I know that it sounds like a broken record, but the ACC has been a disappointment since they expanded and that continued during the first weekend of the season.  Until the ACC can get some decent quarterback play, they will continue to struggle over and over.  Last weekend was really bad and to say that they totally embarrassed themselves on the opening weekend would be a severe understatement.  The ACC went 2-4 against FBS opponents (Division I-A); the best two teams in the conference, Clemson and Virginia Tech, both lost.  They went 5-0 against FCS (Division I-AA), but when you look closer, it just shows how bad they were last weekend.

There were so many embarrassing performances by the ACC last weekend.  Clemson still has the best quarterback in the conference, but the Alabama defense killed Clemson all night and beat down the Tigers 34-10 while they pounded Cullen Harper. Tommy Bowden has two very good running backs in James Davis and C.J. Spiller, but because of a recruiting promise, he handed the ball to true frosh Jamie Harper first and of course, he fumbled.  DUH!  Of course, Clemson had zero rushing yards as well.    Sean Glennon was just horrible for Virginia Tech – he threw 2 interceptions – and East Carolina surprised the Hokies 27-22.  Virginia Tech got beat by, of all things, a blocked punt for a touchdown.  N.C. State got beat by South Carolina 34-0, but most of that was late in the game.  Virginia got humiliated by USC, 52-7, at home in Charlottesville.  Mark Sanchez looked ready and healthy while Virginia looked overmatched.

Of the ACC quarterbacks last weekend, the best one I saw was Jacory Harris from Miami and that dude is a true frosh!  Then again, Miami only played Charleston Southern.  All of Maryland’s quarterbacks stunk – they barely beat Delaware 14-7?  Well, North Carolina barely got by McNeese State 35-27?  Was the ACC under some mandate to make every other conference look good?  If so, they did a great job.

One has to wonder now if the ACC teams are even worthy of competing for the BCS with their play last weekend.  Even still, the one thing that the ACC has needed since Chris Weinke won his Heisman in 2001 is good quarterback play and they just have not found much.  Matt Ryan played well last year and of course, Boston College almost won the ACC title as well.  Yes, Miami and Florida State need to re-emerge as powerhouses in college football, but so does the quarterback position within the conference.

We will see how they do today.

When is the SEC not intriguing?  Every season, the SEC carries national news because no conference has the fanaticism of the SEC when it comes to college football.  When you have a team getting 80,000+ coming to the spring game, you know that the fans of that conference are serious.  This season, the SEC should be another exciting, fanatical season, but there should be a ton of unknown stories throughout the season.  Can LSU keep their standing as the premier SEC team this decade?  Will Florida have the defense to make a run at their second national championship in three years?  Will Alabama become a factor in Nick Saban’s second season in Tuscaloosa?  Can Sylvester Croom keep improving the quality of football at Mississippi State?  Can Philip Fulmer keep the heat off of him in Knoxville?  Those storylines just include the coaches while the players have their own storylines to deal with.

Last year was a big season for individual players in the SEC and they are going to have a lot of new faces being productive this season.  Of course, the top returning player will be Tim Tebow of Florida, the Heisman Trophy winner last year.  Big things are expected from Tebow and Percy Harvin, who some say could challenge Tebow for the Heisman like Reggie Bush did with Matt Leinart in 2005.  Georgia’s Knowshon Moreno rushed for over 1,300 yards and scored 14 TDs as a freshman last year; no less is expected from him this season.  South Carolina has one of the top returning linebacker groups in the country as Jasper Brinkley returns from injury and Eric Norwood looks to continue his stellar play from last year.  Ole Miss continues to produce very good defensive players.  Greg Hardy looks to continue to be one of the best defensive linemen in the nation.

Yet, it will be the new names that have everyone in SEC country excited.  One of the most exciting players in the nation could very well be the 5’5 159 lbs. Trindon Holiday for LSU, but how much can he touch the ball?  Many Crimson Tide fans cannot wait to see the true frosh wide receiver Julio Jones, who some say was the best in high school last year.  Ole Miss fans are looking forward to seeing frosh running back Enrique Davis, who originally signed with Auburn in 2007, but went back to prep school.  Kentucky has a redshirt frosh named Anthony Mosley who many expect big things from immediately as well.  These new players are expected to produce immediate and special results.

No conference has the prestige of the SEC in terms of recognition, fan support, and the atmosphere from every single game.  The last two national champions have come from the SEC.  The coaches in the SEC are known better nationally than a lot of NFL coaches, especially since some of them, such as Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino, have just left the NFL for the SEC.  In terms of size of the stadiums, the SEC has 6 of the top 12 stadiums in terms of capacity (attendance) and many of them sell out every game.  Such competition brings more and more pressure every year to succeed in the conference, which also brings intrigue to each season.

