I have created a new position called the Commissioner of College Football, and I just appointed myself as the first one.   I have some ideas to improve the sport we all love and I wanted to share them with you.  [saturdaynightslants]

College football recruiting currently resembles more of a circus than it does prospective student athletes making a decision on where to play college football.  But then again, that is nothing new.  We've heard stories from the 1980s of Jessie Armstead holding a press conference from a hot tub surrounded by girls.   As long as fans are interested in recruiting, which they will be, then you're going to see press conference hat tricks and last minute, signing day switches.   While often frustrating, I'm actually OK with that.

Lately, we have seen more of what has been labeled "oversigning".  A school can enroll no more than 25 new players each season.   However, each team has an overall limit of 85 scholarship players.   If a school signs 25 players in each class, then they'll have a total of 100.   The math does not work, but that is by design.  Players transfer, get hurt, quit, leave for the NFL or run into academic trouble.  They leave the football program for a variety of reasons.  It happens.  The 25/85 rule provides an allowance for that.   But going even one step further, a player is allowed to play four seasons but can be on scholarship for five.   A player can "redshirt", which means they can be a scholarship football player in a year when they do not play.  Thus, they can save a year of eligibility.   In regards to scholarship numbers, that means  five different signing classes make up a team's 85 man roster limit.

Even if a school has just 15 open spots under the 85 man limit, a coach will often still sign 25 new players.  What happens to the overage of 10 players?   You will see some natural attrition on the team due to the reasons listed above.  But often, the numbers do not always work themselves out.  In those cases, the coach will cut or "run off" the additional players who have the least chance of ever contributing.  This practice allows a school to sign more players than they otherwise could.   With the inexact science of player evaluation, the thought is to sign as many players as possible.  If you sign enough players, you'll eventually find a few that can play at a high level.  Obviously, many have labeled this practice as unethical.  However, I believe that the process of "cutting" players is almost always a lot more mutual than some will have you believe.  

The Big-10 conference has rules in place that only allow a school to "oversign" by three players.  And Big-10 fans will tell you that the recent run of success in the SEC is solely due to oversigning.   While that's completely ridiculous, this practice is quite prevalent within the SEC (including at LSU), and it is tough to argue that it does not provide an advantage.  

Why do coaches oversign?  Because they are motivated to do so.   Under the current system, coaches can achieve an advantage by signing as many players as possible.  Coaches will always be under enormous pressure to win.  That won't change.  But what can change is the system they operate under.   Here are a few suggestions:

1)  Allow players five years of eligibility on the field instead of four. This would eliminate "redshirts" and would allow a player to play five seasons of college football.  If a player is on campus, going to class, practicing, lifting weights, etc, they may as well be eligible to play.  

2)  Mandate that schools can only sign 17 new players each year. This includes high school players, junior college players, incoming transfers, or scholarships awarded to walk-ons.  You know what 17 is?   It is 85 divided by five.  Essentially, the overall roster limit of 85 goes away since it is now mathematically impossible to surpass it.    

3)  Allow prospects to sign a National Letter of Intent AT ANY TIME after March 15 of their Junior season.  If both the prospect and a parent sign the Letter of Intent, then it is binding and their recruitment is over.  You can possibly allow a seven day window for them to back out if they simply got caught up in the moment during a visit.   Why March 15?  It was just a date I picked that seemed to make sense.  

3a)  If the above simply does not work, then have an early signing day...preferably sometime in August before both the college and high school seasons get started.  

4)  When a player signs scholarship papers with a university, he signd a five year scholarship with the school which obligates the school to keep him on scholarship for five years, assuming he keeps his academics in order and is not a discipline problem.   However, if the player wants to transfer, he must sit out TWO years before able to play again.   Currently, a player must sit out one year when they transfer.  This may seem harsh, but I have a slight problem with people trashing coaches for not renewing scholarships while players are allowed to transfer at a moment's notice.  I believe this commitment should be a two way street. 

5)  I am not opposed to "grayshirting".  If a prospect is willing to wait to enroll as a means to attend the school he wants to attend, then he should be able to do it.  However, this would be unofficial and the prospect would not sign a letter of intent.  

So what do these suggestions accomplish?   Here are my thoughts:

1)  Coaches can no longer oversign.  It is now impossible.  Therefore every school operates on a level playing field in regards to recruiting.  Everyone signs 17 each year.  

