Blogpoll Roundtable 2, or when a Yankee comes in and runs the ACC

College Game Balls serves double duty this week, hosting both this past week's ACC Roundtable and the big boys roundtable. His questions are below followed by our answers.


1. Which freshman impressed you more last weekend: the California dream Matt Barkley who quarterbacked USC over tOSU or white lightening Tate Forcier who slashed through Notre Dame? Which one would you like to have on your team? Feel free to write in another worthy candidate.

I'm going to go with Tate Forcier here. While Barkley did have an impressive fourth quarter drive to win the game in the 'Shoe, Tate Forcier had a better day overall (23 of 33, 240 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT). Forcier is also the more mobile QB as he rushed for 70 yards Saturday in the win vs. Notre Dame. Forcier doesn't seem to have nearly as many weapons as Barkley does - cough, cough Joe McKnight - so the edge goes to Forcier again here. Finally, Barkley had nearly half of the fourth quarter to engineer his game-winning drive. A drive he threw the ball all of 4 times. All Forcier had to do was set up a game-tying field goal but decided to go for the jugular and the touchdown. One game a career does not make, and it is still way too soon to tell whether either of these freshmen are for real. But at this point I'll take Forcier over Barkley for the Eagles.


2. Let’s play a game of pretend the unthinkable happened. Commissioner __________ of your conference has been forced to resign after he was caught canoodling with some harlots. Great news, you’ve been chosen to succeed him. To make your mark you decide to make a big change. What is it going to be?

Swofford. Tsk, tsk.

This is an easy one. First, we are realigning the ACC's divisions so that they make, you know, sense to the rest of college football. The ACC remains the only college football conference that has divisions that don't break down along geographic lines (and as a result, make absolutely no sense to outsiders). Effective immediately, the ACC will be realigned into North and South divisions. The ACC North will be the old ACC Atlantic, sending Florida State and Clemson packing and replacing them with Virginia and Virginia Tech. Yes, I realize that this precludes a Florida State vs. Miami (Fla.) ACC Championship Game, but how many times has that mythical game happened, Hurricane fans? Exactly. Deal with it.

Second, we are doing away with these manufactured inter-conference rivalry games. We will be adopting the Big XII schedule format where teams play 3 teams from the other division on a home-and-home format, then play the other 3 schools over the next 2 year period. When the division crown is an 8 game race, is it really fair that Clemson-Georgia Tech and BC-Virginia Tech play annually while the Deacons get an easy win again Duke?

Third, the ACC Championship Game is moving to Charlotte. Permanently. This championship game played in Florida experiment was cute and all, but enough is enough. But what about Charlotte weather in December? you might say. The Big XII hosts championship games in cold-weather cities. They haven't seemed to have many issues there. And Charlotte is a major East coast hub and central to a majority of ACC programs.

Finally, we will threaten to pull out of the ACC-ESPN TV deal for basketball (No Duke-Carolina for you!) to negotiate a television deal where every ACC football game is available on television. No more of this ESPN360.com junk. Football is meant to be watched on a high-def TV, not my 19" Thinkpad laptop screen.


3. This week the quality of games is kicked up a gear. Other than your own, which game are you most looking forward to?

We are really looking forward to Georgia Tech at Miami (Fla.) tonight. The winner will have the inside track at the Coastal Division crown. In fact, over the next three or four weeks, it seems like the Coastal Division champ will emerge with Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.), Virginia Tech and North Carolina all squaring off in early season action. Also looking forward to Nebraska at Virginia Tech this week as Tech looks to avoid starting the season 1-2 and defending what small shreds of credibility this conference has left in football.

Of course, we aren't looking forward to these games half as much as this Saturday's BC vs. Clemson game.


4. What mascot and/or tradition would you thieve from another school if it was socially acceptable.

Since I have chosen to matriculate at two schools with arguably the most generic school mascots of all time - Eagles and Wildcats - we need to spice things up a little bit around here. So we'll take on the mascot of the now-defunct Bradford College of nearby Haverhill, MA. The BC Fighting Squirrels, anyone?


He's even got a black eye. That's because he's one badass squirrel.

Since this rebranding attempt will never work, for the tradition, we're selecting the Auburn War Eagle. Having seen this thing fly around Jordan-Hare Stadium before the game, it is quite the spectacle. When the war eagle crashes down into the middle of the field, the home Auburn crowd gets totally amped. This is the perfect addition to BC Eagles football. For one thing, it will actually get butts in seats before kickoff as fans will want to get there to watch the eagle flying high above Alumni Stadium. Second, unlike Auburn ... our school mascot is actually an eagle. This makes a whole lot more sense as a tradition on the Heights than it does on the Plains. Just sayin'.

Preseason Blogpoll Roundtable, or How T. Boone Pickens Fixes the BC Tailgating Scene

Throughout the season, much like last year, we'll be participating in the blogpoll roundtable. The first one of the year is hosted by Doug at Hey Jenny Slater.

1. Without naming names, a few teams seem to have popped up frequently on everyone's "overrated" lists in the preseason, so let's forget about them for the moment and concentrate on a different group: sleepers. Which currently unheralded team are you currently putting at least a few of your chips behind in the hopes that you'll be able to say "totally called that" once they've accomplished big things by the end of the season?

In my opinion, any sleeper would essentially be a team that was left out of the preseason Top 25 polls, makes a 2008-Utah-like leap into the polls and remains in the top 25 for much of the second half of the season. Remember: Utah went unranked in both major polls to start the 2008 season, and did a little thing called "going undefeated and finished #2 in the final AP Poll," is all. So for this question, a good starting point has to be the Big East Conference because, hell, somebody has to win the conference and no Big East program is ranked in the preseason Top 25.

So why not South Florida? It seems it is now or never for the Bulls in Grothe and Selvie's final season. USF has flirted with greatness early the past few seasons only to fall back into their previous, upstart-CUSA-like form. The talent is certainly there, and the schedule sets up fairly nicely. The Bulls can sleepwalk through their first three games against two I-AA teams and a I-A upstart (Western Kentucky) before traveling to Tallahassee to face Florida State. With the exception of USF's October 24 road trip to Pittsburgh, all of the teams projected to finish atop the Big East this season - namely Cincinnati and West Virginia - travel to Tampa. The road Big East schedule isn't too difficult with stops at Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and Connecticut. If the Bulls can split their in-state ACC matchups, Leavitt could very well be looking at a 10-2 or 11-1 season and a BCS bowl berth. Or the wheels could again fall off the Bulls wagon mid-season, and South Florida could fade down the stretch. Your guess is as good as mine.

