NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Louis Nix III is coming back to college next season so he can take a walk with his mom.

Louis Nix has helped make Notre Dame's defense one of the best in the nation. (Getty Images)There's more to it than that, of course. But the biggest stated reason the Notre Dame third-year sophomore nose tackle is bypassing the NFL draft is sweetly noble: He wants to share Senior Day with his mother, Stephanie Wingfield.

"She wants to walk on the field with me for my last game in Notre Dame Stadium," Nix said Monday at the team's pre-BCS championship game media day.

Wingfield didn't have that opportunity when Nix was a senior at Raines High School in Jacksonville, Fla. Trying to support a large family, her work in a hospital cafeteria conflicted with Nix's final home game at Raines – and he never even told her there would be a pregame ceremony.

"I didn't actually mention it to her," Nix said. "I thought it would be in the best interests of the family that she work. The family needed her to work."

So Nix went through the ceremony alone. An aunt in

Read More »from Louis Nix returning to Notre Dame for senior season as gift to his mom

INDIANAPOLIS – It took one gutty decision, five bold dribbles and four dramatic bounces on the rim for Alex Barlow to become the toast of college basketball Saturday afternoon.

It was partially an act of belief and partially an act of desperation that sent the Butler walk-on guard to the basket against No. 1 Indiana in a tie game in overtime. The sophomore who came into this season with one collegiate field goal was absolutely the Bulldogs' fifth offensive option at that moment, but there was no time to play the percentages and nobody open to defer to.

Coach Brad Stevens had drawn up a play for his jump shooters on the wings, or, failing that, an entry pass to a screener inside. But with his four teammates covered as the final seconds drained, it was up to the no-name kid with the ball to make something happen.

"Once it got down to six [seconds], there was no hesitation," Barlow said. "I was going to shoot that unless someone else got wide open."

No one did, so self-doubt

Read More »from Butler walk-on guard delivers stunning upset of top-ranked Indiana

After 21 years of being stuck in a corner and marginalized, the Big East basketball schools are standing up for themselves.

Georgetown is one of seven Catholic schools reportedly ready to leave the Big East. (AP)At long last, they're ready to say it.

Nobody puts basketball in a corner.

At least not for two decades.

The Catholic Seven – Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul – are putting down their rosaries and putting on their walking shoes. They are ready to leave the Big East's football-first mentality that has robbed them of their voice. Their silence was bought with league shares of football revenue, but at great cost to their identity, autonomy and dignity.

Pushed to the brink by the panic-induced inventory grab of football schools that are basketball bottom feeders – Tulane, SMU, Houston and Central Florida all qualify, to one degree or another – they're finally ready to find their own way amid the smoking rubble of the current Big East. (Interesting that Tulane's woeful basketball program is universally

Read More »from Catholic Seven will regain identity with departure from Big East

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football this bowl season (Garden State Bowl (1) tickets no longer sold separately – or sold, period):

As The Dash has previously pointed out: it’s a bad bowl season. Too many lousy matchups, too many 6-6 teams, too many decent-to-good teams on postseason probation. (If we had Ohio State, Penn State, North Carolina and Miami, the trickle-down would kick out some of the riffraff. But we don’t. These are the wages of sin and scandal.)

Still, if it’s a choice between battling for mall parking spaces to go Christmas shopping or watching football, The Dash is pretty sure which way a lot of you will choose. The New Mexico Bowl is there as a stress-free alternative to rummaging through overpriced lotions at Bath & Body Works. The Hawaii Bowl is there to give you something to watch while haphazardly wrapping that overpriced lotion.

And besides, there are bowl pools to win (for entertainment purposes only, of course). So

Read More »from Dashing through the college football bowl season

Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports columnist Pat Forde was given exclusive access into the unique daily student life of Notre Dame's football players.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Alvin Hu's bare feet pace back and forth in the dorm hall, the facts and figures tumbling in torrents from his mouth.

