The Wiz of Odds

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas (We Hope)

Oregon State and Brigham Young squared off Tuesday night in the Las Vegas Bowl, and the creatures were out before kickoff, roaming the tailgate area.

Our friends at Image of Sport, the sports photography wire service, braved windy and chilly conditions to chronicle the festivities. There are additional images after the jump, and you can view Image of Sport's gallery from the game by clicking here.

Another Look at Those Fraudulent Recruiting Rankings

When you're in a tizzy six weeks from now over some snot-nosed 17-year-old linebacker who snubbed Hometown U. for the rival school, do us all a favor and get professional help.

The snake oil salesmen known as recruitniks are just around the corner, ready to spread their b.s. in coming weeks. Please, don't take the bait.

Recruiting rankings are a fraud, and here is our latest piece of evidence. David Biderman of the Wall Street Journal examined the 1,496 bowl game starters and found that only 8.4% of them were top-100 recruits.

Alabama's Mark Ingram, pictured with this post, was not among that select group. Ditto for Texas' Colt McCoy.

Reporters Notebooks

T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times: At a time when USC's Pete Carroll and his scandal-singed program need Mike Garrett's support more than ever, the athletic director's silence, and absence, have been conspicuous.

Scott Wolf, Los Angeles Daily News: USC receiver Damian Williams is expected to skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft.

Paul Vigna, Patriot-News: Tickets for the Capital One Bowl between Louisiana State and Penn State can be had for as low as $13 on the secondary market.

Paul Buker, Oregonian: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Sorry, Oregon State's 44-20 stinker in the Las Vegas Bowl won't go away.

Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Advertiser: Nevada expects to sell "100-ish" tickets for Thursday's Hawaii Bowl matchup against Southern Methodist.

Dan Hinxman, Reno Gazette-Journal: Reports indicate linebacker Andre Davis, who was kicked off Nevada's team on Tuesday, was being held in a Honolulu jail on a charge of theft in the second degree.

Bill Knight, El Paso Times: All the tickets for next week's Sun Bowl are sold, making the Oklahoma-Stanford matchup the earliest sellout in the 76-year history of the game.

Corey Clark, Tallahassee Democrat: Bobby Bowden drove off the Florida State practice fields for the final time as coach. A reporter told him he had been on the field for more than 2,000 practices since he arrived in 1976. "I'm tired," Bowden said with a smile. "That's a lot of dadgum practices. But they've all been enjoyable, you know it?"

Reporters Notebooks

Ryan Greene, Las Vegas Sun: Nevada Las Vegas has hired Bobby Hauck as coach. Hauck spent the past seven seasons at Montana, going 80-17.

Dave Birkett, Ann Arbor.com: Attorneys for Michigan's Rich Rodriguez filed a motion in federal district court earlier this month asking that Rodriguez’s business partners be brought in on a lawsuit over a real estate deal.

Greg Hansen, Arizona Daily Star: Does Arizona even deserve to be on the same field as Nebraska in next week's Holiday Bowl? Arizona had football revenues of $21 million in 2008. Nebraska hauled in $55 million.

Brian Rosenthal, Lincoln Journal Star: The Big 12 won't fine or penalize Bo Pelini for comments the Nebraska coach made after his team's loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game.

Gait Striker, Penn Line: Playing in a Jan. 1 bowl game used to mean something. Those days are long gone.

Tony Krausz, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette: Notre Dame's Brian Kelly said he would have coached Cincinnati instead of leaving early to take over the Fighting Irish had the Bearcats been invited to the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Chuck Woodling, Lawrence Journal-World: A search of old photo files produces a shot of new Kansas coach Turner Gill playing shortstop for Nebraska 25 years ago.

Inside Higher Education: Bowling on a budget. More teams are cutting back in the number of guests they bring to bowl games.

Joshua Kinder, Manhattan Mercury: Kansas State's Bill Snyder, not one for giving interviews, discusses his first season back on the job.

Jeff Lockridge, Tennessean: Vanderbilt committed and self-reported a NCAA rules violation during the recruitment of Jordan Rodgers, a junior college quarterback who is the younger brother of Aaron Rodgers, starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.

Coast to Coast on the Radio

Two radio spots on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday, I'll be the guest of Mac McDonald on his show, Inbounds With Mac McDonald, at 5:20 p.m. (Eastern).

The show can be heard on WKAV Charlottesville, WREL Lexington and WHBG Harrisonburg. If you're in the area, be sure to listen!

On Wednesday, I'll join Paul McCaffrey of KNBR in San Francisco on the Murphy and Mac Show. The segment is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. (Pacific). You can listen live through KNBR's website.

Looking for a guest to talk college football? Send an email: jayzuma (at) gmail.com.

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