2. In a similar vein, pick a sleeper player on your team whom nobody's talking about right now and tell us why we will be talking about them by December.

Much like Mark Herzlich and Mike McLaughlin exploded onto the defensive scene last year, expect big things from junior defensive end Alex Albright. Albright has been plagued with injuries throughout his brief career with the Eagles, but if he can stay healthy and return to his 2007 form (38 tackles, team-high 8.5 sacks, 10 TFLs), Albright will be a much needed boost to a defensive line that lost both Raji and Brace up the middle.

3. Florida is about as big a consensus favorite as we've seen in recent years, but remember, USC got 62 out of 65 first-place votes in the AP's 2007 preseason poll and still managed to lose to Stanford. Given how difficult it is to go undefeated period these days, where do you think the Gators are most likely to stumble in the regular season?

If Florida is to stumble this season, the chic pick for the Gators lone loss is the October 17 game against Arkansas in the Swamp. The Gators will be coming off an epic, double overtime win over LSU in Death Valley and this game has let-down written all over it.

Ole Miss : 2008 :: Arkansas : 2009

I just hope the University of Florida has room at their new football facility for another plaque.

4. Which regular-season game not involving your team or conference are you most looking forward to this year?

Without question, the answer here has to be the Red River Rivalry (nee Shootout) between Texas and Oklahoma. Whatever the over/under is for that game, take the over. These teams have high-powered offenses and don't play defense. This has all the makings of a 56-52 final score. Should be fun to watch.

5. In honor of Georgia's opening-weekend opponent and their most prolific booster, let's say you somehow come into T. Boone Pickens money and can buy anything you want for your program -- facilities upgrades, an airplane for recruiting, buy out the contract of that coach you hate, you name it. Where does your first check go?

My first purchase wouldn't be to expand Alumni Stadium, upgrade our practice facilities, or give Coach Spaziani a contract extension (or buy him out, depending on your preference). No. Ask any Eagles fan about the BC gameday experience and likely their first complaint about is tailgating. When a good percentage of fans are either parking at one of our satellite campus and taking a bus to the game or tailgating IN a parking garage, you know you have a problem. Indeed, our tailgating scene is whack and pales in comparison to the scenes at Penn State, Clemson or even Virginia Tech.

So, T. Boone, if you'd be willing to throw some bills at the Eagles, might I suggest the following:

You've heard of retractable roofs on baseball stadiums. How about a retractable asphalt parking surface that could extend over the entirety of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir? You've instantly created a temporary tailgating area about the size of BC's main campus and vastly improved the BC tailgating scene.

On Saturdays, open up the Reservoir for tailgating. As the school will have essentially reclaimed otherwise unusable land, said tailgating area would not be subject to the City of Boston's strict tailgating rules. Yes, this temporary area would open 24 hours before kickoff and be Eagles tailgating heaven. On non-game days, simply retract the parking surface to return the Reservoir to its natural aquatic beauty. An added bonus is this tailgating area's proximity to Roggie's, MaryAnn's, Pino's and Presto's for postgame celebratory activities. Win, win, win.

Basketblogpoll #3 and Roundtable

Rank	Team	Record	Delta
1	Pittsburgh	25-2	3
2	Connecticut	25-2	1
3	North Carolina	24-3	1
4	Oklahoma	25-2	1
5	Memphis	24-3	1
6	Villanova	22-5	1
7	Clemson	21-4	1
8	Wake Forest	20-4	1
9	Missouri	23-4	1
10	Michigan St.	21-5	5
11	Duke	21-5	1
12	Gonzaga	21-5	1
13	Marquette	23-4	9
14	Louisville	21-5	4
15	Arizona St.	20-5	1
16	Kansas	22-5	4
17	Butler	23-4	6
18	Florida St.	21-6	6
19	Purdue	21-6
20	Xavier	21-5	6
21	Illinois	21-6	4
22	Utah	19-7	1
23	Washington	20-7	2
24	Syracuse	18-8
25	Dayton	23-4	10

For your reference, here is last week's ballot.

Dropped Out: California (#19), Boston College (#25).

Welcome! Purdue (#19), Syracuse (#24)

Waiting Room: California (20-7), West Virginia (19-8)

By Conference: Big East 6, Atlantic Coast 5, Big XII 3, Big Ten 3, Pac-10 2, Atlantic 10 2, Conference-USA 1, WCC 1, Horizon 1, Mountain West 1

Biggest Winners

• Starting at the top, the biggest winner this week has to be Pittsburgh. Not only did Pittsburgh upset No. 1 Connecticut on the road, but their road to reclaiming the top spot in both polls was cleared by both Oklahoma's and North Carolina's upset losses. Pittsburgh hits the road this week to face Providence and Seton Hall, and finishes at home with two tough games against Marquette and UConn. Pittsburgh jumps 3 spots to take our #1 ballot this week.
  
• For the second week in a row, we are talking about Marquette. After getting hammered by Villanova, the Golden Eagles got back on track and took care of St. John's, Seton Hall and Georgetown. We move Marquette back up 9 spots to where we originally had them in our first blogpoll ballot a few weeks ago. Mea culpa, Marquette ... for at least a week. It's still entirely possible that Marquette will finish outside of our ballot at the end of the regular season, with arguably the toughest 4 game stretches to finish the regular season - Connecticut, at Louisville, at Pittsburgh, Syracuse.
  
• Our third winner this week is the Eagles next opponent: Florida State. ESPN.com's college hoops reporter Andy Katz named Florida State the national team of the week for this past week, after their wins against ACC bubble teams Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech
  

Biggest Losers

The biggest losers this week all come from mid-major conferences, two of them coming from the Atlantic 10.

• Mid Major #1 - Dayton. After taking out Xavier and this blog ranking the Flyers as high as #15 last week, Dayton beat Richmond 69-63 before suffering a bad loss at Saint Louis on Saturday (BC feels Dayton's pain here). There is little to no room for error for mid majors on our ballot, and when you lose to a team you should put away, and with a strength of schedule in the 100s, we aren't very forgiving. We drop Dayton back down 10 spots to #25, and after thinking about this further, we probably will be in the minority for keeping Dayton in our ballot at all.
  
