...well, there hasn't been much to be honest. Seriously, until yesterday's post about what we at HLS think are five of the top ten stories of this season for ND, there has been very little going on here.

Blame the turkey, the presents, and in Biscuit's case: a baby.

Have no fear though, we've had our holiday rest and will be returning in full force--even Poot (don't make a liar out of me, Poot...). In the meantime enjoy the ND bowl content, plus make sure you check out our Q&A with everyone's favorite bowl twitter account.

Outside the Bubble

To be honest, there has been so much news since we last had a Pre-Snap Read, that trying to put it all in this post would be a fool's errand. Outside of the hiring and firing of coaches and seemingly never ending scandals and legal trouble, the biggest news, just as it is every year around this time, is the BCS and the controversy it creates.

We have a rematch for the national title, meaning that whole "every game matters" thing has been proven to be a completely bogus slogan yet again. The so-called "game of the century" didn't even matter, even the SEC title game didn't matter. And to top everything else off, Virginia Tech somehow managed to sneak into the BCS despite having a rather sub-par schedule and getting destroyed by Clemson in the ACC title game which also apparently didn't matter too much.

There has already been plenty of discussion around this issue and it is one of the reasons I started up the NDtex25. I wanted to have a ranking that went beyond attempting to judge wins and losses as well as finding a way to include margin of victory in a limited capacity as well.  Now that the regular season is done, who would I end up putting in the title game? Click the reveal below to check out the final top 25 for the regular season.

That's right, Oklahoma State, despite their loss, managed to hold on to the number one spot that they gained a few weeks prior in my rankings. Unlike LSU and Alabama their ANTY and TO Margin ranking where both extremely high, allowing the Cowboys to have their final ranking score catapult to the top. While personally I may not be too thrilled my experiment didn't rank an undefeated team at the top, I still feel like it resulted in giving the top two teams in the nation. Much to my surprise as well, my rankings ended up making Virginia Tech seem like not such of an "out there" pick as well.

There will be much more analysis of my rankings in the offseason, including several "what if" tweaks to the formula as I attempt to get this experiment in better shape for the 2012 season.

Oh, and if you were curious, ND finished 37th in the rankings. Sadly they never broke the top 30. And if you really want to be driven crazy by all of the mistakes we made this season with turnovers, chew on this: ND's W/L points rank was 15th in the nation.

Put These Games on Your Radar

Boston University @ Notre Dame (Hockey), December 31st, 7pm EST, Versus (soon to be NBC Sports Network) - Yes, I'm putting a hockey game in a football post. NBC is not only going to nationally televise a regular season hockey game for us, but after at 9:30pm EST, an absolutely fantastic program on ND hockey will air, entitled Onward to Victory: Notre Dame Hockey. I've been fortunate enough to screen the entire show and it is absolutely fantastic. The show will dig back into the roots of the hockey program (which, to my surprise, did link to football), the recent success of the program, and the debut of the Compton Family Ice Arena with our thrilling OT victory against Boston College.  The entire show is incredibly well done and the inside look of the ND/BC game had me glued to the screen. If you are a fan of Irish hockey, this is an absolute can't miss. If you aren't a fan of Irish hockey yet, this may just convert you. I am definitely hoping that this is a glimpse into the future of how NBC will be handling their ND rights in the future because if so, it is definitely quite bright. If you need a preview to whet your appetite, Youtube has what you need.

Ok, back to football. This year's offering of bowls is a bit lean in my opinion; however, here are some of the better options to tide you over for the week.

Thursday, December 29th

Washington vs. #12 Baylor, Valero Alamo Bowl, 9pm EST, ESPN/ESPN3 - Stick around EPSN after ND/FSU. I make zero guarantees that this game will be competitive; however, I will guarantee that Robert Griffin III will put on a show as his Heisman victory lap. If you haven't seen this kid play, you need to.

Friday, December 30th

BYU vs. Tulsa, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, 12pm EST, ESPN/ESPN3 - This is my sleeper game for the day and, to be honest, one of the only games that looks somewhat interesting to me. Everything else looks to be too much of a mismatch.