2)  Currently, some coaches may be motivated to eliminate some current players from their program in order to make room for new ones .  Now, that motivation is totally flipped.  More than ever, coaches would want their current players to remain in the program.  They will place more emphasis on player development, academics, and off the field behavior than ever before.   College football coaches are also less likely to take chances on prospects with academic or off the field concerns. Since they can no longer simply be "replaced" if things do not work out, coaches will simply not take as many risks.   I feel that this will trickle down to the high school level and the the prospects, along with their parents and coaches, will be more motivated than ever to square away their academics. 

3)  With each school signing just 17 every year, talented prospects will be spread out across more schools, and you should see more parity in college football.  In theory, this will blur the line between college football super elite and the second level.  You would see more upsets and less undefeated seasons.  

4)  With the ability for prospects to sign early, coaches can narrow their recruiting focus in the fall while the season is underway.  In the Class of 2011, LSU had 15 verbal commitments by the end of July.  Let's assume that half of those were comfortable enough to go ahead and sign their letter of intent.   Therefore, LSU would have seven or eight players already signed before the fall and would only be looking for nine or ten more.   Under the current system, others schools can still recruit those verbal commitments, and they absolutely do.  Coaching staffs spend countless hours continuing to recruit players, even though they are already committed, just to counter the sales pitches from other staffs.   If those players were signed, coaching staffs could concentrate on the players still on the board, and also further concentrate on the players already on the team.  It just makes sense for the actual team to get the bulk of the staff's focus between August and December.  

Any negatives to these changes?  Perhaps.   You could lose some of the drama and theatrics that go along with National Signing Day.  Since kids can sign at any time, a true "Signing Day" would disappear.  The recruiting web sites and ESPN profit off the excitement of that day.   I don't really consider this a negative at all, but some would.  Then again, if you simply have an early signing day, then the late signing day in February would still have plenty of appeal.  

If you only have an early signing day, then you could see a lot MORE drama on the late Signing Day.  With each school only signing 17 players, those spots become even more valuable.  If prospects choose to wait until Signing Day to announce their decision, which they will undoubtedly do since ESPN will be there to televise it, then schools will have a heck of a time juggling the numbers that day.  If a school has seven players signed, ten open spots and eight verbal commitments heading into Signing Day, then they have room for two more.  But let's say has four players announce for the school on Signing Day...then you'll undoubtedly see some last minute scholarships being pulled, etc.  LSU encountered a similar situation in 2010.  That is why I favor letting prospects sign whenever they're ready.  It just makes sense.  

Overall, these changes would positively affect college football in a big way.  The players would benefit but so would the entire sport of college football.

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Middle of February; the games, hires and signing day are behind us while spring ball is still weeks away yet college football continues to find its way to the front page for us on a regular basis. Tuesday the story was all about West Virgnia's settlement with the Big East and the release of the new Big XII schedule. On Wednesday the eyes would again shift to the Big XII as another newcomer, TCU makes headlines and this time it isn't exactly good.

Four TCU football players were arrested Wednesday in conjunction with a six-month drug sting that netted some 18 total arrests including 15 current TCU students. The four players; linebacker Tanner Brock, defensive tackle DJ Yendrey, cornerback Devin Johnson and offensive tackle Tyler Horn were all brought in for selling marijuana as the sting itself caught the individuals selling everything from pot to cocaine and ecstasy.

The arrest isn't a football problem as the players were merely caught in a larger situation that police were investigating. In fact the arrests, by themselves, show little to me with respect to TCU's football program beyond some guys sell a little pot on the side. Not something remarkably eye opening unless you're the type of person of the mindset that this doesn't go on other places. The type who thought TCU was different.

However, we do get into some football related issues when Gary Patterson, the head coach, reportedly called for a team drug test to start the month of February after a recruit turned down TCU, telling Patterson it was on account of the drug use by the current players. After said drug test two of the players involved in the arrests, Brock and Johnson, both spoke candidly during drug sales about the amount of players who would likely fail the test. Johnson said some 82 players failed the test while Brock said at least 60 of the players would be screwed.

This is where it gets a bit interesting as there are some elements of drug testing that need cleared up and some questions that TCU has yet to truly answer with regards to policy and procedure.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this story I got some questions with regards to the NCAA and drug testing that need to be knocked out as the nature of it all is a bit nebulous to most fans.

