The Notre Dame team has had a tough time of late. While they have a great deal of talent, they have been accused at times of not being physically strong enough. They have always lost out at the line of scrimmage, and that has been a major problem for their coaches. However, this season, coach Brian Kelly looks to be getting th best out of them. Despite a couple of early losses at the beginning of the season, Brian Kelly has got the Irish playing the way Read the rest of this entry »

The SEC is probably the premier college football conference, but there is new competition on the block from the Pac-12. By adding Utah and Colorado, the Pac-12 feels they are ready to become one of the dominate college football conferences, and a serious challenge to the SEC. The new Pac-12 plans to challenge dominance of SEC, but will they be able to get it done.

There are many things going against the Pac-12 and their quest to end the dominance of Read the rest of this entry »

College football is constantly changing game. At the end of each season the college associations meet together to discuss new rules to make the game both more exciting and safer for the players. This season some big rule changes and a few minor ones will change the way the game is played.

The most important change facing the game is the penalty system near the end of the half. In the final 60 seconds of each half, penalties will run the clock down ten seconds. This is a sharp contrast to the earlier rules that Read the rest of this entry »

It’s football season. You’ve got your satellite television all set up and there’s a pot of chili steaming on the stove every Saturdayso what’s your favorite team up to? If you’re an SEC fan there’s a lot happening right now and here are what we think are the biggest developing stories
Mark Richt – Georgia’s head coach is on thin ice as his team still hasn’t won a game yet. Richt has a long way to go to get his boys back Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps just as egregious than the umpteenmillion BCS complains that have been lodged with little regard for human life over the past decade is the very system by which bowls are selected. Yes, it’s a free country and yes, college football is a business out to make money, but first and foremost is a forum for athletic competition that should reward performance on the field above all else. In short, rewarding deserving schools should supercede the ability of bowl games to determine their own competitors. This is not a recommendation to away with bowl ties to conferences, only a plea for bowl officials not to reach for teams because “they travel well.” Keep the pecking order of bowl games, only tie their selection to conference standings. Take the Cotton Bowl for example. On the very first day of December, Cotton Bowl officials extended an invitation for Texas A&M to square off against an SEC team to be named later. The Cotton Bowl gets second choice out of the Big 12 schools, or the first school that does not qualify for a BCS bid. Did Texas A&M have the second best year of any Big 12 school? Far from it. Excluding the contenders in the Big 12 Championship Game, as both Nebraska and Oklahoma had 2 losses entering the game, with 1 tumbling to 3 losses and one BCS bound regardless of the outcome, there are still two teams in the Big 12 with better records than Texas A&M. Oklahoma State and Missouri both finished the regular season with tidy 10-2 records compared to A&M’s 9-3 (all were 6-2 in conference play). Furthermore, Missouri actually beat A&M head to head during the season, at Kyle Field, the Aggies home stadium, by a merciless score of 30-9. Factoring in the three logical components of tie-breaking: division record, overall record, head-to-head, any way you slice, there is simply no reason Texas A&M is in the Cotton Bowl aside from a nearby fan base deprived of quality football for some time and willing to travel to see it. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not the goofy blue turf that brings out ire on the subject of Boise State. It’s not the fact they are a relative no name without a storied football history. In all honesty, it’s the schedule. This isn’t college basketball, where smaller underdog mid-majors have to defeat round after round of well-qualified opponents before making a major splash in the Final 4, even Sweet 16 for that matter. Until college football gets a playoff system, teams like Boise State, who beat up on cupcakes for at least 9 games a year, have absolutely no place in the title hunt. Yes, they played Virginia Tech. Read the rest of this entry »

Sure it’s still summer, but by the laws of sheer chronology, that means all the inner-squad Spring games have all come and gone, making it the perfect time to take an early look at the favorites to be invited to New York come December.

1. Dion Lewis Last year’s third leading rusher in the nation didn’t lose a fumble all season, proving more than enough to fill the shoes of LeSean McCoy. Pittsburgh’s youngster also has a distinct advantage; for three consecutive seasons the Heisman trophy has gone to a sophomore. Lewis is hands down the most proven second year player in the nation, and has shown up big in big games so far in his career. Read the rest of this entry »

In all the talk of major conference realignment, the Atlantic Coastal Conference has been nothing more than an afterthought since the month of May. Let’s not forget the ACC is still a 12 team conference with some big name programs and an automatic BCS bid, to boot. While few suitors came calling during the widespread expansion talk, the ACC isn’t completely irrelevant, at least not yet. Here’s a look at a few schools most likely to take advantage of that guaranteed trip to the BCS.

1. Florida State The Seminoles might not be the year in year out title contender they were in the late 90s, new coach Jimbo Fisher’s unit is looking to start a new decade with ACC dominance. Senior QB Chris Ponder will give the ‘Noles a captain at the helm but this talented group is not without its questions. The once feared Florida State D was flimsy last year, even against weak competition. Mark Stoops, son of Oklahoma’s head man, has been brought in to help the disappointing defense return to glory. Read the rest of this entry »

Since what seems like much longer than just 4 years ago, SEC coverage has been dominated by conference poster boy Tim Tebow. Now that the former Florida quarterback has finally moved on to the NFL, here is a look at a few guys ready to bear his torch as the SEC’s favorite son and media darling (it should be noted defensive players are almost always shortchanged by mainstream media, thus excluded from this list).

1. Mark Ingram (Alabama) Though a lot of college football fans agree he is more a product of the system, than an elite talent, that doesn’t override the fact he is the first ever Heisman Trophy winner from one of the most storied programs in college football history. The Crimson Tide will most certainly be singing his praises from every molehill in Alabama as he sets out to be the first repeat winner since Archie Griffin.
2. Ryan Mallet (Arkansas) Any lists of potential camera hogs wouldn’t be complete without at least one signal caller, and who better to fill up the spotlight than a 6’7” quarterback? A Michigan transfer, Mallet benefited from his mandatory year off, pacing the SEC with a 56 completion rate, despite some struggles against big time competition. With another year under his belt, the Razorback big man still has a lot of room to grow (figuratively). Read the rest of this entry »

No conference has made more headlines in the past week than the Pac-10, rumored to turn Pac-16, now appearing to settle in at Pac-12. With superconference dreams coming up short, Larry Scott and his manifest destiny did manage to add two teams from the eastern side of the region, annexing both Colorado and Utah. Once you throw in the violations and penalties at flagship school USC, no one knows exactly what the changing face of the conference will look like in the 2010 season, but hey, it can’t hurt to take a guess at how the top of the standings might play out.

1. Oregon State With the NCAA’s dethroning of conference king USC, the Beavers find themselves in rare position atop the Pac-10 projections. Led by Junior RB Jacquizz Rodgers and an overload of talent at skill positions, youngster QB Ryan Katz should be able to adjust to the spotlight with relative ease in his second year. Read the rest of this entry »