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1. It is sounding as if Texas A&M’s departure from the Big 12 will bring to an end the Thanksgiving rivalry game against Texas. The Aggies and the Longhorns would join Nebraska-Oklahoma and Pittsburgh-Penn State on the list of great rivalries left on the side of the road to riches. Do the Aggies change their fight song? If not, “So goodbye to texas university” will join Alabama’s “Send the (Georgia Tech) Yellow Jackets to a watery grave” as lyrics that have outlived their relevance.

2. On his “Hey, Coach!” statewide radio show Thursday night, Alabama coach Nick Saban revealed that quarterbacks AJ McCarron and Phillip Sims will play three series at a time against Kent State. “I hate to say it publicly,” Saban said, “but it is a bit of an audition.” He reiterated that he has no problem playing both of them in perpetuity if one doesn’t separate from the other (and don’t forget tailback Trent Richardson in the Wildcat).

3. And then there’s South Carolina, where head coach Steve Spurrier announced on his radio show that sophomore Connor Shaw, not troubled fifth-year senior Stephen Garcia, will start against East Carolina. Garcia, who goes through opportunities as if they were lottery tickets, got outplayed by Shaw. Spurrier, who once rotated quarterbacks every other play, said each guy would get a quarter. If Shaw’s good enough to hold onto the job, South Carolina would be better off.

1. Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne, in his Wednesday blog, explained why the Aggies would leave the Big 12. The list didn’t vary from what we suspected -- the departures of Nebraska and Colorado and the Longhorn Network. But here’s what struck me: Byrne reminded everyone that he had been part of the group that assembled the Big 12 in the mid-1990s. Byrne did so as athletic director of Nebraska, which never liked the league’s tilt toward Texas. Viewed from that perspective, it’s fair to believe that Byrne was predisposed to bolt.

2. The bad news for Miami is that Stephen Morris, who will start at quarterback Monday in place of the suspended Jacory Harris, had the highest interception percentage (5.9) among quarterbacks in AQ conferences with at least 100 attempts last season, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The equally bad news for the Hurricanes is that Morris won’t be much of a dropoff. Harris finished second (5.6 percent) to Morris last season. If offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, can fix the quarterbacks, Miami’s turnaround will quicken.

3. Morris had the excuse last season of being a true freshman. Yet he was talented enough -- and the Hurricanes depleted enough after Harris got hurt -- that he started the final four games. That provides perspective of the stiff task awaiting the three true freshmen who will start openers this week: Brett Smith of Wyoming against Weber State, Nick Isham of Louisiana Tech against Southern Mississippi, and -- God bless him, Rakeem Cato of Marshall, who debuts Sunday at in-state rival West Virginia.

1. Of the 14 defensive tackles drafted by the NFL in the first round in the past five years, six came from the SEC. That’s what made me take notice when Kentucky head coach Joker Phillips praised sophomore Donte Rumph this week. “He’s 325 pounds, really strong, explosive, understands how to come out of his hips, use his hands, get off blocks,” Phillips said. “He’s what we see every week. It’s a look we hadn’t seen here in a long time.” The Wildcats need Rumph on Thursday against Western Kentucky’s top running back, Bobby Rainey.

2. UConn postponed its opener scheduled for Thursday night against Fordham because the National Guard is using the Huskies’ home, Rentschler Field in East Hartford, as a staging area during the Hurricane Irene cleanup. UConn hopes to play over the weekend, either at Rentschler or somewhere nearby. A UConn athletic department official said the Yale Bowl, 45 minutes away, is the first option. Why consider giving up the home date and revenue? The Huskies and Rams don’t share an open week.

3. You can’t praise Rutgers enough for the way in which the university has embraced Eric LeGrand as he continues to rehab from the spinal injury he suffered last season. It’s not just the fundraising, which has been considerable. It’s keeping LeGrand engaged. Rutgers announced Tuesday that LeGrand will be a part of the radio team for the 2011 Scarlet Knights. I’m willing to bet that head coach Greg Schiano will dismiss any praise for the extraordinary effort as praising him for breathing. Don’t let him wave it off.

