Other College Football Capsules: California schools split in Pac-12 divisions

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The new Pac-12 conference approved football divisions that will split the California schools and adopted an equal revenue-sharing plan Thursday as the league presidents and chancellors hashed out the important issues that arose because of recent expansion.

Colorado and Utah recently accepted invitations to join the Pac-10 in the conference’s first expansion since 1978, necessitating many changes for when the league becomes a 12-team conference next July 1.

"There was robust, spirited dialogue about all of these things," Commissioner Larry Scott said. "These are very important matters that we were dealing with. I’m just really pleased with the way everyone came together and realized we’re building an enterprise that’s about to scale in a way these schools have never been part of. It wasn’t hard to get people to agree. The fact they agreed unanimously was a very strong statement."

The most anticipated decision was the division alignment. The conference decided to split the California schools, with Stanford and Cal playing in the North Division with Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State. UCLA and Southern California will be in the South with Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado.

"If you were just looking at a map, you’d look at something that makes complete sense," Arizona State athletic director Lisa Love said. "You have a group of schools that fit naturally into a southern section and schools that fit naturally into a northern section. If you were watching the divisions from, say, New York City, you’d have an idea of what that southern division looks like, so it’s as it should be and an excellent split for the league."

The conference did vote to keep the historic California rivalries. The Bay Area schools have played the Los Angeles schools every year since 1946 in rivalries that started long before that. Cal and Stanford will each play UCLA and USC every year in football.

"It was something all four of the California schools from minute one stated as essential to us," Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour said. "We would not have been in favor of any deal or ultimate resolution that did not provide that as an opportunity."

The other cross-divisional games in the nine-game conference schedule will rotate, with the Oregon and Washington schools playing in Los Angeles every other year as opposed to the current annual trips. The Northwest schools would either play both Los Angeles schools every other year or one LA school each year.

Washington athletic director Scott Woodward said he talked with coach Steve Sarkisian about losing the annual trip to Los Angeles.

"We like being in LA, but like coach said they’ll be sick of seeing him in LA in January when he’s living down there recruiting his tail off," Woodward said. "What the CEOs did as a conference eclipses any small nuances."

The more important decision came in regards to revenue sharing. The conference will switch from an appearance-based model where the Los Angeles schools traditionally earned more money to an equal sharing of football television revenues when a new TV deal kicks in starting in September 2012.

USC and UCLA got some protection as both schools will get a $2 million bonus if the conference media revenues fall below $170 million. The conference currently generates about $60 million a year in television revenues, but that is expected to rise significantly when a new television deal is negotiated.

The conference will also control all television and Internet rights for its schools for the first time.

"There was a lot of pushing and shoving during the course of these negotiations," Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby said. "We were all trying to do what was best for the conference but also represent our individual institutions. Our perspectives weren’t always exactly the same but we worked our way through the issues."

Scott said the CEOs received a report on the possibility of starting a television network like the Big Ten did when the current media deals expire. He said there’s significant interest in it, in part because of the exposure it could give to non-revenue sports.

The conference also formally approved a football championship game with the start of division play. NCAA rules require 12 teams and two divisions to stage a lucrative championship game. The Pac-12 will hold its game at the campus site of the division champion with the best conference record.

Scott said the conference chose a campus site over a neutral location to create a superior environment and to reward the better team. He said he was not concerned about bad weather in December, saying it’s something the NFL deals with in its playoffs.

"I think we also said this is football. That was part of the answer also," said Arizona State President Michael Crow, the chairman of the Pac-10 CEO Group.

These changes will be in place next season instead of 2012-13 because Colorado was able to negotiate an approximately $6.8 million deal to leave the Big 12 a year earlier than originally planned.

"I think that’s why it was important for us to join in 2011 because it allows the Big 12 Conference to make positive moves for their league and allows the Pac-12 to be the Pac-12," Colorado AD Mike Bohn said.

There will be no divisions in other sports. In basketball, instead of playing a home-and-home round robin, teams will play their traditional rival twice each season. They will also play six other teams in a home-and-home each season with one game against the other four teams. Those will rotate to guarantee an even distribution of games. Utah and Colorado will be considered rivals for that purpose.

Taliaferro’s tale offers hope for Rutgers’ LeGrand

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Adam Taliaferro’s first instinct was to cringe when he heard of the spinal cord injury suffered by Rutgers’ Eric LeGrand.

More than four days have passed since the defensive lineman was paralyzed after making a tackle last week against Army. Some doctors believe that a patient with a spinal cord injury has little chance of recovery if there isn’t at least some feeling or movement within a 72-hour window.

