Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o didn't show any signs of being affected by the girlfriend hoax leading up to the BCS title game, but his play indicates it may have taken a toll, coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday.
"Hindsight is 20-20. I didn't think going into the game he was affected by it. But he didn't play his best. Alabama had something to do with that, clearly. But I really don't know," Kelly said. "It's a lot to weigh on the shoulders of somebody. I think we can make the leap that maybe it did. But I think Manti would know for sure."Kelly said so far everything that has come out about the girlfriend hoax matches up with what Te'o told him when he called him on Dec. 26. Kelly contacted athletic director Jack Swarbrick immediately after Te'o told him what happened."Obviously, we all heard the story. It just sounded so crazy that the first thing I wanted to make sure we did was get the right people on top of this immediately," he said. "That was my first thought, to find out 'What the heck is going on here.'"Te'o said in an interview with ESPN after the news of the hoax broke that it did not affect his performance in the title game blowout.TCU men secondTCU shot a 6-under 846 and finished second at the Arizona Intercollegiate, its first tournament of the spring semester, on Tuesday in Tucson, Ariz.The Horned Frogs, who opened the day tied with Arizona State for first place, finished two shots behind New Mexico.Julien Brun shot a 69 in each round and finished with a 207, tied for third place, six strokes under par. Eli Cole shot a 211, was 2 shots under par and tied for eighth.Texas-Texas A&MA bill that would require Texas and Texas A&M to face each other on the football field every year was filed on Monday by state Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, the Texas Tribune reported.House Bill 778, as filed, does not specify when the game should occur, but it offers a penalty should it fail to happen: Whichever institution refused to participate in the showdown would suffer restrictions on its athletic scholarships.Guillen is an A&M graduate.Big Ten reshuffleThe Big Ten might put more emphasis on geography when shuffling divisions after Maryland and Rutgers join the league by 2014.Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner said officials within the league have had several discussions over the phone about potential divisional alignments.The current 12-team Big Ten split into two divisions for football after Nebraska joined the league in 2011.The Legends Division is comprised of Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. The Leaders Division is made up of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
