our players and imposed retroactive grade changes in the courses affect

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Even Nick Saban sometimes has to deliver an I told you so to his team, along with a few other choice words.No. 1 Alabamas slow-starting 31-3 victory over FCS team Chattanooga on Saturday night was one of those times.Jalen Hurts passed for three touchdowns and rushed for 68 yards, but the Crimson Tide (11-0) spotted the Mocs (8-3) the games first three points and didnt really shake them until late in the third quarter. The defense had a more Bama-like performance, and hasnt given up a touchdown in 13 quarters.Sabans halftime message after a week of trying to get his players to take Chattanooga seriously: I said, `Do you believe me now?Id been telling them all week, Saban said. The rest wed better bleep out.Hurts was 15 of 21 for 136 yards a week after torching Mississippi State for 347 yards. He had a 47-yard TD pass to Calvin Ridley and added two 1-yarders to Gehrig Dieter, including one in the final minutes that made the score look a little closer to what most expected. Hurts set Alabamas single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback.Damien Harris rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown and Ridley gained 94 yards on seven catches.Alabama wide receiver ArDarius Stewart did not play in the game, and Saban indicated he was held out because sometimes we have players that have a violation of our standard of behavior.It was a milestone win for Saban, whose 41-5 record as the No. 1 team gives him the most of any coach. He had been tied with Ohio States Woody Hayes (40-4-1) and Florida States Bobby Bowden (40-5).This one came after a string of more impressive performances against Southeastern Conference opponents.I worried about it all week long, Saban said. When youre playing conference games every week and youre playing big games every week, its really hard to get guys not to have a letdown.Chattanoogas first-quarter field goal put Alabama behind for the first time since Kentucky scored the first three points on Oct. 1. The Mocs trailed just 14-3 until deep into the third quarter before Harris raced 25 yards for a touchdown.Alejandro Bennifield completed 16 of 21 passes for 106 yards for the Mocs, who sacked Hurts three times.I remember playing them here in 2013 and barely recording a first down, Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman said. They have got a really good football team, and they probably slept walked coming into this game. I am not trying to think that they were all jacked up to play Chattanooga, but our guys were pretty excited to play, and I am awful proud of them.Alabama wasnt exactly pushing the Mocs around early. Chattanooga stopped two runs from the 1-yard line in the second quarter before Hurts rolled right on fourth down and hit Dieter in the end zone for a 14-3 lead.That was set up by a muffed punt at the 9.I guess we just underestimated them, Ridley said.THE TAKEAWAYChattanooga: Was almost even in total yards with Alabama midway through the third quarter. Didnt allow a sack to a defense that came in with the most in the nation.Alabama: It was probably the least impressive performance of the season, considering what `Bama is expected to do to FCS teams. Left tackle Cam Robinson and backup Korren Kirven, who started at right guard, both left late with shoulder injuries. Saban expects them to be able to play in the Iron Bowl.POLL IMPLICATIONSChattanooga: Came in ranked No. 11 in the FCS coaches poll and shouldnt be judged much for this one.Alabama: Still a lock to be No. 1 in the AP poll and playoff rankings, especially with teams behind Tide struggling.UP NEXTChattanooga: Finished the regular season and awaits its playoff fate.Alabama: Hosts Auburn in the Iron Bowl seeking a third straight win over its in-state rival.Swell Flaske Liberty . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. Swell Bottle Butikk . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. http://www.swellflaskenorge.com/ . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Swell Flaske . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Swell Flaske Norge . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons.SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The NCAA has ordered the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to vacate all the wins from their 2012 and 2013 football seasons in an academic misconduct case, it was announced Tuesday.Notre Dame announced it will appeal the decision.?Notre Dame was the national runner-up during the 2012 season, losing to Alabama in the BCS title game and finishing with a 12-1 mark. The Irish went 9-4 in 2013.According to the decision, the agreed-upon violations centered on academic misconduct by a former student athletic trainer and two football student-athletes during a three-year period. The student trainer also provided six other football players with impermissible academic benefits across 18 courses in two years.The NCAA committee on infractions prescribed a public reprimand and censure of Notre Dame, one year of probation, a two-year show-cause order for the former trainer, a two-year disassociation of the former student trainer, a vacating of all records in which ineligible student-athletes participated while ineligible during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, and a $5,000 fine.Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly, speaking at a regularly scheduled news conference, said the entire school has been cooperative throughout the investigation, and he thanked it for its support.Its never happened before in the history of the NCAA. The penalty has never been issued in this fashion before, Kelly said. I think that qualifies for being, first of all, it was discretionary. This is a discretionary action by the committee. Thats No. 1. No. 2, student-on-student cheating, nobody implicated. The NCAA agreed across the board with that finding, and it was clearly excessive, so were gonna appeal this, and one of the options or clear reasons for appeal is that the penalty is excessive in its discretion and we believe we have obvious grounds there.Kelly said he bears no culpability for the academic misconduct that occurred under his watch. He said he plans on being back in 2017 for an eighth season, saying criticism from this 4-7 season stems from the Fighting Irishs lack of success and is independent of this NCAA situation.If doing the right thing means youve got to put an asterisk next to these games, Kelly said of games he won that are subject to being vacated, thats fine by me.We still beat Oklahoma. We still beat Wake Forest. We still beat all those teams, so you can put an asterisk next to it. If that makes you feel better, then thats fine with me.Lions receiver?T.J. Jones, a key member of the 2012 and 2013 Notre Dame teams, agreed with his former coachs sentiment.We played the games. We did the practices so to me, theyre not vacated. They can take them away, but those years, those memories, the blood, sweat and tears we shared on the field, you cant take that away from us, Jones said.Technically you can take away the wins but at the end of the day, when we all get together as friends, were going to still talk about those games and those plays and those memories as if the wins were never vacated in the first place.In a statement, Kelly and the Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, both said the university would appeal the decision to vacate the wins because the penalty they have imposed is not justified.We are disappointed in the actions of students who engaged in dishonesty, but we are gratified that the NCAA investigation confirmed the conclusions of our own internal investigation: Notre Dame acted honorably throughout, Jenkins said in the statement. As soon as professioonal staff suspected academic dishonesty on the part of a student, the matter was reported promptly, investigated aggressively and thoroughly, and adjudicated in accord with our Academic Code of Honor procedures and norms.dddddddddddd ...We disagree with the decision of the hearing panel to impose, at its own discretion, a vacation of records penalty. In past academic misconduct cases, the Committee on Infractions has imposed this penalty only when it has found serious institutional misconduct, such as actions with the direct involvement or knowledge of a coach or academic personnel, a failure to monitor or a lack of institutional control. The NCAA enforcement staff and the hearing panel agreed with Notre Dame that no such institutional misconduct occurred in this case. Indeed, the only reason the NCAA reviewed the matter was because the misconduct involved a former fellow student who happened to participate in the Universitys student trainer program -- an activity which involved no responsibility for the academic work of student-athletes.Jenkins said in the statement that everyone involved -- including the football program and the universitys compliance office -- did everything that we could have asked of them.Two players were still enrolled when the violations were discovered and the school sought reinstatement of them through the student-athlete reinstatement process, according to the public infractions decision.The other four players were no longer enrolled when the violations were discovered and therefore were not subject to the schools academic integrity policies. The student trainers conduct was ruled unethical by Notre Dame and the NCAA. The parties agreed the violations are Level II.Additionally, another football player committed academic misconduct during two years without the involvement of a school staff member. The parties agreed these violations were Level II as well.Notre Dame had launched an internal investigation in 2014 once it became aware of potential academic misconduct by one former player and one current player. The school says it reviewed 95,000 documents. It immediately suspended the involved players from all athletic activities and, at the conclusion of the honor-code process, dismissed four players and imposed retroactive grade changes in the courses affected.We believe that imposition of the vacation of records penalty without serious underlying institutional misconduct will not primarily punish those responsible for the misconduct, but rather will punish coaches, student-athletes and indeed the entire institution who did nothing wrong and, with regard to this case, did everything right, Jenkins said in the release. We are also concerned that establishing this precedent will infringe on universities autonomy in deterring academic dishonesty, for it will discourage the retroactive lowering of grades even when an honor code committee deems this appropriate.As we said at the outset of this investigation, Notre Dame would willingly accept a vacation of records penalty if it were appropriate. It is not in this case. Indeed, should this precedent stand, it could create a perverse incentive that will discourage institutions from investigating so aggressively and imposing the penalties for academic dishonesty that their honesty committees might judge appropriate.ESPNs Michael Rothstein contributed to this report. ' ' '