Saturday, December 31st

Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt, AutoZone Liberty Bowl, 3:30pm EST, ESPN/ESPN3 - Again, another lean day for games, but this one could end up being somewhat evenly matched. Cincinnati ended up in a three-way tie for the Big East title and Vandy made quite a bit of noise this season as opposed to being a SEC whipping-boy. And honestly, if you really want to watch football during this time, you have this game and Illinois/UCLA which may just be one of the worst games of the season.

The Bowl of Broken Dreams?

This matchup against FSU isn't just interesting for nostalgia sake, but the fact that both of these teams were very much thought to be ready to make their respective returns to glory and possibly break back into the BCS picture. Of course, we now know that both teams feel rather flat on their faces, leading to Bruce Feldman calling his prediction of and ND and FSU resurgence as two of his worst pre-season predictions. Any ND fan knows all too well what caused our crash down to earth, but what about FSU?

Eerily enough, most of FSU's woes came from the QB position. In their third game, starting QB EJ Manuel, was knocked out of the ball game. Backup QB, Clint Trickett, just couldn't hold things together and FSU suffered their first loss of the season. FSU lost their stride and lost their next game against Clemson in which Manuel didn't start and then following that up with a loss to Wake Forest in Manuel's return. The Seminoles then tore off a five game winning streak until they dropped one more game to Virginia and finished their season off at 8-4 by defeating rival Florida.

Save for our insane amount of turnovers, our seasons ended up quite similarly: with utter disappointment and crushed BCS dreams much too soon.

Looking at FSU as a team though, you an offense that lives and dies with EJ Manuel. There is practically no support from their running game, ranking 99th in the nation. Protecting Manuel will likely be four true freshmen and you would have to take our pass rush against that any day of the week. If Manuel can't get going, it's likely going to be a long day for FSU on offense.

With Rees' consistency constantly being in question and a rushing attack that will again be without Jonas Gray, ND could very well too have issues moving the ball down the field.

Predictions

NDtex - This game is likely going to be a defensive battle coupled with some ugly defensive play. I don't believe that EJ Manuel will ever be comfortable in the pocket and will struggle. On the other side of the coin, ND is a wildcard. I'm not sure if Rees will be able to put it together completely even with a full month of practice. The mixing in of Hendrix, however, could very well be the x-factor that gives the FSU defense one too many wrinkles to account for.

ND 13 - FSU 7

Poot - There's a football game coming up?

ND 23 - FSU 20

Biscuit - ND 17 - FSU 13

MQ - Four freshmen on the FSU OL? Lynch, Tuitt, and Nix... FEED!

ND 21 - FSU 10

Although ND doesn't have a game this week, I will keep the Pre-Snap read going to highlight the other games going on around the nation all the way through the bowl season. Of course, when ND starts up next season, the Pre-Snap read will once again return and stay in the Friday slot to ensure that you will get very little work done. Plan accordingly.

I was close to entitling this week "all the games that don't matter" but I figured no one would read past the title. Sadly though, that is the situation that we are looking at this week in college football.  LSU and Alabama are all but set for the BCS Championship showdown in New Orleans. Even crazier, this will remain the case even if LSU manages to lose to Georgia according to many BCS experts.

Despite that though, there are a couple teams trying to punch their BCS tickets outside the title game and there is still some slight hope that the inevitable "Game of the Century: The TD Edition (Hopefully)" doesn't happen.

Outside the Bubble

The national headlines once again have more news in the Penn State scandal. This time around though, things are looking even more bleak for Sandusky. With even more charges being filed against him, his lawyer has actually said that he is may just advise Sandusky to plead guilty. If he does, I hope the DA lays down the hammer.

The other abuse scandal in Syracuse took a crazy turn as well. Last weekend, ESPN's Outside the Lines released a recorded phone conversation between the alleged victim, Bobby Davis, and Bernie Fine's wife that all but removed all doubt that the claims were legit. This led to Fine being fired and even some criticism of ESPN for apparently holding on to this tape for years and not releasing it to the public.

