You don’t have to be a genius to measure the success of Jim Harbaugh’s reign as Stanford University’s head football coach. The Cardinal had not had a winning season before Harbaugh led Stanford to a 8-5 record and their first bowl game appearance since 2001. Harbaugh has fully restored Stanford’s proud football tradition this season. The Cardinal have a 9-1 record heading into their last three games. Stanford will face Arizona State, California, and Oregon State to close out the year. A 12-1 season will set a school record for wins in a season and a possible BCS bid. Many will point to Stanford’s colossal upset win over #1 ranked USC in 2007 as the game that turned around the program. Stanford were beaten soundly by Oregon earlier this year, but could have a shot at a PAC-10 title should the Ducks slip up. A bigger question is will Stanford be able to hold on to Harbaugh after this season. The 46-year-old coach will have plenty of suitors from high-profile NCAA teams and the NFL. If Harbaugh does decide to leave Stanford he will certainly leave the program much better off then when he found it.

Following Michigan State’s colossal win against age old rivals Michigan, Spartans linebacker Greg Jones told reporters “We just stay class and get the job done.” Jones is right. MSU has simply got the job thus far this season. The Michigan State faithful have seen their football team beat Notre Dame in overtime, a #11 ranked Wisconsin team, and Michigan in Ann Arbor. They’ve persevered through head coach Mike Dantonio heart attack and losing senior cornerback Chris L. Rucker to off-the-field issues. Junior quarterback Kirk Cousins has guided Sparty’s offense brilliant in the first six weeks of the season throwing 10 TDs to 4 INTs. It has been MSU’s vaunted running game, however, that has made Dantonio’s team successful. Michigan State’s young backfield duo of Edwin Baker and Le’Veon Bell have combined for 1,232 rushing yards already this season. The Spartans must stay focused this weekend as they play Illinois (fresh off a 33-13 shellacking of Penn State), but one would think MSU would prevail at home. Could this be a dream season for East Lansing? It certainly has been euphoric so far this season for Spartan Nation.

Prior to this season Cameron Newton had only thrown for 54 yards on 12 pass attempts in his first two years playing division I college football. The 6 ft 6 inch quarterback was named the Tigers’ starter this season and currently has the best passer rating in the country (191.44). Auburn is ranked #8 in the country and undefeated largely due to Newton’s brilliance under center. Newton has 65.5% of his passes, thrown 12 TDs and 4 INTs, racked up 928 yards, and 474 rushing yards. The 21-year-old played backup to Tim Tebow for two seasons at Florida before leading Blinn College to a 2009 JUCO National Championship. Auburn head coach Gene Chizik welcomed Newtown with open arms this season and the 21-year-old has become a instant hit in Eastern Alabama. Newtown’s poise in the pocket grabbed headlines when Auburn defeated Mississippi State, Clemson, and South Carolina. The Tigers’ young quarterback has a number of giant tests remaining on the schedule as Auburn faces Kentucky, Arkansas, and LSU in the next three weeks.

Coach Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas Razorbacks have been perfect thus far in 2010. Pulling off a huge win off this weekend in style over the Georgia Bulldogs 31-24, Arkansas faces #1 ranked Alabama this Saturday. Heisman Trophy candidate Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks beat up on Tennessee Tech and Louisiana-Monroe in the first two weeks of the season, before defeating Georgia on last minute drive in week 3. The proficient Mallett hit wide out Greg Wilds for a 40-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds left to seal the Razorbacks win in Athens. Arkansas will host the Crimson Tide at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Alabama look poised to contend for another national championship this year after soundly beating Penn State 24-3 in week 2. Petrino’s offense will by far be the best offense Alabama has seen so far this year. If the Razorbacks can down the defending champions in Fayetteville this weekend you can start ringing the national championship bell at the University of Arkansas.

The Alabama Crimson Tide finished the 2009-10 season perfect. Coach Nick Saban’s team went undefeated in the regular season, culminating in a 37-21 victory over the Texas Longhorns in the BCS National Championship Game. The fans in Tuscaloosa will have two of their leading men back from the 2009 season in quarterback Greg McElroy and running back Mark Ingram. McElroy returns to campus for his senior year with a National Championship ring around his finger, and something to prove before next year’s NFL draft. Ingram is fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore last year, and is expected be one of the best runners in the country once again. The Crimson Tide really, however, won their national championship on the defensive side of the ball. Only Ndamukong Suh and the Nebraska Cornhuskers allowed fewer points per game than Alabama. Add the fact that Saban corralled one of the nation’s best recruiting classes this off season, the Tide should roll over most of its opponents this season. Look for Alabama’s meeting with Penn State the second week of the season to be a good indicator of the team’s BCS potential.