For starters the types of test used are urine tests. Obviously there can be blood test done should the NCAA suspect sample tampering or, in the case of certain Olympic sports, blood doping. Hair tests are not mentioned in any of the NCAA policy and given the expense and the nature of the drug policy they don't fit into the NCAA's approach.

Speaking of nature of the policy folks must understand that the NCAA drug testing policy is largely competition based. Yes, they test for street drugs, however the goal is to eliminate the use of performance enhancing drugs in the regular and post-season as well as offseason training by players. Performance enhancing drugs draw the worst immediate penalties while street drugs lead down the counseling and awareness route with more "rope" being given to offenders.

For individual schools their drug policies differ and we'll get into TCU's here shortly, but folks must remember that both the NCAA and the school's athletic department the drug policies are in addition to the general student policy. Meaning athletes who fail drug tests or are arrested for drug offenses should be facing the same processes and procedure as the normal students who get popped for the same offenses.

Now TCU we're going to get into this because as you dig the case becomes infinitely more interesting. For the first time we have more concrete speculation as to how much of the team was involved in drugs and alcohol and a bit more of the curtain, with respect to school sanctioned drug tests, is pulled back.

For starters no I don't buy Brock and Johnson's speculation that some 82 or 60 players would fail the drug tests. By Johnson assertion that would mean roughly 3* people on the entire team were capable of passing and by Brock's figure we've be looking at 73% of the roster. That's a lot and while it is a very real possibility if drugs are within the culture of the school I tend to think the numbers, for any team across the country, fall closer to the 33% to 50% range.

*TCU's roster had 103 people on it for 2011, 18 of them were seniors. If 18 seniors left that leaves 85 people on the roster. Not accounting for transfers and early enrollees.

However, even if we're not buying the massive numbers kicked out there by Brock and Johnson we can still safely assume a good portion of the team ran a high risk of failing this pop quiz of a drug test. If the test was spur of the moment that means no cleanser time, no massive water chugging to dilute the sample and get an inconclusive, no move to schedule something of a time conflict and avoid the test. So everyone took the test, TCU administered said test and, at least as far as we know, no one received any disciplinary action from the test.

Here is where we get into policy and the relatively arbitrary nature of the enforcement. The NCAA has nothing to do with this drug test as it was an institution administered test, not the random maybe once yearly NCAA drug test that only a handful of players even take. TCU administered test and TCU gets to mete out, or not mete out, the punishment hear after they decide that the results do or more importantly don't matter.

Per the TCU Code of Student Conduct students caught in a non-incident violation of the drug policy (failed random drug test) results in mandatory counseling and possible other actions after meeting with the Dean of Campus Life. For an incident motivated violation students face a one year probation, 40 hours of community service, either a $200 fine of 40 more hours of service and random testing to monitor during probationary period. A third violation results in suspension from school.

This is the baseline procedure for any Horned Frog student involved in drug violations, the TCU student athlete is subject to more punishment in addition to the Code of Student Conduct. Per the TCU Student Athlete Handbook the first offense or a non-probationary offense the Athletic Director, Vice Chancellor of student affairs and Head Coach are all notified, the athlete is sent to counseling, put on probation with random testing follow ups and faces possible expulsion, revocation of scholarship and/or dismissal from the team. In addition to this we note that parents or guardians are notified in two ways; verbally by the head man Gary Patterson himself and a written note from the university.

The student athlete handbook is important because interesting questions begin to come up. Were the proper channels notified of any failed drug tests during this February 1st testing? I don't believe the media should know everything with regards to players on probation, failing tests or being suspended but out of TCU we've seen no disciplinary action as a result of failing this tests. Another big question: how many parents were called by Patterson to be made aware of the failed test and/or sent a written note from the university?

For those athletes who violation the probation they are suspended for an entire season, face monitoring drug tests, required counseling and they are up for scholarships being pulled. On the third failed test student-athletes are sent packing in a sort of "three strikes you're out" policy similar to the one we see in many places around the country.

Asking those tough questions will shed some light as to how closely or loosely TCU followed their own drug policy both at the school and at the athletic department level. If the Vice Chancellor, Athletic Director and Parents weren't notified then that's a failure, a willing failure, in the policy that they enacted for themselves.

However, not putting TCU "on blast" here because that's what I wholeheartedly expect. Drug tests mean exactly what a coach wants them to mean. They can be used as a means to dismiss a player the coach wants to get rid of, see Stephen Garcia. They can be a showy practice for a coach who has to appear to be in control, see Les Miles and Tyrann Mathieu. They can be a buried, undiscussed situation that was supposed to just go away, see Gary Patterson until these arrests came down.

