Thug Factor Update

Colorado State - 9
Tennessee - 9
Texas Tech - 9
Louisville - 6
Maryland - 6
Michigan State - 6
Texas - 6
MTSU - 4
USC - 4
Iowa - 3
Kansas - 3
No Colorado - 3
San Jose State - 3
South Carolina - 3
Uconn - 3
Washington - 3
Auburn - 1
Kansas State - 1
Marshall - 1

Huskies suspend football player

Washington running back Michael Houston, a touted transfer from Texas, has been suspended from the team for his apparent involvement in an alleged car theft early Sunday.

In a statement issued by the university, coach Tyrone Willingham and athletic director Todd Turner said the suspension is indefinite and Houston's status will be "re-evaluated based on the complete findings of an investigation into a recent incident in which he was involved."

According to the King County jail registry, Houston was arrested Sunday morning and booked at 4:54 a.m. He was released Monday night.

A police report said Houston was with three people when a cab picked them up at Déjà Vu, a strip club on Bothell Way.

The cab driver drove them to a fast-food restaurant, where someone in the car allegedly spit on a cab window. The cab driver stepped out of his car to call 911, and then Houston allegedly drove off in the cab.

Seattle Police later found the cab on Lake City Way with Houston exiting from the driver-side door, the police report said. Houston was arrested without incident.

Houston transferred from Texas this fall and is sitting out the season due to transfer rules. He was practicing with the team.

Houston played in two games for the Longhorns in Texas' 2005 national championship season, but left school in December. He had difficulty getting his release. He said he had to pay off parking tickets and some loans he "probably shouldn't have taken out."

Houston then took classes at Community College of Aurora in Denver, his hometown.

Willingham recruited Houston when Willingham was coach at Notre Dame and Houston contacted the Huskies coach when he got his release from Texas.

Houston reported to Huskies camp on Aug. 22 and has been working with the scout teams.

Louisville Football Players Suspended For WVU

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Louisville wide receivers Chris Vaughn and Scott Long were suspended Thursday for at least one game after being arrested for shooting a woman with a paint ball gun.

Coach Bobby Petrino suspended the players for the Nov. 2 game against No. 4 West Virginia while the matter is investigated.

Vaughn and Long were charged with second-degree assault for shooting the woman early Sunday when she came out of the Haunted Hotel, a seasonal haunted house attraction near the university's campus. Long also was charged with not carrying a driver's license.

Vaughn, a sophomore transfer from Notre Dame, has four receptions for 54 yards this season. Long has no receptions in six games.

Hawkeye Football Player Arrested

A University Of Iowa football player faces problems off the field today. Starting linebacker, Ed Miles, was arrested early yesterday for an assault at an Iowa City bar.

Police say it happened shortly before 4:00 yesterday morning at Brothers Bar And Grill in Iowa City.

On Saturday, Miles led the Hawkeyes with 11 tackles in a 24-to-14 victory against Northern Illinois University.

UConn Football Player Arrested After Fight

STORRS -- UConn football player Donald Thomas has been suspended for two games after being arrested Sunday by campus police and charged with assault in the third degree and breach of peace after a fight in Wings Over Storrs, a local restaurant.

According to the report, police observed a fight taking place inside the restaurant. Thomas, a senior from West Haven, was immediately apprehended and identified by witnesses and the victim as the person responsible for causing the disturbance inside the restaurant and striking one of the employees.

Coach Randy Edsall announced in a statement that Thomas will miss the games with Rutgers on Sunday and Pitt on Nov. 11 and that there would be no further comment.

The assault charge is a Class A misdemeanor and the breach of peace charge is a Class B misdemeanor. Thomas, 21, is the ninth of the 83 scholarship players on the roster at the start of the season known to have had a brush with the law in the past 18 months. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 31.

A senior backup left guard, Thomas is a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship prior to the start of this season and had appeared in all seven games.

Current defensive starters Dan Davis, Danny Lansanah, Tyvon Branch and Donta Moore were all involved in an incident in May 2005 when a car window was shot out in Willimantic with a pellet gun.

Marvin Taylor, also involved in the pellet gun incident, was dismissed from the team Sept. 21 after he was charged Sept. 15 by campus police with sixth-degree larceny and illegal use of a credit card. He pleaded guilty to the charges Sept. 26 in Superior Court in Rockville and was sentenced to one year of probation and 50 hours of community service.

Former players Todd Dorcelus, Carl Teague and Ricky McCollum, who were dismissed from the team with two other players on Oct. 9, each had prior arrests.

3 Texas Tech football players arrested on burglary charges

Texas Tech freshmen football players Julius Howard, Dimitri Lott and Rashad Hunt face burglary charges after being arrested at about 3 a.m. on Friday for allegedly breaking into a house, Sgt. Mark Wims of the Lubbock Police Department said Tuesday.

According to the police report, two of the three charged were spotted walking out of a house where a party was being held. It was then noticed that a laptop and iPod were missing from the residence. The three were spotted in a car and they drove off. Police made a traffic stop of the car at 2:52 a.m., found the items in the car and arrested the three players.

Texas Tech has not yet dismissed or suspended any of the players.

"We wait until a guy’s guilty," Texas Tech coach Mike Leach told the Associated Press. "But if we’re certain somebody’s guilty, we may act sooner."

Howard, a linebacker from Irving Nimitz, and Lott, an offensive lineman, are both true freshman that have not played this season. Hunt, a defensive lineman, is a redshirt freshman that is academically ineligible, but had been allowed to practice with the team.

Vols face punishments for arrests

KNOXVILLE —Tennessee football teammates David Holbert and Antonio Wardlow fought with each other prior to their arrests outside a Knoxville nightspot early Sunday morning.

