College football roundup \ Monday’s news and notes

Michigan: The NCAA has joined the University of Michigan in an investigation into practices of college football’s winningest program. University president Mary Sue Coleman announced Monday the NCAA has given the school a notice of inquiry. The NCAA’s enforcement staff often looks into allegations, according to Osburn, but only sends school presidents a letter of inquiry when an initial review determines a violation may have occurred based on credible information. According to the letter sent to Coleman, the NCAA enforcement staff intends to complete the investigation by Dec. 31, 2009. The school started looking into allegations brought against Rich Rodriguez’s program in August after a report in the Detroit Free Press cited anonymous players claiming the amount of time they spent during the season and in the offseason exceeded NCAA limits.

Oklahoma: Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford says it was only after he received unanimous advice to enter the NFL draft that he decided to end his college career at Oklahoma that was the fulfillment of his childhood dreams. Teammates gathered around the Sooners quarterback Monday night after practice as Bradford described how he came to the decision to prepare for the NFL draft after he has season-ending surgery on his injured right shoulder Wednesday. Bradford says he will not hire an agent until after the season is over, so he can continue to travel with the team and remain involved. He says he intends to complete his degree in the spring, and is hopeful he can do so by taking online courses. Bradford was hurt in the Sooners’ season opener and returned to play one full game before getting injured again Oct. 17 against Texas.

Southern Illinois: The starting quarterback for conference-leading Southern Illinois is likely out for the rest of the season. The Salukis announced Monday that junior Chris Dieker will be sidelined for six weeks with a broken left collarbone he suffered in Southern’s 27-8 victory Saturday over Youngstown State. The Salukis are 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, entering Saturday’s game at Indiana State. Redshirt freshman Paul McIntosh will start for Southern. After stepping in for Dieker last weekend, McIntosh was 10-of-14 for 133 yards, including an 86-yeard touchdown pass. He also ran for 81 yards on 12 carries.

Florida: Tim Tebow’s pursuit of perfection might be causing him to play a little tight. Florida coach Urban Meyer said Monday his star quarterback could be putting so much pressure on himself that it’s causing the top-ranked Gators to bog down on offense, especially inside the 20-yard line. “I would say that there’s a chance that’s true,” Meyer said. “That’s a fault of Tim that he sometimes wants to. I do believe that’s an issue.” Tebow already has more turnovers (eight) through seven games than he did in all of 2007 (six) or 2008 (six), and he’s been sacked 15 times. He was sacked just 13 times in 2007 and 15 times in 14 games last season. His most glaring struggles are in the red zone. In Southeastern Conference play, Florida (7-0, 5-0 SEC) has just seven touchdowns in 25 trips inside the 20-yard line.

Associated Press