Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith did not break any NCAA rules when he missed a class to attend a football camp sponsored by Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair this summer, the school said yesterday.

Ohio State athletic department officials spent six weeks probing Smith's attendance at the June football camp in Nashville, Tenn.

NCAA rules prohibit players from attending educational or charitable activities if they miss class and do not get written permission from the school's athletic director.

But because Smith was hired to be at the camp, his presence fell outside the scope of NCAA rules, the school said.

"It was something that he was employed to do, so it falls underneath the category of student-athlete employment," Ohio State spokesman Steve Snapp said.

The camp paid for Smith's overnight accommodations -- his only form of payment, Snapp said.

The NCAA and the Big Ten Conference said they agreed with the school's findings. But Smith still may face a reprimand from coach Jim Tressel.

"Anytime a student-athlete misses a class, it is unacceptable," Tressel said in a statement. "Troy understands how I feel about the situation and knows there will be consequences."

Arizona State

A university investigation into events prior to the killing of a former Sun Devils player, allegedly by a teammate, found "errors in judgment" by coach Dirk Koetter and then-athletic director Gene Smith but no violations of university policies or procedures.

The committee, chaired by law professor Myles Lynk, also concluded in a report made public that no faculty or staff members had any cause to believe Loren Wade, then an Arizona State player and now charged with the killing, was capable of shooting another person.

Wade was a sophomore running back when former player Brandon Falkner was shot to death outside a Scottsdale nightclub March 26. Wade was arrested at the scene and is awaiting trial for first-degree murder.

Wade, 21, from Los Angeles, had been in trouble several times before the shooting, and the report's criticism of Koetter and Smith stemmed from their handling of those cases.

Florida State

Linebackers Ernie Sims and A.J. Nicholson will be in the lineup for the Sept. 5 season opener against Miami, despite their summer brushes with the law.

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said he'll handle the discipline since the legal issues are misdemeanors.

Sims was arrested following an early morning fight with his live-in girlfriend outside a university residence hall while Nicholson had a pair of run-ins with local police, including a misdemeanor DUI.

"There are more ways to discipline other than suspension," Bowden said. "You've heard of pain, haven't you."

One of Bowden's favorite punishments through the years has been making players run stadium steps for mistakes of many kinds, including those involving police.

Elsewhere

A dozen retired coaches with impressive resumes have agreed to take part in a new college football poll that the organizer hopes to unveil in late September.

Ideally, the Master Coaches Survey will have 15 or 16 voters, who will be provided game films of the top teams, said Andy Curtin, an Atlanta-based lawyer and former sports agent who came up with the idea after watching last season's Orange Bowl.

Southern California beat Oklahoma, 55-19, in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

"After that debacle last year in the championship game, I started thinking about what was wrong in the method of selecting teams," Curtin said.

Curtin met with 14 coaches last week to discuss his idea. John Cooper (Ohio State), Vince Dooley (Georgia), Pat Dye (Auburn), LaVell Edwards (BYU), Hayden Fry (Iowa), Don James (Washington), Frank Kush (Arizona State), Dick MacPherson (Syracuse), Bill Mallory (Indiana), Don Nehlen (West Virginia), John Ralston (Stanford), John Robinson (USC), R.C. Slocum (Texas A&M) and Gene Stallings (Alabama) attended the meeting July 17.

Curtin said 12 coaches have already committed to take part in the poll, but would not identify them. Curtin presented his idea to BCS officials in March, but they passed on his proposal.