Jim Colletto

The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the 2007 NFL draft is about a month away, and one of UCLA's top juniors, Shannon Tevaga, said he'll make a decision about his future after the Bruins' play Florida State in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 27. "I really haven't thought about it," said Tevaga, a 6-foot-3, 313-pound, three-year starter at offensive guard. "Me and my parents will talk about it after this last game. My main thought is about the Emerald Bowl and Florida State."

Although finding replacements for Drew Olson, Maurice Drew and Marcedes Lewis will garner much of UCLA's attention, rebuilding the offensive line, which lost senior starters Ed Blanton, Mike McCloskey and Robert Cleary, has become the priority in spring practice. For Jim Colletto, hired as assistant head coach and line coach in February, the challenge is developing a group of players who lack game experience.

UCLA senior defensive end Justin Hickman grew up a short drive from the Arizona State campus in Glendale, but he was not recruited out of high school by the Sun Devils. Despite being a starter on the offensive and defensive lines at St. Mary's High and leading his team to a Desert Valley championship his senior season, Arizona State did not think much of Hickman. "They were the same as everyone else during the recruiting process; it wasn't a real big story," Hickman said.

Four days before playing No. 2-ranked USC, UCLA accepted a bid to play Florida State in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco on Dec. 27. For the Bruins, 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference, it will be their fifth consecutive bowl appearance and fourth in a row under Coach Karl Dorrell. "It's great for Coach Dorrell, going to a bowl every year that he's been the head coach," junior receiver Marcus Everett said. "It's a great accomplishment for the program.

UCLA junior Noah Sutherland is one of four offensive linemen who were fill-ins last year but are now full-time starters for the Bruins. In last week's victory over Utah, Sutherland was solid in helping UCLA finish with 425 yards in offense, but he knows that sometimes statistics are deceiving. "Our effort was good, and we played well for long stretches," said Sutherland, a former defensive tackle, who started three games last season at strongside tackle when Brian Abraham was out.

Purdue Coach Jim Colletto heard a lot of people calling his team a contender in the Big Ten. But he never believed it. After 24th-ranked Ohio State, 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big 10, administered a 48-14 beating Saturday, Colletto said the Boilermakers (4-2-1, 2-1-1) are still a long way from being among the conference's elite teams. "Everything in this game was lousy," said Colletto, a former offensive coordinator at Ohio State under John Cooper. "People were getting on the bandwagon.

John Feinstein in Inside Sports: "Years from now when historians look back at the 1990s, they will be remiss if they do not pause and pay tribute to the marketing job done by the NBA. Never has so little been made into so much. "Consider the playoffs last season. There was no Magic, no Bird, no Michael. Shaquille O'Neal lasted three games, David (the Admiral) Robinson four. "Sir Charles Barkley was gone after two rounds.

No. 11 Iowa got a wake-up call at halftime and that ended Purdue's hopes for an upset Saturday at West Lafayette, Ind. "They turned it up a notch and we just couldn't match it," Purdue Coach Jim Colletto said after the Hawkeyes rallied from a 15-7 halftime deficit to defeat the Boilermakers, 31-21, in a Big Ten game. "You saw two different football teams, in regards to our defense," said Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, whose club had seven sacks in the second half, when it limited Purdue to 57 yards.

For two seasons, UCLA running back Chris Markey played a backup role to Maurice Drew and did it well enough to rush for more than 900 yards and average 5.2 yards a carry. But with Drew now an NFL rookie with the Jacksonville Jaguars, it's Markey's turn to step into the lead role for the Bruins and to get ready for this season, he looked to his past when he dominated at Jesuit High in New Orleans.

Northwestern has a share of its first Big Ten title since 1936 and now all the Wildcats can do is wait to see if they're headed to the Rose Bowl or some other bowl game. With leading tackler Pat Fitzgerald sidelined because of two broken bones, Northwestern's defense made up for the loss and the offense merely handed the ball to Darnell Autry. Autry gained a career-high 226 yards as No. 5 Northwestern beat Purdue, 23-8, Saturday to keep its Rose Bowl hopes alive.