1.   Backpedaling like a defensive back, the NCAA yesterday clarified that football players may kneel and pray to celebrate touchdowns.

2.   For as long as Byron Hanspard can remember, the Texas Tech sophomore running back has celebrated touchdowns by kneeling in the end zone and saying a prayer.

3.   He opens doors, wears football jerseys and celebrates touchdowns with paw-dropping dances.

4.   In fact, he celebrated the touchdown by leaping so high into the stands that his knees wound up on top of the restraining wall at the Metrodome.

5.   Never has he celebrated a touchdown with so much as a spike, choosing instead to toss the ball to a referee or ball boy.

6.   Nor to excessively celebrate a touchdown catch.

7.   Oklahoma celebrates touchdowns with horses named Boomer and Sooner pulling a wagon called the Sooner Schooner around the goalposts.

8.   The dilapidated quarterback went straight to the bench, without even celebrating the touchdown.

9.   This month running back Fred Lane was benched for one game after grabbing his crotch while celebrating a touchdown.

10.   USC celebrates touchdowns with a horse named Traveler carrying a guy in a skirt called Tommy Trojan around the field.