Stanford University NCAA News

Mark Ingram rushed for 102 yards Saturday on only 11 carries . Alabama tailback Mark Ingram 's shortened day against UT-Chattanooga didn't seem to have much impact on his Heisman Trophy stock.

Happy Friday. Bowls, bowls, bowls -- what are you guys, college football fans? To the notes.

Shane Vereen was supposed to be Cal's every-down back after star Jahvid Best's scary injury two weeks ago.

Every year, in the week leading up to the annual "Big Game" with Cal, a core group of Stanford University football fans called the Axe Committee camps out in White Plaza, trying to stir school spirit in passers-by with help from a megaphone and a train whistle.

When Jeff Tedford sets up the digital video, presses "play" and starts to watch Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, I wonder what Cal's coach feels.

The college season began as the Year of the Quarterback. All the Heisman Trophy talk centered on Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Florida's Tim Tebow and Texas' Colt McCoy.

Jeremy Green scored 21 points, Landry Fields had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Stanford beat Florida A&M 99-69 on Saturday as part of the Cancun Challenge.

Mike Scott scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Sylven Landesberg added 14 points to lead Virginia to a 76-55 win over Oral Roberts in the final states-side game of the Cancun Challenge on Saturday.

The USC game wasn't the first time Jim Harbaugh went for a two-point conversion with a big lead.

TV: Versus Radio: 810-AM, 860-AM Series history: Stanford leads 55-45-11, but Cal has won six of the past seven meetings, including a 37-16 victory last year.

BOB SELF/The Times-Union Tim Tebow, shown Oct. 31 against Georgia, has fallen to third and fourth in the major Heisman Trophy polls.

Something tumultuous can happen this weekend in northern California. No, it has nothing to do with UC Berkeley's protests against the Regents' 32 percent tuition fee hike; nor does it have anything to do with the fact that Cal's Memorial Stadium is located on a fault line.

When Toby Gerhart arrived at Stanford in 2006 there was more talk about whether the Cardinal should field a major college football team than about the farfetched possibility of going to the Rose Bowl.

Finally, a Big Game that lives up to its name. This, folks, is what rivalry week feels like in Eugene and Los Angeles and Columbus but something Bay Area fans haven't experienced in nearly 20 years.

By JIMMY BURCH Alabama running back Mark Ingram lengthened his lead in the Scripps Howard News Service's weekly Heisman Trophy poll, released Wednesday.

The surest sign that the presumptuously named Big Game is finally a big game arrived Monday with the announcement that Tiger Woods will serve as Stanford's honorary captain Saturday when Cal makes the bus trip across the bay.

Jim Harbaugh's first recruiting trip as Stanford's football coach was to Texas to visit Andrew Luck even though it would be more than a year before the quarterback could arrive on campus.

Stanford running back Toby Gerhart has been mostly overlooked despite rushing for 1,395 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Rod Pearson hit a jumper as time expired, lifting Oral Roberts University to an 83-81 win over Stanford of the Pac-10 in Wednesday night college basketball.

How volatile is the 2009 Heisman Trophy race? According to two of the more reliable tracking polls, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy either drew closer to winning the award, or saw his chances all but evaporate.