• Mid Major #2 - Butler. Disappointing week for the Horizon League's Butler too. Last week, we ranked Butler as high as #11. Then they returned the favor by showing us that we no next to nothing about college basketball by losing to 13-14 Illinois-Chicago, followed by a road loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The only think that somewhat redeems the Bulldogs from last week is their 75-63 win at Davidson. Down 6 spots, probably should have been dropped further ...
  
• Mid Major #3 - Xavier. Our third mid-major victim this week is Xavier. A 65-60 loss to a 10-16 Charlotte team certainly classifies as a WTF. Xavier's quality out of conference wins (Memphis, Missouri, LSU, Va Tech, UVA) keep them relevant and in our Top 20. Xavier gets one more regular season shot to really impress the committee when they host Dayton on March 5.
  

Basketblogpoll Roundtable

And finally, we get to the basketblogpoll. This week's basketblogpoll roundtable is being hosted by a very good Kentucky Wildcats blog, A Sea of Blue. Our answers follow below.


Who really looks like the best team in college basketball this season?

After the Maryland upset of North Carolina and Texas taking out Oklahoma on Saturday, I think you have to look at Pittsburgh as the team to beat this season. They have already dispatched of Connecticut on the road and should finish the regular season 28-3 with two more quality wins over Marquette and Connecticut at home. The Panthers seem all but assured a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs at this point and 28-3 and a Big East tournament championship would all but seal Pitt as the tournament's overall #1.

Outside of Pittsburgh, Connecticut, North Carolina and Oklahoma, some could make the case for a team like Memphis, who should also finish the regular season 28-3 and a perfect 16-0 in C-USA play. However, I think that coasting through C-USA play this year might come back to bite the Tigers in the NCAA. Also, I can't look past the teams that Memphis have lost to ... Xavier and the Big East's Georgetown and Syracuse ... three of the best teams the Tigers have faced this season.


Is Blake Griffin the Player of the Year already, or can somebody catch him?

Blake Griffin IS the Player of the Year right now. However, if he doesn't come back as strong as he has been from his injury from Saturday night, the door is not closed on other candidates. We're looking at you, Stephen Curry ... Luke Harangody ... Tyler Hansbrough ... Jodie Meeks.

The x-factor that Griffin has over these players is that these other players either have a better supporting cast than Oklahoma (Griffin is their #1 and arguably only option) or the teams don't have as impressive a tournament resume. Davidson has struggled, Notre Dame will likely finish with 13+ losses, and we have already talked about how bad SEC basketball has been this season (with all due respect to the roundtable hosts).


What currently ranked team is the biggest disappointment so far this year?

The answer to this question, and based on last week's poll (as this team will likely be unranked when the new polls come out on Monday) is UCLA. No question. UCLA was picked by the media as the near unanimous choice to repeat as Pac 10 champions and make a deep run in the NCAAs. Currently, the Bruins are tied for 3rd in the Pac-10 standings and are now in the mix with Washington, California, Arizona State, and Arizona for the Pac-10 regular season title. Getting swept by Arizona State, back to back losses in the desert and now the most recent setback - an 82-81 loss to Washington State at home - have certainly made the road to repeating as Pac 10 champs very challenging.

During the preseason, some might have thought that the Bruins would have returned to vying for another #1 seed come Selection Sunday. As it turns out, UCLA may be looking at a seeding anywhere from #7 - #10 when it is all said and done.


Predict the next team to beat Oklahoma.

You mean, of course, other than Texas. I think Oklahoma might be in for a rough stretch. I think the Sooners next loss depends largely on whether Blake Griffin is 100% for tomorrow's game against Kansas. If Griffin isn't 100% or is ineffective, I think the Sooners will lose at home to the Jayhawks. If the Sooners can get past Kansas, the next probable loss is on March 4 on the road against Missouri.


Thoughts and comments welcome.

Blogpoll Roundtable 5: Midseason Report Card

The fifth installment of this year's Blogpoll Roundtable is being held over at Corn Nation. As the name suggests, Corn Nation blogs Nebraska Cornhusker sports.


1. We're about half way through the season. Has your team met your expectations, wildly exceeded them, or are you about to light the torches and storm your athletic department demanding blood?

Going into the North Carolina game, I was going to say that Boston College has comfortably met expectations this season but not wildly exceeded them. But after the Tar Heels went all Office Space on the fax machine that is BC, I just going to go with "met expectations" bordering on this season falling below expectations.

Expectations for anyone outside of Chestnut Hill weren't very high for the Eagles going into the season. BC had to replace Matt Ryan at quarterback as well as their two starting tailbacks. What was going for BC was that the Eagles returned one of the best defensive units in the country. We were supposed to win five out of our first six games, losing only to Virginia Tech at home. We replaced a loss to Virginia Tech with a loss to Georgia Tech, a game that the Eagles could have won. Then came this Saturday, a game that the Eagles entered as a Top 25 ranked underdog. While it wasn't a given that BC would win yesterday, I think what was more surprising was the way in which the Eagles lost, going up 10-0 and then getting outscored 45-14 to finish the game. Still, we are now a little past the halfway point of the season and sitting at 5-2 (2-2 ACC), I would say the Eagles have met expectations.

The last 5 games will be when it really gets interesting ...


2. In an election year, all sorts of promises will be made, few will be kept. What is one promise or item you thought you could count on that hasn't come to pass yet this season? Is there still a chance?

The one promise for Eagles fans that hasn't been kept is getting some much valuable PT for our redshirt freshman backup quarterback Dominique Davis. After the Rhode Island game, Coach Jagodzinski stated that Davis should get about 20 snaps in each of the Eagles' last 9 games. Fifth year senior and first year starter Chris Crane had struggled through the first 2 games of the season and Davis began to see some playing time in the win against Central Florida.

Davis was the left in most of the game against I-AA Rhode Island, but we haven't seen him since. Why? Because in the next game, with the Eagles coming off a bye week, Crane and the Eagles torched the NC State Wolfpack going 34 of 51 for 428 and two scores in the 38-31 road victory. Crane continued to struggle in the win against Virginia Tech, however, completing only 50% of his passes, throwing for a touchdown but 3 costly interceptions that led to 14 Hokie points. Yesterday was more of the same for Crane as he threw 3 very costly interceptions that led to 21 Tar Heel points.

I, for one, have faith in our coaching staff that they are keeping the best option at quarterback on the field. But we should definitely start to get Davis some snaps. We only have 5-7 games left with Chris Crane under center, and we need to start getting Davis some big-game experience so we don't have to go through another season of growing pains for an inexperienced starting quarterback.