As has been alluded to in previous editions of the Pre-Snap read, Urban Meyer has, finally and officially, accepted the Ohio State job. You should definitely check out his contract if you want some laughs of the terms Ohio State agreed to (my personal favorite, a golf membership -- Ty must be jealous). Of course, rumors are circulating about who will fill Meyer's staff. Mike Stoops has reportedly been offered the defensive coordinator position. There have also been rumors that current ND running backs coach Tim Hinton is a potential Meyer target as well.

The coaching carousel is also in full swing. Ron Zook has been Zook'd at Illinois. Rick Neuheisel is out, despite the fact that UCLA will be playing for the PAC 12 title (ok, ok, yes, they are only in because of USC postseason sanctions). The pirate, Mike Leach is finally back in the coaching game, taking over the Washington State Cougars. Former ND Wide Receivers coach, Rob Ianello, was fired at Akron and was informed of this while on his way to his mother's funeral. And just last night, the Texas A&M Aggies have fired Mike Sherman in a move that makes some ND fans seem like the most patient people on earth.

Of course, there are more coach movements, but those are some of the bigger ones. I may just have to add another category to this post if this keeps up.

You may or may not remember that West Virginia sued the Big East to leave for the Big XII quicker. Well, the Big East will attempt to have that lawsuit dismissed to keep WVU in the Big East for the required waiting period.

Southern Cal QB, Matt Barkley, has requested an evaluation to judge his value in the NFL draft. Dear NFL draft advisory board, tell him he is better than Andrew Luck so he'll leave, please.

To cap off, everyone should read this piece that appeared in this week's Sports Illustrated on gangs and college sports/recruits. It was a piece worked on by both SI and CBS Sports and it is fantastic. The majority of the article details the journey of RB/DB Kitam Hamm and how he is attempting to play his way out of Compton. As ND fans, we often talk about how our school loves to do things "the right way", but often we don't focus on the athletes that do so as well. If you read only one article from this week's post, make it this one.

Put These Games on Your Radar

This section is even more important since we have no ND football on tap. Here are the games to help fill the void:

UCLA @ #9 Oregon, PAC 12 Championship, Friday 8pm EST, FOX - I'll be honest, this game is likely to be just a huge beatdown by Oregon, but hey, if you really have the need for a college football game on Friday night, here you go. And yes, unlike other conference championship games, there is no neutral site as the Ducks will host this. I almost feel sorry for UCLA. Winner earns a Rose Bowl berth.

#24 Southern Miss @ #6 Houston, C-USA Championship, 12pm EST, ABC - Normally the C-USA title game would barely be mentioned, much less on ABC. However, undefeated Houston looks to be this year's non-AQ BCS buster. That is, should they remain undefeated. Southern Miss is no slouch with their total defense ranking 26th in the nation. They haven't faced an offense quite like Houston though. This has some good potential to be a great sleeper game, especially in a noon slot that looks rather pedestrian.

UCONN @ Cincinnati, 12pm EST, ESPN/ESPN3 - This is somewhat of a "Big East title" matchup although Cincinnati is more or less out of it. If you have interest in who gets the Big East's BCS bid, feel free to tune in, and just to be educated, I'll lay out the scenario. As of right now, West Virginia and Louisville are tied for the Big East title. Should Cincinnati lose, the two-way tie is resolved by a head-to-head tie breaker, giving West Virginia the Big East crown.  Should Cincinnati win, a three-way tie breaker gets more complicated since none of the three teams went 2-0 against each other, meaning this tie is broken by BCS rankings. In this case, West Virginia would once again seem to have the edge in this situation, but you never know what the voters may decide or what the computers will spit out.

#14 Georgia vs #1 LSU, SEC Championship, 4pm EST, CBS - If you are dead set against a rematch you will want LSU to fail in spectacular fashion and get blown out of the water by the Dawgs. On paper though, this seems to be quite the longshot (in fact, they are a 14 point underdog according to Bodog). LSU has easily had the tougher schedule; however, since Georgia stumbled at the beginning of the season, losing to Boise and South Carolina, they have just simply found a way to win. Here's hoping for a miracle.

