College football | Replay official takes leave

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — The instant replay official whose failure to overturn a bad call helped Oregon beat Oklahoma has been granted a leave of absence for the remainder of the football season by the Pac-10.

The league announced Wednesday that official Gordon Riese, who has already been suspended for a game by the Pac-10, requested a leave of absence.

Because Pac-10 replay officials work in crews, replay assistant Roger Judd also will not work any more games this season.

"Gordon Riese had a distinguished 28-year career as a Pac-10 official and, with the exception of Saturday, had done a fine job as a replay official," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said. "He is an individual with impeccable officiating credentials and unquestioned integrity. We look forward to his return next season."

Riese has said he was "struggling" with missing the call.

"I feel so bad I missed that call, it's driving me crazy," he said.

Florida suspends Thomas indefinitely

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida defensive tackle Marcus Thomas was suspended indefinitely for a second violation of the school's substance-abuse policy, leaving the fifth-ranked Gators without their top pass rusher.

Coach Urban Meyer said Thomas, a senior from Jacksonville who leads the team with three sacks, will miss at least Saturday's game against Kentucky.

"He is suspended," Meyer said. "The whole situation is under review. It's under evaluation, and I'll comment when it's appropriate. There's no timetable. Nothing is set in stone."

Thomas spent part of Wednesday in meetings with school officials to appeal the suspension he received earlier this week for marijuana use, his mother said. Sheila Mote said her son tested positive twice for marijuana between the middle of July and the end of August. She believes both results are from the same drug use.

Mote said her son ingested marijuana at a party this summer. When he returned to campus in July, he failed a first drug test, which prompted school officials to suspend him for the season opener.

A second test, which Mote said came three to four weeks after the first, also came back positive. According to the school's drug policy, Thomas could be suspended for 50 percent of the season.

School officials denied reports that Thomas already had been suspended five games.

Notes

• Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner plans to rejoin the team Sunday, less than two weeks after brain surgery, and be ready for the Big Ten opener Sept. 30 game against Wisconsin.

"I'm honored to be here. ... I'm honored to be anywhere today," the 59-year-old coach said.

Hoeppner had surgery Sept. 13 and expected to miss two to four weeks. Doctors are uncertain if the new growth is a recurrence of the tumor removed in December.

• Frank "Muddy" Waters, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who had a successful run at Hillsdale College and finished his long career at Michigan State, died Wednesday. He was 83.

Waters died of congestive heart failure in Saginaw, Mich., where he had lived several months at an assisted living facility after moving from the Lansing area.

• Connecticut starting safety Marvin Taylor has been suspended from the team indefinitely following his arrest on larceny charges related to the illegal use of a credit card.

• South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier continues to tell it like it is, not following the playbook most coaches use that precludes calling out players publicly and includes showing respect for the opponent.

That means Saturday's foe, Florida Atlantic, which is 0-3 and been outscored 147-14, wasn't going to get by unscathed.

"They're not a very good team," Spurrier said on his weekly television show. "If they hear that, they can hear it. They know they're not a very good team."

• Colorado's visit to Georgia brings together two of college football's longest running animal acts. Uga VI and his forebears have stood on the Bulldogs' sideline for 50 years; Colorado has seen Ralphie run for 40. To mark the meeting, Georgia will let Ralphie IV run between the hedges.