3. Georgia #1... No, USC #1... No, Oklahoma #1... No, Texas #1! Who's the real #1 team, and who do you think will make it to the big BCS National Title game?

Our real #1 right now is Texas. If they can now get past the 8-0 Red Raiders in Lubbock this weekend, they will most likely win the rest of their regular season games, win the Big XII Championship game and play in the BCS National Title game.

Joining them will be either the Penn State Nittany Lions or the Alabama Crimson Tide. If Alabama wins their 4 remaining regular season games (very possible) and the SEC Championship game against either Florida and/or a rematch against Georgia, their 13-0 mark will put them in the title game over Penn State, who doesn't play a championship game and will have a weaker strength of schedule than 'Bama.

If all hell breaks loose and Texas, Penn State and Alabama all lose a game, and, say, Texas Tech goes undefeated by beating #1 Texas, #6 Oklahoma State, at #4 Oklahoma and the Big XII Championship, we can see the Red Raiders playing in the Title game against a one-loss SEC Champion or Southern Cal.


4. In only a few weeks, college football fans get to be treated with the obligatory and annual "We Need a Playoff" screaming. Well, you don't get a playoff, but I'll let you make one change to the BCS (and no, you can't cop out and have the BCS commit suicide) to make the world a better place. What is your change?

This question is right in my wheelhouse. If I can't get a playoff, or anything resembling a playoff (a cop out answer would be limiting the BCS teams to 8 and using the BCS National Championship Game as the Plus One game), then I want the BCS bowls not to be able to select which teams play where and seed the non-title BCS bowl games with #3 vs. #4, #5 vs. #6, #7 vs. #8 and #9 vs. #10. The implication here is that the BCS bowls forego their conference champion affiliation and the 6 automatic bids get to play in the bowl based on where they finish in the final BCS Standings, not based on their conference affiliation.

I am really tired of seeing Big Ten vs. Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl because the Rose Bowl Committee stands on "tradition" and picks a 9-3 Illinois team over a bunch of other more deserving teams. Case in point: as per ESPN.com's Week 9 bowl projections, they are currently predicting that Ohio State will face Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl. Again?! The same teams in the same city and likely the exact same result. Who wants to watch that crap? I, for one, will certainly not be tuning into that game.

If you pit 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6, etc., you are going to likely have much more enjoyable, hard-fought games than USC 49, Illinois 17 ... Georgia 41, Hawaii 10.

This will never happen though short of a playoff because the BCS doesn't want the possibility of a split National championship. Under this scenario, if #3 blows out #4 and #2 squeaks by #1, that could coax the AP into voting for #3 as the National Champion.

Oh, and if I could get a second change in, or at least consideration for a second change, I would also stricken BCS Automatic Qualification rule #4 from the record. Notre Dame shouldn't get an automatic berth if it finishes in the top 8 of the BCS standings. They should have to get into the BCS like every other non-BCS conference champion; it shouldn't be automatic. Or if you insist on keeping the auto-berth rule in place, make the rule an auto-berth for all independents, not just Notre Dame.


5. Using this year ONLY - no historical references - respond to the statement "The Big 12 is a better conference than the SEC". There's nothing sillier than conference wars, but then again, there's nothing sillier than how SEC fans respond to any challenge to their supremacy. Aim, Fire!

The Big 12 is not a better conference than the SEC this year. The SEC is still #1. While arguably there isn't a tougher division in college football than the Big 12 South with Texas (8-0), Texas Tech (8-0), Oklahoma (7-1) and Oklahoma State (7-1) wearing out scoreboard lights, the other side of the conference is not that strong. Top to bottom I think the SEC is still a tougher conference than the Big 12 by a slim margin.

Here's a hypothetical. Just like college basketball's ACC-Big Ten challenge, let's play a Big 12-SEC challenge to illustrate my point. Taking current RPI of teams from both conferences, we'll pair the best teams with the best teams and the worst teams with the worst teams. Let's play the following twelve matchups on a neutral field and see which conference would win more games:

Texas vs. Alabama
Texas Tech vs. Georgia
Oklahoma vs. Florida
Oklahoma State vs. LSU
Missouri vs. Vanderbilt
Kansas vs. Kentucky
Nebraska vs. South Carolina
Colorado vs. Mississippi
Kansas State vs. Arkansas
Texas A&M vs. Tennessee
Baylor vs. Auburn
Iowa State vs. Mississippi State

While the top 4 games could very well be instant classics, of the remaining 8 games, I'd be hard-pressed to pick 3 Big 12 teams to win. I'd imagine Missouri would beat sliding Vanderbilt, Kansas and Kentucky would be a really good game, and Nebraska might find a way against South Carolina, but don't see many other wins for the Big 12 with that lineup. But since this will never happen, the short answer is 'who knows?'

Blogpoll Roundtable 4: The Red River Shootout

The latest Blogpoll Roundtable is over at Barking Carnival, a Texas Longhorns blog. This week's roundtable is inspired by this weekend's Red River Shootout between Texas and Oklahoma. I hear that's a pretty big deal.

On to our responses ...


Please observe the latest ESPN Heisman Watch. What gridiron presence draws your suspicion and ire?

Chase Daniels. In fact, all Big XII quarterbacks. Aren't these guys going to knock each other out of the race by the end of the year?  I mean, does the Big XII play defense?  Understand - I get that through six weeks this Big XII Party of Five quarterbacks is lighting up college football.  I think at last count they had a combined 1,678,198 touchdowns to 3 interceptions.  I get it.  But these teams are going to start knocking each other off, and my guess is when invitations are finally in the mail for New York, only one of these offensive players from the Big XII will be invited.  Look at the some of these tough matchups coming up for these quarterbacks:

• Colt McCoy (Texas) - @ Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State, @ Texas Tech
  
• Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) - Texas, Kansas, Texas Tech, @ Oklahoma State
  
• Zac Robinson (Oklahoma State) - @ Missouri, @ Texas, @ Texas Tech, Oklahoma
  
• Chase Daniels (Missouri) - Oklahoma State, @ Texas, Kansas
  
• Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) - @ Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, @ Oklahoma

Now, unless you are telling me that the Big XII teams don't play defense and all of these games are going to be 49-42 shootouts - and both quarterbacks post 200+ quarterback ratings - I am not buying that this group of quarterbacks is going to continue to post ridiculous numbers. Looking at the above, I see multiple losses for most of these teams (except maybe one can pull off the undefeated regular season).  The toughest road has to be the Longhorns.  That's four currently undefeated teams in a row?!