#10 Oklahoma @ #3 Oklahoma State, Bedlam/"Big XII Championship", 8pm EST, ABC - The Big XII title is on the line and these two offenses can simply put up points at will. This is the Cowboys last chance to make a splash in the rankings and hope the voters would see a thrashing of Oklahoma as enough of a reason to give them a shot at LSU. Despite seemingly impossible BCS title odds, this may just be the most fun game to watch all day.

#5 Virginia Tech vs. #20 Clemson, ACC Championship, 8pm EST, ESPN/ESPN 3D/ESPN3 - I expect nothing more than a full on Clemsoning once again in this one. I personally don't think this game will be much fun; however, this could very well determine ND's opponent in the Champs Sports Bowl to which all signs point to us going to. Should Clemson avoid their usual brand of late-season fail, they would be BCS bound, leaving the Hookies to the Chick-fil-A (Peach) Bowl as the #2 team in the ACC, landing the Florida State Seminoles at the Champs Sports Bowl. Should the Clemsoning occur, they would be #2 in the ACC; however, this will lead to a rematch against Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl which tends to be avoided, meaning Clemson could slide down to face ND in the Champs Sports Bowl. But then again, the Chick-fil-A Bowl could simply take a different SEC team (CBS for instance, has Florida taking the bid) instead, but I don't see that. Either way, keep an eye on the scoreboard in this one at the very least.

#15 Wisconsin vs. #13 Michigan State, B1G Championship, 8:17pm EST, FOX - Again, listing mainly because it'll decide the other Rose Bowl bid. No one, including fans of both schools, seem to have much interest in this game (Edit: The seat filler thing is a hoax, sadly). Your focus should definitely be on Bedlam, but if that game happens to get out of hand, I would keep this as your backup unless a full-on Clemsoning just happens to be your cup of tea.

Predictions

While we have no ND game to pick, here are my projected conference winners in their respective BCS bowls, along with the at-large bids.

BCS Title: Alabama vs. LSU
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Stanford
Sugar Bowl: Michigan vs. Houston
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Rose Bowl: Michigan State vs. Oregon

Bonus pick! ND's bowl and opponent - Champs Sports Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Clemson

And as the season is about to wrap up, so will the usual schedule of the Pre-Snap read. I'm not sure how regular I will keep this feature going through the conference championship and bowl season, but I'm sure that I will put out a couple before Notre Dame does indeed take the field for the final time this season.

Let's get to it. Much like I did a couple of weeks ago, the sections below, all the usual features will be split up into separate toggle buttons for quick and easy viewing.

There is quite a bit of content in this post and, to not make it a huge wall of text, I'm going to take advantage of some features of our redesign. Clicking on any section below will expand to show all content for said section. Hopefully, that will make navigating this post far easier.

Enjoy, and be sure to drop by our gameday thread as well.

These aren't meant to be new 'anthems' for ND, or a replacement for the classic tunes of yore. Rather, it's a pretty laid back album designed to make for good tailgating music - the artist isn't really taking himself too seriously here, so please don't either. It's just a fun product designed to fill a hole for Irish fans - Irish Tailgating Music Sweetness.

There are a few key ways to learn more about the album. The first is the YouTube Montage/Sampler:

You can also check it out on iTunes, or on Amazon, and we have a nice little home for it right here on HLS.

We should also have the player featured here on the home page shortly as well, so you can fire up some Irish inspiration whenever you visit HLS.

The album features 8 songs, including:

