Notre Dame takes training camp on the road

The 65-acre Shiloh Park in Marion, Ind., has a challenge course with climbing walls and a zip line.

And in a few days, it will be the training site for one of the participants in last season’s Bowl Championship Series title game.

Notre Dame will …

Northwestern football wants role on national scene

The answers were about as predictable as the questions for Northwestern at the first day of the Big Ten media days Wednesday. Coming off a 10-win season and having won their first bowl game in 64 years, the Wildcats have garnered the kind of national …

Illinois football coach Tim Beckman looking for positives after 2-10 season

There was nothing easy about what Tim Beckman had to do Wednesday. At the annual downtown gathering of Big Ten football coaches, star players and media, Beckman was the face of the worst team in the league. But give him this: He wore it well. …

Delany supports ‘stipend’ to cover student-athletes’ expenses

Jim Delany has been a proponent of providing college athletes financial support beyond an athletic scholarship. On Wednesday, the Big Ten commissioner delved into the issue again. Delany often spoke ambiguously on the topic and didn’t specify a particular dollar amount. But he spoke of …

Illinois football out of spotlight heading into Big Ten media days

One year ago, Tim Beckman stepped to the podium at his first Big Ten media days knowing full well he already had become a controversial figure. The word ‘‘vulture’’ was being used to describe Illinois’ new football coach after members of his staff had been …

TELANDER: NCAA will answer for denying players their cut

Paying Division I college athletes in entertainment-driven, revenue-producing sports — men’s football and basketball, primarily — is probably not a good thing. But it beats not paying those athletes by an ethical mile. Not only is the NCAA a cartel by definition, it also — …

Ed O’Bannon suit against NCAA triggers change

No one wants to talk about it. Everyone is worried about it. The so-called O’Bannon lawsuit hung over the recent Atlantic Coast Conference’s football kickoff event like a dark cloud, just as it hangs over so much of college athletics at the moment.

Jordan Lynch plans for another run at Northern Illinois

DETROIT — A soft-spoken, almost reserved, Jordan Lynch appeared Tuesday. Talking to him, you would never know the Northern Illinois quarterback put up Heisman Trophy-caliber numbers last season. Nor would you get a sense of NIU’s winning tradition in recent years, culminating with 12 victories …

Report: Ohio State’s Urban Meyer dismisses two players

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A published report says Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has kicked starting tailback Carlos Hyde off the team after an alleged assault against a female in Columbus. In a separate incident, first-team cornerback Bradley Roby is being investigated over another assault in …

Nick Saban says Alabama’s success doesn’t come easy

HOOVER, Ala. — The Nicktator stood before a ballroom overflowing with members of the college football media — many of them real, live so-called experts — and shook his head in disapproval. Normally, this would’ve been a terrifying moment. But the mood was light enough …

Johnny Manziel would be smart to tone down his act

The heat on Johnny Manziel can simmer down now. After a few days of being back in the news for all the wrong reasons the reigning Heisman Trophy winner gets to return to Texas A&M; and resume his life as a quarterback.

Jerry Sandusky’s son seeks name change

A son of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is seeking to have his name changed more than a year after his adoptive father was convicted of child sexual abuse.

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema embraces underdog mentality

HOOVER, Ala. — Bret Bielema got off to a 17-1 start as the coach at Wisconsin. There’s virtually no chance he will be able to replicate that early success at Arkansas. Bielema is up against it in a big way now, sharing space with Alabama, …

Notre Dame picks up 4-star receiver for 2014

Notre Dame picked up its second four-star wide receiver commitment for the Class of 2014 Wednesday. Corey Holmes, a 6-foot-2, 174-pound receiver from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., announced on Twitter that he had orally committed to the Irish.

Johnny Manziel talks about most everything but football

Texas A&M; quarterback Johnny Manziel says he missed activities at the Manning Passing Academy because he “overslept,” and his absence had nothing to do with being out the night before.