ESPN College Football

Our theme today, as part of our "Love to hate" week at ESPN.com, is "Left in the lurch." This is about coaches who bailed out on a Pac-12 program at an unexpected or awkward time. We're not including Urban Meyer leaving Utah for Florida or Jim Harbaugh leaving Stanford for the San Francisco 49ers because their departures were not unexpected and came only after unprecedented success.

Of course, these situations vary greatly in terms of circumstances and reaction. There aren't many college football jobs out there considered better than one in the Pac-12, so most of the coaches who bailed out on their programs left for the NFL.

But here is a sampling from the Pac-12. Feel free to provide your own thoughts below.

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  AP Photo/Don RyanPete Carroll stunned USC fans when he left after the 2009 season to coach the Seattle Seahawks.
  California got dogged twice. First, after going 10-2 in 1991, Bruce Snyder bailed on the Golden Bears for Arizona State. It's rare for a coach to jump from one conference program to another, and it certainly hurts more. Then, in 1996, Steve Mariucci lasted just one year in Berkeley before jumping aboard with the San Francisco 49ers.
• Dennis Erickson twice left Pac-12 teams for sunnier pastures (at least in theory). After two years at Washington State, Erickson bolted for Miami after the 1988 season. Then, after a strong run at Oregon State from 1999-2002, Erickson left Corvallis for the San Francisco 49ers. He has repeatedly said that was the worst move of his career.
• Dick Vermeil lasted two seasons at UCLA. After going 9-2-1 in 1975 and upsetting No. 1 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, he left for the Philadelphia Eagles.
• Rick Neuheisel shocked many when he left Colorado for Washington before the 1999 season for a million-dollar contract, which was at the time considered exorbitant. He left behind NCAA sanctions for the Buffaloes and immediately got into trouble with the Huskies. It didn't make folks in Boulder feel any better when the Huskies and Neuheisel swept a home-and-home series over the next two years.

But two departures really stand out.

Don James is on the short list of greatest college football coaches of all time. In 18 seasons at Washington, from 1975 to 1992, he won a national title and four Rose Bowls. He went 153-57-2 (.726) and set a then-record of 98 conference victories. From 1990-92, the Huskies won 22 consecutive games.

He is the Dawgfather.

And that's why many Huskies fans will tell you the lowest moment in program history is when he resigned in protest of NCAA and Pac-12 sanctions on Aug. 22, 1993. (James really, really didn't like Washington president William Gerberding and athletic director Barbara Hedges, either).

His resignation just before the season forced Washington to promote defensive coordinator Jim Lambright, a good man and a good defensive coordinator but not an ideal fit as head coach. Other than a Rose Bowl victory after the 2000 season under Rick Neuheisel, things have never been the same in Husky Stadium. Not yet, at least.

A more recent shocker: Pete Carroll bolting USC after the 2009 season for the Seattle Seahawks.

Carroll's hiring in 2001 was widely panned, but all he did thereafter was build a college football dynasty, winning national championships in 2003 and 2004 and falling just short of a third consecutive title in 2005 in a thrilling loss to Texas. He went 97-19 (.836) in nine seasons (11-2 versus rivals Notre Dame and UCLA), won six BCS bowl games and finished ranked in the AP top-four seven times. He won 34 consecutive games from 2003-05 and coached three Heisman Trophy winners and 25 first-team All-Americans.

So, yeah, he accomplished a lot. And many thought he would coach USC for life, though many others also suspected the lure of the NFL would prove too much.

It was the timing of his sudden, stunning departure that frustrated many Trojans fans. While Carroll has repeatedly denied oncoming NCAA sanctions had anything to do with his decision to leave, that's a hard line to buy. He skipped town after a 9-4 season that featured blowout losses to Stanford and Oregon and left behind a team with a two-year bowl ban and deficit of 30 scholarships over three seasons.

Still, not unlike how James is viewed by Huskies fans, Carroll is mostly spared the wrath of Trojans fans because of what he accomplished.

