By Zac Ellis

The relatively young Mark Stoops era has gotten off to a positive start at Kentucky, but it seems a handful of players won’t be around to enjoy it. Kyle Tucker of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that five Wildcat players are leaving the program.

Per source, DeMarcus Sweat, Bookie Cobbins, Demaris Rancifer, Josh Harris, Sterling Wright leaving UK football. School not ready to confirm.—
Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) June 06, 2013

Kentucky has yet to confirm the players’ departures.

All five players were recruited by previous head coach Joker Phillips. Of the group, Sweat made the biggest impact in 2012, playing in 10 games as a freshman wide receiver while catching four passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns.

Cobbins, a redshirt sophomore wide receiver, played in two games last season while recording no stats. Harris and Wright, both safeties, redshirted their freshman seasons in 2012. Rancifer made one tackle as a redshirt freshman linebacker last season.

Everett Golson led the Irish to an undefeated regular season and a BCS title game matchup with Alabama. (AP)

By Zac Ellis

Everett Golson, the quarterback who helped lead Notre Dame to last season’s BCS National Championship Game, is no longer a member of the Fighting Irish, according to multiple reports. A Notre Dame spokesperson confirmed to WNDU.com that the sophomore passer is not currently enrolled at the school.

Notre Dame spokesperson Dennis Brown would not disclose the reason behind Golson’s departure, telling ESPN.com that the school is barred by law from divulging specifics on the player’s situation.

“Everett is not enrolled at the university. Federal law and our own polices preclude us from discussing specifics.”

Initial reports stated that Golson’s abrupt exit might involve some form of a residence life violation, Chicago Tribune reporter and SI.com contributor Brian Hamilton tweeted:

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Pitt dismissed tight end Drew Carswell (6) and defensive back Eric Williams on Tuesday. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Pitt has dismissed junior tight end Drew Carswell and junior defensive back Eric Williams, the school announced on Tuesday. Carswell and Williams, along with junior defensive tackle Khaynin Mosley-Smith, were indefinitely suspended last week by coach Paul Chryst for their involvement in a drug-related incident.

All three players were detained on April 25 after being found in a house invaded by SWAT personnel. Per a CBS Pittsburgh report, “Detectives say they seized 20 bags of heroin, a marijuana bong and a copper grinder,” at the scene.

Mosley-Smith remains on indefinite suspension.

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Los Angeles football will be short two McDonald brothers next season, with T.J. departed for the draft and Tevin for parts unknown. (AP)

The UCLA Bruins have announced the dismissal of starting safety Tevin McDonald for the Ever-Popular-And-Mysterious Violation of Team Rules. McDonald, last seen missing the Holiday Bowl for failing a drug test, is the brother of USC safety and NFL draft hopeful T.J. McDonald, and the son of former Fresno State and current Jets position coach Tim McDonald. Also officially be-goned are lesser-known wide receiver Ricky Marvray and Jerry Rice Jr., whom some of you may have heard of. Those two players intend to transfer.

Commissioner Delany, can we get a little Gator Chomp?

• From the “Things That Will In No Way End In Heartbreak” Department. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has set up a “Rivalizer” web app that allows you to accessorize the photo of your choice with paraphernalia supporting the ACC or SEC team of your choice. We have a modest example on the right here.

• Well, now we KNOW he’s lying. Nick Saban, betraying his true form by acting like he’s some kind of mortal being with a defined lifespan: “I really enjoy what I’m doing here right now. I’m getting old now.” For the record, we hope he stays at Alabama forever, just to see if he ages more slowly than his statue outside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

• Roster blotter. Alabama’s Barrett Jones continues to rest his injured foot … Oregon’s Kyle Long has lost his eligibility appeal … Washington State’s Jeff Tuel will try his luck at the NFL draft … Missouri’s Ka’Ra Stewart has been dismissed from the Tigers following a drug possession arrest.

• Quote of the day. “The [university] presidents and athletic directors need to wake up about these [non-automatic qualifying] conferences and understand that they don’t have the fan appeal.” — Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett. “His SEC/Big Ten game is going for $2.50.” — Stewart Mandel.

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• “I think it all starts with a commitment to the university … the ability to have a clear vision.” While we technically agree with Colorado AD Mike Bohn that these are good qualities to seek in a college football coach, we have a humble suggestion: Next time, maybe don’t use those words right after firing a head coach two years into his tenure and right before making it outlandishly obvious through further words and sour facial expressions that you have nooooo idea what to do next.