1. Kent State first-year coach Darrell Hazell spent the past seven seasons as an Ohio State assistant. He recalls how the Buckeyes struggled with Ohio in 2008 and Navy in 2009, and hopes that No. 2 Alabama will take the Golden Flashes for granted Saturday. “It’s hard to get up every week,” Hazell said. “But you’ve got to tell your team you have to get up and play. Sometimes you can tell ‘em and tell ‘em as much as you want, but if they don’t do it, that’s when you get yourself in a dogfight in the latter part of the game.”

2. The spotlight on new offensive coordinators hired to perform an extreme makeover has been focused on Steve Kragthorpe of LSU, Charlie Weis of Florida and Bryan Harsin of Texas. But the coach who may get the best results is Kevin Rogers at Boston College. Sophomore Chase Rettig started last season and struggled for the Eagles. Under Rogers’ tutelage, Rettig is displaying new confidence. And Rettig also will have one of the best tailbacks in the nation, senior Montel Harris, to draw defensive attention.

3. East Carolina coach Ruffin McNeill said Monday that his team had weathered Hurricane Irene well over the weekend. McNeill had a tree fall and land on his house, but he and the rest of the Pirates escaped injury. He seized the opportunity to show his players video about the travails ECU suffered in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd savaged the campus. “At the end,” McNeill said in his news conference Monday, “I told the team that it was not a made-up movie. It did not have directors or actors. These were Pirates like you.”

1. If -- and it’s looking more like when -- Texas A&M leaves the Big 12, commissioner Dan Beebe said the league will “move aggressively” toward restoring its membership. Reports that the league will approach Notre Dame and/or Arkansas make sense. They won’t come if the Big 12 doesn’t ask. But I would be stunned if either one reciprocated the least bit of interest. BYU makes the most sense. The newly independent Cougars have a national following. They’ll bring TV homes to the Big 12. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

2. For most teams, an experienced senior quarterback getting suspended days before the season opener against a top-five team would be catastrophic. All LSU has to do is trot out another experienced senior quarterback. Jarrett Lee has started nine games and thrown for 2,643 yards in three seasons. He’s not as talented as Jordan Jefferson, the player he replaces against Oregon, but he will do what veterans do. He won’t get LSU beaten.

3. Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib ditched a traditional weight-training regimen during this past offseason in favor of drills that more directly reflect the duties of a quarterback. He cut back on bench presses and added more cone drills, core exercises and work with bands. “I was lifting like a linebacker,” Nassib said. “I have to worry about how quick I can be in a two-yard radius.” He is pleased with the results. “Toward the end of the summer, I could feel myself getting looser, having a little more pep to my step.”

1. Fans and schools alike complain about slow NCAA investigations. But they are never slow when competition is afoot. It took Miami fewer than 10 days to declare 13 players, including veteran quarterback Jacory Harris, ineligible in the Nevin Shapiro case. The university acted Thursday not only to give the NCAA the opportunity to rule on the players before the Hurricanes’ opener on Sept. 5, but also to give head coach Al Golden time to prepare a team without those players.

2. I like Dan Persa as much as the next writer. The Northwestern quarterback has been an exciting player, and if the Wildcats are winning, there’s usually a good story in it. But the hype for Persa is setting up Wildcat fans to be disappointed. I have read this week on the ESPN.com Big Ten blog that Persa’s mobility remains limited from the Achilles tendon injury he suffered late last season, yet I also read on the blog that Persa the No. 3 player in the Big Ten. It just doesn’t add up. I hope I’m wrong.

