Finally, some sanity from the NCAA.

While Ole Miss is panicking and appealing the ruling that free-agent signee (you heard me) Jeremiah Masoli is ineligible this year, the rest of us are rejoicing that college athletics still resembles that moniker.

“He’s done nothing but what he was supposed to do,” Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said.

Well, he meant for the month or so that he’s been in Oxford.

Before that, he was stealing guys’ laptops and driving with a suspended license and carrying weed.

Bottom line, Masoli was originally suspended for the season by Oregon coach Chip Kelly. Then he got kicked out completely, and Nutt was there to snap him up.

He was fully prepared to start Masoli in the season opener and beyond, saying he is in the “people-helping” business.

The only people being helped are Ole Miss boosters who want to see Masoli take them to a major bowl.

How do you get kicked off one team and then join another a few days later?

Maybe a better question is, how does Dez Bryant get suspended for just chatting with Deion Sanders, then this guy gets to take his talents to Ole Miss?

Here’s the NCAA’s response to his attempt to use the graduate waiver rule to join the Rebels now:

"The waiver exists to provide relief to student-athletes who transfer for academic reasons to pursue graduate studies, not to avoid disciplinary measures at the previous university."

Thank you.

Nutt has a history of scraping the parole sheets for questionable characters. It is worth noting the case of Jamar Hornsby.

Hornsby signed with Florida and was in his second year when his teammate, Michael “Sunshine” Guilford died in a motorcycle crash along with his girlfriend.

Hornsby was later charged with stealing the deceased girlfriend’s credit card and buying tons of stuff. To me, this is the lowest thing you could possibly due, maybe short of committing an actual violent act against someone.

Hornsby was promptly kicked off the Florida football team.

This gem of a guy went to a junior college knowing full well that he would be able to join Ole Miss after a year of the dust settling.

He got to Oxford, then committed a felony assault and ended his brief stint with the team.

Am I against second chances? No.

Am I for guys getting kicked off a team with just cause, then joining another? Also no.

I am all for guys picking up their lives and getting a chance to get an education, but I don’t think they should be able to put money in a school’s pockets as a mercenary any more.

Here’s hoping Ole Miss’ appeal fails. There’s always 2011 for Masoli and the Rebels - if he bothers to stay to work on his "academics."

Wonder what the spread is on that.

* * *

Mark Ingram is out for at least Alabama’s opener, marking two jinxes I’ve already placed on people in this blog.

First I touted Middle Tennessee State, and they lost their quarterback. Then I picked Ingram to channel his inner Archie Griffin, and he goes under the knife most likely as the picks were being posted.

Let’s be clear. Alabama will be fine with Trent Richardson.

Ingram also will be fine in a month or so.

But can he get his Heisman campaign jump-started after three or four games, especially if Richardson runs wild on Penn State and throws his own name out there?

Not likely. Ingram will come back strong and have a solid season, but there will have to be a dearth of good candidates for him to win it again with a late start.

I guess I’ll move on to Case Keenum, who can channel his inner Andre Ware.

- Matthew Osborne

Although Fresno State and Nevada announced their intentions to leave the WAC for the Mountain West Conference (MWC) two weeks ago, their defection has come up again in the news now that the WAC has stated their plan to collect a $5 million departure penalty from both teams.

Reno Gazette-Journal's Chris Murray has a detailed breakdown of the differing sports budgets for teams in the WAC and MWC.

For one, while the Nevada sports budget of $21.4 million (2008-09) was above the WAC average, the same budget would rank last and well below average ($11 million below) in the MWC. Impact beyond football is broken down as well.

Murray points out that bridging the sports budget gap at Nevada may be difficult when the school is already running a deficit. However, common belief is that playing in the MWC will provide Nevada (and Fresno State) a share of the revenue pie larger than that of the WAC, potentially allowing the Wolfpack to expand their sports budget.

***
Many believe that playing football in higher altitudes leads to fatigue and other ailments associated with the thinner air. Apparently, Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstadt will have none of that.

Coach Wannstadt is quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that high altitudes are often an overrated factor.

Pitt has not taken any precautions or changed their practice habits ahead of their tilt against Utah on Thursday. Wannstadt and fullback Henry Hynoski seem confident in their team's conditioning leading up to the game.

