Beckman leaving Toledo for Illinois

Tim Beckman was introduced as the new Illinois head football coach on Friday. He spent three years as top dog at Toledo, one of Temple's Mid-American Conference rivals.

Beckman, who will make about $9 million over five years, replaces Ron Zook, who was fired last month.

Junior Ryan Spadola, Lehigh's top receiver, was suspended by the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee for an inappropriate use of his Twitter account. He will not make the trip to North Dakota State for Saturday's quarterfinal playoff game. The committee said he forwarded a tweet that used a racial slur to describe players from Towson, a team the Mountain Hawks defeated, 40-38, last Saturday in the Football Championship Subdivision second round. Spadola released a statement of apology.

Spadola, who was named to the American Football Coaches Association FCS all-American team, has 96 receptions for 1,614 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was featured in a Mountain Hawks offense that will bring a 35-point-per-game average to the game in Fargo.

Ohio State asked for and received NCAA approval to exceed the limit of football coaches on staff through the Buckeyes' bowl game.

The existing staff, under Luke Fickell, will prepare the Buckeyes on the field in the days leading up to and including their Gator Bowl game against Florida on Jan. 2. Then there is incoming coach Urban Meyer, who will handle only recruiting while hiring his own assistants.

The waiver specifies that no more than 10 coaches - and no more than seven at any one time - may be involved in recruiting. Ohio State asked for the waiver because otherwise it would have exceeded the maximum number of allowed coaches under NCAA rules.

Ohio State has hired Iowa State assistant Tom Herman to be its new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator under Meyer. Herman, 35, has served as Iowa State's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the past three seasons. Herman favors a spread attack, also the preferred offense of Meyer. Herman is the first confirmed member of Meyer's new staff.

Southern Mississippi quarterback Austin Davis has won the Burlsworth Award, given to the best college player who began his career as a walk-on. Davis has thrown for 3,331 yards and 28 touchdowns this season, leading the Eagles (11-2) to a win over Houston in the Conference USA championship game.

In the NFL, Tim Tebow is bringing the triple option back. At Army and Navy, they figure it never went out of style. The academies reconvene at 2:30 Saturday afternoon for the 112th edition of one of the most special rivalries in sports.

Army (3-8) has the top rushing offense in the nation, averaging 350.9 yards per game. Navy (4-7) is fourth at 313.7. Army has thrown only 91 passes all season, by far the fewest among FBS schools. Navy has the next fewest, having tossed the ball just 132 times.

The tradition-filled day-which includes pregame marches and fly-bys by both academies - has a new setting this year. The game is being played in the vicinity of the nation's capital, with the Washington Redskins stadium in Landover, Md., playing host as a break from the usual site in Philadelphia. The game will return here next year.

Navy has been truly dominant in the series in recent years, winning every game since 2002 by at least a dozen points.