1. Irish in the Yard - set to the tune of "Whiskey in the Jar", the Irish classic, this song epitomizes Irish music and Irish football at the same time. "We are the Blue and Gold, there's Irish in the Yard"
2. Forever Irish - the title track, it's a great song about Notre Dame and the special role the school has in fans' lives. "We never will forget Her, Notre Dame our Home."
3. Tailgating Irish - just what it says it is, a song about drinking, food, and tossing the football in the lot prior to a game. "It's Saturday Morning and there's work to do, kickoff's in 6 hours let's tie one on (or two!)"
4. The Horsemen Ride Again - a song about the legends of old, and new Irish legends in the making. "Outlined against a Blue-Gray Sky, the Horsemen Ride again. Yes Grantland sees the Irish shine, the time has come to win. In the Polo Grounds the spirits stir and you'll feel a shiver when, the Horsemen Herd comes thundering by, and the Irish rise again"
5. Raise a Glass - classic Irish drinking tune dedicated to the boys in Blue and Gold. "The Fighting Irish in our blood we will prevail!"
6. We Are Her Loyal Sons - you guys first heard this one a few months back. Good one to fire up before a game. "We. Are. Her Loyal Sons. We'll get 'em on the run boys, let's get 'em on the run."
7. Make Way for the Irish Guard - A march-like anthem for the legendary Irish Guard. "Make way for the Irish Guard, the Grand Ole Irish Guard."
8. Play Like a Champion Today (I Will) - Amazingly simple yet catchy tune about the classic ND sign/saying. "We recruit in every Parish, cuz we're the Fighting Irish and we'll turn them into heroes by and by."

This post will be a new weekly gameday staple at Her Loyal Sons to complete the gameday hype that we've built up throughout the week.  The goal is to give you as much Notre Dame material as you can digest leading up to kickoff as well as highlighting some other major stories and games around the world of college football (and tossing in some needed hatred for certain opponents).  Since this week is a bye, this inaugural edition will focus a bit more heavily on everything else going around in the college football world.

We will still have the open thread for gameday in the Sideline forums, but this should give you a nice bit of reading as you await for the day's games to start.

One of the things that I will make sure to do every week is to link all of our material from the week.  So if you've happened to miss a few days or just happened to stumble upon us for one reason or another, you have everything readily available.

• Air Force Postmortem: Poot makes his quick recap, DMQ takes a look at our Time Well Spent, and I take a look beyond the numbers.
• If you are in the St. Louis area, you should check out info on the Snowman Scramble.
• Biscuit has a plan for ND in these crazy realignment times.
• My ranking system, the NDtex25, has been updated for this week, with some detailed explanation on the method to my madness.
• Jack Swarbrick address the student body and challenges them to not make ND Stadium the "quietest stadium" that we play in, and Poot believes that he should definitely be looking elsewhere.
• DMQ wants you to better know...well, the rest of college football.
• On The Sideline: DMQ thinks it's time to stop playing the service academies. What say you?

Outside the ND Bubble

As I stated before, if there is some big news in college football, I will be sure to recap it here.  To start, let's take a look at the week 'Ol Ball Coach had.  First, seemingly out of nowhere, Spurrier decides that it's time to ban local reporter, Ron Morris, from pretty much anything concerning South Carolina football:

Apparently this was for an article that the guy wrote months ago, but to make everything even more off the wall, news soon broke that Stephen Garcia was dismissed from the team.  Garcia was one of those "I'm sorry I'm not sorry for partying" kind of guys.  Spurrier put up with not one, not two, but five suspensions of Garcia (the first of which he got before his first spring practice, impressive!).  Not to mention this all seems highly suspect that Spurrier finally "had it" after Connor Shaw lit up Kentucky as the Gamecocks new QB (DMQ was rather astute in pointing this out in the Sideline as well).

Whatever the reason, my lasting memory of Garcia, and his legacy in my mind on the field will forever be this:

Next up, Biscuit's conference realignment plan might not even be needed for ND as the Big East offered invites to Boise State, Air Force, Navy, and UCF.  The schools would join as football only members, with exception of UCF who would basically be TCU's replacement.  ESPN then later reported that SMU and Houston were also in the mix as full time members as well (replacing Pitt and Syracuse). Reports thus far say all the schools but Navy seem genuinely interested, but either way, I would say this move stabilizes a Big East that was on the edge of extinction.

With these additions, plus the fact that Pitt and Syracuse can't leave until 2014, the Big East looks to be in fine shape until the BCS contract expires in the same year.  Bottom line for ND: independence is safe for now.