That's what school sanctioned drug tests are folks. They don't matter nearly as much as you wish they did and while you think your school is different odds are kids are pulling extra chances same as they do everywhere else. It isn't a regional issue, it is just how college football works. If you matter to the team and you fail a drug test that sucks but they'll figure out a way to keep it moving. Failing too many drug tests is a bridge that they'll cross when they get to it. So long as you're not arrested they can usually make it work.

But, as we've seen with Janoris Jenkins, getting arrested is the real issue here. Brock, Johnson, Yendrey and Horn got arrested, and not just for simple possession as we see all over the country. Their arrest has pulled back the wool because they were so brazen about involvement with drugs and in their discussion with the law enforcement officers involved in setting the ring up for the downfall.

Now TCU has some tough questions to answer and Gary Patterson will, or should at least, be asked these questions in the next few days as we find out just how serious the school took this drug test and the tests before it.

As for the four football players and 11 other student involved, good luck to them. TCU's Code of Student Conduct is pretty clear on the punishment for selling drugs; immediate expulsion. It is explicitly stated in their student handbook and while there is an appeals process their only true hope comes from some sort of leniencey from the prosecutors in order to reduce the charges and possibly allow for them to get back in school. 

Although to be fair these folks are probably far less worried about getting back into classes at TCU and far more worried about not going to the clink for a few years.

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We are a little late on bringing you our "way too early Top....." but we figured we would wait until all of the kids made their NFL decisions and for National Signing Day to come and go. For the purpose of this article when I refer to "returning starters" I am going to be using Phil Steele's figures that he posted on his website.

#10 South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina finished #10 in our final poll of the year so it makes a lot of sense to have them here to start 2012. The Gamecocks exceeded our expectations last season by overcoming the loss of Marcus Lattimore and the demise of Stephen Garcia. They were just a three point loss to Auburn away from playing in the SEC Championship Game for the second straight year. This year the Gamecocks will have to replace a lot of talent (Alshon Jeffrey, Melvin Ingram, Antonio Allen, C.C. Whitlock, Stephon Gilmore) especially on the defensive side of the football. They return 7 starters on offense and 6 on defense. QB Connor Shaw grew into the position once he took over for Garcia but he's still more dangerous with his feet than he is with his arm. If he can improve his passing this season and create more balance for the Gamecocks they could be a very dangerous team. The schedule is not a killer (East Carolina, UAB, Wofford, Kentucky should be freebies) but they do get LSU and Arkansas out of the SEC West.

#9 West Virginia Mountaineers

I did a double-take when I got a couple of ballots in from my voters but here is West Virginia. The Orange Bowl crushing of Dabo Swinney's dreams is still fresh in a lot of minds and maybe it will kick start the Mountaineers next season as they enter the Big 12. The Mountaineers finished 16th in our final poll and they return 8 starters on offense and 6 on defense. In their second year under Dana Holgersen they should be more consistent on offense and Geno Smith could turn out to be a Heisman contender. The big key for the Mountaineers is they have to get more from their ground game and they need their defense to make improvements as they will be playing a lot of high octane offenses.

#8 Florida State Seminoles

Florida State was one of the most disappointing teams last year when you think about how hyped they were and how they delivered. They got bit by the injury bug last season, especially on the offensive line. I didn't personally put FSU in my top 10, but my other three voters all had them in their polls. The biggest thing in favor of FSU is that they play in the ACC and it is anybody's for the taking. In the ACC there is no 10,000 pound gorilla like Alabama, LSU, Oregon or Oklahoma that everybody has to look up to. FSU returns 6 starters on offense and 8 on defense. Despite finishing 23rd in our final poll, they definitely have the talent to finish in the Top 10 this season.

#7 Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas flirted with being able to play with the big two in the SEC West but came up just short. A pretty good case could be made for the Razorbacks as the #3 team in the country last year and they finished 4th in our final poll. Despite losing a ton of talent at the WR position (Joe Adams, Greg Childs, Jarius Wright) I expect the Razorbacks to reload and might even have a better offense this season with a more experienced Tyler Wilson and a returning Knile Davis. My concern for Arkansas is on the defensive side of the football. They changed Defensive Coordinators but they also lose a bunch of talent (Jake Bequette, Jerico Nelson, Jerry Franklin, Tramain Thomas). Arkansas should be very good next season but I just don't see the defensive making enough improvement to get past Alabama and LSU.