3. There may be a reason that tennis star Caroline Wozniacki is a three-time defending champion in the ATP event on the Yale campus in New Haven. The last two years, Wozniacki has spoken to the Bulldog football team and they have come to her matches to cheer her on. The team has tentative plans to attend her semifinal match Friday. While there, the players also plan to run on the pink treadmill outside the stadium, a fundraiser for breast cancer research.

1. Tennessee exhaled Wednesday after the NCAA announced that it accepted the Vols’ self-imposed penalties for their violations. That also made former Vols coach Lane Kiffin happy. Kiffin is now at USC, which, after being docked 30 scholarships and two postseasons, lives by the letter of the NCAA Manual. USC may not have reacted well had Kiffin been found to commit major violations in Knoxville. Meanwhile, Vols coach Derek Dooley kicked troubled Tennessee safety Janzen Jackson off the team Wednesday, reportedly for failing a drug test. Talk about a self-imposed penalty.

2. Chalk one up for Oregon State coach Mike Riley’s reputation as a teacher. My colleague Ted Miller blogged Wednesday that Beavers freshman tailback Malcolm Agnew may start the opener next week against Sacramento State. As I wrote last spring, Riley got a lead on Agnew because the coach is an old friend of St. Louis Rams general manger Billy Devaney. Agnew’s dad, longtime NFL vet Ray Agnew, is a pro scout for the Rams. The NFL guys know what kind of coach Riley is.

3. “The NCAA scholarship should be increased to handle the needs of the athlete better. If you are recruiting an athlete who lives 2000 miles away and then do not do anything to help him get to and from home, who are you kidding? How are they going to do it?... That’s what breeds the illegal things that are going on.” That may sound current. The late Bill Walsh said it during his second stint as Stanford coach -- in 1993. The argument for the full cost of attendance is not a new one.

1. You want your quarterback confident borderlining on cocky. Still, the comments of heralded UCLA freshman Brett Hundley, back at practice Monday after being hurt for two weeks, made me smile. Hundley said, according to the Los Angeles Daily News, “We're going to figure out (whether) it's worth playing 10, 15, 20 snaps a game or redshirting." In 14 games in 2006, Florida freshman Tim Tebow ran 89 times and threw 33 passes. I think he might tell Hundley it was worth it.

2. South Carolina defensive end Jadaveon Clowney, the No. 1 recruit in the nation in February, looks as if he’ll be comfortable with the sort of part-time role that Hundley questions. In three scrimmages, the Charleston Post and Courier reported, Clowney has five sacks, a forced fumble and a touchdown. Clowney isn’t likely to win a starting job -- the ends ahead of him are preseason All-American Devin Taylor and Melvin Ingram, the returning SEC sack leader. But we’ll notice him.

3. The more I hear about Minnesota coach Jerry Kill, the more I like. Kill told my colleague Adam Rittenberg that he favors open practices because the players work harder when people are watching. I’ve never heard that argument before, and I’m glad someone made it. Coaches close practices because they can. I think some of them would play the games without any outsiders watching if they could get away with it.

1. LSU head coach Les Miles awaits the decision of Baton Rouge police on whether or not to arrest Tigers' players for participating in a wee-hours brawl outside of a nightclub last week. The brawl sent four people to a hospital. The police say they will go where the investigation goes. Here’s my question: where is the senior leadership on a team that decides to celebrate the end of two-a-days by breaking curfew at a nightclub? One senior leader, quarterback Jordan Jefferson, is among the Tigers whom police want to interview.

2. Colorado coach Jon Embree released a depth chart Monday filled with surprises. The defense is lined up as a 3-4 for the first time since 1994, the last season that Embree’s mentor, Bill McCartney, coached the Buffs. There are 14 true freshmen on the three-deep, four of them starters. One of the latter, punter Darragh O’Neill, has never played football. He did make all-state in basketball at Fairview (Colo.) High. “He’s an athletic kid that’s good in those pressure situations,” special teams coach J.D. Brookhart said.

