QBs Luck, Griffin win awards

College football: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck won both the Walter Camp Award and the Maxwell Award, both of which honor the college football player of the year.

The announcement of the Maxwell Award was made during the College Football Awards show at Disney World, which also included Baylor’s Robert Griffin III winning the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s top quarterback.

A list of the honors given at the College Football Awards show are in Scoreboard on page C4.

Montana host to Northern Iowa

College football: The University of Montana continues its run in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs with a game against Northern Iowa today in Missoula (ESPN, 5 p.m.).

Northern Iowa (10-2) is ranked second by The Sports Network while Montana is ranked fifth. The Grizzlies (10-2) received the fourth seed in the playoffs and will host the fifth-seeded Panthers.

Montana has an eight-game winning streak, and has won its last four games by a combined score of 154-41.

UNI coach Mark Farley said his team has a nice mix of older and younger players, a tough defense and confidence from playing a tough schedule.

Associated Press

IndyCar won’t return to Vegas

Auto racing: The IndyCar Series will not return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next season, and its future at the track depends in part on what it learns from the investigation into Dan Wheldon’s fatal accident.

Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was killed in the opening laps of the Oct. 16 season finale at Las Vegas. The investigation into the 15-car fatal accident is ongoing, and IndyCar has postponed releasing its 2012 schedule until it determines if the series can continue racing on high-banked ovals such as Las Vegas.

Speedway Motorsports Inc. owner Bruton Smith was adamant he wanted IndyCar to honor the three-year lease deal it has with Las Vegas, but IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard had been reluctant to return to the speedway.

Smith told The Associated Press on Thursday that SMI agreed to a buyout of 2012, and the final season of the contract will be reviewed later.

Associated Press