Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said he voted Texas No. 1 in the USA Today coaches poll this week. Only he didn't.

At his weekly news conference Tuesday previewing the top-ranked Buckeyes' showdown Saturday at No. 2 Texas, Tressel said, "I've got [the Longhorns] ranked No. 1 on our ballot."

But USA Today disclosed late Tuesday that Tressel's ballot didn't list Texas No. 1. The ballot listed Texas at No. 2, Ohio State confirmed.

Stan Jefferson, Ohio State's director of player development, called in Tressel's ballot Tuesday morning.

He said he changed the ballot and did not have time to tell Tressel.

"When it came time to vote on the preseason poll, we voted Texas No. 1 and us No. 3 after talking about it as a staff," Jefferson told a local news outlet. "When I called in his poll [Tuesday morning], he did not tell me to put Ohio State No. 1. I put that down because we were No. 1 in the preseason poll that came out. I did not have time to get with him before the press conference."

Jefferson said it was an "honest mistake."

"It was not meant as a psychological ploy or attempt to play mind games," he said.

Colorado State

Prosecutors said they have issued arrest warrants for seven people, including five current or former members of the team, as part of a fraud and forgery investigation dating to last year.

"There has been an ongoing criminal investigation since November into bank fraud, and it went to a grand jury in February," said Linda Jensen, a spokeswoman for Larimer County prosecutors. "These are not indictments from a grand jury. These are charges that we have filed."

The felony charges range from forgery to theft to identity theft. Jensen said she could not detail the allegations because the warrants have been sealed by a judge as the investigation continues.

Coach Sonny Lubick suspended senior cornerback Robert Herbert and freshmen defensive linemen Brian Abata and Micah Crews immediately pending the outcome of the investigation. None are starters.

Also charged were Daniel Foster, Calee Jo Chleboun, Tramell McGill and Preston Garcia.

McGill, a former CSU player who transferred to Arizona Western College a month ago, also was suspended by his new school. Foster was a defensive back from Corona, Calif., who played for CSU in 2002.

Notre Dame

A Florida man who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of leaving a threatening telephone message for then-Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham has been fined $2,000 and placed on probation.

Andrew Kim French, 26, of Fort Myers, Fla., expressed remorse for his actions, saying he was drunk at a party in November 2003 when he made the call. He said that he said "terrible things" during that call, including using racially charged terms about Willingham and threatening to burn a cross in the coach's yard. Willingham, who coached the Irish for three seasons until he was fired in December 2004, is the coach at Washington.

Elsewhere

A judge in Columbus, Ohio, denied Maurice Clarett's request for a survey to determine whether the former Ohio State running back can get a fair trial in the city that once cheered him.