Making the morning rounds.• The reckoning. As expected, Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist underwent season-ending knee surgery Sunday to repair a torn patellar tendon suffered in the first quarter of Saturday's loss to Tulsa – almost a year to the day after he suffered an ACL tear that ended his 2009 campaign. Crist will likely be out of commission for six months, leaving true freshman Tommy Rees (and/or backup Nate "Yes That Montana" Montana) to captain the offense through the final three games and spring practice in April. It also leaves Crist with just one season to justify the hype that made him a five-star recruit in 2008. [South Bend Tribune]
Elsewhere, senior Kevin Riley's career at Cal is apparently finished after he was carted off the field during the Golden Bears' 35-7 debacle at Oregon State with an injury that coach Jeff Tedford admitted looked "more serious than just your everyday sprained knee." Riley was scheduled to undergo an MRI to confirm the prognosis. In the meantime, the Bears' prospects for spoiling Oregon's scorched-earth championship run in two weeks fall to spectacularly-named junior Brock Mansion. [Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune]
• Jacory jaconcussed. Miami confirmed Monday that the nasty hit that knocked quarterback Jacory Harris out of Saturday's eventual loss to Virginia left Harris with a concussion, as well as an uncertain future in the lineup. Our favorite flamboyant QB fashion symbol hasn't been ruled out for Saturday's visit from Maryland, but for all the 'Canes know at this point, he could miss the Terps and the following week's trip to Georgia Tech, too. The not-so-foreboding news: True freshman backup Stephen Morris came on to deliver three fourth-quarter touchdowns Saturday (two passing, one rushing) in a strong comeback effort in the first action of his career. [Associated Press]
Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez is also questionable for the Cornhuskers' trip to Iowa State after leaving Saturday's win over Missouri with a badly bruised ankle. The Huskers turned to senior Zac Lee for the entire second half against Mizzou, and may stick with him as a precaution for what should be an easy win in Ames. (I hereby apologize for dooming the Big Red to certain defeat.) [Lincoln Journal Star]
• You're old enough to know better. How did Tennessee quarterback Matt "Yes That Simms" Simms feel about being pulled for true freshman Tyler Bray after his second fumble in Saturday's loss at South Carolina? Not too good: "Nothing much I can do about getting hit in the back and the guy stripping the ball from me," Simms said after the game. "That's one of the better defensive lines in the conference. Hey, if you get hit a lot the ball comes out. It wasn't like I dropped back and threw it back to the other team." Bray, on the other hand, did throw the ball to the other team, on a zone blitz that Carolina's Devin Taylor took the other way for a touchdown to put USC up 24-10 in the third quarter.
In the meantime, did anyone notice that Denarius Moore's 228-yard receiving day from both QBs was the best single-game total of the season from anyone at a "Big Six" school and the second-best in Volunteer history? Bueller? [Knoxville News Sentinel]
• Bobcats and Roadrunners and whatever those other teams are. Oh my. A local Texas paper told readers Sunday to "consider it a done deal" that the soon-to-be-depleted WAC will officially invite Texas State along with Denver, Seattle and Texas-San Antonio to join the conference within the next 30 days. The deal may not be "automatic," according to WAC senior associate commissioner Jeff Hurd, but "if you're looking at a probability, it's pretty high." Of course, Denver and Seattle don't have football teams (yet), and UT-San Antonio's fledgling program won't play its first game until next fall. The strongest football candidate, perennial I-AA/FCS power Montana, isn't in position to accept any offers because it just introduced a new university president and is still conducting a feasibility study about a transition to the I-A/FBS level. [San Marcos Record]
Quickly… The Big East preps for a "pivotal" meeting on conference expansion. … Clemson's leading rusher, Andre Ellington, could be out for "several" weeks with a foot ligament strain. … Dan Hawkins' latest sin at Colorado: Refusing to watch as his struggling kicker attempted a field goal at Oklahoma. … The Tulsa band interrupts Notre Dame's sad alumni song. … Oh, the humanity at Michigan. … Baylor draws motivation from Will Ferrell's scorn. … And @LizinNY is right: Even a day late, this remains pretty much the greatest Halloween photo ever.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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