Vince Dooley

He has long gone against the grain in this staid, often self-important profession, so it wasn't overly surprising to see Pete Carroll playing with an action figure in the visitors' locker room at Nebraska last Saturday.

Damon Evans is probably going to get a few less Christmas cards this year.

Step on campus for a big-time college football game this fall, something even a notch below Ohio State-Michigan, and you're likely to look around and leave convinced of three things:

Vince Dooley, a kid at 71, has a novel sideline escape plan for old-timers Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. And it may just be the kind of challenge the hearty rivals would buy into.