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Posted 04/24/2007 at 06:49 PM
Will the Gators miss Chris Leak, or will Tim Tebow take the defending champs to another level? Will last year's loss to UCLA be the incentive Southern Cal needs to garner another national title on Pete Carroll's watch?
Is a Big East school -- Louisville, West Virginia or Rutgers -- legitimately ready to compete for a BCS Championship? Is this the year Steve Spurrier's South Carolina program breaks through and wins the SEC East?
We don't have all the answers at this point, more than three months before two-a-days start, but we'll give it a shot in this post-spring Top 25 breakdown.
1-USC
2-Florida
3-Michigan
4-LSU
5-Texas
6-West Virginia
7-Wisconsin
8-Auburn
9-Louisville
10-Virginia Tech
11-Oklahoma
12-South Carolina
13-Tennessee
14-Rutgers
15-Ohio State
16-Penn State
17-Arkansas
18-Boise State
19-Nebraska
20-Clemson
21-UCLA
22-California
23-Georgia
24-Wake Forest
25-Alabama
Five other teams to watch: Kentucky, Texas A&M, TCU, South Florida and Hawaii.
**Quick Hitters**
--Former Arkansas QB Mitch Mustain has elected to transfer to USC. My only question is: Why?
Now I realize that there are two sides to every story, and I haven't heard Mustain's version of why he soured on Houston Nutt and his Razorback teammates. But I do know this: Arkansas had a 10-1 record and was in the national title hunt -- thanks to the legs of All-American RB Darren McFadden -- when Mustain turned into a baby about playing time and offensive philosophy.
Bad timing, brother. And I tell you what, that's about all I need to know about Mustain. When a football player puts his own wishes ahead of the team's, especially one that's in the midst of its best season since Clint Stoerner fumbled in Knoxville, his true colors have been revealed.
Mustain is considered one of the best high school football players to ever play in the state of Arkansas, but only time will tell if he'll have any impact on the college football landscape.
If I had to guess now, I'd say no. You see, the Trojans have a QB named Mark Sanchez with three years of eligibility left, and they also have highly-touted Aaron Corp coming in this season as a true freshman.
You've got your work cut out for ya, Mitch.
--If the Mustain drama wasn't enough to keep Hog fans occupied this off-season, there were the accusations that Houston Nutt has been cheating on his wife. These are alleged actions based on phone records and text messages. Nutt has denied the affair and even addressed it last week in an open letter to Razorback fans. For Nolan Richardon's sake, can't they all just get along in Arkansas?
--Alabama sold out its spring football game. What, did the fans think that Joe Namath and Ken Stabler were going to split snaps at QB, or that Derrick Thomas and Cornelius Bennett were going to line up at defensive end? Did they think Shaun Alexander was going to get most of the carries with Bear Bryant calling the plays?
--So South Carolina QB Blake Mitchell had a bad spring game. No biggie, the Gamecocks are still going to be nasty in 2007, and Mitchell is going to enjoy an outstanding senior year.
--R.I.P. David Halberstam, who died at the age of 73 in an auto accident yesterday. His loss leaves the sports world without one of its premier journalists. Reading one of his many books is on my list of things to do this summer.
--That's about all I got on a Tuesday...
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