars that are clearly designed to seduce our youths into unsafe driving habits.

Read More…

The Champs Sports Bowl Twitter feed had a shout out for SI.com's own Andy Staples earlier this week.

The 2011 Champs Sports Bowl is just a day away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Andy Staples’ game preview.)

• Where will this game be played? The Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando.

• But it’s not the Citrus Bowl? No, the Capital One Bowl is the Citrus Bowl.

• No, the Capital One Bowl was the Tangerine Bowl. Only until 1983, when sponsorship was opened up to an infinite variety of delicious fresh produce. Oh, and except from 2001-2003, when the Champs Sports Bowl was, in fact, the Tangerine Bowl.

• Wait. What? Look, Reggie Ball was once the MVP of this football contest. Don’t expect continuity.

• Have either of those games, at any point in their history, been the Peach Bowl? We are almost positive they have not.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, December 29. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? The ACC and Big East are the designated tie-in conferences.

• What about this year? Florida State and Notre Dame, both 8-4, have drawn the first ticket sellout in game history.

Read More…

The NCAA will hand down sanctions to Ohio State Tuesday at 3 over the wide-ranging illegal Buckeye benefits scandal. (AP)

• Actual news to emerge to-day! I’ll be on a plane to San Diego when it happens, but the NCAA will dispense sanctions in the general direction of Ohio State regarding Terrelle Pryor and his Tat Five Orchestra at 3 p.m. ET. Get your homespun bingo cards ready! Suggested squares: “Jim Tressel show-cause,” “Gene Smith cries on camera” and “Boise State somehow ends up being sanctioned in Ohio State’s place.”

• Fresh coaches, bought and sold! South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson is reportedly the new head ballcoach at Southern Miss. It would be Johnson’s first head coaching gig at the FBS level. He has served on Steve Spurrier’s staff since 2008, and before that was Mississippi State’s coordinator since 2004.

• Good news for good guys, I: Michigan State’s Arthur Ray, offensive lineman and cancer survivor, has won the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl/FWAA Courage Award.

• Good news for good guys, II: Two Louisiana Tech standouts, wide receiver Quinton Patton and linebacker Adrien Cole, have donated their Poinsettia Bowl gifts to the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Read More…

Connor Shaw (left) has his third-best passing game for South Carolina. (C.Aluka Berry/ZUMAPRESS.com)

Snap Judgments from the Week 13 late shift. For early shift Snaps, click here. For swing shift Snaps, click here. For Andy Staples’ recap of LSU’s win over Arkansas, click here. For Staples’ take on Alabama’s rout of Auburn, click here. For a recap of all the Top 25 action, click here. For highlights from SI.com, click here. 

• No. 14 South Carolina 34, No. 18 Clemson 13: It won’t ding their conference title game plans, but my stars, is the shine ever off this Tigers team. Tajh Boyd’s 83 passing yards are particularly noteworthy; his previous season low was 204 against Virginia Tech. Boyd threw one touchdown pass and one pick and actually lowered his all-purpose total with -23 yards rushing, a mark surpassed (in the wrong direction) only by his 42 backward yards against NC State last week. But even against the Fightin’ O’Briens, Boyd could pass. Not so much this evening. He barely had time to try, what with the four sacks he picked up over the course of the game.

Boyd’s counterpart was brought down twice, but Connor Shaw picked one hell of a night to execute his star turn; his 210 aerial yards are eclipsed only by his passing performances against Kentucky and the Citadel, and to this he added 107 yards rushing — his first trip past the century mark. Shaw accounted for all four of the Gamecocks’ touchdowns, and Jay Wooten was perfect on the night with two long field goals and four successful extra point tries. Alshon Jeffery even put in an appearance with a too-rare touchdown reception.

Somewhat quieter than their normal selves tonight: Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney, who sat out a quarter-length suspension, and Clemson’s Sammy Watkins, back from a shoulder injury but obviously not back to full speed, held to 39 yards on four receptions. [RECAP | BOX]

Read More…

Robert Griffin III threw for 479 yards as Baylor knocked off OU for the first time in school history (AP)

Snap Judgments from the Week 12 late shift. For early shift Snaps, click here. For swing shift Snaps, click here. For Stewart Mandel’s take on the BCS chaos, click here. For Andy Staples’ Nebraska-Michigan wrap, click here. To see how Top 25 teams fared, click here. For highlights from SI.com, click here.

• Baylor 45, No. 5 Oklahoma 38: You might not be able to imagine a scenario in which you’d want to urge Robert Griffin to play more football without giving your own team an opportunity to answer him, but then, you’re not Bob Stoops. Tied 38-38 with less than a minute to play following Blake Bell’s fourth rushing touchdown in five tries for Oklahoma, the Bears sent Terrance Ganaway up the middle, by all appearances attempting to run the clock out. Oklahoma called time out. And junior receiver Baylor Terrance Williams quipped himself into local legend: “All right, let’s play ball.” Two plays later, Griffin had run 30 yards down the field, into Sooner territory. The play after that, he hit Kendall Wright over the middle for a first down pickup.

