Sports

College football

Gameday

By wire services
Published September 24, 2005

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THE LITTLE "DISTRACTION" LET THE HYPE BEGIN

Tyrone Willingham is embracing the sizzle in the matchup between his Washington Huskies and his former team, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, now led by Charlie Weis.

Weis can call the clash of coaches past and present a "distraction" and insist neither he nor his players will talk about it. Willingham isn't so naive to believe ignoring the obvious will make it go away.

Yet when asked if it's fair that some Notre Dame fans might use the game as a referendum on if it was right to fire him last season, three years into his six-year contract, Willingham said that was out of his control.

"Is there anything I can do that will change that?" Willingham said.

TRANSFORMERS

The Sporting News' list of players who have changed college football with their speed and game-breaking ability:

1. REGGIE BUSH, SOUTHERN CAL: What separates him from everyone else: He's a rock. The running back won't get pushed around and won't get caught once he gets through the front seven of a defense.

2. TED GINN, OHIO STATE: His long stride and fluid motion are perfect for reverses and option plays and devastating on returns.

3. WILL BLACKMON, BOSTON COLLEGE: The most underrated player of the group, Blackmon plays 70-80 plays per game at receiver, cornerback and kick and punt returner.

4. STEVE BREASTON, MICHIGAN: He has worked to become a disciplined receiver, making his speed even more dangerous.

5. DEVIN HESTER, MIAMI: One big problem: He doesn't do anything particularly well on offense or defense. But, oh, those special teams.

6. SKYLER GREEN, LSU. Green played most of last season hurt, but he was the nation's most dangerous return man in 2003.

QUIRKY SCHEDULE

After a two-year break in the series, Southern Cal plays its third consecutive game against Oregon at Eugene.

Asked to explain, assistant Pac-10 commissioner Duane Lindberg had a ready reply.

"It is horribly confusing," he said.

Southern Cal has not hosted Oregon since the 2000 season, which Lindberg blames on the conference's complicated 16-year schedule cycle.

The rotation demands traditional rivals (such as Southern Cal-UCLA, Arizona-Arizona State) meet every year, which forces "misses" against nontraditional rivals.

Lindberg said the Southern Cal-Oregon series got thrown for a loop when conference athletic directors insisted Southern Cal and UCLA also play California and Stanford every year.

Something had to give, Lindberg said.

"When you go to put things back together, then you run into problems," he said. "It's created a significant amount of oddities."

There should be fewer quirks beginning next year, when the 12th regular-season game allows a round-robin format.

1 FOR THE AGES

Most consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25:

22 - Southern Cal (2003 - 2; 2004 - 16; 2005 - 4)

21 - Miami (2001 - 10; 2002 - 11)*

18 - Southern Cal (1972 - 14; 1973 - 4)

17 - Florida State (1999)

15 - Army (1944 - 6; 1945 - 9)

15 - Nebraska (1971 - 14; 1972 - 1)

15 - Nebraska (1983)

* Includes tie with Oklahoma on Aug. 26, 2002.

FIVE THINGS

1. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is willing to forgive whoever took his championship rings from a display case last week near the entrance of the football offices. At least nine rings from Whittingham's days at BYU and Utah were missing. The rings are easily identifiable and would be difficult to pawn or sell online. They have Whittingham's name on them.

2. Texas Tech had 15 possessions against I-AA Sam Houston State last week and scored on 12 in an 80-21 win. On the other three possessions, Tech punted, missed a field goal and ran out the clock in the fourth quarter. It could be worse tonight when Tech hosts I-AA Indiana State.

3. If Tennessee loses Monday at LSU, Phillip Fulmer will be 0-2 in the SEC for only the second time in his 13 seasons as coach. In 2000, Tennessee started 0-3, losing to Florida, LSU and Georgia.

4. Like Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons and Sonny Cumbie before him at Texas Tech, Cody Hodges seems destined to lead the nation in passing as a fifth-year senior. Hodges has passed for 890 yards in just two games and displayed an uncanny efficiency for a new starter. He has completed 74.3 percent of his passes and hasn't thrown an interception in 74 attempts.

5. Tennessee leads the all-time series against LSU 19-5-3, but two losses have come in the past three meetings.

QUOTABLE

"I got a tough job. You got a tough job. And once in a while, you write things that I think (make you) jerks. And once in a while, I say things, and you think I'm a jerk. Okay? But that's the way it works out."

- Penn State coach Joe Paterno on his relationship with the media, which has soured in recent years.

Information from the Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times and Orlando Sentinel was used in this report.

[Last modified September 24, 2005, 01:00:22]

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