3. I read several days worth of tweets and headlines regarding the uproar in the state of Iowa over the new Cy-Hawk Trophy, awarded to the winner of the annual Iowa-Iowa State football game. I expected to see some grotesque combination of weather and predator. I finally clicked on a link for the the trophy. It’s a sculpture of a farm family at day’s end. It’s as sweet as an ear of Silver Queen. Iowans should be proud to win it.

1. It could be that Oregon redshirt freshman tailback Lache Seastrunk wanted to be near his grandmother in Texas. It could be that the spotlight that shone on Seastrunk because of the NCAA’s interest in the relationship between him and Willie Lyles got too hot. But I’m betting the reason that Seastrunk is leaving the Ducks is that he had fallen to fifth string in a very talented backfield. Seastrunk couldn’t break into the lineup and, evidently, didn’t want to wait.

2. Pitt senior defensive end Brandon Lindsey no longer has his hand in the dirt. Under new coach Todd Graham, Lindsey is standing up at the snap. It has taken some getting used to. “It’s more difficult to be explosive,” Lindsey said, “because you don’t have the momentum (from) leaning forward to get a jump on the snap. The first month, I fell about 10, 15 times. Just leaning forward, leaning forward on my feet. And then trying to jump the snap, you’re going to fall. My teammates will never let me live it down.”

3. The preseason polls are my favorites. The votes are spread among more teams which I take for optimism, if not a little regional bias. I look at the voting discrepancies for meaning. The coaches are more deferential to past success (Auburn is 19th; AP has Auburn 23rd). Then there’s Northwestern and Arizona, which got 30 and 28 points, respectively, from the coaches; 1 and 2 points, respectively, from the media. Maybe the writers don’t like Wildcats.

1. Finally, the ACC has found a way for the rest of us to differentiate the Atlantic Division from the Coastal. The latter may be the one with only four teams eligible to win the title. With the NCAA bearing down on North Carolina and Miami, it’s possible that Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Virginia Tech will have a shorter path to the postseason. This may keep Hokies coach Frank Beamer, who has 240 career victories, around long enough to win 300.

2. For nearly three decades, Miami’s football swagger has been bigger than the school itself -- a small, private university without an on-campus stadium that can’t sell its tickets. In other words, the search for money is endless, which is how a con man like Nevin Shapiro can get his name on the players’ lounge. It’s simple -- his check cleared.

3. The more I look at Notre Dame, the more I believe the Irish will return to national relevance. They have 17 returning starters from a team that rallied to win its final four games. The systems that coach Brian Kelly installed last year are second nature. Four of Notre Dame’s six road opponents (including the first two, Michigan and Pittsburgh) have new head coaches. Their toughest opponents come to Notre Dame Stadium, at least until their showdown at Stanford on Thanksgiving Saturday. Circle that game -- in pencil, if you must.

1. Terrelle Pryor appears to be the gift that can’t stop taking from Ohio State. Now his attorney, David Cornwell, is arguing that because Pryor admitted violations to the NCAA in May -- violations about which Ohio State officials say they know nothing -- he would not be eligible to play for the Buckeyes this season, therefore he should be eligible for the NFL supplemental draft. I’m sure that Pryor didn’t keep confessing NCAA violations until the NFL decided he was draft material. His attorney just made it sound that way.

2. Georgia coach Mark Richt told me recently that his defense will play better in their second season in coordinator Todd Grantham’s 3-4 scheme. It’s not just that they can react instead of think. Richt said when an opposing offense showed something new, the players didn’t know how to respond. “We couldn’t say, ‘Remember last year when we saw...’” Richt said. If that’s the case, how exactly is Texas going to rebound from a 5-7 season with two new coordinators teaching two new schemes?

