Maryland's football program has made only one BCS appearance as a member of the ACC. (AP)

Maryland and Rutgers are in advanced discussions with the Big Ten about joining the conference, multiple sources have told Yahoo! Sports.

Nothing is official yet, but tentative plans for announcements from the two schools that they are leaving their current leagues could come early next week, sources said. Maryland is a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Rutgers has been a member of the Big East since 1991.

Their movement would increase Big Ten membership to 14, and would come not long after most college sports observers believed the conference realignment carousel had stopped spinning. Notre Dame’s announcement in September that it would join the ACC while remaining independent in football was thought to be the end of a two-year spasm of realignment that significantly altered the college landscape. Big Ten leadership last spring said it was comfortable with its current 12-school alignment.

[Related: No. 10 Florida State blows out shorthanded Maryland]

But

Kentucky coach John Calipari had lot to say during his team's loss to Duke. (AP)

C'mon, Cal.

If you take the shot, own the shot.

When ESPN's Andy Katz stuck a microphone in the Kentucky coach's face at halftime of his team's excellent Champions Classic game against Duke, this was the money quote from Cal: "They're flopping all over the place. In the NBA, they'd all be suspended."

Calipari gave voice to what America has been saying for decades now: that Duke players can fall down like Hollywood stunt doubles when the other team drives to the basket. From Tommy Amaker to Bobby Hurley to Steve Wojciechowski to Shane Battier to Jon Scheyer (see: Gordon Hayward drive, 2010 national title game), Mike Krzyzewski's players have drawn a whole lot of charges over the decades.

Many of them have been legit charges, earned with hustling help defense and a willingness to give up their bodies for the cause. And many have been Academy Award efforts by the Blue Devils.

But coming

ATLANTA – Need an acrobatic driving layup to clinch a close game? There’s an App for that.

Need a 3-pointer with the shot clock running out? There’s an App for that.

Need a floater from the left side of the lane, a banker from the right side, a clever alley-oop to a big man? There’s an App for that, too.

Keith Appling celebrates with Denzel Valentine in MSU's win over Kansas. (Getty)

Keith Appling was all those things for Michigan State on Tuesday night in a 67-64 victory over Kansas. At times during his first two years with the Spartans, he was none of those things.

Always a good athlete, freshman Appling struggled with ball handling and decision-making – hence his 53 turnovers and 45 assists. As a sophomore, Appling couldn’t make a jump shot if his scholarship depended on it – hence his 25 percent accuracy from 3-point range.

But now as a junior, Appling is doing what Tom Izzo players inevitably do: growing and developing into a leader and a playmaker.

“Michigan State is a big-time program, it’s always had players who could perform down the

JOHNNY FOOTBALL: FUN TO WATCH, HARD TO DEFINE

Johnny Manziel (1) is the delicious new flavor of the month in college football, an unconventional talent who did what no player has done the past two years: bring the mighty Alabama (2) defense to its knees. In the process of watching the Texas A&M quarterback carve up the Crimson Tide for 345 yards of total offense and two touchdown passes, America began grasping for the proper comparison to previous dynamic quarterbacks we’ve seen.

He was compared to 1980s Boston College hero Doug Flutie (3), but that’s not right. Manziel has Flutie’s improvisational flair, but he’s bigger and certainly seems faster.

Tim Tebow bows down while playing against LSU. (AP)

He was compared to former Florida Gator Tim Tebow (4), but that’s not right either. Manziel is 35 pounds lighter than Tebow and several inches shorter, and their running styles are very different.

In

How do you like expansion now, Mike Slive?

Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M's win over Alabama may have been the SEC's BCS title death knell. (AP)

The commissioner of the Southeastern Conference undoubtedly is happy to have Texas A&M and Missouri in his league for the long haul. But in the short term, it’s the newcomer Aggies who have dealt the biggest blow to the SEC’s quest for a seventh-straight national championship.

When A&M shocked Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, it knocked the Crimson Tide down from first to fourth in the latest BCS standings. ‘Bama now sits behind unbeatens Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame, and will need help – a lot of it – to get back to the BCS Championship.

And the person in best position to provide that help is none other than Lane Kiffin.

Yes, the Slive nightmare scenario is now in effect. During the commissioner’s 10-year SEC tenure, his least-favorite coach was Kiffin – the guy who now may be Slive’s last line of (title) defense.

Kiffin, the former annoyance for one season at Tennessee, offers the last realistic chance to beat

FORT WORTH, Texas – When it was over Saturday night, Bill Snyder gathered his players in the victorious Kansas State locker room and broke the news: Alabama had lost, and the path was now clear for the Wildcats to be No. 1 in the BCS rankings for the first time in school history.

A huge roar followed as Snyder wrote on the chalkboard, “Two games to South Florida!”

Bill Snyder talks with an official during a time out. (Getty)

Do you believe that scene? Please. It never happened. It never will as long as Snyder is alive and coaching and methodically leading the most buttoned-down program in college football.

There was no announcement. There was no roar. There was no public rejoicing in No. 1 Alabama’s shocking loss, no discussion of this momentous occasion or the monumental opportunity arrayed in front of 10-0 K-State.

“I just found out from you guys,” said safety Jarard Milo, talking to reporters after the Wildcats’ 23-10 victory over TCU.

“Coach Snyder doesn’t like to talk about that stuff,” kicker Anthony Cantele said.

Unlike college football, there's still no shortage of juicy non-league matchups in basketball. The list of the 25 most intriguing out-of-conference games in November and December:

1. Kentucky at Louisville, Dec. 29: The most passionate rivalry in college basketball. Yes, Duke-North Carolina included. Reached a new level last year when the two met in the Final Four, but this one won't be far behind if the Wildcats and Cardinals maintain their preseason top-three rankings. Added bonus: The super-accomplished, alpha-male coaches detest each other. No matter what they say.

2. Indiana at Kentucky: … Wait, never mind.

3. Kansas at Ohio State, Dec. 22: Rematch of a remarkable Final Four game, in which the Jayhawks staged a late rally to reach the national title game and hand the Buckeyes a stinging defeat. Both are back in the top 10 heading into this season.

4. Championship of the Legends Classic, Nov. 20 in Brooklyn: If the favorites win, that will be Indiana and UCLA. And

Lane Kiffin's Trojans are a disappointing 6-3 after opening the season as the top-ranked team. (AP)

Let's be magnanimous today. Let's give highly dubious Lane Kiffin the benefit of the doubt.

Let's take the USC football coach at his word – that in no way, shape or form did he encourage or condone a student manager deflating footballs before or during the Trojans' game against Oregon on Saturday. That this "rogue manager" simply dreamed up the idea himself to let air out of the six footballs USC used when it was on offense against the Ducks. That this kid, in a low-man-on-the-totem-pole job – and a job in which following orders is a highly prized attribute – would make a unilateral decision to monkey with the rules of the game and try to give his team a competitive advantage completely on his own.

[Related: USC student-manager fired for intentionally deflating game footballs]

That's what Kiffin said – it's all on the kid, who has subsequently been fired from his job after a Pac-12 and USC inquisition. And remember, we're giving Kiffin the benefit of the doubt here.

So you