• Spiller: Dabo stays or C.J. goes. Tuesday was a banner day for Dabo Swinney's quest to remove the 'interim' from the front of his title at Clemson: Not only did Texas yank fan favorite Will Muschamp out of the running, but earlier in the day, Swinney earned the most important endorsement possible outside of Clemson's administration, from C.J. Spiller:

Spiller, a possible first-round NFL draft pick in April, said he would return to Clemson for his senior season if Swinney is retained.

"He’s the one who brought me in here, and I really hope he comes back," Spiller said.

In another report ($) Spiller is even more point-blank: "If Coach Swinney comes back, No. 28 comes back." Complete with Heisman campaign, according to Swinney, who must have a lot more in store for C.J. than he has so far this season.

• Sam McGuffie is a Sad McGuffie. Rich Rodriguez had to deal with one massive round of attrition when he took the Michigan job, and the departure of receiver Zion Babb looks like only the first of many dominoes to fall as the Wolverines' Season From Hell comes to a merciful -- though apparently turbulent -- end. The Michigan papers aren't touching anything that doesn't come straight from the mouth of a player or someone with a title, but very confident, multiply-sourced rumors online are predicting more defections after the Ohio State game, including ... no, wait ... never mind, yeah, including Sam McGuffie, the great white freshman running back hope who ends the year buried behind Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown.

Not that any of that matters Saturday, according to ESPN talking heads dropping by Kirk Herbstreit's Columbus radio show before Saturday's anticlimax, including ex-Buckeye Chris Spielman, who said, "They stink ... I love seeing them being down like this," and Herbstreit himself, who more diplomatically noted, "I think they're just looking forward to getting the season over." Way to go out on a limb, Kirk. When Desmond Howard joined his colleagues to defend his alma mater's honor, his best defense was, 'What alma mater?' -- "This isn't Michigan, this is like Michigan Tech." That sideline Saturday afternoon is going to be very sad.

• Noles be brawlin', I was innocent edition. Florida State receiver Bert Reed knows from suspensions -- he'd already been sat down on two separate occasions this year before joining four other FSU wideouts on the bench against Boston College for last week's brawl with a fraternity -- and he was shocked to be among the casualties of the latest row:

''I really didn't think my name would get mixed up in it too much like it did,'' said Reed, the first of the five players to publicly discuss the incident. "I was trying to be the mediator in the whole thing.''

Mixed up in it is mixed up in it when the consequences start to roll, though there are still no charges in the fight a full week later.

Quickly ... ESPN finalized its much-discussed deal to broadcast BCS games from 2011-14. ... Urban Meyer's daughter Nicki, of bikini beach fame, will play volleyball at Georgia Tech. ... Speaking of players coming and going, a new Web site is dedicated to keeping Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno at Georgia for one more year. ... Disappointing Purdue QB Curtis Painter will start his final game Saturday against Indiana. ... Steve Kragthorpe received the dreaded vote of confidence from Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, and the commenters are not happy. ... A Charleston Southern running back and three former players were arrested on charges of armed robbery, for $30. ... West Virginia center Mike Dent might miss the rest of the season with a pinched nerve in his neck. ... Bob Stoops is imploring Sooners fans to make it loud against Texas Tech. ... Kendall Hunter's knee injury remains a mystery to Oklahoma State. ... And if you can't field a good football team in the state, at least you can send in your jokes.