Arian Foster, also arrested, had tried to break up a fight before a subsequent scuffle led to his arrest at Good Fellas, where more than 70 people were involved in the altercation, according to arrest reports obtained by The Daily Times in Maryville from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Additional football and at least three basketball players were present, according to witnesses who spoke with The Daily Times.

The arrests occurred hours after the Vols lost 28-24 at home to LSU, a setback that allowed Florida to clinch the SEC East title and likely quashed Tennessee’s hopes for an at-large bid to the Bowl Championship Series.

“It’s silly and stupid. When male ego and alcohol mix, it’s not a good thing,” said Head Coach Phillip Fulmer, who has seen seven players arrested since May. “We had a great team meeting on Sunday night, really fantastic because of the leadership of the team. Everybody concerned did a great job dealing with it. Everybody made their apologies and we went on.”

According to Wardlow’s arrest report, he “squared off with another male (Holbert) and began to throw punches.”

Holbert’s report was virtually identical, with police indicating they witnessed Holbert “attempting to engage in a fight, shoving, yelling and throwing punches.”

Fulmer announced his disciplinary actions for the three prior to his team’s Monday afternoon practice. The No. 13 Vols (7-2, 5-2) began game-week preparations for Saturday’s contest at 11th-ranked Arkansas (8-1, 5-0), which kicks off at 7 p.m. EST and will be televised by ESPN2.

Wardlow, a redshirt freshman defensive back who was cited for disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and underage consumption, was suspended for the Arkansas and Vanderbilt games. Holbert, a junior fullback, will miss the Arkansas game after charges of disorderly conduct and underage consumption. Foster, a sophomore who has started four games this season at tailback, will not play in the first half of Saturday’s contest after his arrest for disorderly conduct and underage consumption.

Fulmer said Good Fellas would now be considered off-limits to his players.

“Several guys did a fantastic job of leaving and other guys helping other guys to make sure they weren't involved,” Fulmer said. “They didn’t leave when they were supposed to. They should have.”

Senior defensive lineman Turk McBride said the Vols would not allow the incident to become a lingering distraction this week during preparations for Arkansas.

“Coach Fulmer has constantly reminded us to put our best foot forward in representing ourselves, our team and our families,” McBride said in a statement. “Our focus is on our education, our social growth as men and our team. Coach will deal with this and we will move on to prepare for Arkansas.”

Added senior left tackle Arron Sears, “The immature behavior of a couple of guys is certainly not representative of our team’s focus and energy to do the right things on and off the field.”

Earlier in the day before the punishments had been announced, junior linebacker Ryan Karl told reporters, “I’m really not supposed to talk about it, but it’s disappointing.”

Foster, Holbert and Wardlow were each released on $500 bond. They will be arraigned Nov. 14.

KU Basketball player cited for battery

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas forward C.J. Giles was dismissed from the team Tuesday after a student reported Giles had dragged her from his apartment by her feet and hit her.

University police ticketed Giles for misdemeanor battery, and he was given a notice to appear in municipal court on the battery charge. Giles was not taken into custody.

In dismissing Giles from the team, coach Bill Self noted Giles' "pattern of irresponsible behavior and disrespect for team rules."

Giles had been reinstated to the team last week but was told he would not be allowed to play in any games this semester. Self announced Oct. 17 that the 6-foot-11 junior would be barred from practice until he resolved "personal issues," which included but were not limited to poor academic performance.

At the time, Giles had an appearance pending in Douglas County District Court on allegations of owing $4,097 in child support to the mother of his 1-year-old son. A judge later postponed the hearing to Jan. 8, 2007.

The latest incident occurred Monday at Giles' apartment. According to the police report, the student told police Giles instructed her to leave after he got a phone call from his girlfriend, who was headed to his apartment.

The report said when the woman questioned Giles about having a girlfriend, Giles became angry and dragged her into the hallway where he then "struck her in the left side of her head by her ear" with his closed fist.

Giles admitted to police that he dragged the woman across the floor, the report says, but denied hitting her in the head. The report listed the woman's injuries as minor.

In a prepared statement, the university described the woman as a former girlfriend who refused to leave Giles' apartment.

"We are not now making a judgment about guilt or innocence regarding this incident," Self said in the statement. "But this is yet another example of C.J. putting himself in a situation in which negative things can happen.

"C.J. was well aware of the consequences of another lapse in judgment," Self said. "We normally would let the judicial process play its course before dismissing someone, but C.J. has exhibited a pattern of irresponsible behavior and has left us no choice."

Giles started 13 of 33 games last year, averaging 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds.

MSU football player arrested, booted from team

STARKVILLE — Freshman Keith Mills was dismissed from the Mississippi State football team today after he was arrested Monday, the school announced in a press release.

According to the news release, Mills, a wide receiver from Alexandria, La., was charged with burglary and uttering forgery. The news release said the alleged theft involved another athlete who lives in the same residence hall as Mills.

“I have permanently dismissed Keith Mills from the football team," coach Sylvester Croom said in a statement released by the school "Although I understand that young people make mistakes, Keith's actions were completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our program.”

Mills, who did not play in any of State’s first nine games this season, is at least the eighth MSU football player arrested since last spring and the second in a month. Former defensive back Adron Chambers, who was arrested on Oct. 4, was scheduled to appear in Oktibbeha County Justice Court today to answer to misdemeanor charges of simple assault and indecent exposure. Chambers was suspended from the team and has withdrawn from school.

MSU President Robert H. Foglesong said the university expects all MSU students to conduct themselves appropriately.

“We live in a small community, and we won’t tolerate infringing on the rights of another, Foglesong said in the news release. “We don’t want to just talk that talk, but we want our students to know we will walk the walk as well. We take this seriously.”