However, that wasn't the only conference realignment move that went down this week.  While the news of the Big East invites broke, the Mountain West and Conference USA decided to form a football alliance, effectively forming the first super-conference at a ridiculous 22 teams (although it could likely be 18 should Boise, UCF, SMU, and Houston all leave).  The goal for the Mount USA or whatever we will call it (so sad we won't have the Sun Beast instead...), is to separate into two divisions and have their own championship game, pending NCAA approval of course.  Their end goal is to try and get a BCS AQ bid, and with everything being so crazy, who knows what will happen there.

Either way, the conference realignment crap needs to slow down because I have too much actual football to worry about.  However, I must admit, it is hilarious that our first true super-conference comes in the form of non-BCS members.  Your move, WAC and Sun Belt.

Finally, if anyone had any hopes of the NCAA hammering Auburn for the whole Cam Newton thing, you will be very disappointed.

Games to Watch

In the future I plan to highlight some big games here, but to be honest, DMQ already did a fantastic job on this, so check that out.

So this week, I can only offer a solution for Irish fans that are having problems figuring out who to cheer for when the Skunkbears take on Sparty in East Lasning. To be honest, it really isn't hard to figure out where your loyalties should lie:

When in doubt, go meteor!

Enjoy the bye week folks, and remember, it's never too early to start your USC hatred!

Upcoming Opponents

Navy vs. Rutgers: The Midshipmen finish the first half of their schedule this weekend after staring off 2-3. As you're probably aware, they lost a barn-burner in Annapolis against Air Force 2 weekends ago in overtime, but you're probably much less aware that last weekend they were blistered by Southern Miss to the tune of 63-35. Seems the Navy/Air Force game took a lot out of both parties. Meanwhile Rutgers walks in with a 4-1 record, suffering their only defeat to North Carolina. No doubt that's got the Knights feeling a bit too big for their britches. Again. Look for yet another stadium expansion and talk of their head coach taking a bigger job any moment now. (2pm ET, ESPN3.)

Wake Forest at Virginia Tech: Remember that gaping black hole where a competitor should be in our schedule back in July? Yeah, it ain't there anymore. Some way, some how, Wake Forest is 4-1 and 3-0 in the ACC, fresh off a 35-30 defeat of previously #23 Florida State. Granted, their opposition has not exactly been strong (this statement expressly includes Florida State), but near as I can tell the Deamon Deacons have already exceeded the very low expectations of their very apathetic fan-base. Meanwhile Virginia Tech is already 5-1 and their only loss came at the hands of the Clemson Tigers and Dabo Sweeny, so that doesn't even really count because, seriously, "Dabo?" If for no other reason, Irish fans should tune into ESPN3.com this weekend to watch Virginia Tech run their special teams, because that's what Virginia Tech does better than anyone else. That and super-computers. (6:30pm ET, ESPN3)

Maryland vs. Clemson: Hey, speaking of Dabo, he brings his #8 (!?) Tigers to Maryland and ESPN-U for the Terps homecoming game. Yep, seriously, the Terps are playing a top-ten team for their Homecoming game. That's how interested Maryland is in college football, the only way to get the locals to show up is the promise of terrible sites unsuitable for children, like when you feed turtles to tigers. Maryland, of course, is now lead by Randy Edsall, best known for leading UConn to a BCS game and a win over Notre Dame in South Bend. And Randy's not really been having much fun. He's started 2-3 in College Park despite having, probably, the formerly best skill-set at QB in the ACC. Just a couple of weeks ago they suffred a revenge bludgeoning (38-7) at the hands of Temple, who were probably pretty ticked with Randy for beating their former coach Al Golden in his debut at Miami. Never mind all that though, tune into ESPN-U for this game just to see Dabo in action. Marvel as that blind squirrel just keeps finding one nut after another. (7pm ET, ESPN-U)

