Reporters' Notebooks

Todd Schulz, Lansing State Journal: An alum who gave $5 million to Michigan State to help renovate the football building before the loss to Notre Dame said of the 40-37 defeat: "Ridiculous. That was hard to watch, wasn't it?"

Michael Rothstein, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: Notre Dame running back Darius Walker and assistant Michael Haywood got into it during practice, with Haywood telling Walker to "shut the (expletive) up and do what the (expletive) you're told." It's the second item in the notebook.

Bill Sanders, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Auburn's Kenny Irons returns to South Carolina Thursday night, a program that essentially didn't want him (registration).

Earl Kelly, Annapolis Capital: The Naval Academy and Annapolis residents want to see an end to a decades-old tradition of football fans throwing candy to Naval Academy midshipmen while they march to Navy-Marine Corps Stadium for games.

Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, the youngest Division I-A coach, meets Penn State's Joe Paterno, the oldest.

Doug Lesmerises, Plain Dealer: Work is progressing on replacing the turf at Ohio Stadium, with the project expected to be completed Thursday.

Indianapolis Star: Graduation rates for Division I-A and I-AA football teams released by the NCAA.

Kevin Tatum, Philadelphia Inquirer: Yes, help is on the way for Temple. Two players who were suspended will be in uniform for the game against Vanderbilt.

Ted Miller, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Pac-10 notebook. Like it or not, Arizona State will sink or swim with Rudy Carpenter at quarterback.

Joseph Duarte, Houston Chronicle: Big 12 notebook. Texas A&M's pass defense leads the conference, but here comes Texas Tech.

Chip Brown, Dallas Morning News: Inexperienced quarterbacks are a big reason Big 12 teams struggled in nonconference play (registration).

Ron Higgins, Commercial Appeal: SEC notebooks. A look at the Western Division and the Eastern Division.