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.

Eighty-three year old head coach Joe Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions could have a great year this coming season if they fix a few problems on their team. The biggest mystery heading into the fall will be who of PSU’s three underclassmen will be the signal caller for their opener against Youngstown State. The coaching staff have made it known that after disappointing performance by all three QBs will be pushed hard this summer until one of them wins the position. Running the ball should come a lot easier for the Nittany Lions with 1,000-yard-rusher Evan Royster returning for his senior year. On defense, Penn State will have to replace their two leading tacklers Josh Hull and Navaro Bowman, both be plying their trade on Sundays in the NFL next season. Their schedule looks favorable this season, with only Iowa and Ohio State being there only away games that they could be considered underdogs in. Joe Pa would love another  Big Ten title after just losing out to OSU last year.

Since the season ended, college football has been riddled by numerous allegations of wrong doing. Just this week it was made public that the NCAA is looking into reports that West Virgina broke rules while Rich Rodriguez was running the program. Rodriguez is already under investigation for breaking rules about practice length while coaching for Michigan over the last two years. Former USC star Reggie Bush will be appearing in court on April 23rd to hear his disposition into the allegations that he and his family accepted a couple hundred thousand dollars in gifts from Llyod Lake. Lake is trying to recoup $291,000 from Bush in the civil suit. The case could mean further punishments on the Trojans. Maybe Pete Carroll knew what he was doing when he got out of Dodge.

Head coach Dave Wannstedt’s University Pittsburgh Panthers were only a point away from playing in a BCS Bowl game losing to Cincinnati in the final game of the regular season. Pitt defeated North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl 19-17 to finish with a 10-3 record on the year. The school rewarded Wannstedt this past week with a two-year extension on a contract that will keep him tied to Pitt until 2014. The former Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins coach is looking to have another great season with the return of freshmen sensation running back Dion Lewis, wide out Jonathan Baldwin, and defensive end Jabaal Sheard. The Panthers expect Cincinnati and West Virgina to give them tough competition in the Big East, but Wannstedt’s team could be the favorites this year in the Big East.

After an argument outside a Florida International University campus building, FIU running back Kendall Berry was stabbed to death by and unknown person. The 22-year-old college athlete was called a “negotiator, not a fighter” by his mother and it has not surfaced yet if the Miami-Dade County police department has a lead suspect. Many of the students at FIU are in mourning and a memorial service is scheduled to honor Berry’s life. Berry scored six touchdowns this season for Florida International and was a Junior heading into this season. Against North Texas this season Berry scored two touchdowns and rushed for 82 yards on fourteen attempts. This past season saw University of Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard die from a stabbing  in October.