There's no question, however, that both programs were left in the lurch.

Running back Ty Isaac (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) has committed to USC, picking the Trojans over numerous offers from across the country, including Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Notre Dame.

Isaac is ranked 68th on the ESPN Recruiting top 150. Rivals rates Issac as the No. 18 player in the nation and Scout has him ranked 12th.

Isaac, who could also play linebacker, is a power back at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, but he also has good speed and elusiveness, according to his ESPN evaluation. Last winter, Isaac rushed for 516 yards and six touchdowns in the state championship game. As a junior, he rushed for 2,114 yards -- 11.9 yards per carry -- and scored 45 touchdowns.

Isaac is the Trojans' sixth commitment. They can only sign 15 players due to NCAA sanctions.

PHOENIX -- Pac-12 coaches and athletic directors generally expressed optimism over the expected move toward a four-team college football playoff in 2014, but there was plenty of caution as well as a smack of defiance during the conference's spring meetings at the posh Arizona Biltmore Hotel.

Some, such as Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and Washington State coach Mike Leach, don't think four teams is enough. Some worried about losing the bowl games, particularly the Pac-12's longstanding and storied connection to the Rose Bowl. And just about everyone was concerned about the selection process.

That defiance? It's rooted in the general belief that some other conferences excel at masterful scheduling (read: avoiding challenging competition) and massaging public perception (read: creating a consensus of superiority based significantly on subjective judgments).

If the Pac-12 and Big 12 play nine conference games, and the ACC, SEC and Big Ten play eight, then those conferences are playing by different standards that have myriad measurable effects. If one conference features a majority of teams playing at least one or two tough nonconference foes a year and another features a majority of teams playing four directional schools, then those conferences are playing by different standards that have myriad measurable effects.

Even if one of those conferences has won six consecutive national titles.

"You need some competitive equity within all of the conferences if you are going to do this thing," USC athletic director Pat Haden said. "But if you're going to have a conference, it seems to me you should be playing your conference opponents rather than non-conference opponents. In USC and Stanford's case we really have 10 conference games if you include Notre Dame, because we both have a long history of playing Notre Dame."

While the sentiment is strong among the coaches to reduce the Pac-12 conference schedule to eight games, sentiments mostly lean the other way among the athletic directors. The topic was discussed this week, but commissioner Larry Scott confirmed that there is no short-term plan to reduce the conference slate to eight games.

A big reason for that: There's a wait-and-see attitude on the details of the four-team playoff. While, based on media reports, there seems to be considerable momentum behind incorporating the bowls into the new system, there is little consensus on the selection process for the four participating teams.

That is where the coaches have a dog in this fight. They don't really care where they play, but they do want to know how they get there.

"I'd hate to go to just one little group or one committee that picks the teams," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I think it's way too important. The more people you have involved, probably the better."

Oregon coach Chip Kelly pointed out that if there was a final four in place last fall, then Stanford would have been in and his Ducks would have been out, despite their decisive win in Palo Alto. The biggest reason for that? Oregon lost to LSU in the season-opener, giving it one more defeat than Stanford. If the Ducks had played San Jose State, they almost certainly would have finished fourth.

"There seems like there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered before anybody can say, 'Hey, that's a great idea,'" Kelly said.

Therein lies the caution. And the defiance. There was a clear undercurrent with Scott, the coaches and athletic directors that they didn't want to be pushed into anything, particularly when the Pac-12 (and Big Ten) are being asked to sacrifice something -- their tie to the Rose Bowl -- while other conferences aren't. There's a widespread perception that the BCS standings favored an SEC way of doing things, and played a role in that conference's recent dominance. So how does it help the Pac-12 if the new format still relies on a BCS-like evaluation?

There's a concern that if, say, Oregon and Alabama both finish 11-1 that the Crimson Tide would benefit from a "just because" edge, one based entirely on a subjective judgment of SEC superiority. Such a judgment could give the SEC a near-annual second team in a final four while knocking the Pac-12 -- and other major conferences -- out entirely.