Stanford at Washington State: As much as Stanford's Redwood of a QB, Andrew Luck, is talked about in college football circles, it feels like a good third of NFL fans are already talking about "winning the Andrew Luck Lottery," in anticipation of him going pro next year. Stanford is, of course, undefeated and ranked #7 rather than, say, #3 or #4 probably due to the departure of former HC John Harbaugh. Thus far the trees have won all 5 of their games by at least 27 points as they methodically work their way through a schedule with very little apparent resistance. Aside from a November 5th date with #9 Oregon, it's quite likely that their next toughest opponent will be the Irish in the season finale. Certainly Washington State will not offer up much more than quality practice time for Stanford's reserves, but it might be worth checking this game out on Versus just to see the inevitable #1 pick in next spring's NFL draft. (7:30pm ET, Versus)

Other Games of Interest

#6 Oklahoma State vs. #22 Texas: You could almost hear the voices of the OSU cowboys saying, "our turn!" as time expired on last weeks "Red River Shootout." More like Red River Massacre. Oklahoma laid 55 points on Texas, who laid down while managing just 17 points themselves. And it wasn't even close to being that close. There's almost no way Oklahoma State, long considered the little brother of Oklahoma collegiate football, isn't licking its chops at the chance to prove itself against the same measuring stick one week later. If this one gets out of hand in OSU's favor, it will be well worth watching that offense seek to out-do 55 points before time runs out. (3:30 pm ET, ABC/ESPN)

#20 Baylor vs. #21 Texas A&M: The game of misfit toys. Without a doubt one of the most under-appreciated oddities of college football is the sight of Mike Sherman lead the Aggies and do it rather competently. And also without a doubt one of the most spectacular sights in college football is Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III do... anything. Seriously, RGIII is the closest thing to a human highlight reel that college football has this season, and if you've not watched him play this year, you're doing yourself a disservice. (12 pm ET, FX)

#11 Michigan vs. #23 Michigan State: The transitive property of college football put to the ultimate test. In one corner, you've got a team playing in waters above their head while enjoying a "new coach bounce" and the services of one of the most dynamic players in the entire game. In the other, a team which quite frankly shouldn't still be ranked at all if the Irish aren't going to be ranked above them. Last year the Spartans contained Denard Robinson to "just" 100 yards rushing, and at the mid-point in the season, there's no more guessing about what the Wolvering offense will look like. It'll look pretty much exactly like it did in the 4th quarter of ND's game with Michigan in week 2. At this point, tune in to cheer on the Spartans at least to justify their ranking above the Irish and to see if Denard Robinson does anything completely absurd. (12 pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3)

#18 Arizona State vs. #9 Oregon: Arizona State features the dirtiest player in the game and the best uniform redesign of the last 3 years. All kidding aside, the new uniforms are awesome. And all kidding aside, Vontaze Burffict will inevitably show up on The Smoking Gun years from now in a crime scandal. He's just that dirty - it's just that obvious. And Oregon, of course, features an offense that can't be slowed down even if you do manage to contain them. Given the ducks started the entire uniform-redesign craze, you've got to wonder if they've got anything special in store for this game to answer to ASU's hellfire trident logos. (10:15pm ET, ESPN/ESPN3)

A healthy Oregon State, then ranked No. 24 in the nation, hung around for most of three quarters in the season opener. San Diego State made things interesting with 14 early points and 14 late points in November. Wisconsin came within a two-point conversion of overtime in the Rose Bowl. No one else sniffed T.C.U.; no one else seemed to be in the same stratosphere at the Horned Frogs, winners of 27 of their last 28 games, winners of 98 games over the last decade. Like a wind-up doll, pull their string and watch the Horned Frogs go to work: they’ll run down your throat, hit you deep, dominate on special teams, not let you do squat on the ground, intercept your attempts, break your back, break your heart

TCU has made a habit of beating opponents in ways that would make us write like excited little tweens lavishing praise upon Justin Bieber if it were happening at Notre Dame. And that's saying something, because despite the last decade where TCU won 98 games and Notre Dame won only 69 , we somehow still "expect" Notre Dame to win huge numbers of games by massive margins. And yet somehow, in Gary Patterson's tenure, without most of the general public noticing until fairly late last year, winning huge swaths of games by embarrassingly large numbers has almost become passé for TCU.

