College-Football Notebook: Cutcliffe says Colts' offensive line is unavailable

ACC

■ Coach Butch Davis of North Carolina looks at Duke's passing attack and sees the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

Coach David Cutcliffe of Duke wishes it were so.

"I don't see Reggie Wayne out there, nor Peyton (Manning)," Cutcliffe said.

"After I saw (Davis' comments), I called Bill Polian (the Indy general manager) and asked him if I could borrow his five offensive linemen. He turned me down. So we're not going to play with the Colts' offensive line, unfortunately."

■ Georgia Tech could have new starters on some of its special teams Saturday against Wake Forest. Vanderbilt scored on an 80-yard kickoff return last week, and although Tech won easily, Coach Paul Johnson is determined to solve what he considers a season-long problem.

"We're going to take a good, long, hard look and fix it," ge said. "We can't wholesale change 11 guys every week."

Johnson thinks Georgia Tech's kickoff coverage and field-goal kicking teams are lacking, and fears that one or both will cost the team a win.

"We've got to fix it, and we will," he said.

■ Steve Aponavicius is now the top scorer in Boston College history. Not bad for a player who walked on after specializing in soccer and had never played football before college.

A graduate assistant coach saw Aponavicius kicking field goals on his own five years ago and asked if he'd like to join the team. Aponavicius scored seven points last week in a win over Central Michigan for the scoring record.

"It's awesome," he said after being awarded the game ball. "It was something I knew I had a chance at going into the season, and it was really special."

Aponavicius has 267 points, surpassing the record of 262 set by another kicker, Brian Lowe, in 1989.

■ Maryland had an open date last weekend, much to the relief of sophomore linebacker Ben Pooler.

Pooler was in for a career-high 67 plays two weeks ago in loss to Duke, and he felt every one of them the next day.

"I feel like I got hit by a car," he said.

■ Virginia Tech's Michael Via, a redshirt freshman center from McLeansville, could make the first college start tonight at East Carolina. Beau Warren, Tech's starter, has been slowed after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in last week's loss to North Carolina, and he missed this week's first two practices.

Via, the backup center, replaced Warren for Tech's final 15 offensive plays. Before that game, he had been in for only 24 plays all season.

■ Maryland is mired in a 2-6 season, and Coach Ralph Friedgen said he might have to start looking ahead soon. If he does, younger players will have chances to audition for starting jobs.

"This is tough times right now," Friedgen said. "I think we'd obviously like to look at some kids that we think can help us win and think have a future. To me, if it's close or even, you have to play the younger guy and try to get better."

■ Tailback Ryan Williams of Virginia Tech is having a difficult time getting over his fumble in last week's loss to North Carolina. UNC recovered at the Virginia Tech 24 and drove for the winning field goal.

"As of right now, there probably isn't really anything you can do to lift me up," Williams said. "Because regardless of what anybody says, personally I feel like I kind of took the game away from us."

■ Coach Bobby Bowden is hoping that starting quarterback Christian Ponder can return to practice soon as Florida State prepares for Saturday's game at Clemson. Ponder did not practice Monday or Tuesday, The Associated Press reported, and was limited to a few gentle throws on the sideline as he recovers from bruised ribs suffered last week against N.C. State.

Bowden said that Ponder, who ranks No. 3 in the nation in total offense, is still sore. Redshirt freshman E.J. Manuel has been taking practice snaps in Ponder's absence, but Bowden said he's still optimisic that Ponder will play Saturday.

National

■ Coach Urban Meyer of Florida said yesterday that SEC officials missed a late hit against quarterback Tim Tebow in Saturday's game against Georgia and that he sent video of Tebow getting knocked to the ground to Rogers Redding, the league's coordinator of officials.

Meyer says that the play was directly in front of the referee and should have drawn a flag. Tebow handed off to running back Jeff Demps, took a few steps to his right and wasn't looking when linebacker Nick Williams slammed into his chest.

Meyer says he has "great confidence" in the SEC's officials but added that they have to protect quarterbacks.

Also, Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes has had his suspension for apparently trying to gouge the eyes of a Georgia running back increased to a full game.

Meyer said it was in the best interest of the team for Spikes to serve a full-game suspension when the top-ranked Gators play Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Meyer had faced some criticism for only suspending Spikes, his All-America linebacker, for only the first half the Vandy game. The Southeastern Conference accepted the original punishment.

Spikes stuck his hand into the facemask of Georgia's Washaun Ealey during Florida 41-17 victory against the Bulldogs last week. There was no penalty called at the time, but Meyer went back and looked at the play of tape and decided to punish Spikes.

■ Dallas has lined up a replacement for the Cotton Bowl game, with city leaders saying that the Dallas Football Classic is planned for New Year's Day 2011.

The plan calls for using teams from the Big 12, Big Ten and perhaps Conference USA but still needs NCAA approval.

The Cotton Bowl game is moving to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington this season. That prompted officials to come up with a replacement game for the 77-year-old Fair Park Stadium.

■ Compared to recent years, LSU's ground game has run aground.

The No. 9 Tigers are averaging 141.5 yards rushing, or 25 yards a game less than last season and 73 yards below their average in 2007.

The only time LSU has had a 100-yard rusher in a single game this season was when Charles Scott did it last weekend in a 42-0 victory over Tulane.

Coach Les Miles says he still believes in his running backs and offensive line, but notes that they must improve to give LSU some balance at No. 3 Alabama on Saturday.