The play after that, Terrance Williams caught a 34-yard pass from Griffin that won the Bears the game. Baylor would recover the ensuing kickoff, and the clock ticked down and stopped, and the turf at Floyd Casey was flooded with green and gold faithful.

The deciding factor may have been that one timeout, but trouble was brewing as far back as that last Bell touchdown. OU lined up to go for two, which would have given them a 39-38 edge, but a false start set them back far enough to have to kick for the extra point and the tie instead. The Sooners ended the game with nine penalties worth 91 yards.

It’s a mark of the evening’s high drama that we’re into the fourth paragraph without discussing Wright’s Sooner-aided 87-yard touchdown catch. You can watch it here. I’ll wait. And the rest, quite literally, is history: Tonight marks the Baylor Bears’ first-ever program win over OU. [RECAP | BOX] Read More…

USC's defense has a history of failing to contain Oregon star LaMichael James. (ZUMApress.com)

Plot threads to track in Week 12:

• No. 18 USC @ No. 4 Oregon: I’m not trying to reduce the Trojans to one guy, but if Robert Woods ends up having to sit out this game, it’s going to lose its appeal in a big damn hurry. Limited in practice with shoulder and ankle injuries this week, Woods is traveling with the team to Eugene, but he has yet to be officially cleared or ruled out for action. This game has so much potential to be good television, but a lot of that depends on watching Woods and Matt Barkley play pitch-and-catch. These things happen, particularly this late in the year, but what a shame if we don’t end up getting to see these two squads meet at full strength.

The factors that remain: First and foremost, LaMichael James having the Trojans’ number. They’ve never been particularly adept at stopping him, despite playing the Ducks at a point in the season when it’s obvious James needs bodies thrown in his way. He appears to be back in fine form after missing two games with a dislocated elbow, recording more than 300 yards over the past two weeks against Washington and Stanford. This year’s USC ground defense is statistically stingier than the 2009 or ’10 squads, so maybe the Trojans will make a game of it. They’d better, down their star receiver.

This isn’t to say USC lacks other offensive weapons. It is, after all, USC. Wee tailback Curtis McNeal is coming off a personal-best game against Washington, and wide receiver Marqise Lee, though not quite as gaudy a threat in the return department, is on pace to record more receiving yards as a freshman than Woods did last year.

Read More…

Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne had a big night on the ground against UCF, leading the Golden Hurricane with 92 rushing yards. (AP)

• Tulsa 24, UCF 17: In an alarming twist, all three Thursday night games came off about how we expected them to, with Tulsa and UCF providing the only competitive football of the evening. Central Florida suffered its first home loss of 2011 thanks to an early fourth-quarter touchdown and two-point conversion by G.J. Kinne that could not be answered. Kinne wrapped up the night with 295 all-purpose yards against the FBS’ No. 3 defense. [RECAP | BOX]

• Florida State 38, Boston College 7: Into postseason contention go the ‘Noles, and down into pieces go the hopes of even a crummy mid-December bowl for the Eagles. Would-be BC savior Rolandan Finch was held to just 59 yards on 28 carries, and in a reversal of its usual offensive imbalance, four of FSU’s five touchdowns came on the run. [RECAP | BOX]

• Miami (Ohio) 35, Akron 3: In a fit of pregame hubris, I boasted on Twitter last night that I could knit more positive yardage than the Zips would gain in the span of a game. I did not manage to complete a 201-yard scarf before the final play of the fourth quarter. My sincere apologies to the Akron football community for underestimating the team’s ability to gain ground. The Zips are still pretty bad at football, though. [RECAP | BOX]

• Realignment tidbits, grudgingly dispensed: Facts are pointy! If you are absolutely determined to read about some games some teams might play next year instead of some games that absolutely will be played this weekend, you may peruse the news of Boise State’s latest conference-hop here.

Read More…

BC's Rolandan Finch had a breakout game against Maryland in Week 9, carrying 39 times for 243 yards and two touchdowns. (Tony Quinn/Icon SMI)

• Akron @ Miami (Ohio), 7:30 p.m., ESPNU: This is bad, y’all. Akron is 1-7 and the “1″ came thanks to playing VMI. The Zips suffered their closest loss to Central Michigan last week, falling 23-22 thanks to two failed two-point conversions. In their seven losses, they’ve been outscored 260-99. They are bad at running, passing, scoring, protecting the quarterback and defense. The RedHawks … have Zac Dysert. Ballgame. Just watch him play pitch-and-catch with freshman Dawan Scott for a half hour before picking your poison from the 8:00 games.

