Wisconsin running back Lance Smith, who is facing battery charges, will not be allowed to play in away games this season.

Smith will miss Saturday’s game at UNLV and games at Illinois, Penn State, Ohio State and Minnesota.

Smith was suspended from the team in July after he was arrested, but athletics director Barry Alvarez reinstated him in early August just before the Badgers’ first practice of the season.

The team announced Wednesday that Alvarez and dean of students Lori Berquam decided he would not play in away games.

Smith is charged with pushing his girlfriend during a dispute over a cab fare, refusing to let her leave his apartment and taking her money and shoes.

He has apologized to the woman but pleaded not guilty to charges of battery and disorderly conduct.

Lee continues LB tradition

Sean Lee hates mistakes.

Like the time last year the Penn State linebacker thought he had Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn in his sights for a sack before the quarterback scrambled out of trouble, setting up a touchdown that helped spark a 41-17 Irish win.

Quinn is now with the Cleveland Browns, but Lee is back for a Nittany Lions linebacking corps hoping to atone for last year’s blunders when the Irish visit Beaver Stadium on Saturday.

“That was probably the biggest thing that sticks out of my mind,” Lee said. “You look back at the film … there are so many things I could do better.”

Lee had seven tackles, a forced fumble and a sack to lead the defense in a 59-0 rout in the season opener last week against lowly Florida International, a performance that earned him Big Ten defensive player-of-the-week honors.

When Lee arrived at Penn State two seasons ago, Paul Posluszny helped him get acclimated to the college game. Coach Joe Paterno and linebacker coach Ron Vanderlinden then turned to Lee in the 2006 Orange Bowl after Posluszny was carted off with a knee injury.

But the mild-mannered Lee knew he still had to bide his time on the bench before getting more playing time, with Posluszny and Dan Connor entrenched at the position.

“I knew they were two great players, I knew I had to wait my turn,” Lee said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

He didn’t have to wait long. Last season, the coaches moved senior Tim Shaw from linebacker to defensive end in part to get Lee into the lineup alongside Posluszny and Connor.

“Penn State has been always known as Linebacker U. and this is no exception,” Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said.

Bill Lynch expects Indiana to be more precise on Saturday

He wants to eliminate the penalties, fumbles and turnovers the Hoosiers overcame last weekend against Indiana State and start forcing opponents into more mistakes.

“Yes, ball security is something we’ll work on this week,” the Indiana coach said. “That, and we’ve got to knock the ball out more on the other side.”

On the surface, Indiana’s 55-7 opening-night win over Indiana State looked impressive. It was their largest season-opening victory margin since a 72-0 rout of Fort Knox in 1944, and it came with all the bells and whistles a coach wants.

Big plays in the passing game, 217 yards rushing, five sacks on defense and a dominating performance from start to finish despite some early jitters.

But when Lynch looked deeper, he found some big concerns.

Indiana committed seven penalties, had two turnovers and wound up with six fumbles – mistakes Lynch realizes could be attributed to first-game jitters and first-time performances during mop-up duty.

He also understands that if they don’t get corrected quickly, they could prove costly against teams like Western Michigan, which played in the International Bowl last season.

“We put the ball on the ground six times and the ball can’t be on the ground when it’s in our possession,” Lynch said. “We’re playing a team that takes great pride in forcing turnovers.”

Captain Curtis

Two years ago, Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter was a wide-eyed freshman who lacked command in the huddle.

Now, his peers have voted him a team captain.

Painter joins defensive end Cliff Avril, linebacker Dan Bick and linebacker Stanford Keglar as captains for the 2007 season.

“It really means a lot to be selected by your fellow team members, to hold that kind of position,” Painter said. “It means a lot that they trust you as much as you trust them. It’s a great honor to be selected.”

Coach Joe Tiller said with the new title comes more responsibility for Painter.

“He needs to assert himself and demonstrate some leadership skills out there,” Tiller said.

Painter said he bench presses a max of 360 pounds, and squats 460. Tiller said Painter’s work ethic has earned him respect.

“He’s a very popular guy in the weight room,” Tiller said. “He’s the strongest quarterback we’ve ever had. He gets in there and bench presses with the linebackers. They really like that. They think he’s one of the grunt guys.”

Tiller upheld his tradition of waiting until the week of the first game to have the players vote.

“Some teams, they’ll elect their captains coming out of the spring because they want them to lead the way over the summer,” he said. “Our thoughts are, we’re developing captains over the summer. It’s always interesting to see who emerges.”