***
With the cloud of uncertainty surrounding the North Carolina football program, the man at the center of the controversy, Marvin Austin (or at least someone believed to be him), has taken to social networking to state his case.

Sporting News is reporting that someone believed to be Austin has used Facebook to deliver a diatribe regarding the ongoing NCAA investigation.

While UNC coach Butch Davis has announced that T.J. Davis would be the starting quarterback, he has yet to announce the full depth chart for their opener against LSU on Saturday. Austin, as well as Greg Little also part of the NCAA investigation, are practicing with the second team. The uncertainty of the Tar Heels' lineup puts a damper into what should otherwise be a fantastic early-season matchup in Atlanta between teams from the SEC and ACC.

Follow me all season long on Twitter @TrenUWest.

- Fred Sakai

One of the first traditions the college football staff at The Trentonian began in 2007 was a yearly list of picks. The list grew from BCS bowl games and a national champion to include Heisman contenders and champions of every conference -- forcing us to go out on a limb and boldly tell you who we think will win the MAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA.

So with a limited amount of space in this year's college football preview section -- and with Trentonian U having just been launched -- it was only natural to make the yearly picks a blog exlusive.

Without further adieu, the Trentonian U picks:

Ben Doody (Assistant Sports Editor, Rutgers/Big East columnist)

Conference champs:
Big East: UConn
Big Ten: Ohio State
Pac-10: Oregon State
ACC: Miami
SEC: Alabama
Big 12: Texas
Mountain West: TCU
WAC: Boise State
MAC: Temple
Sun Belt: Louisiana-Lafayette
CUSA: Houston

Bowl games:
BCS title game: Ohio State over Boise State
Rose: Iowa over Oregon State
Sugar: Alabama over TCU
Fiesta: Texas over UConn
Orange: Oklahoma over Florida

Heisman top 3:
1. Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State
2. Adrian Clayborn, DE, Iowa
3. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State

Matthew Osborne (Sports Editor, college football picks columnist)

Conference champs:
Big East: West Virginia
Big 10: Ohio State
Pac-10: Washington
ACC: Virginia Tech
SEC: Alabama
Big 12: Oklahoma
Mountain West: TCU
WAC: Boise State
MAC: Temple
Sun Belt: Troy
CUSA: Houston

Bowl games:
BCS title game: Alabama over Oklahoma
Rose: Ohio State over Washington
Fiesta: TCU over Penn State
Orange: Virginia Tech over West Virginia
Sugar: Florida over Boise State

Heisman top 3:
1. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
2. Case Keenum, QB, Houston
3. Bernard Pierce, RB, Temple
  
Fred Sakai (Trentonian U west coast correspondent)

Big East: UConn
Big Ten: Iowa
Pac 10: Oregon State
ACC: Va Tech
SEC: Alabama
Big XII: Nebraska
MWC: TCU
WAC: Boise

MAC: Temple 

Sun Belt: Troy
C-USA: Houston

BCS Title: Alabama over Nebraska

Rose: Oregon State over Iowa

Fiesta: Texas over TCU
Orange: Va Tech over UConn
Sugar: Florida over Ohio St

Heisman:
1. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
2. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
3. Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Oregon State

One of the most intriguing games of the weekend is in jeopardy of being heavily tainted.


North Carolina is taking on LSU in Atlanta with a chance to validate itself as a contender, but the Tar Heels have absolutely no idea who is playing where right now.

Between the big agent party in South Beach that has senior stars Marvin Austin and Greg Little under investigation, and Butch Davis’ live-in tutor for his son being accused of academic shenanigans, the team is in disarray.

No depth chart was announced on Monday, and Davis has to be frustrated that his most promising season in Chapel Hill could be derailed before it starts.

It speaks to a major problem that coaches have these days – you can’t watch everyone’s every move at every moment. You’re still dealing with kids, and there are a lot of people who want a piece of these guys.

All that stems from the fact that there is so much money and fandom tied up with college football and basketball. So many people’s livelihoods are dependent on these kids that some people will do anything to keep the train moving so they can ride the rails with them.

There are also a lot of people who take these games way too seriously.

