Hokies lineman loses fingertip, plays on, then has it reattached

Virginia Tech left guard Greg Nosal earned tough-guy points on Saturday, postponing the reattachment of a torn-off tip of his left pinkie to keep playing.

The school says Nosal lost the fingertip when it got caught between two helmets in the first half against Central Michigan. After a brief search, team doctors found the severed fingertip inside his glove and determined that it could be reattached.

Team surgeon Mark Seigel gave the 6-6, 293-pound redshirt junior the option of having the finger repaired on the spot, or having the hand bandaged and the tip put on ice to be reattached later. He chose to keep playing, took pain medication and went back in.

The fingertip was stitched back on in the fourth quarter, after the pain medication had started to wear off. The Hokies led, 31-7, and were substituting liberally in a 45-21 victory.

"You talk about a tough guy," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said yesterday. "For him to continue to play, it says a lot about him and what his effort for this football team is."

* North Carolina star defensive tackle Marvin Austin was kicked off the team and the school said the NCAA has declared receiver Greg Little and defensive end Robert Quinn permanently ineligible.

The announcements from the school and the NCAA came as part of the ongoing investigations into whether players received improper benefits from agents.

The three players have sat out all five games for the Tar Heels (3-2) amid the investigation, which began this summer and was initially focused on agent-related benefits before expanding to include possible academic violations.

* Houston is asking the NCAA for a waiver to allow injured quarterback Case Keenum to play a sixth season.

Keenum was nearing several NCAA career records when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while attempting a tackle in a 31-13 loss Sept. 18 at UCLA. That came a week after a mild concussion in a win over UTEP.

* Georgia running back Caleb King became the school's 11th football player to be arrested this year. He was picked up in Athens for failing to appear at a court date in nearby Walton County to address a speeding ticket, school spokesman Claude Felton said.

* The University at Buffalo said junior linebacker Scott Pettigrew is expected to fully recover after being stabbed in the chest over the weekend.

Buffalo police say three 22-year-old Buffalo men are facing assault and weapons charges following the incident that sent Pettigrew to a hospital about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Pettigrew was released later in the day.

Pettigrew suffered a knee injury in April and is not playing this season.

* Mississippi State receiver Leon Berry will miss the rest of the regular season because of a dislocated ankle suffered during Saturday's 47-24 victory over Houston.

* Richmond quarterback Aaron Corp will miss the remainder of the season after sustaining a left knee injury in the Spiders' loss at New Hampshire on Saturday.

Corp is a transfer from Southern Cal.

* Rutgers coach Greg Schiano named true freshman Chas Dodd his starting quarterback for Saturday's game against Army at New Meadowlands Stadium, but pointed to sophomore Tom Savage's hand injury as one of the reasons for the decision.