The sporting internet watched with alternating horror and bewilderment as Jon Embree, Bohn and Colorado’s president and chancellor made statements and fielded questions on Embree’s ousting. You can watch the whole thing here, a fact which may be an indictment of the Colorado leadership in and of itself, read a summary of events here or get the general idea from those of us who watched it unfold in real time:

An emotional Jon Embree at his press conference. You can tell how much the job meant to him.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 26, 2012

A player just said from the back of the room “Thank you coach. We love you.” Embree said, “I love you too.” — Kyle Ringo (@KyleRingo) November 26, 2012

“We don’t get second chances.” Jon Embree on black head coaches. — Jason Kirk (@JasonKirkSBN) November 26, 2012

Embree on short-term turnarounds. “Basically, you can get mercenaries.” [Bobby Petrino startles to life in his coffin] — edsbs (@edsbs) November 26, 2012

embree’s basically saying, “if you wanted me to win this year, it was gonna cost cash money. untraceable CASH.” — Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) November 26, 2012

And remember, Bohn hit this CU team with the same speech he used when he fired Hawkins. Players in that room heard it before — Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) November 26, 2012

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Just going to repeat yesterday’s MACtion preview caption here: “Behold Jordan Lynch. Fear Jordan Lynch.” (AP)

• Northern Illinois 31, Toledo 24. We do so love what’s become an annual late-season scramble for division supremacy between the Huskies and Rockets, and last night’s contest did not disappoint. The Huskies, who have won 10 games for the third straight year, will represent the MAC West in Detroit for the third consecutive season, and will face either Kent State or Bowling Green once they get there. Quarterback Jordan Lynch threw for 407 yards (a career best) and rushed for 162 more. No, by himself. No, seriously. Lynch was sent here by the football gods to make sure we all properly appreciate MACtion for the weeknight blessing it is. Message received. [BOX | RECAP]

• Ball State 52, Ohio 27. The Bobcats trailed by four points heading into halftime and were nearly doubled up by the end of the game, thanks mostly to a 21-point fourth-quarter scoring barrage from the Cardinals. Ball State scored three touchdowns in less than nine minutes on a Horactio Banks run, a Kelly Page pass and a Jahwan Edwards run. Page replaced starter Keith Wenning, who left the game in the second quarter with an Achilles injury. Also, this happened. [BOX | RECAP]

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• So this makes Nick Saban the Mandarin? LSU’s crack video crew has made a trailer for the upcoming Tigers-Tide game in which Les Miles is Tony Stark, or something. From that, we can infer Saban to be the Sir Ben “Thunderbirds” Thunderbirds-Kingsley in this nonexistent movie, for those of you scoring at home.

• Big morning reading material. Major Tuesday morning movement from the NCAA: “The Division I Board of Directors today adopted an overhauled enforcement structure that creates additional levels of infractions, hastens the investigation process and ratchets up penalties for the most egregious violations.” (We know what you’re about to ask, and we believe Mark Richt’s butt-dialing incident would be a Level IV.)

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• For the record, we were kidding. Saturday, in the waning minutes of the Texas-Kansas game:

Texas will still be ranked next week. THE COACHES POLL REJECTS YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTES ITS OWN.

— Holly Anderson (@SIHolly) October 27, 2012

Sunday, in the Coaches’ Poll: The Longhorns move up two slots, from 24 to 22. We will choose our words more carefully when next taunting the spider-gods responsible for college football lists.

Elsewhere in rankings news: Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Oregon and LSU make up the new BCS top five, with the Ducks dropping two slots and the Wildcats and Fighting Irish rising. That dream of Bill Snyder using a crystal football as a hard candy dish draws ever nearer. … Louisiana Tech appears at BCS No. 25, a program first. … Along with LaTech, Nebraska, Arizona and Oklahoma State move into the rankings this week, replacing the departed Rutgers, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

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This is a 1-pound, half ground beef, half ground bacon burger topped with bacon, peanut butter and jelly. No words. twitter.com/Andy_Staples/s…

— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) October 3, 2012

Staples, doing the good work.

• Next food news update of vital importance. None other than the Wall Street Journal measures SEC stadiums’ proximity to Waffle Houses, even going so far as to state a measurement in sausage links. We have never felt closer to the WSJ than we do right now.

• Will the Honey Badger return to LSU? A resounding “maybe!” from the Times-Picayune.

• Welp. “According to a study published in the October issue of American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, male non-athletes were more likely than females to increase their alcohol consumption and partying, and decrease their study time, in response to the success of the team.” [Via.]

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