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Headlinin’: More pain for Arizona State, the most injury-ravaged team in America

matt hinton

Making the morning rounds.

• Another Devil down. Arizona State offensive lineman Evan Finkenberg is out indefinitely with a knee injury, making him the second Sun Devil offensive lineman added to the injury list for Saturday's trip to Utah and the eighth starter to go down since spring practice. Already, ASU has been playing without its most experienced quarterback, its leading returning receiver, both starting defensive ends, its most experienced linebacker and an all-conference cornerback, all of whom are either out for the season with an injury or permanently off the team.

At the same time, ASU remains in sole possession of first place in wide-open Pac-12 South and the overwhelming favorite to eventually land in the conference title game. [Arizona Republic]

In other injury news: Auburn receiver Trovon Reed is unlikely to play Saturday at Arkansas, leaving the Tigers without both of their top two wideouts. [al.com] … South Carolina defensive end/SEC sack leader/giant octopus Melvin Ingram is "day to day" with a bum foot, putting him in doubt for Saturday's date with Kentucky. [Charleston Post and Courier]. … Ohio State receiver Verlon Reed is out for the season with a torn ACL, which would count as a big hit to depth at a thin position if the Buckeyes actually had anyone who get the receivers the ball in the first place. [Cleveland Plain-Dealer]

• . The lawyer for suspended Ohio State running back Daniel "Boom" Herron said Herron is appealing the school's decision to hold him out for Saturday's trip to Nebraska, claiming he has signed affidavits, cell phone records and ATM records that show he didn't accept any "excessive compensation" in a summer job. (Herron is accused of being overpaid by a paltry$292.50, usually worth a one-game suspension, but that comes on the heels of a five-game suspension for exchanging memorabilia for tattoos, cash and other perks.) "In my estimation, the NCAA hasn't spoken," said his attorney, Larry James. "Until the NCAA has spoken, Boom is still in play." [Columbus Dispatch] {YSP:MORE}

• Put the gun down, Charlie. True freshman Jeff Driskel was Florida's first option off the bench when starter John Brantley went down in Saturday night's 38-10 loss to Alabama, but offensive coordinator Charlie Weis insisted Tuesday that fellow freshmen Jacoby Brisset and Tyler Murphy are very much in the mix to see the field for the first time this weekend at LSU. "I could tell you, but I'd have to shoot you," Weis said. "We don't know yet. We're practicing. As the head coach has already previously told you, Brantley is out and we're practicing the other three guys. By the end of the week, we'll decide who the starter is." [Gainesville Sun]

• I ain't no Twitter police. Purdue coach Danny Hope said Tuesday he has no issues with quarterback Robert Marve's Twitter feed, which Marve used in his defense Monday after Hope suggested he should "stay in the system more" on the heels of Saturday's 38-10 thumping at the hands of Notre Dame. Marve's reply: "Don't understand how I was not playing in the system! It was rough from the get go, don't understand how that was on me." Hope's reply to Marve's reply: "When I read it, I knew exactly what he was trying to say. … That's why we have to meet and show him on the film. Obviously he doesn't understand how or why, and that's why we meet and show him on the film." He also described Marve as "a wild stallion." [West Lafayette Journal & Courier, @RMarve9]

• Press conference of the week. Just five games into his head-coaching career, Colorado boss Jon Embree sounded like a man at the end of his rope after watching his team blow a 10-point lead over Washington State in the final five minutes to fall to 1-4:

Up next: Andrew Luck and Stanford. Hang in there, brother. [Denver Post]

Quickly… LSU has started a relief fund for the family of running back Alfred Blue, which lost their home and all of their possessions in a fire. … Some Maryland players are struggling through a rocky transition from Ralph Friedgen to Randy Edsall. … Seantrel Henderson personally denies transfer rumors. … A Penn State linebacker calls Iowa "a wrestling school." … Tyrann "Honey Badger" Mathieu on his new nickname. … Wisconsin is scoring so much, it's worried about depth on the kickoff team. … And why did Florida defensive lineman Dominique Easley hire an attorney? "Probably because he read the Constitution."

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.