FanHouse Fab 40: Quack, Quack

Filed under: Alabama, Boise State, Ohio State, Oregon, TCU, Top 25

FanHouse national college football writer Brett McMurphy shares his weekly Associated Press Top 25 ballot along with his next 15 best teams for FanHouse's Fab 40.

DALLAS - Alabama is still No. 1 on my Associated Press ballot -- how can the Crimson Tide not be after the past two weeks? -- but Oregon certainly is making a strong case if the Crimson Tide stumbles.

After the Ducks' impressive come-from-behind 21-point victory over Stanford Saturday, I jumped the Ducks, No. 4 on my ballot last week, over Ohio State and Boise State and put them second behind Alabama.

I'm not too sure if they should be that high, considering the Ducks' defense has surrendered more than 500 yards in consecutive games. But, I can't ignore the ridiculous numbers the Quack Attack is putting up on offense.

Excluding the cupcake games against New Mexico and Portland State, Oregon is still averaging 47 points in three games against Tennessee, Arizona State and Stanford.

While Oregon moved near the top of my ballot this week, Michigan State made the biggest jump, climbing 11 spots after defeating Wisconsin. After losses on Saturday, I dropped traditional powers Texas, USC and Penn State -- along with N.C. State -- off my Top 25 ballot, replacing them with Air Force, Florida State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.

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More Coverage: Week 5 Scoreboard | Updated AP and Coaches Rankings

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Here is my AP ballot for this week.

 

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Chick-fil-A Bowl

College Baseball 360 Fall Notebook #5

A latest look at fall college baseball happenings…
By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

The big news of the week (and probably the year) is that Cal will eliminate baseball after the 2011 season. Title IX has taken a beating since the news was announced last Tuesday, but this is not a Title IX issue, especially
considering women’s gymnastics [...]

Arizona

East Carolina 2011 Baseball Schedule

East Carolina has released its 2011 college baseball schedule. The Pirates open the season February 18-20 with a three game home series against Youngstown State and then hit the road the following weekend with a three game set in Charlottesville, VA against Virginia.
The Pirates host Pepperdine in an intersectional three game series March 4-6 and [...]

Kansas

Three Things To Watch: Week 4

Before we get to this week's edition of Three Things To Watch, let me take a moment to ask just this one question.

What in the world has happened to Pitt?

This was supposed to be the year that the Panthers broke through in the Big East. This was supposed to be the year that Dion Lewis established himself as a legit Heisman contender. This was supposed to be the year that Dave Wannstedt put an exclamation point on what seemed to be a steadily improving tenure in the City of Champions.

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Alabama

Bruce Pearl, Tennessee Program Committed Several NCAA Violations

Filed under: Tennessee, Recruiting

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Tennessee basketball program has reported several NCAA violations committed under coach Bruce Pearl, including nearly 100 excessive phone calls to recruits and permitting families of recruits to stay longer than allowed by the NCAA when visiting Knoxville.

In memos from Tennessee to Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive, Tennessee cited poor record keeping, miscommunication and carelessness in documenting the number of phone calls made to 10 recruits. The impermissible phone calls are part of an NCAA investigation into recruiting practices by Tennessee's basketball and football programs.The recruits mentioned in the memos included Elliot Williams, who played at Duke and Memphis; Kansas' Josh Selby; Florida State's Chris Singleton; Ohio State's Aaron Craft; Xavier's Justin Martin and Griffin McKenzie; and Rico Pickett, who signed with Alabama but now plays professionally in Europe.

Names of current Tennessee players involved were redacted from the documents.

Tennessee also acknowledged assistant coach Jason Shay approved the lodging expenses for the families of three recruits who stayed in Knoxville for their official visits longer than the 48 hours allowed by the NCAA.

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Related: Pearl, UT Embrace Convenient "Truth"

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SEC

Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville on loss to Iowa State: 'Weird game'

Allstate Sugar Bowl

College Baseball 360 Fall Notebook #4

I took some time off recently, so I fell off the grid for a while. Here’s a quick look at recent fall happenings.
By College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires

Fresh-off a trip to the College World Series, TCU head coach Jim Scholossnagle has received a much deserved contract extension. Schlossnagle led the Horned Frogs to the [...]

Auburn