Pitt’s Dave Wannstedt and Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly and West Virginia’s Bill Stewart have three of the 20 spots on the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year watchlist. Wannstedt’s and Kelly’s quarterbacks, Bill Stull and Tony Pike, are two of the 15 semifinalists for the Dave O’Brien National Quarterback Award. Pike’s favorite target, Mardy Gilyard, is in the final 10 semifinalist group for the Biletnikoff Award… He left office with a 22 percent approval rating, but former Pres. George W. Bush is rocking crowds as a motivational speaker… Newspaper circulation is way down. Again… Bob Griese said a Colombian Nascar driver was “out having a taco.” He’s been suspended…
Cincinnati’s already put together bus trips for the should-be-big Dec. 5 game at Pitt. (GoBearcats.com)
Tony Pike’s cast is being modified, so he can maybe play Saturday. Brian Kelly’s not complaining about his undefeated team’s drop from 5 to 8 in the BCS standings.
Randy Edsall and Kashif Moore spoke at Jasper Howard’s funeral. (Norwich Bulletin)
Desmond Conner was down in Miami. He has Jasper’s mother’s words, his teammates and teammates’ parents’ words, Kijuan Dabney’s poem, basically, a lot. (Hartford Courant)
And of course, someone tried to benefit off Howard’s death. (AP)
Some highlights from the coaches’ conference call. (Connecticut Post)
Some of the talk was the rise in the national conversation. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Here’s a league stock report. (Star-Ledger)
Louisville’s stat rankings are, um, awful. Steve Kragthorpe’s ready to start charging rent in his training room. (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Pitt has a believer. (AOL Fanhouse)
Elijah Fields is a safety. And a nickelback and a bandit linebacker too. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Rutgers freshman Steve Beauharnais is now officially part of the linebackers’ corps: he’s getting teased. (SNY.tv)
The first step to getting there for Beauharnais was getting in shape. Is Mark Harrison Rutgers’ next Kenny Britt? (Star-Ledger)
South Florida goes where George Selvie goes. So where is he? (Tampa Tribune)
That’s not the only beat writer asking that question. Still, Jim Leavitt’s backpedaling on the weekend’s promise to rip up his personnel sheets. (St. Petersburg Times)
Syracuse’s best defensive player might not be available for the Big East’s best team. Great luck when Syracuse has to ready for two QBs. (Syracuse Post-Standard)
Last week was theoretically Homecoming for West Virginia. But this week in Tampa, it’ll be a homecoming for the Mountaineers’ 24 Floridians. (MSNspotsNET.com)
The pretenders are out in the league. The contenders are all still very much contenders. (Times West Virginian)
Aditi Kinkhabwala has written a regular column for SI.com and been published in Sports Illustrated.
Aditi, great story on Rutgers linebacker Steve Beauharnais. Also, I agree about Mark Harrison. The kid has the talent to be very dangerous in the passing game. He could finally be the third WR we desperately need.