Take it from a guy who rooted for a quarterback who got off to a ridiculously fast start last year (8-0), only to see his invitation to the Downtown Athletic Club lost in the mail.

Would it surprise me if one of these quarterbacks won the Heisman trophy this year? Not at all. What I would find equally plausible is by the end of the year, only one of these guys gets invited to New York.


In World War I, British troops were famously characterized as "Lions Led By Donkeys." What Donkey leading a college football team of Lions is leading his troops into the Somme again this Saturday? Who should replace him after the court martial?

"Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!"

Mike Gundy is leading his troops into a Missouri beat down this weekend. Yes, the Cowboys are 5-0 and have hung 50+ points on the competition in their last 4 games. But Missouri is no Washington State, Houston, Missouri State, Troy or even Texas A&M. Ok, so Missouri hasn't played much better competition, but call it a hunch. I don't think this one is going to be close.

Now a one game slaughter probably isn't cause for a court martial. But let's pretend for a moment it was. If the Cowboys were in the market for a coach, could the following want to make the jump into the BCS? Bronco Mendenhall (BYU), Gary Patterson (TCU), Kyle Whittingham (Utah), Skip Holtz (ECU).


It's conventional wisdom that it is "good for the game" when certain NFL teams - Dallas, Pittsburgh, Green Bay - or certain NBA teams - LA, Boston, New York - are strong. Others would contend that this is the arrogant self-importance of the traditional elite. With the resurgence of historic programs like Alabama and possibly Notre Dame (now believed to be turning-the-corner in 12 of its last 15 seasons) is it good for college football when certain name programs are strong? If not, why not?

Of course it's great for college football when certain name programs are strong. In a sport that is ruled by the opinions of sports writers and coaches, the arrogant self-important teams (e.g. Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, Florida, Georgia) keep college football afloat. Even though it pains me to say this, being a fan of a non-traditional powerhouse football program, it's the way college football is and always has been. Sure, 6-0 Vanderbilt is a cute story and all. But if Vanderbilt were to somehow win the SEC and play in the Sugar Bowl, after having not gone bowling since I was 11 months old (and not having won a bowl game since 1955! Wooo! Gator Bowl win over Auburn!), it would be terrible for ratings and ticket sales. And the simple facts of the matter are that those two things make college football go round.

We've seen time and again that the bowl selection process isn't fair and doesn't always reward the best teams with the best bowls. So if one of these teams were to actually play their way into one of the BCS bowl games (gasp!), it would be disastrous for that particular BCS bowl game.


A related question: what team with some record of success could fall off of the face of the earth and CFB wouldn't miss a beat? Who fancies themselves a name brand, but aren't?

Let's go with the alma mater of Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka and Larry Fitzgerald. The home to (supposedly) 9 national championships in college football - the Pittsburgh Panthers. These guys haven't been good for a long time now, for nearly as long as I've been alive. The fact that this team was ranked at the beginning of the season only to lose to Bowling Green the first week of the season was a joke. The ranking was based largely on the MSM talking heads (I'm glaring your way, Mark May) touting that Pittsburgh has arrived and they laid an egg befitting only a bad Big East team.

The Panthers have let an archrival basically eat their lunch in the Big East the past few years after Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College bolted for the Big East. Given the power vacuum in the Big East the last few years, the Panthers could have easily stepped up and taken charge of that conference. Instead, they have let teams like Louisville, Rutgers and Connecticut bubble up as the Panthers have faded with seasons of 5-7, 6-6, and 5-6.

Their signature win of the last couple years was denying West Virginia a chance at their first BCS National Championship game in the Backyard Brawl.  They have never won a Big East championship outright in football (lone exception being the 2004 Big East year of suckitude where 4 teams shared the title finishing 4-2).  But even in victory lies defeat.  Pittsburgh was selected to be that year's BCS representative in the Fiesta Bowl, only to be blasted by Urban Meyer's Runnin' Utes 35-7.

Fast forward to 2008: Yes, the Panthers have upset a ranked South Florida team and now most of the major online news outlets have already penciled the Panthers into a BCS Bowl. Maybe they don't have another ranked opponent left on the schedule this year. OK, understood.  But for every upset win over #10 South Florida on the road, there is a Bowling Green lurking on that schedule. Put it in writing. Perhaps West Virginia has payback on their minds for last year's 13-9 loss?

Did I mention that Pitt is like the fourth most popular football team in the state of Pennsylvania behind the Steelers, Eagles, and Penn State? Hasn't Pitt become a basketball school over the last few years? No one would miss these guys, except maybe West Virginia, who would be forced to claim Connecticut as a rival.

Your Pittsburgh Panthers: Three Time River City Rivalry Champions!

Texas/OU in Big D. Okie State @ Mizzou. Penn State @ Wiscy. LSU @ Florida. We have Longhorn, Cowboy, Badger, Tiger - which dog is most likely to get it done?

The Longhorns are getting it done this weekend. I'll bite and pander to the blogpoll roundtable hosts this week. You're welcome.  Moving along ...


What currently unranked team will we be hearing about soon?

Two answers here. The first is West Virginia. So long as Pat White stays healthy, the Mountaineers have a manageable Big East slate of games. Also sanwiched in there is a winnable game against the Auburn Tigers in Morgantown on Thursday night. Auburn's defense is nasty, but they now have all sorts of questions on the offensive side of the ball.

The second answer is Kentucky. Two more Ws against SEC interlopers South Carolina and Arkansas in consecutive weeks will push the Wildcats record to 6-1. It's gets a bit tougher from there, with a trip to Gainesville and home bouts with ranked Georgia and Vanderbilt, but in two weeks, Kentucky will be ranked in the Top 25.


What ranked team will finish outside of the Top 25?

Hate to throw our ACC Atlantic brethren under the bus, but the answer is Wake Forest. Wake still has a ton of questions with the running game and on defense. We just can't seem to wipe away the bad taste in our mouth left after the Deacons dropped to Navy.

Here's to hoping that the Deacons prove me wrong. Their toughest stretch of games is ahead of them, starting with the ACC Atlantic eliminator tomorrow night against Clemson. Two teams enter, but only one team will emerge victorious.

After Clemson, Wake has two tough ACC road games at Maryland and Miami in consecutive weeks. The schedule lightens quite a bit for the next three weeks, but then Boston College and upstart Vanderbilt round out the schedule in November. A tough slate of games, no doubt.