Taliaferro is proof otherwise.

The former Penn State defensive back has been defying the odds since his inspirational recovery from a similar injury following a tackle at Ohio State a decade ago. While doctors and Taliaferro say that every case is different, Taliaferro is ready to offer LeGrand and his family any help and encouragement when ready.

"For me, after 72 hours, I still wasn’t moving anything. I didn’t move anything until about a week and a half" after the injury, Taliaferro said in a phone interview Wednesday night. "I could be wrong. A lot of it is still fuzzy."

This much isn’t: About three months after his helmet collided with the knee of Buckeyes tailback Jerry Westbrooks on Sept. 23, 2000, Taliaferro was walking again with the aid of crutches. He was able to ditch the crutches the following April.

After a grueling rehabilitation, Taliaferro walks with barely a limp, just noticeable enough that a few strangers will ask if he sprained an ankle or hurt his knee. Sometimes, Taliaferro will just go along if he doesn’t have time to tell his whole story.

"That’s the thing I tell people: Not everyone is going to come back at the same pace," said Taliaferro, 28, now a lawyer in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano told reporters Thursday in Piscataway, N.J., there were no updates he could share on LeGrand, who is being treated at Hackensack University Medical Center. He said the team has been focused this week in practice for Saturday’s game vs. Pittsburgh, though things have been quieter than normal.

"Although I told them, Eric doesn’t want us and I don’t want you to have a mope on. That isn’t him and that isn’t us," Schiano said. "I don’t want to say it’s (all work) but they’re laughing and they’re enjoying each other, but probably not at the level that it’s been some other weeks."

Over the weekend, Schiano, a former Penn State assistant, reached out Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno. Schiano, obviously, was seeking advice in dealing with this type of injury, and Paterno learned quite a bit during Taliaferro’s recovery.

While there is no clear diagnosis of the extent of LeGrand’s injury, Taliaferro has heard enough to know the arduous recovery that possibly lies ahead. His father, Andre, spoke with Schiano on Sunday to pass along Taliaferro’s contact information.

It’s the kind of interaction Taliaferro makes regularly to such patients across the country. They’ve heard his story, which Penn State team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli calls a "miracle."

They’ve scoured the Website for information on his Taliaferro Foundation, which provides financial, emotional and educational support for athletes and others who have suffered spinal cord injuries.

"Certainly, when it first happens, you always cringe," said Taliaferro, who is engaged to be married next September. "For me, I kind of say this is an opportunity to give back any way I can. I look back at my injury, and I had a lot of people pulling for me."

Taliaferro and his family offered similar encouragement to Cornell basketball player Khaliq Gant after the guard dislocated two vertebrae in his neck in a collision with two teammates that left him temporarily paralyzed in January 2006. Gant underwent a seven-hour operation to fuse the vertebrae and secure them with plates and screws. He started walking about four months later after following extensive rehabilitation.

"From Day 1, I had the confidence that everything happens for a reason, and that I was going to be OK," Gant said in a phone interview. "I don’t know why, because doctors told me I wouldn’t. But internally, I had that motivation to get back to where I was before."

Now a wine consultant based on Long Island, N.Y., Gant has sent a message to Rutgers offering help. He also walks with a barely noticeable limp.

Taliaferro and Gant say any encouragement helps, no matter how small the gesture.

On LeGrand’s side is that he’s an athlete used to pushing "your body to the limit," Gant said. "That’s exactly what the rehab process is. It’s definitely a strain mentally to be able to stay focused every day."

Sebastianelli spoke at a Taliaferro Foundation dinner in Philadelphia on Saturday night, hours after LeGrand was injured, though news of the injury wasn’t widespread then.

Since Taliaferro’s injury, doctors have a better understanding of how to treat such patients, from immediate concerns like the proper way to remove equipment, to medication protocols, to surgical procedures, Sebastianelli said.

What doctors still don’t fully understand, he said, is how much bruising the spinal cord can take before determining the extent and course of recovery.

"It’s trying to position that person so that they have the opportunity, if the miracle is going to occur, so that you’ve taken advantage of everything to get him to that point," Sebastianelli said. "I think that was done very well with Adam, and God blessed us with him saying, ‘OK, I’m going to give you that little bit of divine intervention to make it work."’

-- Genaro C. Armas

Cincinnati looking for INTs vs South Florida

CINCINNATI (AP) — One of the nation’s youngest defenses sees a chance to do some growing up.

Cincinnati’s sophomore-dominated defense has only two interceptions this season, by far the fewest in the Big East. The Bearcats (3-3, 1-0) currently start eight sophomores and three juniors on the youngest defense for any BCS school.

