ESPN College Football

With half the league off this week and several beat writers taking this morning as an opportunity to recap the Big East's bad weekend, the links are very light on new information. Here's what we have:

* Rutgers' game Thursday against North Carolina will be played on the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Quarterback Mike Teel remembers that day vividly, Tom Luicci writes, because he was waiting to hear from his father, who investigates accidents for the Port Authority. Several pregame ceremonies will mark the anniversary.

Meanwhile, Kordell Young is doing just fine so far as the Scarlet Knights starting running back, Aditi Kinkhabwala says in the Bergen Record.

* West Virginia coach Bill Stewart implores his Mountaineers to play with more passion, Chuck Finder notes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"You have to do more than just put on the old gold and blue and go out on the field," he said. "You have to play with a passion ... and that's what we're going to continue to work on. I'm just telling you we need to play harder. That's our job not only as coaches, but that's the responsibility of our players."

* Also, there's still no decision on injured linebacker Reed Williams, who might end up as a medical redshirt, Mike Casazza says in the Charleston Daily Mail.

* Matt Grothe's father talks to the St. Petersburg Times' Greg Auman about the death threat he received before last weekend's Central Florida game.

"I knew it all. I knew my dad had gotten a call, and I think it helped a little with my motivation," the younger Grothe said.

* Louisville will work to keep its focus during its bye week, C.L. Brown writes in The Courier-Journal. The Cardinals have also signed on for a two-year series with old rival Southern Miss, beginning next year.