The Wiz of Odds

Reporters Notebooks

Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman: Boise State president Bob Kustra, who has made no secret of his desire to get the Broncos into the Mountain West Conference, said the best way to gain entrance "is to keep beating them in everything we play." Boise State is 12-1 against current MWC teams since 1996.

Rick Kaipust, Omaha World-Herald: Ticket sales for Nebraska's spring game will begin next week. More than 22,000 tickets were purchased on the first day of sales last year, and 25,000 reserved seats were sold in less than a week. This year's game is scheduled for April 18.

Drew Edwards, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Tennessee is investigating a possible secondary violation involving the use of smoke machines as recruits entered the field from the tunnel inside Neyland Stadium.

Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: Chris Petersen won't be signing a contract extension this winter with Boise State. "I think at this point we're just going to leave it as it is and then deal with it in the future," athletic director Gene Bleymaier said. "He seems to be fine with it. Obviously we want to keep coach Pete around and have every intention of doing so." Petersen, who was unavailable for comment, is entering the third year of a five-year deal.

Rob Moseley, Eugene Register-Guard: Former Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost is now the receivers coach at Oregon.

The Devil Works in Mysterious Ways

Brigham Young's squeaky-clean image is taking a hit. There are allegations that involve consumption of alcohol — a violation of the honor code — during the weekend of Jan. 10-11, when 24 recruits were on campus.

The allegations started after hotshot linebacker Manti Te'o of Honolulu's Punahou High called Bronco Mendenhall last Saturday and said he had crossed BYU off his list.

Te'o, named the high school player of the year by the Sporting News, was among the recruits visiting Provo that weekend. Te'o, a Latter Day Saint, has three cousins at the school and BYU was once his college of choice.

But a report by former Cougar player Hans Olsen, who is a talk show host on 1280 The Zone, implicated Te'o in the incident. That sent the Cougar message boards into overdrive.

Vote for the Cheapest Shot of the 2008 Season

We present the cheapest shots of the 2008 season. Review the plays and vote for the cheapest shot at the bottom. This is like the WWE's Royal Rumble. It happens only once a year and you get to vote only once, so put some thought into it. The videos, in no particular order, are after the jump so we don't tie up your browser loading the main page.

This is the third year we've featured cheap shots, and here are links to the 2007 and 2006 cheapies. A chop block by Auburn's Chaz Ramsey on Louisiana State's Glenn Dorsey was voted the cheapest shot of 2007. A late hit by Texas A&M's Kellen Heard on Colt McCoy was selected the cheapie of 2006.

A note to Boise State fans, who are not going to like what they are about to see. Three of the videos involve plays by the Broncos. No, we aren't picking on your team. It just so happens that three of the videos came from the Boise State-Oregon game — two involving your players and another involving an Oregon Duck.

The most-penalized team this past season was Hawaii.

Reporters Notebooks

Steve Wieberg, USA Today: The Mountain West Conference will make a push for an automatic Bowl Championship Series bid in late April.

Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune: The Big Ten is losing more than games. The nation's most popular conference — based on attendance and TV ratings — is losing the recruiting battle. One of the reasons is that it's a down year for talent in the Midwest.

Michael Baumann, Daily Gamecock: A note to Detroit Lion general manager Martin Mayhew: Don't take Matthew Stafford of Georgia with your No. 1 pick. Trade it. Use it on offensive line help. Stafford is going to ruin your franchise if you pick him.

Brett McMurphy, Tampa Tribune: Former Miami quarterback Robert Marve won't make a decision on where to transfer until sometime after national signing day, Feb. 4. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Texas Tech and South Florida are currently under consideration.

Chip Towers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: There's a lot of money being thrown around in college football, and Georgia's not doing much of the tossing. But Bulldog assistants remain loyal to the program. How competitive are Georgia salaries?

Alabama-Tennessee Rivalry Heats Up on Recruiting Trail

After losing ace recruiter Lance Thompson to Tennessee, Alabama's Nick Saban is now taking a hard-line approach toward the Volunteers.

Mobile prep quarterback A.J. McCarron, who has given a commitment to Alabama, was told by Saban not to take a recruiting trip to Knoxville.

"[Saban] said he preferred I didn't go to Tennessee for obvious reasons," McCarron told BamaOnline.com. "He said he didn't think it would look right and that he wasn't comfortable with it. I told him I wouldn't.

"He knows I'm going to Alabama, and he even told me if I want to visit Oklahoma, that's fine because they aren't an SEC rival."

Trent Richardson, a running back prospect from Pensacola, also said he won't be making the trip to Tennessee, although the Knoxville News-Sentinel says Richardson's decision "was as much about distance from home as it was about pleasing Saban."

Nothing Could Be Finer Than Scott Steiner

This is dated 2000 but still funny. Pro wrestler Scott Steiner, a Michigan man, knows how to get on the bad side of a crowd in Columbus, home of the Ohio State Buckeyes.