Pre-Preseason Projections...

Before I started reading any of the preseason football magazines, I jotted down a quick sketch of how I thought the 2011 season would play out, based mostly on what I remembered from the end of last season, the NFL draft and a few things I've read here and there:

SEC:

South Carolina
Georgia (tie)
Florida (tie)
Kentucky

Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Arkansas


B10:

Ohio State
Wisconsin
Purdue

Michigan State
Nebraska
Northwestern (Persa?)
Iowa/Michigan
Gophers


B12:

Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Okie State
Texas
Mizzou

Big East

Pitt
USF
WVU

ACC:

FSU... Clemson... Tech?

Va Tech

P12:

Oregon
Stanford?

What does this tell us? Mostly that I've been trying to get myself up to speed on Nebraska's new conference/divisional opponents and that I usually only pay attention to traditional "power teams" during the off season.

Thank you, Jay Paterno

A fantastic read from Penn State Quaterbacks Coach Jay Paterno.

There is the rub. There is the problem. No one sells the student-athletes on the idea that they are getting paid more than $80 an hour for a part-time job. No one tells the student-athlete to go talk to other students on campus who work 30 or 40 hours some weeks and will still owe tens of thousands of dollars when they graduate.

It is all about perspective. The reality is that a few hundred more dollars or even a few thousand dollars to help cover the cost of attendance isn't going to erase the cheating that goes on. The cheating that's going on is for a lot more money than the cost of attendance..

Later, I'll offer a few more thoughts on the subject of "paying " NCAA football athletes.