• Yes, the mysterious case of Lee Corso’s disappearing head was indeed solved yesterday afternoon and a couple UO dropouts now face felony charges. Is this really that serious? Sounds like some people need to lighten up just a little.
• Holy crap, Oregon has the play against the best player in the history of the greatest conference ever known to man! So screwed.
• Chip Kelly received one prestigious coach of the year award yesterday, but not the one that pays him $25,000 so that payday still lingers. In other news, I am seriously starting an activist group to consolidate all these awards. We’ll call it, “The Awards Are Too Damn Many” party.
• Heisman ballots continue to be updated at stiffarmtrophy.com. As of this writing, LaMichael James is narrowly holding onto second place. And oh by the way, you already know this, but James is going to be in New York as a finalist.
• How about this piece of news from yesterday? The final BCS standings were wrong. The error effected the 10th and 11th ranked teams so no big deal, but it speaks to the greatergianthugemonolithicextreme joke that is this system.
• Wow. Wisconsin’s student newspaper is not afraid to name names when it comes to students buying Rose Bowl tickets for a quick profit. It’s so Old Testament in a gentle, no one gets hurt kind of way. I like it!
• George Schroeder chased down some perspective from Mike Bellotti. One wouldn’t blame Bellotti for feeling a little left out right now, but he seems happy for all his old colleagues and players.
• Oh Eugene, I love you. Some dude in Lane County changed his name to Captain Awesome.
• Double jinx! Cam Newton and LaMichael James grace regional covers of SI. After the game, one fan base will say it was the SI cover jinx that beat them because people like to believe in crazy things that take the light off bad performances.
• The always entertaining list of bowl game swag is out. Sign me up for the Sun Bowl’s Helen of Troy hair dryer, which I thought was funny. But then WOTB says, “That’s a good brand.” So maybe it’s not so ba– no, that’s a terrible gift.

Here’s what we know. On Saturday, Dec. 4, with ESPN’s College GameDay in Corvallis, Lee Corso and The University of Oregon mascot exchanged heads for a little bit at the end of the show.

As you can see early Saturday, the Lee Corso head is still in possession of ESPN.

Details are sketchy but according to a published story in THE OREGONIAN late Sunday, the head was known to be stolen around 2:30 pm Saturday afternoon.

ESPN told Oregon State Police a giant mascot head of the ESPN College GameDay host was taken about 3:20 p.m. on Saturday, not long before the Ducks ended the game with a 37-20 victory over the Beavers.

However, word of the head’s disappearance did not surface until Sunday evening when Erin Andrews took to Twitter in an effort to out the perpetrator.

The first of a flurry of tweets from Erin Andrews.

We now know that this tweet sent to over 200,000 thousand followers resulted in a maelstrom of activity as the interwebs lit up. Speculation has been rampant on blogs, Twitter and message boards. Blame is being sent to both Oregon State and Oregon.

One example of the speculation flying through Twitter.

Shortly after Andrews’s first tweet, she followed up with another, this time with photographic evidence. Taken by an anonymous source, the head of Lee Corso is shown alive and well on the body of someone wearing an old University of Oregon sweatshirt not seen in decades. In the background of this photo is a license plate that may hold the key clue in the case. Who’s car is this? Who still owns and wears a sweatshirt from the 1980s?

As you can see, there is a license plate that can't be made out in the background. The contents of this license plate could answer many questions about the crime.

We sent the picture to an expert photographic enhancer to make out the license plate. At this time, all we have back from the lab is a slightly enhanced version.

Can't quite make it out.

UPDATE: Further details from the photo have been revealed and we can now connect the dots. It isn’t concrete, but the the evidence at this point strongly suggests one individual.

Of course!

As you can see, the license plate appears to belong to Rich Brooks. That explains the old Oregon sweatshirt. Brooks coached the school from 1977- 94 and also attended Oregon State University as a student and football player.

Many questions remain unanswered. Why did he do it? How did he get from a golf course in Florida to Corvallis so quickly? We’ll continue to follow this story and add updates as we have them.

Have you heard all the talk that you might be the team to beat this year? No, seriously, everyone thinks you’re going to dethrone the Trojans of Troy. They say Jahvid Best might be a Heisman front-runner and that he could run all over USC’s defense. Your secondary, that’s a good unit, too. It looks like Matt Barkley could throw a few picks your way.

You’re excited, aren’t you? Has there ever been a bigger game in the history of your stadium? Probably not. Just think of all that energy flowing through the stadium right before the ball is kicked off. This is going to be your chance to stick your flag in the Pac-10′s proverbial surface and proclaim it Golden Bear country.

Nobody blames you for looking ahead. I’d be excited, too. I’d probably gloss right over the patsy on the schedule that you haven’t lost to in 4 years. In fact, you should. Rest up, stay healthy. Mentally prepare yourselves for the juggernaut that is USC.

If nothing else, at least you’ll have an excuse on Sunday.

With apologies to the Montana Grizzlies and one of the more bizarre and unbelievable discussions I found while Googling, we dive head-first into a sea of unending admiration:

- From ESPN the Magazine: Adrian Peterson waxes nostalgic about the day he lost (YEAH, I SAID LOST. I REPEAT, OKLAHOMA, YOU LOST!!!) to Oregon.

“It was like some sort of crazy torture in the movies,” Peterson says. “How do people do that so long without taking a breath? I think my ears are still ringing.”

- For the nature lover, the NY Times college sports blog, The Quad, enjoys the scenery:

“The view from the open-air press box is one of the prettiest in all of college football, with the tall pines, low clouds and looming mountains in the backdrop.”

- From the San Francisco Chronicle, former Cal quarterback Steve Levy had a good time:

“Their fans are out of control,” Levy said Tuesday, recalling the aftermath of the Ducks’ 27-20 overtime win in 2005. “Oregon fans are the funniest, most ruthless fans. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one fan trying to grab my helmet, and I ran over there and knocked him right out (with a shoulder shiver).”

- You can’t find them actually saying it, but Keith Jackson and Lee Corso’s quotes are on blogs and forums, so you know it’s true:

“Per square yard, the loudest stadium in the history of the planet.” - Keith Jackson

“Per person, the Oregon stadium is the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.” - Lee Corso

- Lloyd Carr, former headmaster of Michigan’s 100,000+ seat stadium, knows where noise hangs out:

“That was the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.”

- I don’t know where his career went after college, but J. Brady McCollough is the Shakespeare of Autzen Stadium adulation:

“Sitting in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Oregon’s Autzen Stadium is one of college football’s hidden jewels. Before kickoff, Autzen is as peaceful as the Willamette River, which runs through Eugene just a few minutes from the stadium. After kickoff, the fans – even the alumni – forget who they are, where they come from and what their degree is in. The audience adopts a new collective identity for the next three-and-a-half hours: the 12th, 13th and 14th man.

Autzen’s 59,000 strong make the Big House collectively sound like a pathetic whimper. It’s louder than any place I’ve ever been, and that includes “The Swamp” at Florida, “The Shoe” in Columbus and “Death Valley” at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die.

R.I.P. Michigan 2003.”

- Don’t let anyone tell you any different – arbitrary and meaningless rankings matter!

Autzen Stadium is the 10th best stadium, the 7th best stadium, has the 2nd most die-hard fans, is the scariest place to play, the 9th toughest place to play, the 10th best stadium a decade ago and finally the #1 most intimidating stadium.