Blogpoll Roundtable #3: Professor Chaos Edition

Psych! One more post before I get on a plane and head down to Raleigh tomorrow to watch the Eagles beat the Wolfpack ... Russell Wilson?! So?  

The blogpoll roundtable has come around again!

The Nebraska blog Big Red Network is hosting this week's Roundtable with the theme of the havoc that Professor Chaos wrecked on week 5 of the college football season. With four highly ranked teams going down this weekend, we answer questions about which of those team's title game hopes are the strongest, what about those Buckeyes, and mid major hopefuls.

Where I go, destruction will follow!

Q. Of the four presumed national title contenders to go down this past week -- USC, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin -- which team has the best chance to get back in the race by the end of the year?

Well, of the four, the team with the best chance to get back in the race by the end of the year is the winner of the Georgia vs. Florida game on November 1. That's assuming, of course, that both teams can successfully navigate a gauntlet of tough games before they face one another.

The Bulldogs have the unenviable task of hosting #19 Vanderbilt then traveling to Death Valley for a date with the #3 LSU Tigers before hosting the Gators between the hedges. And if that slate of games wasn't tough enough, after that, the Bulldogs travel to Lexington to take on a currently undefeated Kentucky team, travel to Montgomery to take on #13 Auburn, and finish the regular season against the upstart Yellow Jackets.

Oh, and we also forgot to mention, there's that little hurtle they'll have to overcome called the SEC Championship Game, which will likely be a rematch with either Alabama, Auburn or LSU.  Whoever emerges out of the SEC West will undoubtedly be ranked in the Top 5, as the SEC is god's gift to college football.

Florida, on the other hand, has it a bit easier, but not by much. They have to navigate a schedule that includes tough games against Kentucky, at #11 Georgia, and at #19 Vanderbilt.  Luckily for the Gators, they will most likely coast through the second half of November with South Carolina, The Citadel and at Florida State. The knock on Florida will be that it lost to a much weaker opponent than Georgia did last week. Still, the team that wins Georgia vs. Florida will have the easiest road to the title game given their strength of schedule as compared to other teams with 1 or 2 loss.

But as LSU showed last season, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be shut out of the big game if you lose a second regular season game. The thing about that though is you can't lose to one of these other title contenders, which are essentially BCS National Championship elimination games. If the Bulldogs do get tripped up a second time this season, it will have to be to a non-title game contender like Kentucky or Georgia Tech. It absolutely can't be against an LSU, Florida or Auburn.  Same with Florida ... lose a little late in the season to a Kentucky or a South Carolina and still win the SEC, you might still be in.  Drop a second game to Georgia or LSU and you're out.

USC will find it tough to get back into the title game picture, given that they might not play another ranked team the rest of the season. They have #23 Oregon at home this weekend, and the only other team that has a chance to play their way back into being ranked is (don't laugh) Notre Dame.  Notre Dame, currently sitting at 3-1, play such BCS conference bottom feeders as Stanford, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Washington (4 more wins), have a winnable game against Navy, and a toss up game in Chapel Hill with the T.J. Yates-less Tar Heels.  The Irish could quite possibly be 9-2 or 8-3 going into their regular season finale in LA.

Anyhow, back to USC ... without a Pac 10 championship game to add another win over a ranked opponent to your resume, and without the strength of schedule that Georgia or Florida have the rest of the way out, it would have to be, by my estimation, mass chaos at the top of the polls for the Trojans to play their way back into the championship game.

And Wisconsin? Be serious. Pfft.


Q. But what does this mean for Ohio State? Are they back in?

Sorry, Buckeyes. Ohio State still isn't back in it after all the upsets last week. Unless there are NO other teams that have 1 loss in the ACC, Big XII, Pac 10 or SEC, the Buckeyes aren't making it back to the Title game for the third straight year. The reason a 1 loss Big XII or SEC team gets in over Ohio State is because of the strength of schedule the conference champion faced over the course of the season will be much stronger than Ohio State's road. Jim Tressel's boys only have two more games against ranked opponents (this weekend against Wisconsin in Madison), and October 26 at home against #6 Penn State. A 1 loss Pac 10 champion gets in over the Buckeyes because of the way in which the Buckeyes lost to the Trojans in Southern California. Even a 1 loss ACC team (again, hold your laughter) might get in over Ohio State given that they will have to have won a championship game against (we hope) a ranked opponent.

In short, forecast doesn't look good for the Buckeyes.


Q. Did the week that was open the door for any of the undefeateds out of some of the non-BCS conferences like the Mountain West or the Big East? (Yup, that's a cheap shot. Thanks, Virginia Tech, for not allowing me to make it about the ACC.)

The BCS championship game appearance hopes of the Mountain West rest solely with BYU at this point, and even though I say hopes, it's really going to be a long shot. Having embarrassed the UCLA Bruins at home 59-0 and barely escaping Seattle with a win against another middling-to-terrible Pac 10 team, that's two wins against BCS competition that strengthens the Cougars title game hopes. Some would argue that you could add Utah into this mix with their win at Michigan to open the season, but Utah will have to knock off Oregon State this weekend and run the table, beating BYU in the last game of the season in the Battle of Mormon. Also Utah isn't ranked nearly as high as BYU currently, so it will be tough for Utah to gain ground in the AP and Coaches polls.

The good news for BYU and Utah is Boise State paved the way for mid majors by being the first mid major to go undefeated and win a BCS bowl two years ago. The bad? The more recent BCS crasher was last year's Hawaii team who had no business being in the Sugar Bowl, and who were quickly dispatched by Georgia.

While the Mountain West's title game hopes are slim (I'd give it only 5-10% chance of an undefeated Mountain West champion making the big game), we fully expect an undefeated (or one loss? I'm looking at you, TCU) team to make a BCS bowl.

Other mid major BCS hopefuls are Tulsa, Ball State, and Boise State. Each of those teams will certainly have to have an unblemished mark to even be considered for a BCS at-large, but chances are slim to none at this point.

Blogpoll Roundtable 2: We'd Love to Know What You Think of Us ...

This week’s blogpoll roundtable takes the form of a restaurant comment card on the first two weeks of the Eagles football season. The blogpoll roundtable is being hosted this week by Michael over at Braves & Birds.

We’d love to know what you think of us …

… good or bad. So please help us to improve by filling in this card. We would also really like to keep in touch, so why not give us your email address and we’ll send you interesting stuff and the odd treat.