The interception will be a focus on Friday against South Florida (3-3, 0-2), which is one of the nation’s worst at throwing the ball away. B.J. Daniels has thrown 10 interceptions, more than double the second-highest total in the league.

Cincinnati linebacker Maalik Bomar — one of those eight sophomores — says Daniels looks frustrated in South Florida’s new offense. The Bulls have turned Daniels into more of a pocket passer this season, and it’s been a tough transition. South Florida’s offense hasn’t scored a touchdown in its two Big East games.

"He doesn’t seem to have great care of ball protection or anything," Bomar said. "From watching his previous games, you can see that he’s a little frustrated right now, and we need to take advantage of that."

First-year coach Skip Holtz has tried to turn Daniels into more of a passing quarterback in his sophomore season. As a redshirt freshman last year, Daniels was inclined to take off and run. He started 10 games and played in three others, threw for 1,983 yards and 14 touchdowns, and ran for a team-high 772 yards and nine touchdowns.

Daniels is the only experienced quarterback on the roster, so Holtz is sticking with him even though he’s struggling. Daniels has thrown five interceptions in the last two games — losses to Syracuse and West Virginia — and picked up only three yards on the ground.

He’s no longer a dual-threat quarterback.

"I want B.J. to play within the system until the system breaks down," Holtz said. "Everybody’s quick to say, ‘Why don’t you change quarterbacks?’ Well, if I had two junior quarterbacks, I would.

"We don’t have the depth that I would like to have to create the competition as some of the positions to get some of the points across or hold players more accountable."

It shows. Holtz has used different formations and approaches to try to get something going, but nothing has worked consistently.

Asked what type of offense South Florida is running, Bomar said, "It’s hard to say right now. They’re kind of all over the place. I don’t think they know exactly what kind of scheme they want to run yet."

Cincinnati doesn’t have much depth, either. But the Bearcats have enough playmakers on offense to offset the inexperience on defense and make them a threat for a third straight Big East championship. The Bearcats won at Louisville 35-27 last Friday even though receiver D.J. Woods left in the third quarter after hitting his head on the ground after a touchdown catch and coming up woozy.

Zach Collaros threw a career-high five touchdown passes against Louisville, three of them to Armon Binns, the Bearcats’ only experienced receiver who left in the game in the second half. Isaiah Pead ran for 100 yards for the third straight game after returning from a knee injury.

The defense and special teams are the main concern. Injuries have forced coach Butch Jones to rely more heavily on younger players who are still learning.

"We’re a young football team," Jones said, "and each week we grow up."

A point of emphasis — besides getting interceptions — is covering kicks. South Florida leads the Big East in punt returns, running two of them back for touchdowns, and has returned a kickoff for a score. No other team in the league has done both.

Louisville had several impressive returns that gave the Cardinals good field position.

"We still need to take another step, especially in the special teams area," Jones said. "I was not pleased at all with our special teams play. I think that’s a byproduct of depth right now. It’s been a revolving door on our kickoff team. We have seven walk-ons playing on special teams."

-- Joe Kay

QBs running wild in college football

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Purdue's season appeared to be hanging by a thread when quarterback Robert Marve went down with a severe knee injury a month ago.

Coach Danny Hope knew redshirt freshman Rob Henry wasn't ready to sling the ball around like former Boilermakers Drew Brees or Kyle Orton, but he knew his young quarterback was the fastest player on the team. Purdue used a bye week to tweak its spread offense and shift to a run-based approach featuring liberal use of the zone-read option play.

The results have been stunning. Henry rushed for 132 yards in an upset win at Northwestern, then ran for three touchdowns in a victory over Minnesota. Purdue is one of three unbeaten teams in conference play heading into Saturday's game at No. 11 Ohio State.

Problem solved.

Purdue has joined a growing number of teams using mobile quarterbacks out of the spread with a significant dose of that zone-read option. Michigan's Denard Robinson and Nebraska's Taylor Martinez quickly went from fighting for starting jobs to Heisman Trophy contenders doing it. Auburn's offense has been nearly unstoppable with quarterback Cam Newton running a similar system.

"It seems like every time you turn the channel, there's a dual-threat quarterback that can throw and pass and do all this and that," said Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who has passed for 1,505 yards and rushed for 410 this season. "I think in college football, that's one thing that's pretty hard to stop. It cuts out a lot of defenses that you can play against a quarterback."

