Boston College

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen didn't need to make an impassioned speech this week to put his players in the proper mood for today's game against No. 23 Boston College. The Terrapins have plenty of incentive to win, beginning with the fact that a victory will make Maryland eligible to receive a bowl bid. There's also the matter of giving the team's 14 seniors a proper send-off in their home finale, as well as regaining a sense of superiority at Byrd Stadium, where Maryland is 1-3 this season.

By The Associated Press Illinois was No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll Monday, the Illini's 13th straight week on top and their fifth consecutive poll as a unanimous choice. The Illini (28-0) beat Northwestern in their only game last week. Coupled with a loss by Michigan State, that was enough for them to win their second straight Big Ten title. The 13-week run at No. 1 is the longest since Kansas was on top for 15 straight polls in 1996-97. Five weeks as a unanimous choice of the 72-member national media panel is the longest such streak since Duke's five-week run in 2001-02.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Penn State couldn't run the ball, couldn't handle the trickery of Boston College quarterback Paul Peterson and, on too many occasions, couldn't think straight. If this sounds familiar to Nittany Lions followers who cringed while watching these guys go through the agonizing 2003 season, that's because it is. Any encouragement Penn State was able to draw from its 48-10 opening-day win over Akron was siphoned away by Boston College on Saturay night as the Eagles (2-0)

As they look for a college admissions edge, soon-to-be high school juniors face a unique dilemma: Should they take the old SAT in the fall, or wait for the new version, with a timed essay, in the spring of 2005? It's a question that applies mainly to the high school of class of 2006, whose leap into the college admissions fray coincides with the transition to the new SAT. For some students, it's adding an extra dose of stress and strategizing to an already complex process. And it isn't helping that the two major test prep companies are split on whether taking the old SAT next fall is a good idea.

It's a matter of where you stand, I guess. In the business arena, it's called a "hostile takeover. " That's the term for when one business is struggling and vulnerable, allowing a second business the opportunity to buy stock, gain assets and assume control. But in this case, it's different because the arena is sports. For some reason, that makes the Atlantic Coast Conference's impending expansion a life-altering experience. When the ACC decided to woo three schools from The Big East Conference to enhance its football presence, Big East officials began crying foul, an entire nation worried about the "domino effects" of the moves and politicians began stumping for votes by pleading to keep things the same.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Jeanette B. Flanagan, 50, of Locust Hill, died Thursday, March 6, 2003, at Frederick Memorial Hospital, Frederick, Md. Born Nov. 8, 1952, in Cumberland, Md., she was the daughter of the late Julius W. and Beatrice Brashears Linaburg. She was a graduate of Fort Hill High School in Cumberland, where she was the top female and ranked second in her class. She received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from West Virginia University, and her master of science degree in nursing from the Macy Program at Harvard University and Boston College.