The Wiz of Odds

Reporters Notebooks

Adam H. Beasley, Miami Herald: Florida International has sold only a few hundred tickets to the Little Caesars Bowl.

Daniel Lyght and Matt James, Fresno Bee: It's estimated that Fresno State sold about 250 tickets of its 3,000 allotment for the Humanitarian Bowl. The school gave 2,000 to charity.

Paul Doyle, Hartford Courant: Connecticut is likely to lose a lot of money on its trip to the Fiesta Bowl. As of Friday, the Huskies had sold only 4,500 tickets. The school is on the hook for 17,500.

Darren Rovell, CNBC: Want tickets for under face value? A company called ScoreBig gets its inventory from teams and — much like Priceline — allows you submit a price for a ticket. Plus, why it's time for schools to say no to ticket arrangements with bowl games.

Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Why the attendance figure for the Insight Bowl could be inflated. Phoenix-area residents who buy tickets to the Bowl Championship Series title game also have to purchase tickets to the Fiesta and Insight bowls, which floods the market with cheap tickets for those games. Iowa, which is on the hook for 11,000 tickets for the Insight, expects to sell only 6,000.

Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun: Ralph Friedgen has still not agreed to step down as Maryland coach.

Matt Jones, Northwest Arkansas Times: Big problem for the Sugar Bowl. Approximately 1,680 duplicate tickets have been printed for the game. Ticket barcodes will be scanned before entry to the Sugar Bowl, meaning that if a duplicate ticket is scanned before the original, the original ticket will not be honored.

Reporters Notebooks

Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh has hired Michael Haywood of Miami (Ohio) as its coach. Haywood, 46, led the RedHawks to a 9-4 record this season. He will start his duties immediately and not coach Miami in the GMAC Bowl.

Joe Muench, El Paso Times: Ticket sales aren't going well for the New Mexico Bowl. As of Tuesday, only 9,740 tickets had been sold for Saturday's matchup between Brigham Young and Texas El Paso.

Darren Rovel, CNBC: The virtual yellow line that signifies where a first down is could be coming to a stadium near you. An inventor is trying to market a laser that can be attached to first-down markers and be seen by players and spectators.

Darren Everson, Wall Street Journal: Over the past 10 years, 41 teams have been double-digit underdogs in bowl games. The underdogs have a 26-14-1 record against the spread, including 12 who won outright.

Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: Your bowl games preview, from BBVA to BCS.

Tom Hoffarth, Farther Off the Wall: Bowl naming rights. Either the giants of the Forbes 500 weren't bold enough to spend a little walking-around money and slap their logo on the midfield stripe, or this is an ingenious way for major corporate America to protest the whole postseason charade.

The Big Lead: The five most disappointing teams of 2010.

Reporters Notebooks

Kent Faulk, Birmingham News: A Birmingham lawyer and lifelong Auburn fan asked a judge to hold off scheduling a trial so he and his family can go to the Jan. 10 Bowl Championship Series title game, fearing he might not ever get another chance. The judge granted the request.

Sports by Brooks: Although ESPN's Craig James denies he ever received extra benefits when he was a player at Southern Methodist, his agent after college was the booster who set up the slush fund that led to the program being given the "death penalty" by the NCAA.

Sports Media Watch: For the second consecutive year, ESPN had its most-viewed college football season in over a decade. But ratings and viewership were down for games on ABC. Ratings for the Atlantic Coast Conference title game improved from last year but remained low.

Joe Muench, El Paso Times: Will Texas El Paso's Mike Price retire after the Miners plays Brigham Young in the New Mexico Bowl?

Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press: Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon's silence is a bad sign for Rich Rodriguez.

Detroit News: Brandon, when asked what he has learned in his first nine months as Wolverine athletic director: "Don't read blogs. Don't listen to talk radio."

Penn State Clips: Joe Paterno tells a recruit he expects to be coaching for "another five or six years."

Reporters Notebooks

J.P. Giglio, Raleigh News & Observer: North Carolina's Butch Davis feared frustration and pent-up anger from the NCAA investigation was potentially destructive for the players involved in the probe and sought counseling for them in September, according to an email from Davis to athletic director Dick Baddour.

SportsBusiness Journal: The always entertaining list of bowl gifts to players.

Joe Vardon, Toledo Blade: Former Toledo running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle, Jr., and three other former Rocket athletes are expected to plead guilty to charges stemming from an alleged point-shaving scheme at the university.

Doug Robinson, Deseret News: Why is Connecticut, at 8-4, in a Bowl Championship Series game?

Ralph D. Russo, Associated Press: Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany says his conference already has sacrificed much for the good of college sports by giving up some access to the Rose Bowl and he sees no reason it should give even more to create a playoff.

