Week 1 college preview

The 2010 college football season kicks off this weekend. There are a handful of games Thursday night, as well, highlighted by USC at Hawaii. Normally this game wouldn’t draw that much attention, but it is the first game for new Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin.

Since Kiffin took over at USC earlier this year, there has been nothing but turmoil at the school. Because of NCAA violations, USC has lost a number of scholarships in future recruiting classes and are barred from playing in bowl games for two seasons. Also, the NCAA allowed underclassmen to transfer without penalty, so USC has lost a number of talented young players. At least in the foreseeable future, USC will not be the USC we have known for the last ten years.

Some of the big games on Saturday include LSU vs. North Carolina in Atlanta, Illinois vs. Missouri in St. Louis and Oregon State vs. TCU in Arlington, Texas. Both the LSU–North Carolina game and the Oregon State–TCU game are between teams ranked in the AP preseason top 25.

ICONMarvin Austin will not play in UNC's opener against LSU.

North Carolina was supposed to be a ranked team because of the number of returning top defensive players. But because of an ongoing investigation involving some players’ dealings with agents, some of these players may lose their eligibility. That could change their defense drastically. Defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who is one of those players involved, has already been suspended for this game but supposedly it is unrelated to the NCAA investigation.

The other top senior pro prospects are linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant, along with defensive backs Kendric Burney, Charles Brown, Da’Norris Searcy and Deunta Williams. They have some very talented underclassmen, as well, especially on the defensive line. It has been reported that all of these players and junior defensive end Robert Quinn are under investigation by the NCAA. If North Carolina loses all or most of these players, they can no longer be looked at as the dominant team in the ACC.

As usual, LSU is loaded as well. The Tigers’ senior class has nine NFL prospects headed by linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, defensive linemen Drake Nevis and Lezarius Levingston and wide receiver Terrance Tolliver. This should be a very physical game. I like North Carolina if the Tar Heels have a full roster; otherwise, LSU may have a relatively easy win.

The Oregon State–TCU game is also interesting. TCU has six senior prospects, but as has been the case the last few years, that number will increase as the season goes on. The top prospects right now are guard Marcus Cannon and quarterback Andy Walton. TCU is finally getting the national respect it deserves, as the Horned Frogs have an excellent program.

Oregon State’s top prospects are defensive linemen Brandon Blair and linebacker Casey Matthews. They are always a very well-coached team, but being that the game will be played at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, the Horned Frogs will have a huge home-field advantage.

Big Ten

At first glance, the future two-division alignment of the Big Ten seems fairly evenly weighted. The divisions have not been named yet, but the alignment looks like this:

Division One: Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Northwestern

Division Two: Purdue, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The Big Ten has said that even though Ohio State and Michigan are in different divisions, their annual rivalry game will still be played each season.

Alabama

ICONMark Ingram will miss at least this week, but 'Bama has a very suitable replacement in Trent Richardson.

Because of minor knee surgery, Alabama has lost last year’s Heisman winner, running back Mark Ingram. There is no word on how long Ingram will be out. It won’t hurt Alabama in its opening game against San Jose State, but it could have an effect in the second game against Penn State. Alabama still has sophomore running back Trent Richardson to pick up the slack while Ingram is out, however. Last year. while playing in a rotation with Ingram, Richardson picked up 751 yards. He was rated as the top high school running back in the nation when he chose Alabama.

Boston College

Yesterday, Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich returned to practice. He says he expects to play this week in the team’s opener against Weber State. Going into last season, Herzlich was one of the top-rated linebacker prospects in the country and a sure first-round draft pick. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer (Ewings Sarcoma) and had to miss the 2009 season while undergoing treatment. He then missed much of this year’s preseason practices with a stress fracture. It remains to be seen if Herzlich can return to his rare playing ability, but we at National Football Post wish him the best.

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