Universities Weblog

Ohio State played well on Monday night. Except for those 31 unanswered points in 28 minutes that they let LSU score, the Buckeyes put on a stellar performance…

I suppose this is likely to be the last post I write for a while about football. Let's recap the season's end…

The Atlantic Coast Conference won 25% of its bowl games. Boston College, once a national title contender, squeaked by Michigan State. Wake Forest beat Connecticut. But the stars of the ACC didn't shine very brightly, as Florida State lost to Kentucky, Clemson lost to Auburn, Virginia lost to Texas Tech, and the mighty Hokies lost to Kansas.

The Big 10 didn't have a very good bowl season, either. Michigan did manage to upset the Florida Gators. But the Big 10 lost two of its three SEC match-ups, with LSU beating the Buckeyes last night and Tennessee getting past Wisconsin on New Year's Day. Penn State beating Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl was the only other bright spot for the Big 10. Purdue struggled with a lowly MAC team, but won. And the conference lost the annual Rose Bowl match-up with the PAC 10 – Illinois 17, Southern Cal 49. The Big 10 won only 37% of its bowl games.

Over the next couple of months we're going to visit and revisit the issue of getting into college. And step one is simple: if you haven't applied yet, you're running late and the time is now…

Have you picked a college? I found a great list of colleges and universities organized by state here. Many schools will allow you to apply online, and even waive their application fee if you submit your application over the Internet.

Proposition 300, an Arizona ballot referendum that passed in November of 2006, has led to 119 students being reclassified from in-state to out-of-state status for tuition purposes, according to the Education and Learning blog.

The change means that the undocumented students will face a tuition increase of about $11,000 per year and will not be eligible for Arizona state financial aid.

The irony of the new bill's affect is the expense involved in enforcing the Proposition 300 requirements, according to the blog.

Colleges and universities in the state have spent thousands of dollars trying to comply with the new law, which requires a twice-yearly report on efforts to document students' status.

In June the university identified 877 students who had not documented their residency status. Of those, 758 did so after the university contacted them. It is likely that many of the 119 who haven't responded yet are either graduate students whose aid packages cover out of state tuition anyway or the children of university personnel who didn't think they needed to verify their residency status, according to Paul R. Kohn, vice provost for enrollment management and dean of admissions.

If you've been bad mouthing the West Virginia Mountaineers, it's time to shut your mouth and eat your socks.

Under the leadership of interim head coach Bill Stewart, WVU upset the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners last night on national television in the Fiesta Bowl. The Mountaineers rushed for 349 years against the Sooner defense, with WVU quarterback Pat White gaining 150 of those ground yards and then throwing the ball for another 176 yards.

It was a game the Sooners never led. The Sooners cut the led to five early in the third quarter, but WVU responded quickly and put the Sooners' hopes to rest.

In the wake of the unexpected victory in Glendale, WVU President Mike Garrison said that he'd be willing to talk to interim coach Bill Stewart about the head coach position for the Mountaineers. Within hours the job belonged to Stewart.