Since Mark Sanchez led the Trojans to Rose Bowl triumph, the big news at USC has made a complete shift to covering the Matt Barkley saga. The headlines have looked something like this: Matt Barkley joins USC early to learn the playbook. Matt Barkley is in a competition to start. Matt Barkley falls to second to Aaron Corp. Aaron Corp gets injured, and Matt Barkley is given another chance. It is obvious that Barkley has a legitimate chance ...

For the first time in recent memory, a national commentator paid to make predictions has placed the Irish in the BCS Championship Game. That commentator was former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, which somewhat diminishes the weight of the prediction (as well as leads to questions regarding Lou's sanity and/or sobriety). However, the question remains... Is it possible? Forget for a moment the plausibility, but from a sheer logistical standpoint, what would have to happen to land the Irish ...

With the college football season starting a week from Thursday in North Carolina with South Carolina's matchup with NC State, the VFA thought it was high time we started with our conference previews. With that in mind, here's our ACC preview. The Contenders Georgia TechAfter they beat Georgia on the road in one of the best games of 2008, the Ramblin' Wreck have high hopes for 2009. They should—the running back corps of Jonathan Dwyer and Roddy Jones ...

As we all know, Matthew Stafford's early departure for the NFL left the door open for...Orson Charles?Charles, once a big-name tight end prospect, is now a Bulldog. Many have pointed to him as the man who will restore Georgia's once-proud reputation as a tight end powerhouse.But what if Stafford hadn't left after his junior season, and hadn't left his No. 7 jersey for Charles to take?"I think that was kind of really the deciding factor ...

WhatIfSports.com will preview a week of the college football season each day for 15 days, including projected scores from 10,000 simulations for all FBS games and updated standings as of that week. Once we have reached the end of the season, we will present our projected bowl matchups with results. Rosters and depth charts are up-to-date and as accurate as possible as of Aug. 1, 2009. A schedule of our 2009 College Football Preview, including links ...

The ACC is one of the deepest conferences in the NCAA. Last season the conference cranked out 10 teams that went to bowls. This year promises to be the same with many of the top teams in the ACC returning much of their key talent. Teams like Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Georgia Tech are early favorites to be in Tampa come December, but if the North Carolina State Wolfpack can catch a few breaks along ...

Greetings Husker Nation. Well, what a wild week we just finished, wasn’t it? Practice began pretty much as normal on Monday, Aug. 17, but by Friday the 21st, speculation arose that something was going on. Junior running back Quentin Castille had been held out of practice since Wednesday the 19th but did not appear to have an injury. Then the bomb went off: Castille had been dismissed from the team for violation of team rules. End of ...

I attended UNT's last scrimmage of the preseason this morning. I've tried to list my thoughts.  I was a little disappointed in that I really was not as focused on the lines as I had hoped to be for this review—it is a lot easier to scout line play when you can replay it over and over at home or on video. My overall impressions were that the team has enough talent to compete and or ...

RB Coach Fred Jackson says he has a good idea of how to effectively utilize the wealth of talent in his backfield. "I think I already got that in the back of my mind how to do it," Jackson said Sunday during Michigan's media day. "I don't want to say right now, but I think I know right now. I've got a plan for it. And I know how to do it. You're going to ...

Devin Gardner recently gave us his thoughts about his approach to the Elite 11 camp and his development as a quarterback. "They told me not to run 40s and do all that stuff, but I was like 'I've made myself better,' " Gardner said. "'I have to go out here and show what I can do.' (Inkster) Coach (Greg) Carter said, 'Oh, you want to be the best in the country?' and I said, 'That's ...