Enquirer news services

Miami RedHawks junior Ben Roethlisberger is among 10 semifinalists for the Davey O'Brien Award, presented annually to the nation's best college quarterback.

Roethlisberger joins Bowling Green's Josh Harris, Southern Cal's Matt Leinart, Mississippi's Eli Manning, Michigan's John Navarre, North Carolina State's Philips Rivers, Pittsburgh's Rod Rutherford, Michigan State's Jeff Smoker, Texas Tech's B.J. Symons and Oklahoma's Jason White.

Roethlisberger and Leinart, a sophomore, are the only non-seniors on the list.

Roethlisberger has passed for 3,000 yards for the third straight season, making him just the third quarterback in Mid-American Conference history to throw for more than 3,000 yards in three straight seasons. The others were Marshall's Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich. Roethlisberger ranks among the top 10 active quarterbacks in the country in both career passing yards (9,392) and touchdowns (67).

He has led the No. 23 RedHawks to a 9-1 record this season and their first national ranking since the 1976 preseason Associated Press poll.

The O'Brien Award winner will be announced Dec. 11.

USC: Defensive end Omar Nazel needs surgery to repair ligaments in his right thumb and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Redshirt sophomore Frostee Rucker will start in place of Nazel today, when the No. 2 Trojans play at Arizona. USC also will be without starting linebackers Matt Grootegoed (sprained ankle) and Melvin Simmon (bruised leg).

WISCONSIN: University officials are warning students to tone down their rowdy behavior at football games after receiving complaints from visitors following two recent games. The university said it has received several complaints from rival fans, especially after the Ohio State game Oct. 11 and the Purdue game Oct. 18.

One Buckeye fan wrote that he and his son were surrounded, knocked down and had beer poured over their heads and bottles thrown at them, officials said. Another called Camp Randall a crude and disgusting place and said he will never come back.

CLARETT CASE: Maurice Clarett's statements to an NCAA investigator, which led to a misdemeanor charge against the suspended Ohio State running back, were voluntary and should not be suppressed, a prosecutor says in court documents. Clarett attorneys have asked a Franklin County Municipal judge to dismiss the charge.

Clarett is accused of filing a campus police report that exaggerated the value of items stolen from a car he borrowed in April.