The Wiz of Odds

Spring Reports

Our third of four reports on spring scrimmages. Click here and here to view previous reports. If reported, the announced attendance is included.

Atlantic Coast

Boston College: Sophomore Mike Marscovetra, who played sparingly last season, thrust himself into the quarterback competition by completing 13 of 16 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. Linebacker Mark Herzlich, recovering from cancer treatments and surgery to insert a rod in his left leg, did not participate as he was held out of full contact drills this spring.

Georgia Tech: Tevin Washington secured his spot as the No. 2 quarterback by running for three scores and completing a 70-yard pass to receiver Stephen Hill for another. The scrimmage was called at halftime because of rain.

Maryland: Ralph Friedgen, coming of a 2-10 season, had his team play four 10-minute quarters. The Fridge liked what he saw. "If I was disappointed," he said, "we'd still be out there."

Virginia Tech: Redshirt freshman quarterback Logan Thomas showed command of the offense during a 12-play, 57-yard scoring drive to open the scrimmage. Michael Vick made an appearance, his first at Virginia Tech since being released from federal prison on dog-fighting convictions. "This is a place where I spent three years of my life, and I was able to build relationships with people and put myself in my position where I could take care of myself for the rest of my life and also further my education," he said. "It's a great group of people here, and I've still got a lot of love and respect for them." Announced attendance: 40,000.

Big East

Cincinnati: Tony Pike is gone, but the Bearcats have a capable replacement in Zach Collaros, who completed 18 of 20 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns.

Rutgers: There was a time during Greg Schiano’s tenure as Scarlet Knight coach when a regular-season home game drew about half of what Saturday’s spring scrimmage did. A 2002 loss to Temple, for example, when the announced attendance was 10,225. But Schiano's 10th spring scrimmage drew a record 20,114.

NCAA Preparing the 5-7 Plan for Bowl Games

Having teams with losing records in bowl games is taking another step toward reality.

The NCAA, which requires teams to finish with at least a 6-6 record to be bowl eligible, announced Friday it has certified an all-time high of 35 bowl games through January 2014.

That means 70 of the 120 Division I-A teams will play in a bowl game beginning this postseason. As the Wiz posted earlier this month, only 71 teams finished 6-6 or better the past three seasons, leaving a razor-thin margin of error of one team.

However, the NCAA is working on a contingency plan if the number of bowl-eligible teams falls short of 70.

"They don't have a formula yet, but the NCAA has told all the bowls that if there aren't enough bowl-eligible teams, all the bowls will still be played," said Bruce Binkowski, executive director of San Diego's Holiday and Poinsettia bowls. "They still need to figure out what the formula is going to be."

Spring Reports

Our second look at spring scrimmages across the country. Click here to view our first report. Announced attendance if reported.

Atlantic Coast

North Carolina State: It was a huge scrimmage for receivers against a defensive backfield that's still maturing after struggling throughout the 2009 season. Announced attendance: 25,372.

Wake Forest: Starting quarterback Skylar Jones completed four of five passes for 38 yards and carried seven times for 21 yards. Backup Ted Stachitas, who missed much of the spring with a pulled hamstring, completed four of seven for eight yards and carried seven times for 18 yards. Attendance: 5,000.

Big East

Connecticut: Plenty of firepower on offense, with Michael Smith catching five passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns. But the concern is squarely on the secondary, still trying to recover from the tragic death of Jasper Howard last year. Attendance: 2,500.

Pittsburgh: Is the defense that good or the offense that bad? Outside of Dion Lewis' 52-yard run, the offense managed only 67 yard in the other 37 carries. Attendance: 6,532.

South Florida: Quarterback B.J. Daniels passed for 381 yards and five touchdowns and receiver Dontavia Bogan had 233 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Receiver A.J. Love suffered an injury to his right knee. If Love is to miss a significant part of the season, look for Skip Holtz to reach out to North Carolina State receiver Donald Bowens, who graduates next month and wants to transfer to South Florida for his season of eligibility. Attendance: 6,357.

