Those poor Oregon Ducks. After an impressive, seemingly BCS bowl bound season last year was immediately snuffed out by an ACL injury to superstar quarterback Dennis Dixon, the Ducks are experiencing déjà vu. Oregon sophomore starting quarterback Nate Costa will now likely miss the entire football season after tearing the ACL in his left knee during practice on August 20th.

This past Wednesday, Costa underwent surgery to repair the torn ligament. The damage, however, was too great for him to simply bounce back into the season, especially since ACL tears are notoriously difficult to recover from in the first place. So now the Ducks face the same situation as last year: The man who is supposed to lead the team is now on the sideline, carrying a clipboard. This year it’s worse, though. The season hadn’t even started before he tore his ACL.

Expected to fill in his shoes will be sophomore Justin Roper. Oregon plays their first game at home against Washington this Saturday, August 30th. The game starts at 10 p.m. ET.

It’s hardly news to say that the USC Trojans football team will be exceptionally talented, however, this college football season the Trojans have extra incentive to perform well: This year, The Trojans have the opportunity to win the PAC-10 Title for an impressive 7th year in a row.

But the Nationally ranked, number 2 football squad will have healthy opposition along the way, namely Arizona State and Oregon. Both teams are also nationally ranked, and the Sun Devils have had the taste of the Rose Bowl on their tongues for more than a year now, after falling short last year.

USC will be the favorites to once again claim the PAC-10 Title, despite only returning with four offensive starters, quarterback Mark Sanchez being one of them. He, however, needs to stay healthy, especially after dislocating his knee cap in the first week of football camp.

The Trojans coaching staff remains confident in their team ability.

The quarterback of the UCLA football team, Ben Olson, is expected to be out of action for at least two months as he will be undergoing a surgery on his broken right foot very shortly. This is the second time that Olson has fractured his right foot within four months and the team management has come to a conclusion that surgery is the only way to set things right. Olson will miss at least five games in the new NCAA football season and UCLA is slated to open its 2008 season against Tennessee on the 1^st of September. The UCLA fans are wishing Olson a speedy recovery and are buying tickets to the games in expectation that they will see him back in action pretty soon.

The South Carolina University has allowed their freshman Stephen Garcia to practice with the team for the forthcoming NCAA football season. Garcia, the quarterback of the South Carolina University team, who was on suspension for underage drinking, has been given an early reinstatement into the team by the university officials, as his suspension from all the team’s activities was due to be revoked only on 15^th August. Garcia has been advised by the university officials not to open his mouth to the media and may be allowed to do so only after playing a game for the South Carolina team. Garcia’s fans will be rushing to the ticket counters to grab their tickets for Carolina’s forthcoming games.

The 81 year old head coach of the NCAA football Penn State University Joe Paterno says that he has not fixed any retirement age as such and wants to continue as the coach of Penn State. Paterno has so far completed 42 seasons as the coach of the Penn State University and has said that he will quit the Penn State after taking the team to NCAA football glory. Paterno’s contract will be ending after the 2008 season and there is no clue on the decision the Penn State team management will take on his future. Paterno has so far won 372 games as the head coach of the Penn State team. The forthcoming 2008 season is sure to be a runaway hit owing to the ticket sales that has happened so far.