Case in point, last year’s midnight move by Lane Kiffin to leave Tennessee and take over at USC. When all those fans gathered at the athletic center, they didn’t come to burn mattresses.

They were looking for Kiffin.

Sadly, if they had gotten a hold of him, there is no telling what they would have done. Campus security did a good job of getting him out of there.

I’m all for being true to your school, but that’s ridiculous.

In any case, it’s a shame that UNC has to deal with all these problems before the first game. Everyone would rather see their full squad go at it with the Tigers on Saturday night.

Interestingly, the line has remained stable, with LSU still a 1-point favorite on neutral turf. Look for movement there if UNC gets bad news.

We’ll see what develops from the NCAA this week for the Tar Heels.

* * *

The most unstable point spread this week comes from the aforementioned Middle Tennessee State. After losing their quarterback Dwight Dasher, the Blue Raiders went from being 4 ½ point favorites against Minnesota to 3-point underdogs, a rare seismic shift in a spread.

If the quarterback meant that much, you almost have to love Minnesota as the pick there. If Dasher was so good, wouldn’t the Gophers be something like 7- or 10-point favorites?

Since the game is Thursday night and I will likely run my picks column in Friday’s edition, I’ll go on record to say I like Minny’s chances, even though I like MTSU’s squad overall. College football is a quarterback-driven sport, and the backup will need to prove himself.

- Matthew Osborne

In addition to our analysis, we hope to compile some of the most intriguing college football stories here on a daily (or almost daily) basis. With that here are some news and notes:

Middle Tennessee has replaced suspended quarterback Dwight Dasher with sophomore Logan Kilgore. While Kilgore has yet to play a single game at the FBS level, he did play one year at little-known Bakersfield College. The Blue Raiders host Minnesota on Thursday.

***
Some wondered whether the openness exhibited by Pete Carroll's USC program would continue under Lane Kiffin, considering Carroll's departure and the sanctions handed down by the NCAA. During Carroll's tenure, the coach and program took to YouTube, Twitter, and blogging to keep fans (and perhaps opponents) in the loop into the happenings both on- and off-the-field.

A glance at the official USC Rips It Blog shows that the Trojans intend to keep their program open as much as possible. In addition to daily practice summaries, interviews and features of coach Kiffin and staff dot the blog's entries.

This comes as a surprise to some considering Kiffin is thought to be less personable and media-savvy than his predecessor, as noted by radio talk show host Petros Papadakis in the "fake hour" (LA-only hour) of the Petros and Money Show this past Friday. Papadakis was also quick to point out that Kiffin seemed to become more amiable, as exhibited during a recent appearance on that show.

***
Several higher-profile programs have yet to name (at least publicly) their starting quarterbacks for their respective season openers.

One would think that Zac Lee would be the most likely starter for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but coach Bo Pelini (or more importantly offensive coordinator Shawn Watson) has yet to name his starter for Saturday's season opener against Western Kentucky.

In Happy Valley, while the depth chart was released on Saturday, coach Joe Paterno has yet to announce the starting quarterback for Saturday's opener against Youngstown State. Some have speculated that Paterno may announce his decision on Tuesday.

Although UCLA has named Kevin Prince as their starting quarterback for Saturday's opener at Kansas State, a back injury Prince sustained three weeks ago has made coach Rick Neuheisel announce that sophomore Richard Brehaut would start if Prince can't answer the bell.

***
Lastly, the Trentonian's college football preview is out. Please grab a copy at a newsstand today.

Follow me all season long on Twitter @TrenUWest.

- Fred Sakai

Everyone has their Arc of the Covenant to seek out.

Mine is solving the great mystery of the Sun Belt Conference.

George O’Gorman gets on me every year because I pick teams like Louisiana-Monroe and Troy, but I just can’t stay away from them.

When they ask a mountain climber, “Why do you climb mountains?”

Inevitably the answer is, “Because they’re there.”

Same thing with the Sun Belt. I’m going to crack the code one day, and I may have found my decoder ring for 2010.

Middle Tennessee State.

In case you didn’t know, the Blue Raiders were the one and only team to have 10 spread wins last year, matching their actual on-field mark at 10-3. They have plenty of players back and could be a dominant team in the league.

