Driver Is Third Notre Dame Player Suspended This Season

For the third time this season, a Notre Dame football player has been suspended.

Tailback Tony Driver has been suspended for the rest of the season by the university’s Office of Student Affairs, Coach Bob Davie said Friday.

Davie would not elaborate why the junior was suspended by the board, which enforces the university’s student handbook that covers student conduct issues ranging from cheating to dorm room visits from members of the opposite sex.

Davie said Driver is still on scholarship and in school. He is expected to rejoin the team for spring practice.

“It’s a Student Affairs decision. I feel bad for a lot of people, but most of all Tony Driver,” Davie said. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s what it is.”

Driver started the season splitting time with Tony Fisher as the starting tailback, but he began seeing fewer carries with the emergence of freshman Julius Jones. Driver had 49 carries for 187 yards and four touchdowns this season, and he became primarily a short yardage back the last several weeks.

Cornerback Brock Williams was suspended before the season, and fellow corner Lee Lafayette was disciplined for academic reasons.

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Rumors about Louisiana State Coach Gerry DiNardo’s future are being refuted--for now.

LSU Athletic Director Joe Dean said this week that DiNardo would not become the first LSU coach since 1916 to be fired in midseason. He sounded less than committed about the coach’s future after the the season.

“Gerry will continue to be our coach for the rest of this season, and hopefully after that,” Dean said.

A year after LSU went from the preseason favorite in the Southeastern Conference West to a 2-6 league record, the Tigers (2-4, 0-4 SEC) are still struggling and are a two-touchdown underdog against No. 12 Mississippi State (6-0, 3-0) today.

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The last time Tennessee played Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Bear Bryant still was in high school, the stadium held only 12,000 fans and the Crimson Tide won its fourth consecutive Southern Conference championship. It was the third Saturday in October in 1930.

That streak ends today when the No. 5 Volunteers (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) visit what is now Bryant-Denny Stadium and a sellout crowd of 83,818.

The two schools have played every year since 1930, but in Birmingham when Alabama was host.