#6 Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia finished 19th in our final poll and made huge strides from 2010 to 2011. The biggest concern about Georgia coming into this season is their ability (or lack thereof) to win the big game. Georgia beat every team on their schedule that they were supposed to beat but they went 0-4 against teams that finished in our Top 11 (Boise State, LSU, Michigan State, South Carolina). Georgia is banking on Todd Grantham's defense to take another step behind All-American LB Jarvis Jones, potential superstar Alec Ogletree (who missed half the 2011 season with a foot injury) and ball-hawking Safety Bacarri Rambo. Georgia returns nine starters on defense with Brandon Boykin being the biggest loss (as well as CB Sanders Comings missing the first two games with suspension). Georgia returns six starters on offense but has very talented young players. The key to this Georgia team will be how the offensive line comes together.

#5 Oregon Ducks

Oregon losses Darron Thomas, LaMichael James and David Paulson on the offensive side of the football. Those are big losses but under Chip Kelly, Oregon has become an offensive machine. Losing Chip Kelly to the NFL would have been a much bigger loss for this team. Expect Oregon to reload and be just as good this year on offense. Another positive for Oregon is that their schedule opens up very soft and that will allow them to get their feet under them. With a couple of breaks the Ducks could find themselves playing for the National Title again.

#4 Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama returns just four starters on defense and has to replace their Heisman Trophy contending RB Trent Richardson. If any other team lost this much they wouldn't be this high. But this isn't any other team. It's Alabama, and Nick Saban has built up and earned the benefit of the doubt. Alabama won't be as good next year but they will be good and will get better as the year goes on. Bama opens with Michigan (a team that just barely missed our poll) and then has Arkansas in the third game of the season. Those games are probably the lynch-pin of this season for the Tide. Another interesting storyline will be their new Offensive Coordinator and how quickly he can get them used to whatever changes he brings.

#3 Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma returns 8 startes on offense and 7 on defense and also has QB Landry Jones returning. Besides our number one team in this poll (keep reading you are almost there), Oklahoma was the only other team to receive a first place vote. A key for Oklahoma is to avoid injuries (they are part of the game but OU got killed with injuries last year). Oklahoma made some changes on their defensive staff and they should help the team get better this year. The offense should be explosive and if the defense can keep from getting gashed (like they did against Texas Tech), OU has a very good shot at playing for a title this year.

#2 USC Trojans

Oh Lane Kiffin, we want to hate you but we have to respect what you did last year. The signature win over Oregon still resonates in my mind and it's one of the reasons that many think USC will be a contender this season. USC returns 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense. Losing OT Matt Kalil will hurt and losing some beef up front on defense will also hurt. That being said, with Matt Barkley and his talented receivers you simply can't count the Trojans out.

#1 LSU Tigers

LSU was the team to beat for the majority of last season. They won their division and then they won their conference. After all that, they had to beat a team that they already beat and they just couldn't get up for that game. Tip your hats to Alabama and spread the blame around at LSU because there is enough for everybody. LSU will return 7 offensive starters and even though Rueben Randle is going pro I see no reason why LSU will not be better on offense this year. Zach Mettenberger will take over for Jordan Jefferson and he will give LSU an actual passing threat. The good news for LSU is with Spencer Ware, Michael Ford, Alfred Blue and Kenny Hilliard in the backfield it generally won't be up to Mettenberger to win games. On defense, LSU is still going to be supremely talented despite returning only five starters. Three out of four Zealots have LSU in the drivers seat going into spring ball.

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Michigan improved greatly in Brady Hoke's first season, and it would only be natural for the UM fans to think 2012 could be their year.

The odds of winning a BCS National Championship are OK, but not outstanding.

However, it would not shock many if dual-threat quarterback Denard Robinson finally put together a full season of greatness and won the Heisman Trophy.

He's not alone.

There are a number of great college football players who have a better shot at the Heisman than they do a championship.

Geno Smith, West Virginia

It's not like Geno Smith is going to put up numbers like he did in the Discover Orange Bowl against Clemson during every game next season.

But it's not a far-fetched idea to believe he will improve drastically on his first season in Dana Holgorsen's system.

If WVU makes the jump to the Big 12 (like most experts believe), then Smith will get a credibility bump that he can't earn in the Big East.

