Penn State students overturned a news van while rallying in support of Joe Paterno on Wednesday night. (REUTERS)

• The wisdom of youth: Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier have been ousted by the university’s board of trustees, which held a press conference shortly afterward that you have to see to believe. (And if you’re like me, you’d rather believe a few disgruntled students got in than believe reporters were behaving in that manner.) Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been made interim head coach; original whistleblower Mike McQueary remains on staff. Moderate chaos broke out on campus, where for a group of students felt the legacy of Joe Paterno trumped the heinous actions of Jerry Sandusky.

More reading material, if you can stomach it: The sister of a victim speaks on life at Penn State. Paterno’s statement. Spanier’s statement. Mike McCann analyzes the legal issues facing Paterno. Paterno addressing the players. The withdrawal of an award the NFF was to present to Penn State’s AD. The investigation the Department of Education is launching into Penn State’s handling of the Sandusky case. Bill Connelly: “By shielding and fearing football, we weaken it.”

• UCF is also canceled: Also in trouble: Central Florida, which picked a mighty opportune moment to cut loose a position coach and its AD. Recruiting violations abound; full documents here.

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Case Keenum made NCAA history at Legion Field on Nov. 5. (Holly Anderson/SI)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The University of Houston’s athletic department has professed a reluctance to stage any cagey PR stunts in service of senior quarterback Case Keenum’s Heisman candidacy. There will be no billboards nor bobbleheads for the cause. The likely New York invitee and unlikely hardware winner would be hard-pressed to find humbler surroundings in which to stage his third major NCAA record-breaking performance of the season.

While a couple hundred thousand screaming faithful thronged Tuscaloosa to watch the SEC West division race come to a bitter head, an announced crowd of 13,909 (an estimation we’re going to charitably call “ambitious”) bore witness in decaying Legion Field to the fall of the all-time NCAA record for career passing yards by a player operating in just his third full season as a starter. (Keenum, devotees will recall, redshirted his first year with the Cougars and wasn’t named the full-time replacement for Kevin Kolb until more than halfway through his second season. After standout years in 2008 and ’09, he tore his ACL in the second quarter of the Cougars’ third game, a road date with UCLA, and was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.) Entering Saturday’s contest, Keenum already held the career total offense and touchdown passing records, and speculation that he might amass the 267 yards needed to pass Timmy Chang as the all-time passing yardage leader by the end of the first quarter wasn’t all that farfetched.

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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.

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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.

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Patrick Edwards caught five of Case Keenum's nine TDs in Houston's 73-34 win over Rice. (US PRESSWIRE)

The week in lesser FBS luminaries:

• Is it that time of year already? Entering the November home stretch, let’s pause to examine Houston’s and Boise’s chances of hoisting a certain crystal football in two months and one week. In the latest AP Poll, the Broncos still hover at No. 5, while the Cougars skip from No. 18 to No. 14. This still makes them the lowest-ranked undefeated teams, in Houston’s case by nine slots. The Cougars trail the next closest team, Michigan, by over a hundred votes in the AP Poll. (Would you not pay dearly to see Case Keenum and Denard Robinson scoring at will on the Michigan and Houston defenses in a bowl game?) We will not discuss the den of iniquity that is the Coaches’ Poll, but let’s hit the BCS. Boise falls from No. 4 to No. 5 following its most recent bye; Clemson plummeted out of the top five as well, while previous No. 6 Stanford assumed Boise’s former place. Houston’s all the way down at No. 13, up from 17, and separated from the Broncos by seven one-loss teams. We’re still projecting Boise into the Sugar Bowl, but Houston’s prospects for a big-time January game look desolate.

Is there a chance for hardware glory in other races, however? Check out Cory McCartney’s latest Heisman Watch for more trophy-grubbing intel on Keenum and Moore.

• Houston a billionty, Rice 34: From Friday: “Before rain even began to fall in earnest, Houston’s Tyron Carrier returned the Owls’ opening kickoff for a touchdown, his seventh such feat, tying a previous record set by C.J. Spiller at Clemson. Rice fired back with a strong running game, returned a soggy Keenum fumble for a touchdown and seemed quite determined to hang with the Cougars until three consecutive touchdown passes from Houston put the game out of reach by halftime, 38-20.” There really was enough action and pratfalling contained within that half alone for an entire game’s worth of entertainment, but that was before Keenum decided tonight was the night for a statement game. Behold his stats, O mortals, and weep.

• Last night’s MACtion from an alien perspective: Pleas enjoy this account of Northern Illinois-Toledo from a baseball die-hard who tuned in to ESPN to watch something called the Golden Gloves and instead found himself transfixed by Tuesday night football.

• Quote of the day, non-AQ edition: “We have sacrificed tradition, live crowds, and defensive backs for your entertainment.  We hope you enjoyed our exhibition of Rust Belt Calvin-ball last night.” — alert reader and MAC sympathizer DevilGrad

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