"I think a lot of people are going to want the human element out of it, because it would be hard for humans to make those decisions and not be biased in some way," USC coach Lane Kiffin said.

Which is why some, such as Whittingham, favor an expanded playoff.

"From my perspective, you can take it out of the hands of voting and more to on-field performance," he said.

Said Leach, "I'd like to see it more than four. My suspicion is eventually there will be. Because, five years ago, if somebody had said this was going to happen, the room would have started laughing."

Meetings here were long, and there were plenty of other topics, from officiating, to bowls, to scheduling. But the back-and-forth on the potential new playoff scenarios was the centerpiece of the week, at least in terms of intrigue.

Change is coming. That's almost certain. But the process this summer of putting together a concrete plan among entities with competing agendas figures to be contentious.

Said Washington coach Steve Sarkisian, "I think there are still a lot of conversations to go."

If you're ACC commissioner John Swofford, you've carved out a pretty nice life for yourself lately. Less than two years ago, you landed a long-term television deal with ESPN. Less than a year ago, you secured the move of Big East bedrocks Pitt and Syracuse, making your conference the unquestioned leader in men's college basketball.

If these upcoming BCS meetings take a couple of unforeseen turns, who knows, just maybe you can provide a safe landing spot for Notre Dame, expanding your conference's footprint to the Midwest and, to an extent, across the nation in a way no other league would be able to match.

But that's another issue for another day. For now, as we said, life is good as the ACC commissioner.

As sad a commentary as it might be on the present state of college athletics, the only tangible issue for the ACC now is, frankly, a minor one: The conference has not been among the best when it comes to winning football games.

Its champion from a year ago, Clemson, was run off the field in the Orange Bowl by West Virginia, a school that valued winning the Big East so much that it is now playing in the Big 12. The runner-up, perennial conference contender Virginia Tech, managed to secure a second BCS-bowl bid for the conference, something that had never been done before. The Hokies did that despite losing the league's title game by 28 points, despite finishing four BCS spots behind Boise State (No. 7) and three spots behind Kansas State (No. 8).

Both schools went on to play in smaller bowls, and the Hokies got a trip to New Orleans, ultimately losing a winnable Sugar Bowl against Michigan. The Wolverines, by the way, did not even reach their conference championship game — they actually lost to the team that lost that game, Michigan State. But, as we said, when life is good in college football, there are benefits to be reaped.

One of those may be on display this week in South Florida, where postseason meetings will take place among the 11 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. Here, the ACC can get greedy.

The future is secure, which is more than can be said for some other conferences. But the record in BCS bowl games is 2-12, a concern generally limited to fan bases whose teams are losing big game after big game. Virginia Tech, a model of consistency in this sport, can only be tasked with carrying the mantle for the conference so much.

If a playoff format involving only conference champions arises, though, this could be the breakthrough toward occasionally cracking the nation's elite. Despite strong annual recruiting efforts from Clemson and Florida State, the ACC has shown little sign it can put multiple teams in the national title hunt every year, which is what the home of the past six national-title winners — the SEC — has been able to do.

But have one team emerge every now and then, losing one or even zero games? That's far more likely, which makes cracking a four-team playoff decided by conference winners — and thereby entering the national title picture — all the easier.

Are six consecutive national titles on the horizon for the ACC? Not exactly. But with its future secure, and its base potentially growing, this could be one small step for a conference lacking only on the scoreboard.

We've given you our thoughts recently on which Pac-12 player has the best shot at winning the Heisman. You've given your thoughts (an extremely tight poll) and now the folks at HeismanPundit.com have offered up their darkhorse candidates for 2012.

They looked at 12 not-as-mainstream candidates who could contend for the Heisman Trophy, and four of them are from the Pac-12.