However, this also means the competition will be tougher. So it's hard to imagine the Mountaineers can pull off an undefeated regular season and earn a spot in the championship game.

So, Smith could give the Big 12 a second straight Heisman winner.

Montee Ball, Wisconsin

Montee Ball's great 2011 earned him an invite to the Heisman Trophy presentation, but he wasn't really a serious contender.

That was somewhat shocking considering he amassed 38 touchdowns during the regular season. He was naturally aided by the addition of quarterback Russell Wilson.

So it's hard to imagine Ball amassing the gaudy numbers again, but if he still gets 24 or 25 touchdowns there might be enough voters who give him an edge when looking at his two seasons together.

That doesn't make it right, but it could happen.

As a team, the Badgers should be a competitive group but Bret Bielema has some rebuilding to do in 2012.

Tyler Wilson, Arkansas

In his first season as Arkansas' starter, Tyler Wilson made a lot of folks forget Ryan Mallett real fast.

Wilson completed 63 percent of passes for 3,638 yards and 24 touchdowns as the Razorbacks went 11-2.

In Bobby Petrino's system, Wilson could elevate those numbers into Heisman-worthy stats.

Wilson won't have all of the receiving weapons he had in the past, but a healthy Knile Davis running the ball should take some pressure off of him.

At this point, Arkansas is not good enough to win the SEC West so it's hard to imagine the Razorbacks pulling off what Alabama did last season.

Sammy Watkins, Clemson

Through eight games of 2011, Sammy Watkins was actually a legitimate Heisman candidate as a true freshman.

He flashed his explosiveness as both a receiver and a returner. Heisman voters love it when a player can score from multiple positions on the field.

It wouldn't be a surprise if Watkins finished with better numbers than he had in 2011. He caught 83 passes for 1,225 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Watkins' Heisman case will be helped if quarterback Tajh Boyd becomes more consistent. However, that could hurt him if Boyd himself becomes a serious candidate.

After that pitiful defensive performance in the Discover Orange Bowl, it's hard to imagine Clemson could be considered a serious title contender.

James Franklin, Missouri

Heisman voters love a quarterback who can throw and run.

James Franklin has a little Cam Newton in him.

The Missouri quarterback had a strong sophomore season. He threw for 2,872 yards and rushed for an additional 981 yards.

Franklin accounted for 36 touchdowns, as the Tigers went 8-5 and closed the season with four straight wins.

Missouri is heading to the SEC East, which is a division the Tigers could actually compete for in 2012.

That will help Franklin's case, but it doesn't seem likely Missouri would have enough to win the SEC and win a championship.

Aaron Murray, Georgia

Hey, it's another SEC East quarterback.

But Aaron Murray is more of a traditional drop-back passer with a rocket arm.

Murray proved to be a real leader for Georgia, and he guided the Bulldogs to 10 straight wins in 2011. Of course, that was sandwiched by two two-game losing streaks.

The bowl loss to Michigan State was a huge hit, but Murray should excel for Mark Richt again.

The schedule has plenty of wins on it, and if Georgia makes the SEC Championship game again, Murray might play his way into a Heisman Trophy.

The Bulldogs would like to think they are a BCS sleeper, but right now they aren't in the same class as LSU and Alabama. Georgia may not be better than Arkansas and Auburn, either.

Keith Price, Washington

A lot of college football fans did not see Washington's Keith Price play much this season.

Then came his performance in the Alamo Bowl against Baylor. The Huskies lost, but Price outplayed Heisman winner Robert Griffin III.

He threw for 438 yards and four touchdowns in a wild game that Washington lost.

Price finished the year with 3,322 passing yards and 32 touchdowns. He should easily put up those type of numbers again.

While Washington has improved under Steve Sarkisian, no one is going to confuse the Huskies with USC or Oregon.

Rex Burkhead, Nebraska

Forget Taylor Martinez, Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead is a better Heisman candidate for the Cornhuskers.

Burkhead could be a Ron Dayne-type Heisman winner.

He's sort of a battering ram with nice speed.

Nebraska will give him the ball between 275 and 325 times next fall, and that should equate to about 1,800 rushing yards and a whole bunch of touchdowns.

Martinez actually hurts his candidacy a bit since he'll score a lot of touchdowns also.

The Cornhuskers took a step back last year just when it looked like Bo Pelini's team was ready to take the next step.

Right now, Nebraska must focus on Big Ten play before becoming a serious title contender.

Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina

Marcus Lattimore was a Heisman contender before he went down with a knee injury in the seventh game of the season.

As long as he returns this fall at 100 percent, Lattimore should be an immediate front runner.

He should get around 300 carries this fall, and he could put up 1,600 to 1,800 yards.

If he can maintain or improve his 116 yards-per-game average, Lattimore should at least get an invite to New York for the trophy presentation.

The Gamecocks have stockpiled some talent the past few years with Steve Spurrier, but it's hard to see South Carolina making a serious run at a BCS title.

Denard Robinson, Michigan

Michigan's Denard Robinson has been in the Heisman mix the past two seasons, but he can't seem to put together a complete campaign.

Robinson is such an exceptional athlete you can't take your eyes off of him when he's playing. When he breaks off one of those special runs he just makes everyone else look like high school players.

Robinson still lacks a great passing arm and he has accuracy issues, but he's good enough to have thrown for 2,173 yards last year.

He also had 15 interceptions.

Michigan reached the Sugar Bowl in 2011 and knocked off Virginia Tech, but it's hard to imagine the Wolverines making the leap to a national title contender.

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As I was putting the finishing touches on myCollege Basketball Primer article last week, internally, I had a pretty tough decision to make: Should I include a few paragraphs on the National Player of the Year or not?

On the surface, that seems like a dumb, ultimately trivial problem. Believe me, I know. But still, I was torn. On the one hand, if the article was to truly serve its purpose (essentially, to get fans caught up on everything they needed to know about college basketball after a long football season), then it did only seem appropriate to talk a bit about the best players in the sport. At the same time, with the race essentially whittled down to two players- Thomas Robinson of Kansas, and Kentucky’s Anthony Davis- was it really worth it? Frankly, I didn’t know what to do. I was more confused than Erving Walker trying to run a set play out of a timeout.

Eventually I decided against adding anything, and ultimately it is now looking like the right move. That’s because as the calendar has turned from January to February, and as we continue to creep toward March, the National Player of the Year race has basically boiled down to one guy. With all due respect to Robinson, and his almost effortless ability to put up 18 and 10 every night, this award is Davis’ to lose. And assuming nothing crazy happens (like John Calipari pulls a “Home Alone” and accidentally leaves Davis at the airport or something), the freshman from Chicago is going to take home this award. Simply put, no player impacts a game in more ways than Davis does, and no player has swung the National Championship race in his team’s favor because of it either. no comments

If we learned anything from the shuffling between conferences in the last two seasons in college sports, it's that most of the talk that surfaces is just that, talk.

Conference commissioners, television executives and fans dream big. At the end of the day, though, evolution occurs gradually.

The latest rumor percolating in the blogosphere and the like has Clemson and Florida State mulling a move from the ACC to the Big 12. Naturally, the suggestion has been met with healthy skepticism – and that's putting it mildly. From a "stability" standpoint, the venerable Atlantic Coast Conference looks like the pope to the Big 12's Gary Busey. The ACC's academic reputation blows the Big 12 out of the water. And if that's not enough for you, Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips has denied there's anything to the scuttlebutt.

So, let's all agree that the odds are stacked against something like this ever coming to fruition. But how about we approach this from a different direction: What could the Big 12 realistically do to improve the chances of luring FSU and Clemson from the esteemed ACC for the circus of the Big 12?

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The rumors are swirling about the Big 12 and BYU being in discussions to bring the Cougars into the rebuilding conference. Texas AD DeLoss Dodd's comments on the first Friday of February where he addressed the Lufkin Chamber of Commerce brought more attention BYU's way when Dodd's mentioned that further Big 12 expansion could target Louisville, BYU, and possibly Notre Dame.

Now that West Virginia and the Big East have reached a settlement which allows the Mountaineers to compete in the Big 12 for the 2012 football season, the attention has turned to other expansion candidates for the conference to return to the number the conference is named after.

Louisville and West Virginia were neck-and-neck in previous expansion discussions before WVU emerged as the favorite for expansion back to 10 members. University of Oklahoma president David Boren is one of the major proponents for adding Louisville after being lobbied to by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a Louisville grad.

The Big 12, was hesitant to expand further during the WVU and Big East settlement issues, can now that negotiations between WVU and the Big East have come to a close which is good news for Louisville.