• Florida State @ Boston College, 8:00 p.m., ESPN: Projection: Also gross! Like Akron (and boy howdy, do you never want to be featured in a sentence that starts out that way), the Eagles have a win over an FCS team (UMass), and finally picked on somebody their own size last week with an unseemly win over a Maryland team in the throes of identity crisis. They’ve been defeated soundly by both ranked opponents they’ve faced, then-No. 8 Clemson and then-No. 18 Virginia Tech. They lost to Duke, and were wholly clocked by Central Florida. And now, although it’s a Thursday night game and things tend to get wacky, BC must welcome a Florida State team that has EJ Manuel back, on a short week, with bowl eligibility at stake. Gulp.

The good news, for the Eagles: Sophomore running back Rolandan Finch, who blew the doors off Maryland’s ground defense last week, has gained yards leaps and bounds over the past month or so. The bad news, of course, is the Seminoles’ fourth-ranked rushing defense and the fact that BC’s having a lot of trouble passing successfully, and even more trouble protecting the quarterback. Chase Rettig, I fear, is in for a reeeal bad night against a defensive front ranking third in the country in sacks. The longer BC can hold onto the ball via Finch, the longer it can keep it out of Manuel’s hands. But the way the ‘Noles have been marauding along the line of scrimmage lately, that may not be a reasonable hope.

Read More…

Rex Burkhead rushed for two touchdowns and caught another against MSU’s normally stout D. (Cal Sport Media)

Snap Judgments from the Week 9 early shift. For swing shift Snaps, click here. For Stewart Mandel’s take on Joe Paterno’s historic 409th win, click here. For a recap of the Top 25 action, click here. And for highlights from SI.com, click here.

• No. 13 Nebraska 24, No. 9 Michigan State 3:  From Friday: “The Huskers are only better than average at defending the pass, but will have to be better than better to contain Kirk Cousins. In opposing possessions, the real story will be whether State’s second-ranked defense will be able to contain a Nebraska ground attack that’s just as potent as the Badgers’. How much luck did the Spartans need to win in Week 8, and has it run out?”

A bit, and yes, as it happens:

Cousins missed on 12 of his first 16 passes. He was intercepted on the Spartans’ first possession, was nearly picked off three other times and often threw into double coverage.

And the containment of Cousins was only the beginning of the Spartans’ tribulations this afternoon. State managed just 86 yards through the air on 11 completed passes (with 22 Cousins attempts) but found no refuge in the ground attack, gaining just 101 yards. The Huskers eschewed the pass almost entirely in the game’s early stages, with zero net passing yards recorded at halftime, relying instead on Rex Burkhead’s 130 yards on 35 carries. Burkhead recorded all three of Nebraska’s scores, running for two touchdowns and catching another from Taylor Martinez.

Discounted entirely as a legitimate outfit after that unfortunate Week 5 depantsing against Wisconsin, the Huskers now sit atop the Legends Division standings, with no competition ahead of them (Penn State and Michigan are the only ranked teams remaining in their November schedule) scarier than what they’ve already faced. [RECAP | BOX]

Read More…

Danny O'Brien and Maryland are on big-time upset alert a week after nearly beating West Virginia. (AP)

A 10-point viewing guide to college football’s fourth Saturday of 2011:

• You’ve got something they want; don’t trip: Mismatches abound on this last weekend before most teams dive into the thick of conference play. At a quick glance, there are at least 20 games on tap for Week 4 that feature either a Big Six program against a non-AQ team or an FBS-FCS matchup. That means this slate is ripe and ready for our second-favorite phenomenon (behind the fat guy touchdown): The highly publicized upset of a high-profile team by a squad that has been payed six or seven figures to show up and get steamrollered.

Among the mismatches with the outcome least in doubt and with a high probability of being called in the third quarter on account of sadness are Iowa-Louisiana Monroe, TCU-Portland State, Air Force-Tennessee State, Virginia Tech-Marshall, Wisconsin-South Dakota, Northern Illinois-Cal Poly, Illinois-Western Michigan, Minnesota-North Dakota State, Nebraska-Wyoming and Houston-Georgia State. But keep half an eye on UMass-Boston College, Tulane-Duke, Kent State-South Alabama, New Mexico-Sam Houston State, UNLV-Southern Utah and Hawaii-UC Davis.

As for a bold prediction? This is going to upset (HA! GET IT?) my lovely Maryland-bred, Syracuse-educated producer, but take your pick: Either Temple is going to knock off the Terps or Toledo is going to knock off the Orange.

• Spoiling for a fight in Week 4:
- San Diego State, taking an undefeated and Rocky Long-led squad to meet Brady Hoke’s new family that he totally loves more.
- Oklahoma, boasting an even stronger team than last year’s and raring to face the Mizzou team that issued the first loss to the Sooners’ ultimately doomed 2010 national title campaign.
- Cal, out to avenge last year’s loss to Washington, which kept it from postseason contention.
- And West Virginia, which is undefeated but tagged as an underdog at home to an LSU team that’s surprising a lot of onlookers with its offensive potency absent its starting quarterback.

Read More…