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News of becoming The Associated Press preseason No. 1 team in college football swept the Ohio State campus Friday like a leaf lazily falling in September. Athletic director Gene Smith made sure the mood stayed calm when he addressed the team after USA Today's coaches poll picked the Buckeyes No. 1 on Aug. 4.

''I told them there has never been a team in the history of the Ohio State University program that has gone into the season ranked No. 1 and come out No. 1,'' Smith said. ''How do you distinguish yourself or differentiate yourself from all the teams that have made great history here? You start out No. 1 and you end up No. 1.''

Preseason No. 1 teams have a history of falling off their lofty perch. This is Ohio State's fifth preseason No. 1 ranking (1969, 1975, 1980 and 1998). In 1998, the Buckeyes (11-1) finished second in the AP poll but fourth in the Bowl Championship Series' inaugural season. They finished 15th in the AP poll in 1980 at 9-3, fourth in '75 at 11-1 and fourth in '69 at 8-1.

ASU coach 'screwed up'

Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter abruptly changed his mind and decided to make sophomore Rudy Carpenter the Sun Devils' starting quarterback.

Senior Sam Keller, named the starter Friday, was excused from the Sun Devils' practice Sunday night and is considering transferring to another school.

''It's simple. I made a mistake on the quarterback situation and I'm changing my mind,'' Koetter said after Sunday's workout. ''We're going to start Rudy Carpenter. I've excused Sam Keller from practice to consider his options.''

Koetter said he decided to make the switch Saturday and told the quarterbacks later that day. The team was told at a meeting Sunday afternoon.

According to the East Valley Tribune, several players requested a meeting with

Koetter after the initial decision and told the coach they believed the job should go to Carpenter.

Neither Koetter nor Carpenter would confirm that the meeting took place.

''I talked to so many people about this,'' Koetter said. ''This has been weighing heavy on my mind for a long, long time and I'm the one that screwed it up. I have to live with it. I'm also the one who has to fix it.''

Notre Dame violations?

Notre Dame is looking into whether student-athletes, including football and basketball players, violated NCAA rules with comments promoting a local sports talk show on the CBS affiliate in South Bend, Ind.

John Heisler, Notre Dame's senior associate athletic director, said Saturday he became aware of possible violations when contacted Friday afternoon by a reporter for The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne. Heisler said the school has not seen the spots, promoting ''Sports Dogz'' on WSBT-TV, so it does not know if it violates NCAA rules.

''We're just trying to figure out what this is,'' he said. ''I don't know if we know for sure it's an NCAA violation.''

Practice makes perfect

If a few things fall into place, the USC Trojans believe themselves a lot more of a national threat in 2006 than widely assumed.

''Just because we lost Matt and Reggie,'' says defensive end Lawrence Jackson, referring to the last two Heisman Trophy winners, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, ''that doesn't mean our program is going down the toilet.''

That owes to players hammering on each other in practice like no other college program.

''The running backs, the offensive linemen, they're not going against guys who don't play, they're going against good people,'' says Jackson. ''They're battle-tested, just nobody's seen it.''

Sept. 2

All times MDT

Utah State at Wyoming, 2:30 p.m., mtn.

Weber State at Colorado St., 3:05 p.m.

Utah at UCLA, 5 p.m., FSN

Montana Tech at Southern Utah, 6 p.m.

BYU at Arizona, 8:15 p.m., TBS