Catching up thinks Oregon might be in trouble

The news isn't good at Oregon: Cliff Harris' citation for going 118 on a suspended license went from amusing to concerning when it came out that he was driving a car that (a) wasn't his and (b) was rented by a university employee. Chip Kelly apparently agreed: Harris has been suspended indefinitely pending an investigation, and Kelly said Tuesday that Harris will miss "at least" the opener against LSU, which is major news since we're talking about a game with legitimate national title implications. Harris' explanation -- that the car was rented by someone outside the athletic department and that he reimbursed her for the fees -- is moderately plausible but still a little sketchy, and given the ... uhhh ... "situation" at Ohio State, driving around in a borrowed rental car probably wasn't a wise decision regardless. The big question now: How long is "indefinitely?" Oregon could lose half its defense and still be the clear-cut favorite in the Pac-12, but it's pretty much BCS championship or bust after last year's oh-so-close finish.

Things are looking good for Michael Floyd: Brian Kelly said Tuesday that he's "very optimistic" Michael Floyd will fulfill his requirements -- which are basically "stop drinking" and "stop getting arrested for drinking" -- to be reinstated for Notre Dame's opener against South Florida. In other words, Floyd's managed to stop doing stupid things for a few weeks, which is (sadly) an obvious step in the right direction. Kelly has been pretty adamant all along that there won't be a suspension -- "all in or all out" were his words -- and I don't have any problem with that, although a two-game ban would be super convenient for Michigan. Meaningless sit-for-a-few-series suspensions are the ultimate in public appeasement.

Janoris Jenkins needs a home: Janoris Jenkins went from superstar corner and probable first-round pick to definite waste-of-brain-space free agent when he was kicked out of Florida back in April following his second pot-related arrest in four months, and now he needs a place to play. I always figured he'd opt for the supplemental draft -- if he'd be a first-rounder next year, why not now? -- but for some reason unbeknownst to me, he's decided to stick it out in college and spend his senior year at ... Valdosta State or North Alabama. Both are regular Division II powers, and D-II is his only choice since he'd have to sit out a year (his last year of eligibility) to transfer to another D-I school. The level of competition is less important than proving he can actually handle some responsibility and not, like, get arrested every two weeks, but statements like this about what he's learned ...

"It's a lot of positives. Now you know you just can't trust everybody," he said.

... don't offer a lot of hope.

The crazy Tate Forcier saga might never end: I don't even know where to start with this one. With Terrelle Pryor shuffling off the college coil and into the NFL/CFL/UFL whatever it is he's doing next, Tate Forcier has taken the throne as the most bizarrely entertaining player in the country. Last week's news that he might finally have found an oasis in his sea of insanity at San Jose State was presumably a good thing for both a troubled kid and a crappy football program ... if only it were that simple. He's apparently now reaching out to Hawaii, although it's unclear whether there's any mutual interest there. If so, that'd obviously be preferable to San Jose State -- It also wouldn't exactly be "close to home" since it's like a five-hour flight from San Diego to Honolulu, but the opportunity to throw for 7 billion yards and 1,000 touchdowns a season at a respectable school might be enough to outweigh the distance factor (and Forcier would be perfect in that offense).