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Kelly brushes off Irish rumors

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CINCINNATI -- With the Big East title at stake, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly is doing everything he can to keep his unbeaten Bearcats away from distractions this week. Media availability is limited. Practices are closed.

The Notre Dame rumors? Not so easy to keep at arm's length.

Kelly brushed aside speculation Tuesday that he could be a candidate to replace Charlie Weis, who was fired by the Irish a day earlier. At his weekly luncheon -- the media's only access for the week -- he took five questions about the speculation and didn't say much, other than that in-season coaching changes put others in an awkward position.

"I really don't know that there's an answer," said Kelly, who came to Cincinnati after head coaching stints at Central Michigan and perennial Division 2 power Grand Valley State. "It's not comfortable for me. It's not comfortable for those that are involved in it, but it's the reality of it.

"The only thing I can control is the message every day, and the message to our football players is about how we can become champions and how we can win football games."

The fifth-ranked Bearcats (11-0, 6-0) would win their second straight outright Big East championship with a victory at No. 14 Pittsburgh (9-2, 5-1) on Saturday. Whoever wins the game gets the conference's automatic BCS bowl berth because of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Kelly is taking a different approach this week, trying to keep the focus on Cincinnati's biggest game of the season. He was energized when he walked to the podium for his media session on Tuesday, talking excitedly about the chance to win a second straight conference title.

"It's championship week," he said, his eyes widening. "As a coach, it doesn't get any better than this, when you're playing for a championship. There's nothing that gets you more excited than being in this kind of environment, with a championship this week."

Dunlap out for SEC title game

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Top-ranked Florida will be without one of its best pass rushers against No. 2 Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

Defensive end Carlos Dunlap was arrested early Tuesday and charged with driving under the influence, just days before the biggest game of the season.

Coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday after practice that Dunlap won't play Saturday, adding that there is no timetable for his return. Meyer called Dunlap's actions "stunning."

Dunlap, the defensive MVP of the Bowl Championship Series national title game in January, has started every game this season for the defending champs. He has 35 tackles and is tied for the team lead with seven sacks.

Without him, the Gators will turn to Justin Trattou, Jaye Howard and William Green to pick up the slack opposite Jermaine Cunningham.

Spartans suspend 8 more

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Eight Michigan State football players, including three starters, have been suspended from all team-related activities after being identified as being present at a fight at a campus dorm, the university announced Tuesday.

Prominent receivers Mark Dell and B.J. Cunningham and defensive back Chris L. Rucker are among those suspended by coach Mark Dantonio for violating team rules. The others are running back Ashton Leggett, receiver Fred Smith, defensive back Brynden Trawick, defensive lineman Ishmyl Johnson and linebacker Jamiihr Williams.

Dantonio imposed the suspensions pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation by campus police into a Nov. 22 fight at Rather Hall, where an attorney has alleged football players disrupted a fraternity gathering.

No arrests have been made, but police are expected to send their findings to county prosecutors early next week.

Young RBs will highlight War for the Roses

EUGENE, Ore. -- Both are young and wily, undersized and underestimated.

Two of the Pac-10's best running backs, Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers and Oregon's LaMichael James, face off on the field for the first time Thursday in the Civil War.

Both the No. 7 Ducks (9-2, 7-1) and the No. 13 Beavers (8-3, 6-2) are vying for a trip to the Rose Bowl and the Pac-10 title in their annual rivalry game.

The winner will face Ohio State in Pasadena on New Year's Day. Oregon has not been to the Rose Bowl since 1995, while the Beavers haven't been since 1965.

Jamess, who is listed at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, has rushed for 1,310 yards, setting a new Pac-10 and school record for a freshman. He surpassed Rodgers, who ran for 1,253 yards last season and was named the league's Player of the Year.

Rodgers, 5-foot-7 and 191 pounds, has run for 1,313 total yards and 19 touchdowns this season. He's also caught 67 passes for 436 yards and a score. And he's even thrown a touchdown pass.

Carroll: No apology needed

LOS ANGELES -- The officiating crew cautioned Pete Carroll during halftime at last season's Rose Bowl. If Southern California kept celebrating its success with the same wild abandon, the Trojans would get a 15-yard penalty or more.

The warning hit a nerve in the Trojans' decorated coach, who considers himself something of an ambassador for fun in football.

"I blew it, because I wanted to make them call that penalty," Carroll said Tuesday during yet another round of discussion of the Trojans' enthusiastic actions at the close of last week's 28-7 victory over UCLA.

"I wish we would have done it so they would have called the penalty on us," Carroll recalled of that blowout win over Penn State. "So we could have gotten penalized for having too much fun, because I don't understand that."

Heading into their season finale against Arizona, Carroll said the Trojans (8-3, 5-3 Pac-10) won't change the fun-filled, flamboyant ways in which they celebrate everything from a big play in practice to a winning touchdown in the Rose Bowl -- even though they won't be celebrating a BCS berth for the first time since 2001.