3. It’s mid-August and the excitement of practice starting has worn off. The excitement of the first game hasn’t arrived. It is, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said Wednesday, a great time to build a team. “The players are getting up at 5:00 in the morning after going to bed at 10:00 at night,” Gundy said. “Their bodies are sore and tired and there’s mental strain from the coaches putting it on the players, but that’s what camp is all about. If you’re going to be a good football team, you have to go through that grind…”

1. Miami football is in deep trouble. The story posted Tuesday by Yahoo! investigative reporter Charles Robinson is remarkable for the depth of the reporting and the time invested in learning and corroborating the story of jailed former Hurricane booster Nevin Shapiro. He claims to have given money to Miami players and paid for jewelry, clothing, boat trips, prostitutes -- you name it. And he claimed that some coaches knew of the benefits he provided. Yahoo! reports that former Miami players confirmed many of the allegations. I repeat: Miami is in deep trouble.

2. Miami, the 2001 BCS champion, joins Ohio State (2002) and USC (2004) from past decade as schools whose serious NCAA issues emerged after they won national championships. LSU (2003 and 2007) had less serious issues. The Aughts for college football are beginning to look like the 1990s -- the Steroid Decade -- for Major League Baseball. Scandal is looking as if it will overshadow an entire era.

3. Kudos to Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who told the Salt Lake Tribune this week that he will not prevent his players from using Twitter. Maryland coach Randy Edsall made the same statement a few days ago. As a journalist, I’m biased, but I’ve always believed that players benefit and mature from learning that their public statements have legs. The players who learn how to speak publicly with grace and diplomacy grow more than players who are shielded from the big, bad media by coaches.

1. NCAA president Mark Emmert has agreed to serve as a peacemaker among the conferences as another round of realignment looms, The New York Times reported Monday night. Emmert either has an inflated sense of what he can achieve or a keening desire to take on a frustrating, ultimately fruitless task. The undeniable joy that Texas A&M partisans are showing at the possibility that the Aggies will leave the Big 12 for the SEC shows the difficulty of getting any league or school to think and act for the greater good.

2. In researching a piece on how far the SEC East has fallen behind the SEC West, I looked at a chart in the SEC Media Guide listing league teams that have been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. Here’s a startling fact -- the last SEC East team beside Florida to be ranked No. 1 in any given week is Tennessee in 1998, when the Vols won the national championship. Before that? You have to go back to 1982, when No. 1 Georgia lost a national championship showdown in the Sugar Bowl to Penn State. That’s a long time ago.

3. Most teams are full swing into two-a-days and full contact and the serious injuries are beginning to add up. That’s what makes the news out of Oregon State so promising. Wide receiver James Rodgers, trying to return after a devastating knee injury, ran routes without a limp and made hard cuts in one-on-one drills, The Oregonian reported on Saturday. No one is predicting an imminent return. But Rodgers is taking baby steps without incident and hope is alive in Corvallis.

1. The SEC presidents threw water on Texas A&M in its rush to leave Texas behind. But that won’t be enough to make the Aggies content to stay in the Big 12, not when the reasons for leaving are emotional and financial. The move would wipe its feet on more than a century of A&M tradition. On the field, it will be a train wreck, if history is any guide. Maybe the SEC’s prudence will give the Aggies pause to think about what’s really important. Maybe not...

2. The Big Ten Network ran a computer simulation of conference play in the past 15 season if new member Nebraska had been in the league. The simulations, as carried out by the network’s partner WhatIfSports.com, unearthed the secret of would have happened in 1997, when Nebraska and Michigan shared the national championship. According to the simulation, the Huskers, who went undefeated in 1997, would have lost three Big Ten games. Yes, the “Inquiry” light is on, especially in Lincoln.

3. In a sport that has almost as many individual awards as it does bowls, I’m surprised no one has begun something like, oh, let’s say, The Chris Weinke Award. It would go to the best former minor league baseball player who, after giving up his dream of making the Show, returns to campus to play college football. Weinke won the Heisman in 2000 as a 28-year-old. The favorite this year is Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden, 27, but here’s a dark horse: Baylor wide receiver Clay Fuller, 24, who caught five passes for 50 yards and a score in the Bears first scrimmage.