1. How would you rate your program's service to you in the first two weeks of the season?


The hostess was very friendly. We were seated right away. There weren’t many other customers in the restaurant when we first got there which was a little odd. The service was great up until this point and the menu looked delicious. There wasn’t a thing on the menu I didn’t want to eat. I decided on the Crispy Skin Salmon served over lentils, plum tomatoes and roasted fennel and felt pretty good about my choice.

Then something went terribly wrong. The hot, friendly waitress finished her shift before we were served and she was replaced by a not-so-hot looking older waitress. She was rude and not very attentive to us (would it kill you to refill my water glass once?!) The fish came out overcooked and dried out. While serving me another beer, your rude waitress fumbled it and beer went all over my lap ... and then didn’t even apologize!

I was left at the end of the evening wondering how my dining experience with you could have started so great only to go home feeling disappointed and overcharged.


2. How happy are you with your program's overall scheme? We are in a period in which the spread has become a total obsession in the media. If you're a fan of a spread team, are you happy with the way your program has implemented it? If you're a fan of a non-spread team, do you wish that your program would convert to this Xenu of offenses?

It’s amazing to even think that Boston College has become a spread offense team. The scheme is good, definitely something completely different from anything Eagles fans have seen from a Boston College team before. The execution … poor. When your top two running backs go down at various points in the game, your spread offense scheme becomes about as painful to watch as Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model.

I mean 2.9 yards a carry with a long run of 14 yards coming from your quarterback is downright criminal. I demand a refund.


3. Rate your stadium's cleanliness and menu options.

Alumni Stadium remains remarkably clean and somewhat sterile. The menu options are good, not great. I’ll give it 3 and a half stars out of 5. Just last weekend, I spotted Granny Smith apple wedges with a nice caramel dipping sauce in the stands. I appreciate you diversifying the menu, but c'mon ... WTF is that? Stick with the hot dogs, nachos, those weird New England pretzels with the sesame seeds instead of salt, and soda. Save the healthy stuff for Hillsides. Also, could have used a beer during last week’s game. No alcohol policy is kinda weak. Everyone knows Jesuits love a cold 12 ounce.


4. As an incentive to provide your valued feedback, you will be entered into a drawing for exciting prizes! What one prize would you like for your program?

I’m not asking for much. Just an ACC Championship in football and a BCS bowl berth. If you’re feeling overly generous though, could I also get …

1. Four more years of eligibility for Matt Ryan
2. Authentic Boston College football gear for fans
3. Lifetime contract extension for Tommy Bowden

Thank you.


5. What’s your most memorable experience involving a comment card?

I don’t usually fill out comment cards, but I know my good friend and BC grad Justin is a starting fifth-year senior when it comes to filling them out. Here goes:

This won't mean much to the poor, disadvantaged souls living below the poverty line on Newton Campus … (read: Jeff and Brian)

But freshman year, in McElroy Dining Hall, they had this huge by-the-pound candy display with the bags that you could fill up yourself. The thing was a complete gem, including seldom seen favorites like Gummi Fizzy Colas and Laffy Taffy – and it was way, way in the farthest nook away from the cash registers.

People would just have a field day loading up these bags and jamming them in their pockets or jacket. At some point, management must have figured out what was going on, and they moved the entire array right next to the registers and scale – huge bummer for all parties involved.

So I wrote a comment card that said: "Please move the candy display back away from the cash registers so we can resume stealing all of your Gummi Bears and Swedish Fishies."

I didn’t really expect a response, but BC Dining posted my comment card on the big board in the Dining Hall with a one word response in black Sharpie:

NO!!!

Happy Time, Preseason Blogpoll Roundtable Wrap-Up and TV Picks

Only two days left! It's Brandon Robinson day.

College football is back. Get happy Eagles! If you need any other reason to be happy, well then I don't have much to say to you.


Happy College Football Season! Let's put a nice little bow around our preseason coverage with a little blogpoll roundtable wrap-up.

A much better blog than ours, Hey Jenny Slater, compiled the responses to the preseason blogpoll roundtable. Check it out.

Wrap-up notes:

Apparently the Virginia blog From Ol' Virginia also thinks that UVA is the Czech Republic. Two Czech Republics in the same conference? Blasphemy.

From Ol' Virginia:

We are the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is a beautiful country, or so I'm led to believe because I've never been there. People always say so. They say that a lot about Charlottesville too. Like the CR, that's just about all they say, most of the time.

We also received the "ballsiest pick of the preseason roundtable" predicting that the TCU Horned Frogs will upset Oklahoma. Also, turns out we ranked Ohio State the lowest of any of the 78 participating blogs in the blogpoll at #8. Sorry, Coach Tressel.


Happy Trails to the legitimacy of the BC bowl winning streak in the eyes of ESPN talking heads. Anyone else catch Lou Holtz throw Boston College's bowl winning streak under the bus yesterday on ESPN2's College Football Live? And then watch Mark May throw Notre Dame under the bus?

From College Football Live:

Lou Holtz: Yeah, but let me address the fact that they've won eight straight bowl. But let's be really honest about it. Boston College doesn't really have a great following when they go to bowls. Consequently, they usually end up in a bowl game which is a step or two lower that they should be. I'm not saying against their opponent, but instead of playing a major team maybe from the ACC, etc. they end up playing a non-BCS school. And that makes an awfully big difference. Everybody talks about how Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game. YOU GO LOOK AT WHO THEY PLAY!

Mark May: ... at least they win their bowl games.

Couple things. First, old man Holtz momentarily either forgets that BC plays in the ACC or can't remember how bowls are set up such that teams don't play teams from their same conference.

Second, while there is a shred of truth in the fact that we have beaten up on some non-BCS conference opponents in our eight bowl wins, we have also played some BCS conference teams. Arizona State in 2000, Georgia in 2001, North Carolina in 2004 and Michigan State last year. Also, we went up to Boise and beat a good Boise State team in a virtual home game for the Broncos. Not to mention that Boise State team went on to go 13-0 the following season.

Honestly, Coach Holtz, if you are going to pick on our bowl winning streak, you could just as easily pick on Utah's 7-game bowl winning streak. Sure, they may have won a BCS bowl, but that was against Pittsburgh. And Urban Meyer isn't walking through that door.


TV Picks

Brian: Jeff, give the Eagles something to watch tonight.

Jeff: You gotta be watching NC State at South Carolina on ESPN and pulling hard for NC State to give the ACC a nice nationally televised victory. I would also check out Wake Forest at Baylor on FSN if you get it but unfortunately I don't think I get it here.