First, the list:

• Eddie Lacy, Alabama
• Curtis McNeal, USC
• Fitzgerald Toussaint, Michigan
• Kenjon Barner, Oregon
• James Franklin, Missouri
• Braxton Miller, Ohio State
• Kiehl Frazier, Auburn
• Le'Veon Bell, Michigan State
• Cierre Wood, Notre Dame
• Christine Michael, Texas A&M
• Jesse Callier, Washington
• De'Anthony Thomas, Oregon

Their thoughts on each of the Pac-12 players:

On McNeal: A total of 150 carries have departed the program and there is little depth behind the senior, who will benefit from defenses focusing on USC’s strong passing attack. Give McNeal at least half of those departed carries and you are looking at a possible 1,500 yard season, if not more.

On Barner: There were times the rest of the year when he looked as good as, if not better than, James. This year, the Ducks lose not only James’ 247 carries, but also the 45 of freshman Tra Carson and the 56 of quarterback Darron Thomas, for a total of 347 carries to be redistributed.

On Callier: I actually think there is a good chance that Washington experiences no dropoff at this position and that Callier establishes himself as one of the top backs in the Pac-12 with a season exceeding 1,300 yards on the ground.

On Thomas: Thomas is obviously an interesting case since he is such an all-around dynamo. Last year, he had just 140 touches, with 39 of them coming in the return game. This was a wise move by Oregon, as keeping the rather slight Thomas fresh and healthy is the key to his effectiveness. It worked, as he had 18 touchdowns and 2,235 total yards. In that vein, Oregon might be tempted to put a huge workload on him in 2012, but I don’t foresee it unless there is a desperate need.

Fun list. With frontrunner Matt Barkley out there, along with Washington quarterback Keith Price, a couple of USC wide receivers and A-list running backs like John White IV and Stepfan Taylor, there is certainly no wanting for offensive talent in the conference. Per usual.

Which players emerge will definitely be one of the more fascinating stories to follow in 2012.

Matt Fortuna agrees with ACC blogger Heather Dinich in her assessment of the Irish against the ACC in 2012.

Recruiting season ain't over until the last hat has been pulled from a grubby high school backpack. And there is hope in Tucson that the final name hasn't been inked on Rich Rodriguez's first recruiting class with Arizona. Specifically, hope that the Wildcats' new coach still has a shot at landing five-star athlete Davonte Neal.

Neal, from Chaparral High in Scottsdale, is the last player remaining on the 2012 ESPNU 150 list not to have committed to a team. He's reportedly going to make a decision next week. Among the schools still in the hunt for his services are Notre Dame, Arkansas, North Carolina and Arizona.

This could be a huge get for Rodriguez. Aside from the obvious on-field contributions that a wide receiver with 4.4 speed brings to a pass-happy offense, or a potential lock-down corner, it would go a long way in Rodriguez setting up stakes in his new home state.

New coaches love to come in and make promises -- that they are going to put up fences to keep top-flight athletes in and out-of-town poachers away. It's a cliche I hear all too often in Southern California, where it seems like you can pick up a four-star player next to the cereal aisle at Vons.

But nabbing a top-10 prospect like Neal would go a long way in winning the hearts and minds of a fanbase still sour after a 4-8 season.

Consider the signing of D.J. Foster at Arizona State. No new coach in the country entered his new digs with as much animosity in his wake as Todd Graham. But just a few weeks later, when one of the top prospects in the state spurns 15 other schools -- nine of them from within the conference -- and opts to stay at home, it's a big deal. Suddenly people start singing a different Graham tune. Graham promised to hit Phoenix and the surrounding areas hard. And he did. He goes from oath-breaker to promise-keeper. Now Graham looks like a guy that can get the job done.

The same can happen for Rodriguez. He's hired former Chaparral coach Charlie Ragle to be his in-state recruiting liaison and he's locked up a pair of Chaparral recruits already. If the Wildcats don't land Neal -- who some think is headed to Arkansas or Notre Dame -- it won't be the end of the world. The fact that Rodriguez is still in the hunt for the last remaining five-star is promising.