Syracuse: The Orange's aggressive offense was rewarded with 537 yards and six touchdowns. Attendance: 4,752.

Texas High School to Build $59.6 Million Stadium

Friday nights have always been big in Allen, Texas, but beginning in 2012, they will be even bigger.

This is Texas, of course.

Ground has been broken on an $59.6 million stadium for the Allen High Eagles, one of the powerhouse teams in the state. The facility will seat 18,000, have a video scoreboard, separate seating for students and band and a wall of honor to recognize former players.

By comparison, Central Florida's Bright House Networks Stadium, which seats 45,000 and opened in 2007, cost $54 million.

Allen's stadium was part of a $120 million bond package passed in May 2009. Money is also being used to build a state-of-the-art auditorium.

"The new stadium has been discussed for a number of years and the bond was passed," coach Tom Westerberg said. "We are very excited to get this project done and get in there and play."

Reporters Notebooks

Jon Solomon, Birmingham News: As the Wiz reported in February, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel OK'd a rule eliminating eye black messages. Wedge blocks on kickoff returns are also a thing of the past. The controversial taunting rule will go into effect for the 2011 season. Also, the Papajohns.com Bowl is moving to — get this — Jan. 8. The Bowl Championship Series game is Jan. 10. Wiz comment: Remember when bowl games were played on Jan. 1?

Randy Riggs, Austin American-Statesman: Texas' Mack Brown is the first coach to express concern about the 2011 taunting rule. "I don’t disagree with it, but am worried about the consistency in how the rule is interpreted, especially when it can cost a team a touchdown. It can be looked at so differently by the various officiating groups around the country and a call would have such a major impact on games that in fairness, it's crucial that it is called the same way for everyone."

Anthony Gimino: Tucson Citizen: The taunting rule brings back memories of Miami's Lamar Thomas, who high-stepped into the end zone during a 1991 game against Arizona. In 2006, Thomas was fired from his analyst job on Hurricane broadcasts for comments made during Miami's brawl with Florida International.

Associated Press: West Virginia plans to honor the 29 coal miners killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion by wearing helmet decals. The decal will be a white circle with a black No. 29 in the middle.

Sports Radio Interviews: South Carolina's Steve Spurrier on whether he is going to miss Lane Kiffin: "I think our commissioner is happy that he has left. He didn't bother me, but we didn't play really well when we played Tennessee. We ended up with the same record they did last year, but I think we will do OK, he will do well out in Southern California. He has got too many good players and that is a pretty good situation and so we will see how it all plays out."

Ray Brewer, Las Vegas Sun: Sales of season tickets are up at Nevada Las Vegas. Playing host to Wisconsin certainly helps. When Wisconsin played in Las Vegas in 2007, Badger fans bought 2,078 season tickets. They are responsible for 125 of the 602 new ticket sales for this fall.

San Francisco Chronicle: The Emerald Bowl is changing its name. It will now be called the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

Did Ohio State Steal Oregon's Signals in Rose Bowl?

Oregon has spent part of spring drills instituting a new system of signals after suspicions were raised that the Ducks suffered a breach of security during the 26-17 loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

Offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich told the Oregonian that the Ducks' code for signaling plays could have been cracked.

"There were a couple times last year when we kind of felt like our signals were, maybe, compromised," he said.

There is nothing illegal about stealing signals. In the 1990s, Northwestern cracked Michigan's code and twice defeated the Wolverines.

But in a 1997 game, two Wolverine ballboys working the Wildcat sideline figured out what Northwestern was up to and informed Michigan coaches. The proof came in the second half, with the Wolverines facing a third-and-25 play. Michigan made the unusual call of a sweep and Northwestern swarmed the play, throwing Clarence Williams for a loss. At that point, Wolverine coaches knew they had been had.