The other two universities seriously mentioned as Big 12 expansion candidates are BYU [obviously] and Cincinnati, which would help the Big 12's push eastward. no comments

 

If you can remember all the way back to Monday (which, at least to me, feels like the Mesozoic era it was so long ago), you’ll remember that I released the first half of myCollege Basketball Primer that morning. With the NFL season officially over, it was time to embrace college hoops, and the primer was my way of catching you up on the teams and storylines you needed to know heading into the last few weeks of the season.

In that Part I on Monday, I went ahead and broke down this year’s National Championship contenders, with my intention to run Part II (a handful of teams that aren’t quite elite, but still worth looking out for) on Tuesday. Unfortunately, UConn had a breakdown of epic proportions on Monday night, meaning that this got pushed back to later in the week. However it all worked out for the best, as it gave me an extra few days to really feel out some of these teams, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and where they “fit” into the whole picture.

So with that said, let’s get to Part II of the College Basketball Primer. These are teams that aren’t quite in the National Championship picture right now, but that you should be keeping an eye out on, none the less.

Missouri:

As I mentioned above, Monday’s Part I of the primer was about recognizing and appreciating the teams which I truly believed were National Championship contenders. Which went all well and good… at least until a few Missouri fans caught a whiff of the article. While I wouldn’t say Tigers fans “flooded my inbox with hate mail,” per se, what I would say is that umm, they weren’t too happy with their teams exclusion from the original list. To which I must say: Who knew Missouri had basketball fans? no comments

As you can see by the above graphic taken from the West Virginia blog The Smoking Musket, it is being reported tonight that the BIG EAST and West Virginia have come to a conditional agreement.  Essentially, its "you give us a lot of money, you can play in the Big XII next season, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

A formal announcement could be made as early as Friday. That is also when the Big 12 is set to release its 2012 conference football schedule, media outlets reported Thursday.

The Big East will make about $20 million from the resolution, with WVU paying $11 million.

The source said the Big 12 would handle the remaining amount and the Mountaineers will enjoy full membership in that conference beginning July 1.

That is fantastic news for Pitt and Syracuse, as there has now been a precedent set to leave the conference whenever a team choses.  If I were a betting man, I would say that Pitt and Syracuse will remain in the BIG EAST for 2012, but use this $20m figure to negotiate their way out of the conference for 2013, for significantly less money than that.

to make room for TCU (UCF @ Pitt).  So how can West Virginia's buyout no comments

#1 The Urban Effect

To say that Urban Meyer's arrival at Ohio State has been controversial would be putting it mildly.  The Buckeyes landed the big fish in the coaching pond when they signed Meyer, but there was grumbling from the get-go, first from people taking shots at Meyer for returning to the sport only a year after health issues and an alleged desire to spend more time with his family had forced him to retire, and then from opposing coaches and fans when Meyer hit the recruiting trail.  Since former Buckeye coach Luke Fickell and his staff stayed in place through the Gator Bowl, Meyer and his staff had nothing to do but recruit -- and oh how they recruited.  They took the Big Ten by storm, flipping several big-time recruits that had been verbally committed to other programs and landing several other blue chippers that hadn't yet made up their minds.  By the time they were down they had a top-5 class dripping with talent -- and a host of rival coaches who were already pissed at Meyer.  But all of the sour grapes bitching from the likes of Wisconsin's Bret Bielema and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio can't obscure the undeniable reality: Urban Meyer has changed the way things are done in the Big Ten and the onus is on the rest of the league to catch up now or get left in his dust.  The only sour note for Ohio State in December and January was the sound of the NCAA sanctions slamming down on them, most notably in the form of a post-season ban in 2013.  Ohio State's return to greatness is going to be delayed at least one year thanks to that little issue.

#2 The Big Blue Takeover

Brady Hoke arrived at Michigan and in one year he took Big Blue from a middling 7-5 program that got throttled by Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl to a team that (finally!) beat Ohio State and won the Sugar Bowl.  Not a bad first effort.  There was awkwardness fitting Denard Robinson into a more pro-style offensive scheme (although when push came to shove the offense often seemed to revert back to "Just go make something happen, Denard"), but the biggest surprise was a defense that went from a national punchline to a top-25 defense, nationally.  DC Greg Mattison deserves a great deal of credit for that turnaround, but improving upon that mark in 2012 will be hard without underrated DT Mike Martin.  Michigan also loses several faces on the offensive line, so duplicating 2011's 11-2 effort may be difficult... but given the uncertainty in the rest of the league and the amount of talent they do return, they still look the odds-on favorite to win the league. no comments