And he's already signed a pretty respectable class -- given the time crunch-- headlined by quarterback Javelle Allen. But if Rodriguez can reel in the 5-foot-10, broad-shouldered fish, it will alleviate concerns that his Big East/Big Ten ties are tough to overcome and that despite a shortened recruiting season, he can be a major player in Arizona recruiting.

ESPN The Magazine and RecruitingNation compiled the past five years (2007-11) of ESPNU 150 rankings and then crowned college football's top 10 recruiting programs.

Here's how they did it:

Our methodology was simple: We re-tallied the scores following signing day and ranked the schools based on total number of ESPNU 150 recruits (there have been 900) hauled in over the last six years. Of course, like success on the field, recruiting is cyclical -- and fans of programs both on and off this list might look back on Feb. 1, 2012 as the day their team began its rise (or fall) on the trail.

Here's the top-10.

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Alabama
5. Florida State
6. Notre Dame
T-7. Georgia
t-7: LSU
9. Miami
T-10. Ohio State
T-10. Oklahoma

Here's what it says about USC:

Top states: California (36), Florida (six), Arizona (four)
Surprise state: Georgia (three)
Sure, the Trojans have California locked up. But USC has also signed four of Arizona's 12 ESPNU 150 prospects and Georgia's second-best preps in 2008 (WR Brice Butler of Norcross) and 2010 (WR Markeith Ambles of McDonough). In 2012, USC signed seven ESPNU 150 commits -- OT Zach Banner (Lakewood, Wash.) was the lone out-of-state recruit.

(USC actually signed three out-of-state recruits, including receiver Nelson Agholor and DT Leonard Williams, who are both from Florida).

What's clear from this list: Sometimes teams with lots of ESPNU 150 players produce on the field (Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State) and sometimes they do not (Florida, Texas, Florida State, Notre Dame and Miami).

Florida is 15-11 over the past two seasons, when these highly rated classes should have been peaking. Texas is 13-12 over the same span. Miami has lost fewer than six games just once since 2007. Notre Dame's best years came the past two seasons -- both 8-5. Florida State has averaged 4.8 losses since 2007. Georgia was 10-4 this season, but it was a combined 14-12 in 2009 and 2010. Ohio State probably can be forgiven its 6-7 finish this year, based on the NCAA issues and firing of coach Jim Tressel. Oklahoma's lone blip was an 8-5 campaign in 2009. USC's "downturn" came in 2009 and 2010 when the Trojans went 17-9.

Conclusions?

Well, it's possible that Florida recruiting -- as good as it is -- is overrated. Perhaps the same can be said for Texas. Or at least these four programs -- Florida, Florida State, Miami and Texas -- aren't doing the best job of evaluating their wealth of in-state talent.

Oregon won the Arik Armstead lottery on Sunday.

Armstead, one of the nation's top-rated linemen, picked the Ducks over California, Washington, Auburn and Notre Dame. The one-time USC commitment will play defense for the Ducks -- he's rated higher as an offensive lineman -- and also will play basketball and will enroll at Oregon in time to participate in spring practices.

From ESPN Recruiting's Greg Biggins:

Before Cal defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi left for Washington, Armstead seemed like a very solid bet to end up with the Bears. Even late last week, there was talk among a few other 2012 recruits that it looked good for Cal to land Armstead.

Oregon, led by head coach Chip Kelly and linebacker coach Don Pellum, came in for a home visit last week and wowed the family.

Kelly was able to sell the opportunity to play for a national championship right away and Pellum sold Armstead on how he would fit in with the defense.

Interesting twist here. While Cal fans will be sour that Armstead didn't pick the Bears -- allegedly because of Lupoi's departure -- they also can take heart from the fact that he didn't make the flip for the Huskies.

Further, this seems to validate the contention of many -- including yours truly-- that Oregon coach Chip Kelly may actually have helped recruiting by flirting with Tampa Bay.