"Beat Navy in Ireland, 50-10! Next we beat Purdue, 20-17! Michigan State, 20-3! Michigan, 13-6! Miami, 41-3! Stanford, 20-13 – in overtime! BYU, 17-14! We beat Oklahoma, 30-13! Then Pittsburgh, 29-26 – in three overtimes! Boston College, 21-6! Wake Forest, 38-0! And USC, 22-13!"

As his friends laugh at this display of rapid-fire recall, Alvin finally exhales.

Notre Dame defensive lineman Grant Patton, left, and students Alvin Hu and Colin King. (Notre Dame)Then he triumphantly declares, "It's over for Alabama!"

Alvin is a Notre Dame senior majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. He also has a developmental condition that makes social interaction difficult. In addition, he is liable to fixate on certain interests – and right now his primary interest is Fighting Irish football.

"At

Read More »from At Notre Dame, campus life differs little for students and football stars

Tommy Tuberville will be announced as the new coach at Cincinnati on Saturday night, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Tommy Tuberville spent three seasons at Texas Tech. (AP)Tuberville leaves Texas Tech after three seasons in Lubbock. Prior to that he was at Auburn for 10 years and Mississippi for four. He is expected to be announced as the Bearcats' new coach at a 6:30 p.m. ET press conference Saturday. He replaces Butch Jones, who Friday was introduce as the new coach at Tennessee.

Tuberville would not seem like a natural fit at Cincinnati, but he has a relationship with athletic director Whit Babcock dating back to when both worked at Auburn. Tuberville had an undefeated season at Auburn in 2004 as the Tigers finished No. 2 in the nation. They were shut out of the BCS national championship matchup by USC and Oklahoma.

Tuberville was 20-17 in three seasons at Texas Tech, replacing Mike Leach. Tuberville had never fully settled in Lubbock; his name came up in job speculation last year. This season was marred by an altercation Tuberville

Read More »from Sources: Cincinnati hires Texas Tech's Tommy Tuberville as new football coach

Monday afternoon I opened my online Heisman Trophy ballot with no idea whose name I was going to put on top.

I wanted to type "Manti Te'o."

Instead I typed "Johnny Manziel."

It might have been the toughest Heisman decision I've had in my two decades as a voter. Either player would be a deserving winner. But you can only vote for one.

I wanted to vote for Te'o because I love everything about the guy: a senior with extraordinary leadership ability and charisma; a guy who has elevated his team to a new level of success; a defensive star in a sport that always favors the offensive stars; a young man with a heart-tugging backstory; and – this is important – a brilliant football player who has had a dominant season.

I would be quite happy to see him win Saturday night.

Yet in the end, after scrutinizing the statistics, I believe Manziel had the better season and deserved the vote. Barely.

The hardest part of this Heisman procedure was comparing a quarterback to a

Read More »from And my vote for the Heisman Trophy goes to … Johnny Manziel, and here's why

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On a day when media reports identified Charlie Strong as the leading candidate for the vacant Tennessee job, there was a quiet confidence here that the third-year head coach will remain with the Cardinals.

Charlie Strong guided Louisville to a 10-2 record and a berth in the Sugar Bowl. (AP)A decision from Strong on his future could come as soon as Wednesday, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Multiple sources who spoke with Strong on campus Tuesday said he seemed committed to staying with the Cardinals – through the Sugar Bowl and beyond. They expect him to coach Louisville in 2013.

"Unless he's the greatest poker player of all time, I don't think he’s going anywhere," one Louisville source told Yahoo! Sports.

[Also: SEC shocker: Arkansas Hires Bret Bielema away from Wisconsin]

However, Louisville sources said they were taking nothing for granted and would wait to hear a definitive public declaration from Strong to be sure. The school has been burned by football coaches in the past, particularly Bobby Petrino, when it came to commitments to

Read More »from Louisville gaining confidence Charlie Strong will stay as coach