The Wiz of Odds

Reporters Notebooks

Tim Stevens, Raleigh News & Observer: Rivals has named Florida State as having the best recruiting class in the Atlantic Coast Conference three of the past five years. The Seminoles won the league title in 2005, but haven't reached the league championship game since. Virginia Tech's classes were ranked as Nos. 7, 3, 6, 7 and 4 in the ACC, yet the Hokies won league titles in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

Ron Morris, Columbia State: About 230 South Carolina fans have filed a lawsuit against the athletic department saying they should not have to pay a seat-licensing fee for season tickets.

Ben Volin, Palm Beach Post: Social networking sites such as Facebook aren't supposed to be recruiting grounds — but they are.

Associated Press: Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne says the economic downturn should not force his 23-program department into making cuts. Nebraska has a $75.2 million budget for fiscal year 2009, and a small surplus is expected. There are 230 full-time employees in the department.

Josh Flory, Knoxville News-Sentinel: The name of a donor to Tennessee athletics had his name removed from a sports complex on campus after he failed to follow through on a $2 million pledge.

Texas Comforts Oklahoma

Texas tries to ease the sting of a postseason loss for its good friend and rival Oklahoma. Language warning.

Thanks to Deep South Sports.

Reporters Notebooks

Don WIlliams, Lubbock Avalanche Journal: Texas Tech fans are upset with a big spike in season ticket prices. Said one fan: "But I'm a little blown away by the $110 increase in the ticket. It had been incrementally going up, but $110? ... I knew this day was coming. I'd been trying to picture what is the point at which I can't do it anymore. I'm not sure that I'm there yet, but I'm getting close. Having a coach [Mike Leach] that thinks $2.(4) million a year isn’t enough kind of makes this hard to swallow; I'll tell you that." Plus, Red Raider athletic director Gerald Myers said it’s likely that Tech and Baylor will move their 2009 game to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Tim MacMahon, Dallas Morning News: The father of former Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar, on Bob Stoops: "He and I both know that Oklahoma got off light and [Rhett] didn't. "He's never sold them out and he wouldn't. They're not innocent in this deal, trust me. ... Bob Stoops comes across as 'Mr. I Did The Right Thing' and there's stuff about Bob Stoops that if right now I told people, everybody would be saying, 'What?' " But we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna go that way, and you can't win those battles anyway. It's in the past, it's gone, this is America, everybody deserves a second chance."

Nathan Summers, Daily Reflector: East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney has been granted a sixth season of eligibility.

Susan Miller Degnan, Miami Herald: Miami has moved three of its four nonconference games to new dates, opening the door wider for a possible Labor Day showdown at Florida State.

Gopher Sports.com: Minnesota has announced a series against USC beginning in 2010. The Golden Gophers will play host to the Trojans in 2010, with a return game in 2011 at the L.A. Coliseum.

Howard Burns, Sports Couch Potato: This year's nominees for Playboy's America's Sexiest Sportscaster: ESPN's Erin Andrews and Bonnie Bernstein, CBSSports.com's Lauren Shehadi, FSN's Charissa Thompson and Molly Sullivan of MountainWest Sports Network.

Kiffin's Staff: Highest-Paid in College Football?

First it was skyrocketing salaries for head coaches, launched into intergalactic depths by Alabama's eight-year, $32 million deal in 2007 with Nick Saban, who Forbes called the "most powerful coach in sports."

Now trickle-down economics have reached the assistant ranks, with Tennessee announcing that its nine assistant coaches will be paid $3.325 million this year, making these lucky men part of what is believed to be the highest-paid staff of assistants in college football.

Bowl Records, as Recognized by Vegas

Southeastern Conference teams are not only terrific at winning in the postseason, they're equally great against the pointspread.

The SEC has a 19-7 record the last three postseasons, by far the best record of any conference. Only two other Bowl Championship Series conferences — the Big East and Pacific 10 — have winning postseason records against the number.

The teams with the best records against the spread during the regular season were Florida and Oklahoma. Each team finished 10-2, but the Gators got the cover against the Sooners in the BCS title game, thus becoming the pointspread champion at 11-2. Each team played a I-AA opponent and there were no odds on those games.

The straight-up records of each conference for the past three postseasons are after the jump. Click a chart for an enlarged view.

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