Classes begin in just a few weeks for college students. For those who are returning from a summer break, the tricky transition of balancing classes, homework, a job, and a social life begins once more.

Imagine if you had to add “catching up” to the list because you’ll be missing the first few days of class due to the Olympics. Not from watching the games or even attending, but because you’ll be competing in the international event. Many of Team USA’s athletes will be missing class this semester while they go for the gold in London. In fact, 5/8 of the US men’s Olympic gymnasts are University of Oklahoma students!

USA Today recently compiled a list of 10 college Olympians to keep your eye on during these summer games. Read the rest of this entry »

“There’s no way I’d eat that old piece of cheese in the refrigerator that has mold growing on it. I bet $10 you wouldn’t eat it either.”

Challenges like this one are quite common among college students and their friends. Often, they include money or bragging rights as the reward for a task that is completed. However, sometimes the debts go unpaid and the victor does not receive any spoils for the accomplished challenge. This is where Stupidbetz.com comes into the equation.

“Friends and buddies are always daring each other to do stupid things, like eat a stick of butter or something crazy like that,” said Chris Beauchamp, the founder of the website. “We’re opening up those challenges to anyone across the world. And unlike your cheap friends who never actually pay up, you can cash in through the website.”

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By Cabrone D. Brewer

A game traditionally billed as a shootout between Oklahoma and Texas turned into an ugly blowout early Saturday afternoon, with the No. 3 Sooners dismantling the No. 11 Longhorns 55-17 in the 106th installment of the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Oklahoma’s voracious defense was absolutely sensational from beginning to end — converting a school-record three of five turnovers into touchdowns and matching another record with eight sacks.

Quarterback Landry Jones was firing on all cylinders as well, completing 31 of 50 passes for 367 yards and no turnovers. Running back Dominique Whaley continues to impress both coaches and fans, breaking a 64-yard touchdown run in the third quarter as the stingy Sooner defense limited Texas to only 36 yards rushing on 45 attempts.

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Nobody likes to get sick during the school year. I mean, you do get a few days off from classes, but after you recover, you have a mountain of homework and readings to catch up on, you have to find those in-class lecture notes from a fellow classmate, and you probably don’t feel completely up to par for a few days after you return to classes.

So, whenever I get sick during the school year, I rush myself to my school’s health services center to try to get myself some medication ASAP. Although the health center on campus is decent, it’s never been something to write home to my parents about. I guess I should have paid attention to the Princeton Review’s list of the Top 10 Colleges with the Best Health Care Services.

Other students have bigger issues, however. Chronic diseases, mental health concerns and sexual education and services are all things your college’s health center should be able to help you with, but not all schools are created equal. Choosing a school that is best suited to help your personal health needs is imperative for every student to consider.

Without any further adu, here are the top 10 schools you should go to if you are notorious for getting sick – or if your parents just want to have fantastic health care services available on your school’s campus.

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The Sweet 16 kicks off tonight, with a batch of four games that should all be compelling. So let’s take a look at the four games:

1. Butler vs. Wisconsin: Here we go again. A year removed from a surprising National Championship Game appearance, the Butler Bulldogs are a Cinderella story again. They upset the top-seeded Pitt Panthers in the second round (Really, who hasn’t at this point?) but will need some more help for Shelvin Mack, who probably won’t go 7-of-12 from three-point range again.

Wisconsin held off Kansas State last round and can shake their postseason demons with a solid win here. But star guard Jordan Taylor better not pull another 2-for-16 from the floor, or the Badgers will be in trouble.

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More and more traditional colleges are offering classes online, challenging the traditional divisions between online schools and brick-and-mortar colleges. Some students are even allowed to take classroom-based courses, but are assigned to online classes.

“When I look back, I think it took away from my freshman year,” Kaitlyn Hartsock told the New York Times, of the online classes she had to take as a freshman at University of Florida, Gainesville. “My mom was really upset about it. She felt like she’s paying for me to go to college and not sit at home and watch through a computer.”

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Five weeks into the college football season and for those of us holding out hope for a BCS-busting team, the picture got a little darker. Here were the highlights from the week:

1) Oregon runs past Boise— Down 21-3 to Stanford in the first quarter is not a place many teams want to be, but the Oregon Ducks took the setback in stride, turned their high-octane offense up a notch, and blew past the ninth-ranked Cardinal 52-31. As a result, the Ducks moved up to third in the coaches poll, passing Boise State, which overwhelmed New Mexico State 59-0. Even as WAC mate Nevada continues to rise (#23) in the polls, Boise likely now needs a second unbeaten team to lose to make the national title game. Read the rest of this entry »

Conference play enters full swing, and there’s a spate of great games as we enter Week 5. So many in fact, that this week will highlight four games:

1. #13 Stanford at #4 Oregon— Eugene will be rocking when the Cardinals come into town. Oregon leads the nation in scoring at nearly 58 points per game, but their performance against Arizona State last week raises some significant questions about the defense. The Ducks allowed a staggering 597 yards against the Sun Devils but escaped thanks to seven turnovers. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is much better than Steven Threet of ASU, so don’t expect the Cardinal to be quite so giving. Luck threw for 251 and no picks in last year’s contest, won 51-42 by Stanford. On the road, this would be a massive statement win for the Stanford. Read the rest of this entry »

No longer will fall be the “back to school” season for some of the students at the University of Florida. By giving students the option of taking spring and summer classes only, the university is hoping to prevent overcrowding.

But before this new scheduling can become a reality, a state law must be changed. Joseph Glover, the university’s academic administrator, proposed the idea of the new schedule to the Florida Board of Governors at a meeting last week. Glover said the new arrangement would be a productive, effective way to bring in more students to the university to fill demand.

“U.F. is a large institution and, basically, in the fall semester the Gainesville campus is full to capacity,” he said to the board. “We do have extra capacity in spring, after winter graduation, and lots of capacity in the summer. So the thought came to us, what’s so sacred about fall-spring? What if we offered our students the ability to be spring-summer? We see more and more students who are opting for innovative programs. I think there would be a market for students who would be interested in doing this for a variety of reasons.” Read the rest of this entry »

UCLA's Gerrit Cole. Image via: AP Photo/Nati Harnik

The Florida State Seminoles used three home runs to jump on top of the rival Florida Gators in the College World Series yesterday, but were forced to withstand a late rally before winning 8-5.

Mike McGee struck the big blow on offense with a three-run home run in the third inning. Stephen Cardullo and Tyler Holt also hit home runs for the Seminoles.

But the Gators nearly made Florida State pay for leaving 11 runners on base when they staged a rally in the ninth. Preston Tucker ripped a bases-loaded double down the left field line to make it 8-5 and forcing the Seminoles to bring in McGee to try and close it out.

But McGee wasn’t quite as fortunate on the mound as he was with the bat and allowed a single and hit a batter to load the bases up again and bring Mike Zunino to the plate as the leading run. Zunino ripped a ball to Cardullo that, for a fraction of a second, looked like it might get into the gap. But Cardullo caught it, and doubled the runner off second, ending the fifth-ranked Gators’ season.

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