College Football Notebook

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 22, 2006

Associated Press

The college football notebook …

TOLEDO, Ohio — Former Ohio State football star Maurice Clarett has been transferred to a prison where he could spend the remainder of his sentence.

Clarett will be in a single cell at the Toledo Correctional Institution, but he will not be isolated from other inmates, said Andrea Dean, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The close-security prison only has single cells, and Clarett will be able to exercise and eat with other inmates, she said Thursday.

A judge sentenced Clarett in September to at least 3 1/2 years in prison on charges of aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon.

As a freshman tailback, Clarett led Ohio State to the national championship in 2002. He then dropped out of Ohio State and lost a U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the NFL’s requirement that players wait three years after high school before turning pro. The Denver Broncos made Clarett a surprise third-round pick in the NFL’s 2005 draft, but cut him during the preseason.

ROSE BOWL

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Chad Henne stood in front of a roomful of reporters Thursday, speaking of the opportunity Michigan has to prove it’s one of the nation’s top college football teams.

Henne and his teammates also want to show that the Wolverines, who ended the last three seasons with bowl losses, know how to finish strong and can overcome having their national title hopes dashed.

All Michigan has to do is beat Southern California in the Rose Bowl.

Beating the Trojans will go a long way toward erasing the disappointment of their 42-39 loss to No. 1 Ohio State and that Florida — not the No. 3 Wolverines — will face the Buckeyes for the BCS title.

“We want to finish off on the right note,” the Michigan quarterback said. “The last two seasons, we didn’t finish.”

The fourth-ranked Trojans also enter the New Year’s Day test with plenty to prove after taking themselves out of the national championship picture with a loss to UCLA in their last regular-season game.