When it comes to college football, I am a traditionalist.  The one thing I love about college football is of all the sports, college or pro, the regular season in college football is the one that means the most. I also love the rivalries and the tradition of the bowls. While I have been calling for a system that pits the #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3 teams in the Jan 1 bowls for nearly a decade, I am vehemently against an 8 or 16 team playoff which would destroy the bowls and make the regular season meaningless.

In 1995 I was actually sad to see the SWC fold as I really enjoyed the great tradition and history of that conference.

From the recent news of Nebraska joining the Big Ten and Colorado heading to the Pac-10, it looks like college football re-alignment and expansion is going forward and I think it will move quickly. However, unlike some of the past radical changes to college football, I actually look forward to seeing which programs end up where and I salivate at the possibility of there being multiple super conferences. Read more…

The NCAA has granted a 6th year of eligibility for Kent St RB Eugene Jarvis exactly 5 months to the day after he suffered a season-ending injury at Boston College.

In 2007 Jarvis tied a school record with 5 straight yard games (old record Don Fitzgerald in ’66).  He went on to break Eric Wilkerson’s 1988 school record of 1,325 in a season with 1,669 (6.0!) while also leading Kent St in receiving yards (306, 13.3). Jarvis was the first Kent St RB to lead the MAC in rushing since Wilkerson did it in ’88. In 2008, he was the leading returning FBS rusher and missed 3.5 games with injury (missed just one prior) but he still rushed for 801 (4.9) and was the #2 rec with 273 (10.9). Last year before the injury he rushed for 158 yards (4.3).

Obviously this is good news for Kent St and there is no kid more deserving than him. Knowing Eugene like I do, he will come back this season strong and play with a lot of passion.

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In Monday’s Blog I gave you the teams with the best odds to win the 2010 national championship courtesy of The Hilton in Las Vegas. In today’s blog is the current list for Returning Starters for each team in 2010 broken down by offense, defense and special teams. The * on the offense number denotes that the starting QB is returning. Below the alphabetical list I broke down teams with the most/least returning starters followed by a conference by conference breakdown.

Please make sure to check out our team schedules for next year. On the left side of the home page under 2010 click onSchedules/13 Year Logs and go to your favorite conference to get schedules for all your teams for 2010. Click on any game to get all the games played between the two teams in the last 13 years with complete statistics including first downs, rushing, passing, sacks, TO’s and much more.

Because we want all the information to be complete and accurate as possible, if you see any games we have missed for next seasons’ schedules or if there have been any recent changes to your favorite teams 2010 schedule please email Brandon@philsteele.com and we’ll get it corrected.

Also don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2010 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants.

I will be back later this week with all the Senior Bowl/Pro Bowl coverage you need to prepare you for this weekend’s games. On Monday I will expand on the Hilton’s odds to win the 2010 BCS National Championship and give you a breakdown of each of the 50 teams including key starters back/lost.

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In today’s blog I will give you the odds to win the 2010 National Championship from the Hilton. If you are in Las Vegas at anytime in the next couple of months make sure to stop by the Hilton to get advanced odds on the 2010 college football season and advanced odds to win the Super Bowl.

Also make sure to check out our team schedules for next year.  On the left side of the home page under 2010 click onSchedules/13 Year Logs. Go to your favorite conference to get schedules for all your teams for 2010.

Click on any game to get all the games played between the two teams in the last 13 years with complete statistics including first downs, rushing, passing, sacks, TO’s and much more.

Because we want all the information to be complete and accurate as possible, if you see any games we have missed for next seasons’ schedules or if there have been any recent changes to your favorite teams 2010 schedule please emailBrandon@philsteele.com and we’ll get it corrected.

Don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2010 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants.

We will back by the end of this week with my projections of what the 2010 Preseason AP Top 10 will be.

Here are the Odds to win the 2010 National Championship courtesy of the Hilton. Read more…

For the first time ever, the Civil War between Oregon and Oregon St was winner-take-all battle for the Rose Bowl. The teams had 4 scoring drives and an int on the first 5 poss and the Ducks, thanks to a 3rd & 8, 73 yd pass led 14-10. OSU clawed back to a 23-21 halftime lead and opened the 3Q with a 75/9pl drive for a TD to lead 30-21. There were 4 crucial 4th downs the remainder of the game and all 4 went in favor of the Ducks. They went for it on 4th & 6 on the next drive and got an 8 yd pass to the OSU27 to continue on a 68/12pl drive for a TD. After OSU settled for a 45 yd FG, UO got a 52 yd TD run by James and led 34-33 after 3Q’s. UO added a 34 yd FG with 10:13 left. OSU had a 4th & 15 at the Duck27 and passed up a FG and fired incomplete on the sidelines with 6:09 left. UO daringly went for it on 4th & 3 at the OSU33 and converted and then on 4th & 2 from the OSU19 and the Ducks got a 5 yd run to the 14 and took a knee finishing with a 489-389 yd edge…

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There were very few games this week so it wasn’t as tough to earn a Top 20 spot from my computer’s average individual grades as there was only 34 performances to grade. Therefore, I will cut it off at the Top 14 this week.
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Georgia Tech – Special teams coach Jeff Monken was hired as Georgia Southern’s next Head Coach.

Vs Georgia – Georgia Tech allowed more than 300 yards rushing for the first time since West Virginia ran for 311 in the 2007 Gator Bowl.

Starting DT Ben Anderson is doubtful with a knee injuryury (15 tackles, 0.5 tfl, 12 starts).

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Boston College got a 3rd & 17, 66 yard TD pass but also settled for an 18 yard field goal in the 1Q. BC led 16-10 at the half with a 246-127 yard edge. BC went on an 11 play drive to open the 3Q and settled for a 31 yard field goal which they missed. Each team was SOD in the other’s territory early in the 4Q but Maryland, on 4th & 1 was SOD at its own 29 with 4:18 left and BC got the clinching 42 yard field goal with 3:59 left. Maryland converted on 4th & 4 and 4th & 10 and two plays later got a 28 yard TD pass to only trail 19-17 with 1:34 left but BC recovered the onside kick.

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NEWS AND NOTES – Rutgers scored TD’s on their first 4 poss vs Louisville and led 28-7 at the half with a 284-159 yd edge. UL did pull to within 28-14 but after punting from the RU46 and punting on their next drive, they fmbl’d at their own 44. RU drove 65/7pl for a TD with 3:52 left to ice it 34-14… Read more…

This week’s top performance went to Oklahoma in their dominating shutout win over Oklahoma St as they came in with a potent offense so the computer loved the fact they held the Cowboys to 109 total yards.

The #2 performance was Tim Tebow’s final home game at Florida and it was not even as close as the 37-10 final would indicate with Florida St getting a late TD and Florida having a 276 yard edge.

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