news-record.com

Three weeks later after sustaining a quadriceps injury in practice, Wake Forest kicker Sam Swank is still uncertain of a return date. The senior, whose personal quest for the ACC's career scoring record has taken a hit, didn't practice Monday and hasn't seen signs of great progress lately, coach Jim Grobe said Tuesday.

Redshirt freshman Shane Popham, 3-of-8 so far, is still considered the probable starter for Saturday's home game against Duke.

"For a kicker, a game is typically not physical, but mentally, you have to be a tough guy," Grobe said. "I'm sure (Popham) never dreamed he'd be kicking the ball as a freshman. Now it has been thrown in his lap, and he may be our kicker for the rest of the year."

Swank is tied for fourth in league history with 326 points and is now unlikely to catch former Maryland Terrapin Nick Novak, author of 393 points from 2001-04. But more important for the Deacs is the limitation that Swank's injury has placed on the offense.

In last week's 16-10 loss at Miami, Wake punted rather than attempt a 50-yard field goal in the first half. Swank is 9-of-12 from 50 yards and longer during his career. Combine that with Popham's 40-yard miss and you may have the difference in a tight game.

Grobe said tailbacks Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass, both of whom were banged up at Miami, should be healthy and ready to go for Duke.

-- Rob Daniels

CLEMSON: Interim coach Dabo Swinney says he's focused on getting his Tigers to regain the confidence they've lost this season.

Swinney said he reviewed Clemson's past three losses and found the team was two plays from success. He says he has tried to instill a winning attitude that would have the Tigers making key plays at the most critical times.

Clemson had lost three straight games, it's longest such streak since 2005. The Tigers had last week off. They return to action Saturday at Boston College.

Swinney says the bye week gave him and the coaches a chance to settle from an emotional first week that followed coach Tommy Bowden's departure on Oct. 13.

WASHINGTON STATE: Quarterback J.T. Levenseller will give up his redshirt season and play in his first game Saturday at Stanford. The Cougars are so thin at quarterback that Levenseller will likely get plenty of playing time in the final five games, making it worthwhile to pull his redshirt in the midst of a 1-7 season.

Coach Paul Wulff said that Kevin Lopina will start at quarterback, but Levenseller will play.

Levenseller would be the fifth quarterback to play for the Cougars this season. Gary Rogers and Marshall Lobbestael have been knocked out for the year by injuries. Lopina is playing hurt with a back injury, and former walk-on Dan Wagner has not been effective.

The Cougars (1-7, 0-5 Pac-10) had a bye last week after enduring the 69-0 loss at home to Southern California that was the worst defeat in program history. They play at Stanford (4-4, 3-2), then finish with games against Arizona, Arizona State, Washington and Hawaii.

NORTH TEXAS: Fifteen North Texas football players failed drug tests conducted this fall at the request of coach Todd Dodge.

Eighty-six players were tested from Sept. 24-Oct. 15. They were chosen by the coaching staff and were considered regular contributors to the team. The results of the testing were first reported by the Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle.

The school normally tests athletes at random, and the NCAA tested 20 players separately late last month. North Texas hasn't received results of the NCAA tests.

Dodge said at his weekly news conference that he couldn't specify the types of drugs, but later referred to them generally as "street drugs."

TULANE: Running back Andre Anderson is out for the season. An MRI revealed both a fracture and dislocation of Anderson's right shoulder suffered in last Saturday's loss to Rice.