Programs like Texas, Alabama, Nebraska and Oklahoma used mobile quarterbacks to fuel past national championship campaigns. While schools such as Georgia Tech, Army, Navy and Air Force still use old-school option systems, it's the zone-read option out of the spread that has quarterbacks putting up video game-like numbers and defenses across the nation scrambling for answers.

Four of the nation's top 18 rushers in the Football Bowl Subdivision — Robinson, Martinez, Newton and Nevada's Colin Kaepernick — are quarterbacks.

Robinson leads the nation with 1,096 yards rushing in seven games. To put that in perspective, Nebraska's Eric Crouch ran for 1,115 yards overall on his way to the Heisman Trophy in 2001. Robinson already has run for more yards this season than Vince Young, Tim Tebow, Michael Vick and Tommie Frazier gained in any season during their storied careers and he's closing in on the single-season record for yards rushing in a season by a quarterback (Air Force's Beau Morgan had 1,494 yards in 11 games in 1996).

But it's not just the big-name quarterbacks who are gouging defenses with their legs.

According to STATS LLC, quarterbacks have accounted for 15 percent of all rushing yardage in the FBS this season. That's the highest total in the past 15 years. As recently as 2006, quarterbacks accounted for just 8.9 percent of the yards rushing. In 1996, that total was just 5.3 percent.

Quarterbacks have rushed for more than 18,700 yards this season — already more than in any entire season between 1996 and 2000. In all, 16 quarterbacks rank in the top 100 nationally in net rushing yardage. If that holds up, it will by far be the highest total of the past 10 years.

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, considered a guru of the run-based spread, isn't surprised that the concept has grown because coaches have been picking his brain for years.

"Maybe five or six years ago, we had a whole bunch of people visit us when I was at West Virginia," he said. "Now there are so many other people that do it or do some version of it."

The zone read is simply the latest wrinkle of the spread that defenses have struggled to catch up with.

"That's been in existence for a long time now, and I think what's happened is it's grown," Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. "I think, like anything that catches on, people try to look at it and say, 'Hey, I can take it to the next level on this and do the next thing.'"

The approach is similar to the veer option of yesteryear, but it is more difficult to defend because the spread forces players to defend more space.

"Defenses today are geared to load the box, and (the zone read) equals out the number a defense can play because the quarterback is involved in the run game," Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. "So now the numbers are even. Instead of it being 10 on 11, it's now 11 on 11, and you make the defense defend the entire field."

There are numerous variations of the play. Sometimes, a receiver will go in motion toward the quarterback before the snap. Other times, the running back or backs line up beside the quarterback. Nevada lines its quarterback up in a sort of half-shotgun formation, the now well-known pistol.

Because the quarterback doesn't always read the same player, defenses often struggle with assignments.

"If you really study it, there's more than one way to run it," Chizik said. "When you're running it a few different ways — when maybe to the naked eye it's the same way, but it's different — for a defense, that's where it gets complicated. And we'll run it several different ways."

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer has had success using the zone read with quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

"You hand it off to a dive guy like David Wilson, and it doesn't take him long to go north and south, so I think there's good stuff there," Beamer said. "When your first option is fast, your second option is fast and your third option is fast, I think you've got something going."

What seems like a new phenomenon goes back more than a decade. Rodriguez began receiving attention for his success with the spread as an assistant coach at Tulane. With the mobile Shaun King at quarterback, the Green Wave went 12-0 in 1998. Rodriguez had similar successes at Clemson and West Virginia.

Hope feels he and offensive coordinator Gary Nord are just starting to discover what Purdue can do with its running game, and in particular, the zone read with Henry.

"It is something that we can also evolve with," Hope said. "It can grow and become larger, and we can add wrinkles to it and get wrinkles out of it. We will get better at it and add to it."

-- Cliff Brunt

News & Notes

UConn’s Edsall says Endres won’t be back next year

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut quarterback Cody Endres will not play again for the Huskies, coach Randy Edsall said Thursday.

Endres was suspended Wednesday for the remainder of the academic year for an unspecified violation of university policies.

The junior is on track to get his degree, Edsall said, but will not be allowed back on the team next season. He said when he informed Endres, the quarterback told him was wasn’t planning to come back.

"I think a lot of times you are better off," Edsall said. "You get addition by subtraction. It’s just unfortunate that people who were given another opportunity, didn’t take advantage of that opportunity."

The school would not confirm several published reports that Endres failed a third drug test. The junior had already served a monthlong suspension in August and September for a violation of school rules.

The school’s student code of conduct mandates a 30-60 day suspension for a second positive drug test. After a third positive test the policy states that a student-athlete is "barred from practice and competition for the remainder of the academic year in which the third positive test result was obtained."