On opening night, MTSU is favored by 4 ½ against Big Ten foe Minnesota. Favored against the Big Ten? Good luck to the rest of the Sun Belt.

While I’ll never leave the Sun Belt alone, I’ll be watching the rest of the country as well in an attempt to get my handicapping back above water. The last three years spent away from college football’s yellow sun – The South – have left me treading right around .500. OK, just below .500, but very close to it.

I always find teams to latch on to, and one team I always tout but never come back to enough is Iowa.

The Hawkeyes were the second-best team against the spread in the last decade with a .605 mark. Most people don’t think of Iowa as a top spread team, and they often get lost in the Big Ten shuffle. But The Hawks have several qualities that make them ideal against the number: consistently solid talent, a weak lower half of the league and a firm spot under the radar.

Iowa always seems to throw up a clunker early in the year against Iowa State or Northern Iowa, and it’s almost like handicappers completely shut down any respect they had for the Hawks for the rest of the year. Iowa then goes on to play well and rarely has to lay big points. The Hawkeyes were 4-0 as an away dog last year and were 19-11-1 over the last decade in that spot, so they handle business.

Iowa’s mark is more impressive when you consider that it went 2-10 in 2006 and still has a terrific record overall.

This year, their defense has eight starters back from a unit that yielded 15.4 ppg last year, so I like their chances to be competitive again.

Other things to ponder as the handicapping season begins:

* Rarely does the first game of the season carry so much weight, but what a ball game Boise State against Virginia Tech is going to be. Boise comes in as a 2 1/2 –point favorite even though it is playing at Redskins Park a long way from Potato Country.

The Broncos are the spread champion from the last decade with an amazing .630 mark, and that has included a 37-25-2 record away or at neutral sites.

At the same time, Virginia Tech is the seventh best team against the number over the 2000s (.564), and the Hokies look strong again this season.

When you also throw in the fact that Boise is 4-4-1 over the last five years against BCS conference teams on green fields, it makes for a tough handicap. Stay tuned for my pick on this one later this week.

* Houston is going to have one of the great offenses of all time this year behind Case Keenum, but can the Cougars cover spreads? They have historically not lately (.440 in the 2000s) and their defense gave up 30.1 ppg last year.

Two words, baby: over/under.

Their numbers will be set high all season, but like my Pops always says, if you take the over, you’re never out of it.

I also like Mississippi State and Arkansas out of the SEC to make some noise as solid over/under picks through the season. It’s definitely worth tracking to see if it pans out.

* Alabama, rated No. 1 by seemingly everyone including Penthouse (so I heard), went 9-4 against the number last year despite being favored in every game but one. It will probably be tougher sledding this year with the respect factor at a Bear Bryant-like high.

* Don’t sleep on Temple. The Owls were 8-2 against the spread last year before dropping their last two, and they are poised to be strong this year behind (Heisman contender?) Bernard Pierce. Temple will still have some residual sludge on its spreads because, you know, it’s Temple, and sometimes it takes handicappers a while to accept a bad team getting better. (Remember Rutgers in 2006 … 11-2 vs. the number.)

This will be a fun year to handicap. Happy numbering. See you out there.

- Matthew Osborne

Trentonian U is a collective effort to bring you information and opinions on the world of college sports.

A lot of our focus will be on football this fall, but we plan to try and branch out into as much as we can handle as we get things going and expand to other sports as quickly as we can.

We'll have contributions from Rutgers football writer Steve Miller, as well as assistant sports editor and columnist Ben Doody, who also has covered the Scarlet Knights and the Big East for three years. We'll also have help to cover the West Coast from Fred Sakai, who has covered a variety of college sports and formerly called basketball games on the radio at George Washington University.

We'll have takes from Heisman voters on the race for collegiate sports' most coveted award, and we'll try to have you ready for every Saturday and put it all in perspective come Sunday.

Back in the day, I covered Florida and Florida State football before moving steadily north. My college picks column runs every week in the The Trentonian and there were certainly be talk of the number here. (For entertainment purposes only, of course.)

We are looking forward to covering college sports in this space, and we encourage you to start the school year with us.

- Matthew Osborne, Sports Editor, Trentonian