Bernie Becker, New York Times: A resolution to honor Auburn's Cam Newton for winning the Heisman was approved, 378-15, in the U.S. House of Representatives, with another 18 merely voting present. In 2009, the House approved a similar resolution honoring Sam Bradford, 394-0, with no lawmakers voting present. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) said he voted against the resolution because of questions that erupted over Newton's eligibility. "Cam Newton has a tremendous opportunity for a great NFL career and I wish him the best, but he should not have been honored by the House today under this cloud."
Brett McMurphy, FanHouse: Drug policies differ wildly among Bowl Championship Series teams. Clemson, Mississippi, Purdue and UCLA do not require a member of their teams to miss any playing time after two positive drug tests. Baylor, Cincinnati, Georgia, Kentucky, Miami and Virginia Tech suspend their players at least one game for a first positive drug test.
Ben Cohen, Wall Street Journal: Travel doesn't appear to be a factor in postseason play. In 163 bowl games over the past five years, the team that was forced to travel farther is 83-80.
David Haugh, Chicago Tribune: Integrity is the wrong word to be used in Notre Dame's handling of the Elizabeth Seeberg case.
Jack Bogaczyk, Charleston Daily Mail: West Virginia is having trouble selling its allotment of 12,500 tickets to the Champs Sports Bowl. The team has sold only 4,403.
Alissa Skelton, Lincoln Journal Star: Nebraska has about 3,900 unsold tickets to the Dec. 30 Holiday Bowl against Washington. The team is on the hook for 11,000 and is offering incentives to sell the rest, including asking fans to purchase a $60 ticket to be donated to sailors and Marines who are stationed in San Diego.
Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News: Stanford has sold less than half of its 17,500-ticket allotment to the Orange Bowl.
Darren Rovell, CNBC: Remember the BoomGuard? Inventor Ramone Ward's device got a thumbs down from the NFL.
Sports Radio Interviews: Charles Barkley on the BCS: "You know I hate the BCS system. Everybody's patting themselves on the back because Auburn and Oregon — it worked out good this time. It didn't work out good for TCU, Stanford and all those other teams. ... I just hate the BCS. It's got the two good initials — the B.S. But I hate the BCS in general."
Bryant-Jon Anteola, Fresno Bee: Pat Hill on his Fresno State Bulldogs after they were rolled by Northern Illinois, 40-17, in the Humanitarian Bowl. "I know eight-wins seasons might seem like the norm here, but wins are wins and wins are tough to get. Sure, we all want more. But what this team did, playing a lot of young guys, not really having consistency on offense, beating Cincinnati and Illinois in the same year to get to an eight-win regular season, that's a good year."
Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: If Boise State's Chris Petersen was a betting man, it sounds like he would take Utah and the points. "Obviously somebody's not studying tape. We study tape and I know this is a very even matchup and I think we’ll have to play our best if we hope to win."
Gordon Monson, Salt Lake Tribune: It doesn’t matter if Utah beats Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Not, at least, the way a bowl win used to matter to the Utes. A loss in Las Vegas is no real negative reflection on Utah's program. It is just a loss for this particular team.
Jon Wilner, College Hotline: His best bets for the bowl season include Auburn and under 74 points in the BCS title game.
Jordan Pascale and Brian Christopherson, Lincoln Journal Star: Nebraska safety Rickey Thenarse will not play in the Holiday Bowl after he was cited for DUI over the weekend.
David Kindred, National Sports Journalism Center: On a good little newspaper and the lost art of the cover letter.
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