Days after returning from his initial suspension, he replaced senior Zach Frazer midway through the Huskies’ game with Buffalo on Sept. 25 with the score tied at 14 and led UConn to a 45-21 win. He threw for 471 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions in three games.

Endres was not made available to the media, and he did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Edsall said 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman Michael Box from Suwanee, Ga. will start for the Huskies (3-3) on Saturday at Louisville (3-3). Box has seen limited time in two games, throwing five passes. He completed two for 30 yards.

Frazer, erratic as a starter during the season’s first four games, will back him up. Edsall said the coaches believe Box gives his team the best chance to win.

"He prepares well," Edsall said. "He was always ready as a No. 2, even as a No. 3. He’s exactly what I like. I like his leadership. I like what he brings to the table as a quarterback and his demeanor and how he interacts with all the other members of the offensive team and also the defense as well."

-- Pat Eaton-Robb

Rutgers shirts to benefit LeGrand

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Steve Ostergren, owner of "Scarlet Fever," a store on Rutgers University’s campus, produced a shirt to raise money for paralyzed football player Eric LeGrand.

The shirts are stamped with LeGrand’s No. 52 on the front and the Rutgers team mantra, "Keep Chopping" on the back.

Ostergren said he is covering the shirt’s production, with all proceeds going to a to-be-determined fund Rutgers plans to set up for LeGrand, a junior defensive tackle who was paralyzed from the neck down while making a tackle on a kickoff return against Army last Saturday.

"I don’t know Eric personally or the family but as a fan, it’s like, ‘this guy is battling so we can go cheer our team on’," said Ostergren, a Scarlet Knights mascot when he attended the school in the mid-1980s. "He put all that on the line for us. So, it’s the least we can do."

Red shirts are $15 and white shirts $10. Ostergren said plans are also in the works to create a shirt stamped with the word, "Believe," which has become the team’s rallying cry in the wake of LeGrand’s injury. When the Scarlet Knights (4-2, 1-0 Big East) play at Pittsburgh (3-3, 1-0) Saturday, "Believe" will be stamped on the front of their helmets.

The shirts went on sale Thursday afternoon. By 5 p.m., Ostergren said they were going out the door by the dozens.

"It speaks volumes about the Rutgers fan base," he said, "and how much they care about Eric that it’s already creating this kind of buzz."

Irish coach Kelly hopeful on Floyd

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said that Michael Floyd showed better movement in limited practice Thursday and he’s hopeful the Irish’s leading receiver will be able to play Saturday against Navy at the Meadowlands.

Floyd, who caught three TD passes against Western Michigan last week, has been nursing a sore hamstring. Notre Dame already will be without slot receiver Theo Riddick (ankle) and tight end Kyle Rudolph (season-ending hamstring surgery).

"We didn’t ask him to do too much," Kelly said. "If Floyd feels that he can play at a high level, then I want to play him every play that he can play."

Kelly also commented on the 2012 schedule that was released this week, which could be one of the most difficult in school history.

Traditional rivals Purdue and Michigan will join Stanford, BYU, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest in home contests. Notre Dame will travel to Michigan State, Oklahoma, Boston College and USC.

In addition to a season-opening tilt against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, the Irish will play Miami at Soldier Field in Chicago.

"It is a pretty strong schedule," Kelly said. "But that is why I came to Notre Dame, to play those kinds of teams in those kinds of venues. We are not in that kind of position to look at the 2012 schedule and say that we are ready to win all those games, but that is where we are going to get to."

M16-toting fan got inside Michigan game

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A National Guardsman toting two unloaded M16 assault rifles told security at Michigan Stadium that he was part of the official honor guard and was allowed onto the field during the Michigan-Michigan State football game, authorities said Thursday.

Before he went into the Big House, where more than 113,000 people had gathered on Oct. 9, a police officer ensured his weapons were empty and double-checked that he did not have any ammunition on him, said Diane Brown, a spokeswoman for the university’s department of public safety.

A member of the color guard reported the impostor, who was escorted out by police at 4:15 p.m., about 45 minutes after kickoff.

"Unfortunately, he used his uniform and his status to gain unauthorized access to the field," Brown told the AP. "His response was that he really wanted to see the game, he couldn’t get a ticket, and he thought he would use his uniform for access."

Brown said the unidentified man was compliant. The Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office is looking at the case, but has not decided yet whether to file any charges, she said.

The university is reviewing its protocols at checkpoints to the stadium, but nobody is facing disciplinary measures, she said.

WJBK-TV in Detroit first reported on the security breach.