Reporters Notebooks

Mark K. Matthews, Orlando Sentinel: ESPN analyst Lou Holtz, 72, met with top Republicans in Washington last week and said he was interested in running as a candidate for Congress in Central Florida. Holtz wants to challenge first-term U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, a Democrat from New Smyrna Beach.

Desmond Conner, Hartford Courant: Is the Connecticut-Notre Dame series dead? "I think dead is too strong a word," said Husky athletic director Jeff Hathaway, who make it clear that his goal is to get the best teams to play Connecticut at Rentschler Field. Plus, most Big East coaches favor adding a ninth team.

Ben Volin, Gator Bytes: Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said he would like to see the Harris and coaches polls removed from the Bowl Championship Series equation. "I’ve never been a great fan of the opinion polls. That's all they are. Just the Tim Tebow story from last week is the perfect example. Coaches aren’t filling those [ballots] out, and those that do, aren't they kind of busy on Saturdays?" Thanks to Get The Picture.

Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: How to spot this year's political football contenders.

Michael Lev, Orange County Register: USC's Pete Carroll on what he tells recruits about the NCAA probe: "After having done everything we possibly could to help them [NCAA investigators] with all the information, there is no involvement that’s going to get us in any kind of situation where it'll affect these guys' futures. Other than addressing it, answering their questions, we don't have any more information than that. There's really not much to this in that regard."

Tom Dienhart, Rivals.com: Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez on Bret Bielema, his hand-picked successor: "Is Bret on the hot seat? I wouldn't say he's on the hot seat. What happens if he goes 7-6 again? I think it depends on how you go 7-6. If it's coaching mistakes, it's different than if you lose tough ballgames. Guys are playing solid football."

Jeremy Northum, The Battalion: Why the secrecy about the recent break-in at Texas A&M's Bright Football Complex?

Ken Tysiac, Raleigh News & Observer: North Carolina State's first practice was cut short because of a thunderstorm. Sophomore safety Jimmaul Simmons did not join the team for practice. Coach Tom O'Brien said Simmons, who played in 11 games and made two interceptions last season as a reserve, has decided to leave the team and withdraw from school.

Martin Fennelly, Tampa Tribune: Maybe Urban Meyer's new contract will stop all the Notre Dame talk — for at least a month.

Camille Powell, Washington Post: EA Sports designers and playbook specialists Anthony White and Larry Richart acquired a copy of a Navy game film to help in bring authenticity to NCAA Football 10.

Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: Sales of Boise State season tickets are down 8%.

Steven M. Sipple, Lincoln Journal Star: The most critical issue facing Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is finding a way to compete with the mega-television contracts of the Southeastern and Big Ten conferences.

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports.com: If you haven't realized it yet, you are living in the greatest era in college football history. Greatest in terms of players, interest, upsets, facilities, money and games.

Randy Peterson, Des Moines Register: Iowa State senior defensive back James Smith was reunited with his mother in their native Haiti. They were separated 19 years ago, when Smith was 3.

Jeff Call, Deseret News: Recalling Brigham Young's upset of No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Miami in 1990.

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: Under sleep-inducing Gene Chizik, momentum is being created at Auburn.

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald: David Shinskie, Boston College's 25-year-old quarterback who returned to football after six years in baseball's minor leagues, is adjusting to campus life.

Nathan Summers, Daily Reflector: East Carolina director of media relations Tom McClellan remains committed to producing a printed version of the team's media guide. "If I can give somebody something that already has all the information they need, they can do their job more efficiently," he said.

Jake Trotter, Oklahoman: Mark your calendar. Oklahoma and Army have agreed to a home-and-home series beginning in 2018.

Society of Professional Journalists: Todd Jones and Jill Riepenhoff of the Columbus Dispatch are the 2009 recipients of the Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award presented annually by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, the educational arm of the Society of Professional Journalists. Jones and Riepenhoff exposed misuse of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law created to protect students' academic records, by universities across the nation.

The Quad: Next up on Paul Myerberg's list is No. 29 Texas Tech.

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Comments

[San Diego resident]

The San Diego Union-Tribune article is *not* about San Diego State building an on-campus stadium. San Diego State wants to expand its campus by putting buildings for classes and research labs in the parking lot for Qualcomm Stadium...nothing related to a football stadium for their team! In fact, San Diego State is looking to expand at the Qualcomm Stadium site because they do not have enough room for their students on campus right now--where would they put a stadium on campus?

In fact, the only way that San Diego State could expand their campus at Qualcomm Stadium would be for the Chargers to stop playing there. The long-term plan is for the city to get the Chargers to play elsewhere and use that location for something else (like a college campus or office buildings)...but then San Diego State won't have any place to play football.

[The Wiz]

Thanks for that!