Brian: I'll be on the road to Cleveland early Friday morning but am going to watch the South Carolina vs. NC State tonight and Red Sox vs. Yankees during the day. It's the last time the Red Sox will visit the old Yankee Stadium. Well, what about the playoffs? I'll be the first to admit the Yankees are cooked this year.

Depending on your local coverage, you might also be able to get a glimpse of our week two ACC opponents Georgia Tech as they host Jacksonville State.

Blogpoll Roundtable: 2008 Preseason Edition

As part of the blogpoll this year, the Georgia blog Hey Jenny Slater has been tapped to host roundtable discussions throughout the year with each of the participating blogs in the poll. Here are our answers for the first installment.


1. In his "visiting lecturers" series posted on Every Day Should Be Saturday over the past few months, Orson Swindle asked each participant to explain which country, during which historical period, their team most resembles. Let's bring everything up to the present day and ponder: Which current sovereign nation is your team? Or to look at it another way, how does your team fit into the "world" of college football?

My first inclination was that Boston College is Ireland, but ultimately decided that is too cliché. Let's take this in another direction ...

Boston College is the Czech Republic. We have moved from the dull, dreary life of Big East football (read: communism and the eastern bloc) to the promise of progress that is the Atlantic Coast Conference. Joined the European Union in 2004, bitches. Yep, I just took a shot at Big East football, but when you think about it, some of those schools DO resemble these former Eastern bloc countries, don't they?

Just kidding.

Sort of.

St. Vitus Cathedral or Gasson Hall?

We take our football (football in the US, soccer there), ice hockey and beer drinking very seriously. Na zdraví!

Annually underrated, no one expects much from the Czech Republic. We're not Top 25 in national GDP, but we fall just outside and are moving up in the rankings!

You can count on us to win 8-10 games a year and beat some 2nd tier team in a bowl game, but don't ask us to win the big game that gets us over the hump and into the next round.

Some years our football program bubbles up and has a great year or two, but if our football team actually made the BCS National Championship Game, the rest of the world would have a collective coronary. Little Czech Republic, never!


2. Every preseason roundup has to have some discussion of who's overrated, but let's go beyond that. Which team do you think is poised to crap the bed in the biggest way this season relative to high expectations, and which game do you think will begin their slide into ignominy?

The no-brainer choice here is Clemson, but we won't throw our ACC Atlantic brethren under the bus just yet. Instead, let's go with Oklahoma. We'll predict that Oklahoma's BCS bowl woes finally extend out into the regular season with a loss to TCU on September 27. If the Horned Frogs don't upend the Sooners, look for Oklahoma to crap the bed with back-to-back home losses to Texas and Kansas in early October.


3. On the flip side of that coin, which team do you think is going to burst out of nowhere to become 2008's biggest overachiever -- this year's version of Kansas '07, as it were -- and what's going to be the big upset that makes us all finally sit up and take notice of them?

Even though my feelings on the Big Ten are pretty clear, this year's Kansas could very well be Michigan State. The Spartans lost six games in 2007 by a combined 31 points. So long as they get past a trip to Berkeley to open the season, they could very well be 7-0 going into a home game against Ohio State on October 18. I'm not going to be as bold to predict a Spartan upset of the Buckeyes in East Lansing, but the games that get the college football collective up in their seats and excited about Spartan football are back-to-back wins on October 25 (against Michigan in the Big House) and November 1 (at home against a ranked Wisconsin team).

The Spartans end up finishing the season 10-2. Ohio State is off to the BCS National Championship yet again, so Michigan State takes the obligatory Rose Bowl slot vacated by the Buckeyes and plays in their first Rose Bowl since 1988.


4. Here's an "I'll hang up and listen" question. I put Ohio State and Oklahoma #1 and #2, respectively, despite their recent high-profile BCS face-plants. Where did you rank those two teams, and did those BCS issues have anything to do with it?

We placed the Buckeyes at #8. This ranking had less to do with their blowout losses in the BCS National Championship games the last two seasons and more with us being bearish on Big Ten football (see above). Oklahoma is our #1 team from the Big XII but had them ranked at #5. On paper, the Sooners look very strong, but we are predicting a loss or two in the Big XII (again, see above) or even a major upset by the Mountain West Conference's Horned Frogs.


5. Last season was a statistical outlier in countless ways, not the least of which was the fact that we ended up with a two-loss team as national champion. Do you think anyone plays a strong enough schedule to get MNC consideration as a two-loss team this year? Conversely, do you see anybody managing to sail into the national-championship game undefeated?

If there's a team that has two losses going into the national championship, it's going to have to be a team from a conference with a conference championship. Not only will that team have to come from the ACC, Big XII or SEC, but this team will have to win that conference championship and have lost those two games during the regular season.


Since the SEC is the strongest of those three conferences, I'm going to go with Auburn as a potential two-loss national champion. Their schedule is downright brutal – back-to-back September home dates with No. 7 LSU and No. 18 Tennessee, a Thursday night game at No. 8 West Virginia in October, and No. 1 Georgia in late November followed by the Iron Bowl at No. 24 Alabama. If Auburn can beat LSU, Alabama and one of Tennessee/Georgia, but come up short against the Mountaineers, if they win the SEC championship, they could go to the BCS National Championship.

On the flip side, the winner of the September 13 matchup of Ohio State vs. USC could easily run the table and end up in the National championship. I don't really see anyone else from the BCS conferences going undefeated this season. Either BYU or Utah could go undefeated out of the Mountain West, or Fresno State in the WAC, but I don't think any of their schedules is strong enough to get a spot in the national championship game.


6. OK, time for some Olympic fever. Which athlete from the Beijing Olympics -- any sport, any country, with the exception of USA basketball since those guys are already pros -- would you most want to add to your team's roster this season? No worries about age, eligibility, or even gender; we'll worry about that crap later.


The easy choice here is Jamaican sprinter phenom Usain Bolt. Throw him in on kickoffs, as a third or fourth option at wide out, or even on options, redirects and trick plays and I'm sure he would excel in a Steve Logan offense.

But instead, we'll go with the United States men's decathlete (and gold medal winner) Bryan Clay. The Eagles will be fairly inexperienced in the special teams specialist positions this year. We could easily throw Clay in at either starting punter or placekicker. Heck, if this guy can run the 100m in 10.35 seconds, throw a discus 55 meters, or pole vault 5+ meters, why not add to this list handling Eagle punting duties and hitting 45 yard field goals?