Meyer quickly quashes talk of Notre Dame job

Standing behind the same podium where quarterback Tim Tebow delivered his now-famous promise 14 months and 21 wins ago, coach Urban Meyer vowed Monday to be at Florida "as long as they'll have me."

With rumors swirling about Charlie Weis' future at Notre Dame, Meyer quashed any potential speculation about leaving Gainesville for South Bend, Ind.

"I'm ready to dispel it," Meyer said. "I'm going to be the coach at Florida as long as they'll have me. So I want to make that clear."

Meyer was an assistant at Notre Dame from 1996 to 2000, working under coach Lou Holtz. Meyer got his first head coaching job a year later, turning around Bowling Green and doing the same at Utah two years later.

He was Notre Dame's top choice to replace Ty Willingham in 2004, but Meyer chose Florida over the Fighting Irish. He later acknowledged that Notre Dame was still his "dream job."

Five years at Florida have apparently changed his feelings.

• CINCINNATI -- Barring a problem in practice, quarterback Tony Pike will start for the fifth-ranked Bearcats (10-0) against Illinois on Friday.

Coach Brian Kelly said the Bearcats' bye week helped Pike get ready to start his first game since damaging a plate in his nonthrowing arm during a win at South Florida on Oct. 15. Pike needed to have the plate replaced and doctors made a foot-long incision for the surgery.

• TENNESSEE -- Prosecutors in Knoxville, Tenn., dropped attempted aggravated robbery charges against freshman safety Janzen Jackson.

The Knox County District Attorney's office said charges would be dropped against the 18-year-old Jackson and 22-year-old Marie Montmarquet, who had been accused of driving the getaway car.

The district attorney's office said neither person knew the robbery was going to happen.

Charges are still pending against Jackson's former teammates, Nu'Keese Richardson and Mike Edwards, who are accused of holding up two men at a convenience store.

• OKLAHOMA STATE -- Coach Mike Gundy said injured quarterback Zac Robinson has resumed throwing and should play for the 11th-ranked Cowboys on Saturday at Oklahoma.

Gundy said Robinson was throwing over the weekend after missing Oklahoma State's win over Colorado on Thursday with injuries to his head and shoulder.

• BRIGHAM YOUNG -- The Mountain West Conference has reprimanded defensive end Jan Jorgensen and assistant coach Barry Lamb for comments they made about Air Force.

Jorgensen called the Falcons "legal, but dirty" and Lamb criticized Air Force for cut blocks in a story that appeared in the Provo Daily Herald last week.

The No. 18 Cougars beat the Falcons 38-21 on Saturday.

• WASHINGTON STATE -- Coach Paul Wulff said he has the support of the administration and will be back in 2010 despite only three victories in his first two seasons. Wulff said athletic director Jim Sterk has talked to his staff and been "very reassuring about what we've been doing."

• WESTERN KENTUCKY -- The Hilltoppers hired Stanford assistant Willie Taggart to be their head coach. He is in his third season as running backs coach at Stanford, and he played and coached at Western Kentucky.

Taggart replaces David Elson, who was fired two weeks ago but agreed to finish the season. The Hilltoppers are 0-10, 0-6 in the Sun Belt Conference, and have the nation's longest active losing streak at 18 games.

• NORTHEASTERN -- The school is ending its football program after 74 seasons because the costs required to make it competitive were too high.

The Boston school announced the decision after president Joseph Aoun and the board of trustees on Friday endorsed the recommendation by athletic director Peter Roby.

• NORTH CAROLINA STATE -- Offensive coordinator Dana Bible has been diagnosed with leukemia and won't coach the Wolfpack's season finale against No. 23 North Carolina.

Coach Tom O'Brien said Bible will remain in a Chapel Hill cancer center for 30 days of treatment. The school said Bible has been diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.