Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune: The Poinsettia Bowl is expecting the smallest crowd in the history of the bowl, but that's OK with the game's executive director.
Pete Kotz, Dallas Observer: The fleecing of American universities. How insiders use the bowl system to loot the colleges that support it.
Steve Berkowitz and Jodi Upton, USA Today: A look at compensation packages for coaches and their staffs. Salaries for assistants are skyrocketing. Last year, 11 assistants made at least $500,000 and 26 made at least $400,000. Link to salary database for coaches.
David Broughton, Sports Business Journal: Gifts continue to flow freely at bowl games. A list of what players will be getting.
Jared Diamond, Wall Street Journal: The cradle of coaches? It's no longer Miami (Ohio). The new king is Iowa.
Chris Welch, Huntsville Times: Packages for the Alabama-Louisiana State rematch are not selling as well as Huntsville travel agents had hoped.
Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio State fans should be upset with athletic director Gene Smith, who underestimated the seriousness of NCAA rules violations.
Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press: Ohio State got what amounted to a wrist slap from the NCAA.
Scott Wolf, Los Angeles Daily News: Ohio State's ability to play backroom politics greatly softened the blow from the NCAA.
Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times: USC fans are wondering why the Trojans took such a hard hit when other situations, certainly including Ohio State's, seemed similarly egregious.
Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Hawaii is set to hire Norm Chow as coach. The Utah offensive coordinator is negotiating a contract with the school and reportedly would be paid $600,000-$800,000 a year. Greg McMackin, who resigned Dec. 5, was paid $1.15 million a season.
Kurt Kragthorpe, Salt Lake Tribune: Chow's pending move to Hawaii is good for him, bad for Utah.
Israel Gutierrez, Miami Herald: Mario Cristobal has earned the right to leave Florida International.
Chip Towers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia's Mark Richt is in trouble with the NCAA after he cut checks to members of his staff. Totaled, Richt gave more than $80,000 to current and former staff members over three years. Richt's actions were determined to be secondary violations of NCAA rules regarding supplemental pay.
Lawrence Journal-World: Charlie Weis had successful hip surgery in Florida and will return to Kansas after the holidays.
Doug Haller, Arizona Republic: Details of Todd Graham's contract have been released. The new Arizona State coach has a five-year deal that pays $2 million per year. Arizona State has also agreed to pay $1 million to cover Graham's obligation for opting out of his contract at Pittsburgh.
Tacoma News Tribune: Mike Leach's contract with Washington State will pay him $2.25 million a year. It also has a rollover clause that keeps Leach under contract for five years.
Kellis Robinett, Kansas City Star: Bill Snyder isn't looking for four- or five-star recruits. The coach wants players who fit Kansas State's culture and are ready to be coached when they arrive on campus.
Paul Myerberg, Pre-Snap Read: Slight progress for minority coaches.
Marc Morehouse, Cedar Rapids Gazette: Iowa's Marcus Coker, the second-leading rusher in the Big Ten, has been suspended because he violated school policies. He won't play in the Insight Bowl.
Anthony Carter, Raleigh Observer: Dwight Jones, North Carolina's leading receiver, has been ruled inelgible for the Independence Bowl, but the school has filed an appeal. Update: Jones has been cleared to play.
Chadd Cripe and Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman: Boise State freshman running back Jay Ajayi pleaded guilty to theft. He tried to steal several pairs of sweatpants from a Walmart.
Chris Murray and Dan Hinxman, Reno Gazette-Journal: Bettors in Reno have a finicky relationship with Nevada's Wolf Pack. Plus, as of Sunday night, Nevada had sold only 10 tickets to the Hawaii Bowl.
Joanne C. Gerstner, The Quad: Nevada is not alone in trying to peddle bowl tickets. Penn State, Virginia Tech, Clemson and West Virginia are struggling to find buyers.
TMZ: NBC correspondent Jay Gray was arrested for driving while intoxicated after attending a party at the house of Jerry Sandusky's lawyer.
Bernard Fernandez, Philadelphia Daily News: It's a bittersweet 85th birthday for Joe Paterno.
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