7:41 PM Chris Mortensen reports: "As I reported earlier on SC & MNCD, Big Ben is telling teammates and friends he's fine, will play vs. Ravens on Sunday night."

7:20 PM ESPN has announced college football's award finalists. One glaring omission: USC's Taylor Mays not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award given annually to CFB's top defensive back.

6:58 PM SI's Stewart Mandel on the news that Ari Fleischer was hired to damage control for the BCS: "I love that the BCS, the most unpopular entity in sports, hired a guy who worked under the most unpopular president in history."

6:37 PM Urban Meyer denied interest in ND today, and Tim Tebow weighed in too: "I don't think he'll be at Notre Dame. I don't think he's really interested. I think he's enjoying his time here. I don't think he wants to go to a place where he has to start fresh."