Notre Dame linebacker to play with heavy heart

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Notre Dame linebacker to play with heavy heart

Article by: NEWS SERVICES
Updated: September 15, 2012 - 8:45 AM

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Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o will play Saturday at Michigan State despite losing two people close to him this week.

Te'o lost his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, on Wednesday after her long fight with leukemia. This came less than 24 hours after his maternal grandmother died.

Coach Brian Kelly confirmed that Te'o will be there Saturday night at Spartan Stadium when No. 20 Notre Dame (2-0) plays No. 10 MSU (2-0).

"He lost some people very close to him, and it's obviously taken a toll on him," Kelly said. "Our players have been there for him, and there has been great support."

Arkansas QB up in air

Arkansas has lost its past five games against Alabama, and it enters Saturday with the prospect of facing the No. 1 Crimson Tide without starting quarterback Tyler Wilson.

Wilson's availability for the Razorbacks is uncertain after he suffered a head injury during the first half of last week's shocking loss to Louisiana-Monroe. Wilson didn't practice Thursday, and Arkansas coach John L. Smith said last year's first-team All-Southeastern Conference quarterback will be a game-time decision.

Etc.

• It's milestone time for South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who can post college victory No. 200 by beating Alabama-Birmingham. He's not impressed. "There are a bunch of dudes who have won 200 games," Spurrier said. "I don't know how you brag about that too much. That means you've coached quite a few years and are fortunate enough to stay healthy and not get fired."

• In his brief time as coach at Ohio State, Urban Meyer concedes it's not everything he thought it would be. Despite a 2-0 record and a No. 12 ranking, Meyer is not pleased with many aspects of his first Ohio State team. He has pointed out problems with the running backs, the wide receivers, both lines, the secondary and linebackers. Now he's challenging the Buckeyes fans to rise up and be louder.

With California (1-1) coming to Ohio Stadium for the first time since 1971, Meyer wants the Ohio State faithful to be more involved. "I expect much more. I expect a stadium to be an inferno, I expect players to be diving over each other to hit quarterbacks, I expect the offense to score a multitude of points and celebrating in the end zone," he said. "No, it's nothing close."

• Joe Paterno will remain in Brown University's Athletic Hall of Fame. The Ivy League university announced that an independent board that oversees the hall has voted not to remove the late Penn State football coach, who graduated from Brown in 1950.

• Randy Edsall now says he wishes he could have met with his players face-to-face to tell them he was leaving Connecticut to take the coaching job at Maryland after the 2010 season. But Edsall flew back from the Fiesta Bowl for an interview at Maryland rather than accompany his players, who found out about the move in text messages from family and friends.

Edsall goes up against his old team Saturday, and some Huskies haven't forgotten. "It's not going to be hard to get fired up for that one, definitely," said defensive tackle Ryan Wirth. "That's all I'm going to say about that."

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