Being relatively new to Big 12 country has brought an understanding about how it works when football season comes around.  Most Big 12 fans believe the conference is the best regardless of how many players graduated or were lost to the draft.  You can’t really blame them though, especially since they have had 3 different schools (Nebraska, Texas, and Oklahoma) play for the national championship this decade and Oklahoma has played in the national title game three times this decade.  Last year, the conference was pretty underrated considering they had four teams in the top 10 at the end of the season.  This season, there should be no doubt, except to SEC fans, that the Big 12 will be the best conference in the country.

The Big 12 returned an unusual amount of talent this season, particularly at the quarterback position.  10 of the top 11 quarterbacks from last season are back this season and when you consider that 8 of the 10 threw 22 or more touchdowns, there is no doubt about the talent there.  They have their normal collection of playmakers on the offensive end with players such as Jeremy Maclin (Missouri), Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Marlon Lucky (Nebraska), and DeMarco Murray (Oklahoma).  They have their defensive stalwarts with players such as Auston English (Oklahoma), Joe Mortensen (Kansas), Sean Weatherspoon (Missouri), and William Moore (Missouri).  The Big 12 also has highly touted newcomers that big things are expected for this season with players such as Darrell Scott (Colorado), Beau Johnson (Oklahoma State), Malcolm Williams (Texas), and Jeffrey Fuller (Texas A&M).  Talent will definitely not be a problem in the Big 12 conference this season.

What supports the Big 12 this season more than other is the depth of really good teams in the conference.  Oklahoma and Texas have been very good the entire decade, each has a national title this decade, and will be very good again this season.  Texas Tech has consistently been a good football team each season as well.  The difference is now Missouri and Kansas both have good teams and many think that this season will bring the reemergence of Nebraska.  People should not forget Colorado as they could very well be a sleeper team in the conference.

The SEC clearly gets the most attention of any conference in college football and their quality of football is what most people measure all of the other conferences.  The thing is that it could have easily been the Big 12 with 3 national titles this decade, but they knocked themselves out of the national title game last year when Oklahoma defeated then #1 Missouri in the Big 12 title game.  Make no mistake, this year, the best conference in the country looks to be the Big 12.

College football is a little more than a month away and the excitement is building for the beginning of a new season.  Many questions are being asked and many predictions are being made.  A big question that has been going around is the state of Notre Dame football, clearly the most popular college football program this country has ever known.  No other program has a network that just covers their home games exclusively and you can probably add up all of the movies that have been made about Notre Dame football and it would surpass all of the other college football movies combined.  There used to be magic in Notre Dame football, but lately, the Fighting Irish have found themselves becoming a most distasteful term, “a has-been.”

When you list the accomplishments of Notre Dame football, it usually takes a while before you can finish them, even if you condense them.  Notre Dame has won 8 “wire” (AP or coaches) national championships, although they credit themselves with 11 and have no problem letting anyone know that they were voted “national champion” by at least one sector 9 other times.  They have had 12 undefeated seasons and 6 of their players have won the Heisman Trophy as well.  Notre Dame has had the most All-Americans and after USC, the Fighting Irish has had the most NFL players and NFL Hall of Famers.  The Fighting Irish also has the 2nd-highest winning percentage, .744, along  with dozens of mind-boggling records.  How could anyone think the football program is in trouble with numbers such as these?

Lately, the Notre Dame football program has fallen on tough times, especially for a program so used to success.  Since 1980, Notre Dame has won one national championship in 1988 and one Heisman Trophy winner in Tim Brown in 1987.  This was during the Lou Holtz era, the last Notre Dame coach to have big-time success there.  Since then, Notre Dame has mostly been known for what they are no longer and that is a dominant program.  The Fighting Irish have lost nine consecutive bowl games since 1994 and all but two of them were by two touchdowns or more.  Last year, Notre Dame had an awful season going 3-9.  This was Notre Dame’s fourth losing season since 1999 and they have only had 13 losing seasons ever at Notre Dame.  Ironically, as bad as they were, it was the first time since 1992 that Notre Dame ended the season with two straight wins.

With the disappointing season last year, many predict that Notre Dame will be a much-improved team in 2008.  Most still believe that Charlie Weis is still the right coach and the fact that last year’s team started nine true freshmen at some point gives Fighting Irish fans hope that better play is on the way.  The question is how much better?  Are the days of the dominant Notre Dame teams over or have they just disappeared for a while?