The key element that keeps us from trying to let TCU float right up into the top 5 is the loss of starters from 2010. As Pre-Snap Read and anyone else is quick to point out, the Horned Frogs only have 18 players on the roster with any previous starts under their belt. Compare that to the 16 full-time starters who were returning for the 2010 season a year ago, and you realize there's real gravity to that situation. Still, TCU has, over the last 10 years, truly established a tradition of winning not as a team in a season, but as a program over time, and we wont be surprised to see Coach Patterson really show off his coaching chops with a much younger squad in 2011.

…
17. TCU (DMQ)
18. Georgia (Biscuit)
19. Michigan State (PootND)
20. Texas (DMQ)
21. Ole Miss (Biscuit)
22. Mississippi State (PootND)
23. South Carolina (DMQ)
24. Ohio State (Biscuit)
25. Arizona State (PootND)

Tressel-Gate?

Cam-Gate?

Carrol-Gate?

Kiffin-Gate-o-the-Week?

They all may add up to nothing when Charles Robinson, is done with whoever he's currently targeting in his next two investigative reports on the College Football world. According to Charles, one of those reports will be bigger than this Ohio State thing. And the other? Pretty close.

Robinson: I've got probably a six to a seven, maybe an eight depending on where you live coming in the next two weeks, and then by August, a ten.
ESPN: Well, what would you consider the Tressel story, on a one to ten?
Robinson: Probably an eight.

The first thought that leaps to mind: "It's Auburn." But if it is Auburn, then why call it a "10?" I mean, we all sort of already "know" about Auburn. I sort of wish someone had asked him if the big one goes all the way to 11, because at this point, I don't think anyone's safe from Robinson and his touch-typing of doom.

At this point, between Southern Cal, Auburn, UNC, and Ohio State with recent scandals, 2 questions keep coming up in polite conversation: 1) How is it that Yahoo Sports, with a staff of, I believe, 12, keeps breaking these stories apparently before the NCAA is aware of them, and 2) At this rate, "everybody cheats" seems like a very real probability, so what's the point of even following CFB if it's true?

Either way, it's the first Roundup of 2011.

Happy New Year.

The Roundup

If this doesn't work, they'll wish they tried the, "But... but... but... Defense." This weekend, a contingent from Southern Cal heads to Indianapolis to try and appeal the punishments handed down to their athletics department - punishments that resulted from an organization operating with a "lack of institutional control." And they don't feel good about their chances. I wonder why. Could it be the fact that the basis of their appeal is that the punishment is just so harsh?

Google "NCAA Football Stats" > Click first link > browse to "Notre Dame" > Don't dig much more. In the past we've thought that Dr. Saturday was very good. He's still pretty good, but he's just not at thorough anymore. And the errors in this piece about ND's season are sort of glaring, particularly in the "foreshadowing 2011" department. Still, it's worth a look, if only to know what one of the more influential CFB blogs is saying about ND.

Premature Prognostication Rakes of Mallow is guilty, but probably not feeling too ashamed.

Oh, sure, I see you compensating. To make up for anything, ahem, "premature," Rakes goes and shows off a bit with an analysis of Notre Dame's zone-read. [/eye roll]

This explains Tebowmania entirely. EDSBS documents former Gator, Will Hill's Twitter Feed (WARNING: thar be NSFW-ish dragons therein), before Will (or, likely, some poor agent) took the account down. This is why Tebow was treated like Jesus, because, in the context of Florida Football, Tebow basically was Jesus.

Full credit for your verbosity, Sir. Because if I were an LSU Blogger, all I'd have posted would have been, "$(&*#&*@, Kragthorpe?!" This is much calmer, and longer.

The Beer

It's cold. I mean, here it's not THAT cold, but where you are, it's probably damned cold, at least if you're right in the middle of the country. So you need something to warm you up. The most obvious solution: Fire. The second most obvious solution: Your significant other. But the third most obvious solution? That's up for debate, but let me nominate Southern Tier Chokalat Stout. It's like drinking an 11% abv chocolate bar.

So, to review: Acquire fire, woman (or man, depending on proclivity), and this beer, or face great peril this weekend. Good luck.

Oh, and Happy New Year.