When is it too young to offer a potential college football recruit a scholarship? The NCAA is considering banning football programs from offering scholarships to recruits before they complete their sophomore year in high school. A ruling could require schools to wait until the the summer before a recruit’s junior season to get their commitment. USC head coach Lane Kiffin made a lot of people cringe when he reportedly offered a scholarship to a 13-year-old quarterback. While Kiffin was the head man at Tennessee he also offered a 14-year-old a full ride. It seems to me that allowing coaches and scouts into the lives of kids before they’re even in high school should be avoided. Not that college football programs cannot be aware of young talent coming up through ranks, but offering a kid who hasn’t even stepped inside a high school is over the line. The age limitation would allow recruits enough time to think about where they want to play without the immediate pressure to commit coming everyday from college coaches before they can legally drive a car. Hopefully we see this ruling pass soon.

Steve Sarkisian only managed a 5-7 record last season with the Washington Huskies, but their quarterback Jake Locker showed that he has the stuff to play at the next level. Locker could have left college after last season and would have likely been the first quarterback taken in the draft. Last season Locker lead the Huskies to a historic upset of USC by engineering a last second drive to put Washington into field goal range. Locker also was a talented baseball prospect in high school playing in the outfield and as a pitcher. The Bellingham, Washington native finished 2009 season with 21 touchdowns and 2,800 yards. The senior quarterback will get his first shot at put points on the board in 2010 against BYU on September 4th.

Very few expected the NCAA’s punishment of USC to be so severe, but the 67-page document detailing how Reggie Bush took money from prospective agents while a Trojan leaves little doubt about the program’s innocence. Every game USC won with Reggie Bush has been officially vacated by the NCAA and it’s possible their 2005 National Championship and Bush’s Heisman Trophy could be taken away as well. Head coach Pete Carroll’s timely move to the NFL also looks incriminating. It’s perplexing to think that the man running the football program when these indiscretions were committed pays no consequence other than a tarnished image. One would assume USC athletic director Mike Garrett would eventually get the axe for the amount of scandals his football and basketball program has undergone the past few years. The NCAA’s rulings doesn’t bode well for the University of Michigan who awaits their rulings in four or five months. The hope is that the NCAA’s rulings can reinforce the reality that your football program can be drastically damaged if not run cleanly.

Although the Boise State finished the 2009 season a perfect 13-0, the Broncos only finished #4 in the nation in the rankings. The team will return a number of crucial players this season that will likely content for another BCS Bowl berth. Victories over Oklahoma and TCU in recent years have raised Boise’s stature in the eyes of the national media, but playing in a inferior conference continues to have its drawbacks. The Broncos could get more respect if they’re able to defeat their two primetime out-of-conference games against Virginia Tech and Oregon State. Going into his junior year, quarterback Kellen Moore is expected to be one of the best signal callers next season. The 6 ft Washington native threw for 3,536, 33 TDs, and only 3 Ints. Another great season in 2010 will boost the liklihood of Moore going pro after three years. If the Broncos finish the season undefeated it will more difficult to keep them out of national championship talk.

In only two years, the University of Michigan’s football team has made serious strides towards ruining their long-standing reputation as one of the cleanest programs in the country. Head coach Rich Rodriguez and six other U of M staffers have been “reprimanded” by the school in some form or another. The school plans to force the football program to practice 120 hours less over the next two years, as well as, limit the number of quality control staffers to five to three. I seriously doubt these self-imposed restrictions will deter the NCAA from issuing the school some infractions of their own, but it doesn’t hurt. We shall see how the Wolverines limit their practices over this season. If Rodriguez is unable to have a good season this year, it’s likely he’ll be fired anyway. When the Wolverines pressured Lloyd Carr to retire and hired Rich Rodriguez they broke a line of coaching ties that date back to Bo Schemblecher’s first year as head coach in 1969. The Wolverines have taken two giant steps backward the past two seasons, and things don’t appear to be getting any better.