Associated Press
The college football notebook …
IRVING, Texas ó LSU coach Les Miles is being asked again about a coaching vacancy at his alma mater while preparing his Tigers for a big game.
Miles said Wednesday during a Cotton Bowl news conference that he has had no contact from Michigan. He spoke just before the Wolverines fired Rich Rodriguez after three seasons.
ěIím really here to speak about no other school. Iím really here to speak about LSU,î said Miles, whose 11th-ranked Tigers (10-2) play No. 18 Texas A&M tonight at Cowboys Stadium.
Miles was considered a leading candidate at Michigan when Lloyd Carr resigned three years ago. But Miles held an unusual press conference hours before the 2007 Southeastern Conference championship game saying he intended to stay at LSU, which won the national championship that season.
A two-year letterman at Michigan on two Big Ten championship teams for coach Bo Schembechler, Miles was also an assistant coach for Schembechler from 1980-81 and again from 1987-89. Miles then stayed for five more seasons on Gary Moellerís staff.
ěMichigan will be fine,î Miles said. ěTheyíll always be Michigan.î
MORE COTTON
IRVING, Texas ó LSU is going for its sixth 11-win season, and fourth under Miles, Texas A&M, playing in January for the first time since the 2005 Cotton Bowl, has a six-game winning streak since losing three in a row, a stretch that included a loss to Arkansas in Cowboys Stadium.
Ryan Tannehill is 5-0 since taking over as Texas A&M’s starting quarterback. The last Aggies quarterback to win his first five games was Bucky Richardson, whose streak included the 1988 Cotton Bowl.
LSU’s next game will also be at Cowboys Stadium. The Tigers open the 2011 season against Oregon.
FCS TITLE GAME TONIGHT
FRISCO, Texas ó A few years ago, Pat Devlin and Bo Levi Mitchell went to college dreaming of leading teams to a BCS bowl, hoping the computers might even land them in the national championship game.
Well, they made it to the title game ó of the Football Championship Subdivision.
Formerly known as Division I-AA, and best known as the highest level of college football decided through a playoff, the FCS will determine its champion tonight when Devlin leads perennial Delaware against Mitchell and first-time finalist Eastern Washington.
Mitchell’s college career began at SMU, about 20 miles from the suburban Dallas stadium hosting the game.
Devlin transferred from Penn State to Delaware.
AUBURN DEFENSE PREPARES
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. ó Josh Bynes and Auburn’s defense are used to predictions of shootouts.
The linebacker says the top-ranked Tigers heard all that talk leading up to the SEC championship game and held South Carolina to 17 points. Offenses are all the buzz again going into the BCS title game with Oregon.
Bynes said Thursday that he hasn’t seen a single defensive highlight in commercials promoting the game.
Auburn’s defense has been middle of the pack and ranks 105th nationally in defending the pass. Bynes says the key to stopping Oregon is containing dual-threat quarterback Darron Thomas.
Another pivotal point is keeping up with Oregon’s fast pace. Defensive coordinator Ted Roof says the Tigers have been able to get practice plays off as quickly as 9 seconds, but going faster is “physically impossible for us.”
LEGRAND UPDATE
PISCATAWAY, N.J. ó Injured Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand has movement in his shoulders and sensation throughout his body.
It marked the first update in LeGrand’s condition since last month when the university announced that the defensive tackle had some feeling in his hands.
The 20-year-old was hurt on Oct. 16, making a tackle on a kickoff return against Army in a game at New Meadowlands Stadium.