By RAY FITTIPALDO, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Urban Meyer will go to work Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium as an analyst for ESPN, providing color commentary for the game against Nebraska. The question everyone seems to be asking today is whether Meyer will be going to work at Beaver Stadium next season as Penn State's new head football coach.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Less than a mile from Penn State University, one right turn off the town's main drag, sits the sprawling campus of State College Area High School. One of the largest high schools in the state, it's home to the Little Lions and it's where young football players dream of growing up to play for the Nittany Lions and legendary coach Joe Paterno.

When NFL players decided to decertify as a union before they were locked out in March, they did so because it was necessary to pursue a class-action antitrust lawsuit that several players, including New England quarterback Tom Brady, filed against NFL owners.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers did not sign Ike Taylor to a new contract before last season it left open the possibility that their starting cornerbacks for 2011 could be Bryant McFadden and William Gay.

Taylor will be the Steelers' top priority in free agency when the lockout ends, but that does not mean they will be able to come to terms with the best cornerback on their roster.

Turn on the NFL Network or ESPN just about any day of the week, and it's likely that you'll see a report on one of the many player-organized team workouts taking place in various NFL cities.

On Dec. 27, Connecticut opened Big East Conference play with a 15-point setback at Pitt. It was not that much of a surprise. Pitt was the Big East favorite with a junior- and senior-laden lineup; Connecticut was playing with six freshmen in its 11-player rotation.

Shaka Smart is the hottest coaching prospect in NCAA basketball. This 33-year-old head-coaching prodigy has taken Virginia Commonwealth University to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history after an improbable run as a No. 11 seed.

Sometimes the quietest person in the room speaks up and the words have more meaning.

Ashton Gibbs is Pitt's leading scorer and one of the team's most experienced players but he has never been one to assert himself vocally in the locker room or at a postgame news conference.

PITTSBURGH - Many coaches in Division I basketball would be thrilled to have an 8-2 record after 10 games. Pittsburgh men's coach Jamie Dixon is not one of them.

With six days between games during final exams week, Dixon used his three hours a day with his players to drive home the point that their performance through the first six weeks of the season was unacceptable.

Elimination games have a way of revealing the character of an NHL team. Some players relish the opportunity of playing with their backs against the wall while others self-destruct under the intense pressure of the situation.