Steve Wieberg, Steve Berkowitz and Jodi Upton, USA Today: Salaries for coaches are on the rise, but Fresno State's Pat Hill is taking a $300,000 pay cut in 2011. Plus, a breakdown of coaches' compensation for 2010, unique bonuses, Jim Tressel's special deal and why some public schools didn't reveal contract details.

Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Firing Dave Wannstedt was the easy part for Pittsburgh.

Gene Frenette, Florida Times-Union: Urban Meyer's decision to step down might be a good thing for the Florida Gators.

Dan Wolken, Memphis Commercial Appeal: So long, Dan Mullen, and thanks for the Mississippi State memories.

Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle: If Mack Brown wants to hire the best available offensive coordinator, he'll have Mike Leach on the next flight to Austin.

Reporters Notebooks

John Henderson, Denver Post: Washington Redskins tight ends coach Jon Embree will be the next coach at Colorado, according to former Buffaloes coach Bill McCartney. "Take it to the bank and hang your hat on it," McCartney said.

Kyle Ringo, Boulder Daily Camera: What's unclear is if Minnesota Vikings assistant Eric Bieniemy will join Embree as Colorado's offensive coordinator. Plus, Colorado finalized its separation agreement with former coach Dan Hawkins, who will be paid more than $2.1 million to cover the guaranteed compensation portions of his contract.

Mark Snyder, Detroit Free Press: Rich Rodriguez makes an emotional plea to remain Michigan's coach. "My name is Rich Rodriguez, I'm honored to be the head football coach at the University of Michigan and I hope you all realize I truly want to be a Michigan man."

Kyle Veazey, Clarion-Ledger: A man who was allegedly assaulted by a fan wielding a cowbell at last year’s Mississippi-Mississippi State game has filed a lawsuit against the fan and the Southeastern Conference. The man claims he was knocked unconscious with the bell and had a four-inch laceration that required staples and resulted in "a concussion, memory loss, mental and emotional distress and anguish, depression, paranoia, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of life and inability to pursue prior educational and professional goals."

Jon Nyatawa, Omaha World-Herald: Parting gift? Nebraska’s Big 12 opponents received 19 first downs as a result of a penalty, the highest total for a team’s opponents in the league. Conversely, Nebraska was awarded first downs because of penalties only seven times, the lowest total in the conference.

Rachel Bachman, Oregonian: If you attend a game at Oregon's Autzen Stadium, you have a 1 in 474 chance of being ejected. If you attend a game at Oregon State's Reser Stadium, you have a 1 in 2060 chance.

Anthony Gimino, Tucson Citizen: Which Alex Zendejas Facebook page will you like?

Reporters Notebooks

Kyle Ringo, Boulder Daily Camera: Colorado has focused its search for a new coach to three candidates: Minnesota Vikings assistant Eric Bieniemy, Washington Redskins assistant Jon Embree and Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain. Bieniemy and Embree, former players at the school, are believed to be the front-runners. A decision could come as early as Friday and there's a possibility both Bieniemy and Embree could be brought to Boulder, with Bieniemy as coach and Embree as offensive coordinator.

Jaime Sarrio and Jim Galloway, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The editor-in-chief of Georgia's campus newspaper resigned after being asked to leave the president’s box during Saturday's game against Georgia Tech. Daniel Burnett, 22, acknowledged that he had been drinking at a tailgate party before the game. He apologized for his behavior but said he was not drunk.

Mel Bracht, Oklahoman: ABC/ESPN officials have acknowledged an altercation Saturday night at the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game that led to the ejection of an ABC cameraman by an Oklahoma State security officer. The officer escorted the cameraman out of the stadium in the first half after a dispute over the cameraman's positioning on the sidelines.

Will Collier, From The Bleachers: Does ESPN's Mark Schlabach do any research?

Kyle Ringo, Boulder Daily Camera: Bill McCartney apologized for comments that drew criticism from those opposed to Colorado hiring him as the next coach.

Bud Withers, Seattle Times: The result of Saturday's Apple Cup game could determine if Washington State retains Paul Wulff as coach.

Monte Poole, Oakland Tribune: Now is not the time to fire California's Jeff Tedford.

Jeff Lockridge, Tennessean: Early names in Vanderbilt's search for a new coach: Stanford assistant Greg Roman, Virginia Tech assistant Bud Foster and former Miami coach Randy Shannon.

Kevin Gemmell and Tim Sullivan, San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego State athletic director Jim Sterk said a donor made a $5 million pledge that will be used toward retaining coach Brady Hoke.

Scott M. Reid, Orange County Register: UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero was taken aback when asked if Rick Neuheisel would return as coach. "Of course there's never been any question of that. There's no doubt. Why would you ask that question?"

Lynn Henning, Detroit News: A quick resolution of Rich Rodriguez's fate is better for everyone.