Heading into the Pac-12 Championship Game against Oregon, UCLA players are trying desperately to get their minds right, but it's difficult with their coach being fired and the administration showing little faith that the Bruins can upset the heavily favored Ducks.

Rumors had been swirling all year that coach Rick Neuheisel was on his last legs, but after an embarrassing 50-0 loss to rival USC, athletic director Dan Guerrero finally pulled the trigger and declared that Neuheisel would officially be gone after Friday's game.

"I feel like they could have waited," defensive end Datone Jones told the Orange County Register. "I feel like it's a distraction to our team. It's another distraction we have. I was hurt. To see him go down is crazy. But we can't do anything about it."

But the fact that Guerrero marked Friday as Neuheisel's last game has struck a chord with some players because if the Bruins were to pull off the upset, it would mean a trip to the Rose Bowl without their leader. The

Powell_Gator

Florida State punter Shawn Powell had nine punts for 400 yards against Florida at The Swamp last week in a game that set college football back to the leather helmet days, but that's not what the ACC Special Teams Player of the Week will be telling his children years from now.

No, Powell has a much better memory from that game, one that includes sod, scissors and security.

As the final seconds ticked down on Florida State's 21-7 win over Florida, Powell sprinted to the south end zone of Florida's field, took a knee in the F, whipped out a pair of scissors and began cutting a piece of turf from Florida's end zone.

Unfortunately for Powell, he picked the end zone closest to the Florida locker room and was quickly spotted by security who accosted him and foiled his plan.

Or did they?

"The guy started cussing at me, but he's a Gator fan so what do I care?" Powell told the St. Petersburg Times. "I was going to get the F, but he pushed me away so I went to the other side of the field and

Old Navy2Less than two weeks after Victoria's Secret became the object of ridicule over its Michigan State motto misprint, Old Navy is joining the party with a series of women's collegiate T's that have the wrong founding years for three institutions.

T-shirts representing Iowa, Colorado and Arizona show that the founding years for each of those universities is 1820, 1878 and 1881 respectively. However, the real founding years for those schools are 1847, 1876 and 1885. Not sure what think tank came up with the random years, but this is just bad. A quick Internet search could have rectified this and saved Old Navy from this T-shirt blunder. The Iowa shirt is off 27 years. It's like someone didn't even try. At least the others are in the right decade.

Amazingly, Old Navy managed to get the founding years correct on the other 26 available universities.

Although these shirts aren't nearly as cool as getting your hands on a Michigan State shirt with the Michigan fight song/motto on it, there's

As the final days of the season approach, coaches usually start politicking for their team to be in the national championship or a BCS bowl. But Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy must have missed the class on effective politicking because he's doing it all wrong.

Instead of endorsing his team as the best candidate to face LSU in the national title game, Gundy said Monday that if he had a vote, he would pick Alabama over his Cowboys:

"If somebody sat me down and said (I) had to make a decision," Gundy said, "with where we're at right now, Alabama lost to what would be the No. 1 team in the country LSU, and Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State.

"In our situation, if I was doing it fair, I don't know how I could put us in front of (Alabama) right now."

Luckily for the Cowboys, Gundy doesn't have a vote in the USA Today/Coaches Poll, one of the components of the BCS standings, but simply saying those comments could hurt Oklahoma State's chances of playing for a national title. How could one of

Justin_CombsNew Rochelle, N.Y., cornerback Justin Combs is going to UCLA. And his father, Sean "Diddy" Combs, is making sure everyone is aware.

The Combs' issued a press release Tuesday through a Manhattan-based PR firm, DKC, which might mark the first time in history a two-star recruit has issued a press release to confirm his commitment. Complete with quotes, of course:

"Today I am truly blessed and thankful to accept my scholarship and give my full commitment to UCLA. Playing Division I football was a lifelong dream of mine, and through hard work I was able to achieve it. I am a living testament that with a strong relationship with God, family, and hard work dreams do come true."

NCAA rules prohibit UCLA from commenting publicly on any prospective student-athlete, including confirmation of verbal commitments. The commitment is not binding until Combs signs a letter of intent in February.

The younger Combs might be best known for his spot on MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" which showcases rich,

Weekly notes from the undercard

Southern Miss will be under intense pressure this week as it prepares to face Houston in the Conference USA title game: Pressure to win the game, upset the Cougars' perfect season and notch the first 11-win season in school history. And pressure to fail in their pursuit of any of those ends.

Of course, no one is going to come out and ask Southern Miss to lose. But the ramifications of a Houston loss far outweigh any goodwill Southern Miss would earn with a win.

Conference USA has never sent a team to a BCS game, and has never come as close as it is with Houston's 12-0 start. If the Cougars take the conference championship and an automatic bid to a BCS bowl (likely the Sugar), the subsequent windfall will mean an extra $8 million for C-USA to be split among its teams, including Southern Miss.

Conference USA, the WAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt and MAC will earn 9 percent of the BCS' revenue this year — about $12.5 — and that number is split among the five

Luke Fickell isn't going to find another head coaching job waiting at the end of the season. But he should find an appreciation across Buckeye nation for his role in steering Ohio State through the darkest storm in its history in one piece.

When incoming coach Urban Meyer is announced as Fickell's replacement this afternoon, he's expected to keep the young coach, who filled in admirably as a stopgap for his ousted boss, Jim Tressel. It's a token of gratitude for Fickell, who bore the brunt of Ohio State's scandal and somehow steered the program into less choppy waters. Ohio State is in a much better position now than it was when Fickell took over at the end of May, and it sets up Meyer to use his name and clout to put Ohio State back among the college football power brokers.

Obviously, a 6-6 season doesn't scream "Ohio State." In fact, the last time the Buckeyes won just six games was in 1999, leading to then-coach John Cooper's exit a year later. Since then, the Buckeyes have just

It was Saturday when Rob Ianello got the phone call: After two dismal seasons and an ugly loss in Friday's season finale, he was no longer the head coach at Akron.

The timing couldn't have been worse — he was traveling to Eastern New York with his wife and children to attend the funeral of his mother, Rita, who died Tuesday — but the news couldn't have been much of a surprise.

"Ultimately, we need to win more games," Akron athletic director Tom Wistrcill said Saturday night during a news conference to announce the decision. "It's not all about winning. There are lots of things that go in it.

"Certainly, we didn't feel the program was headed in the direction we wanted it to. Winning was a factor in the decision."

Ianello was 2-22 in his two seasons with the Zips and this year ended with a 66-19 beatdown at the hands of Western Michigan on Friday. The Zips only win this season came against FCS opponent Virginia Military Institute and its only other win was against Buffalo in last year's