Craft Forced to Move

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell isn’t alone among Division I-A coaches who have been forced to evacuate their homes because of the Southern California wildfires.

San Diego State’s Tom Craft returned home at 12:30 a.m. Sunday after the Aztecs’ 25-20 victory over Wyoming, set his clocks back and went to bed.

At 3 a.m., he was awakened by firefighters who were going door to door in the Valley Center neighborhood and ordering residents to evacuate.

Craft said he looked out a back window only to see flames.

“It was scary,” Craft told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’ve never seen a fire that big and that close.”

Craft and his family have been staying at a San Diego hotel since.

His wife returned briefly to the neighborhood on Monday and said several of their neighbors’ homes had burned, but that their home had escaped major damage.

Offensive line coach Damon Baldwin and defensive lineman Brook Miller were also forced to evacuate.

The paper reported that the fate of Baldwin’s home was unknown, but that Miller’s home is believed to be OK.

The team has a bye Saturday and is scheduled to play Nevada Las Vegas on Nov. 8.

Craft said that if the air quality in San Diego does not improve by next week, the team will leave early for Las Vegas in order to practice for the game.

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Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel suspended tight end Louis Irizarry after the freshman was arrested on assault charges in a dorm room altercation. Irizarry is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 6 in Franklin County Municipal Court.... Maryland quarterback Scott McBrien, who suffered a concussion last Thursday against Georgia Tech, has missed practice time and his availability for Saturday’s game against North Carolina is questionable. If McBrien can’t play, freshman Joel Statham will be his replacement.