The real test of Lupoi's jump to Washington: Shaq Thompson. He's choosing between Cal, where he has committed, Washington and Oregon. Thompson and Armstead are close, but not necessarily a package deal.

If the Huskies get Thompson, Lupoi immediately yields fruit. If Cal does, Lupoi's loss gets muted, at least in the short term.

And if Oregon gets him, then the Ducks start to show signs of taking a step toward elite recruiting.

Some good stuff on Armstead here.

National signing day, if you haven't heard, is Wednesday.

Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti says he already has a short list of candidates to become the next head coach of the Scarlet Knights.

So what exactly is he looking for?

“I think there are a lot of criteria," he said Thursday. "No. 1, we want the right kind of person. Understanding and being able to have your arms around the culture of the tri-state area I think is critical to being successful at Rutgers. So much of it has been built around being able to recruit on a somewhat regional level, that I think not only having a great understanding, but having really deep and strong relationships in the tri-state area. I think those are two very critical factors in this whole thing.”

Who fits the description? Here are a few possibilities:

Temple coach Steve Addazio. In his first season as the head coach at Temple, Addazio went 9-4 and brought the Owls back to a bowl game. He has ties to the tri-state area, having grown up and coached in Connecticut. He also served as an assistant at Syracuse in the 1990s and he clearly has established ties in the past year in the Pennsylvania area. That state has been a huge recruiting area for Rutgers, particularly given what has happened to Penn State.

Florida International coach Mario Cristobal. One of the brightest up-and-coming coaches in the country, Cristobal has done for FIU what Schiano did for Rutgers. He completely resurrected a program mired in misery, taking it to its first-ever conference title and back-to-back bowl appearances for the first time, too. FIU is obviously a much younger program, but Cristobal has got the coaching and recruiting chops. Plus, he worked under Schiano at Rutgers from 2001-03, so he has a familiar with the recruiting area. Cristobal was also a candidate for the Pitt job before ultimately deciding he wanted to stay in the South Florida area. What could Rutgers say to change his mind?

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco. A defensive mastermind like Schiano (who also served as defensive coordinator this past season), Diaco is from Cedar Grove, N.J., and has some coaching experience in the Big East. He was an assistant at Cincinnati under then-coach Brian Kelly before leaving to join Kelly with the Irish.

1. It’s impossible to know whether Gunner Kiel will turn into the Next Great Notre Dame Quarterback or just another guy. But the last-minute decision by Kiel, from Columbus, Ind., to spurn LSU and drive to the South Bend campus only three hours from home is a warming balm for Irish fans frustrated with the pace of head coach Brian Kelly’s progress. A pair of 8-5s is noticeably lacking in face cards. Notre Dame endorsed Kelly a few days ago by adding two years to his contract. Kiel endorsed him by showing up.

2. USF announced the other day that it has scheduled a home-and-home with Nevada, beginning with a trip to Reno on Sept. 8. The Wolf Pack will play in Tampa in 2015. That’s a nice get by the Bulls, but they buried the lead. More important is that in 2012, as it did three years ago, USF will play Florida State and Miami. They also played Florida and Miami in 2010. As the Big East and ACC struggle to create schedules in the wake of their realignment, here’s hoping USF continues to play the state’s bigger names.

3. Speaking of which: here are the five most interesting intersectional games for next season, excluding the traditional non-conference rivalries: Boise State at Michigan State on Fri., Aug. 31; Alabama vs. Michigan in Cowboys Stadium on Sept. 1; West Virginia at Florida State on Sept. 8; Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati at FedEx Field on Sept. 29; Notre Dame at Oklahoma on Oct. 27.

After six consecutive national titles, it's clear the path to the national championship goes through the SEC. But ESPN's Brock Huard believes he's found the team to break the string.

USC.

Huard lists five reasons: 1. The abundance of talent; 2. The level of production; 3. The surroundings and the schedule; 4. The improving defense; 5. The Barkley factor.

USC's case is strong and Huard makes it. No team will approach the top-level skill talent the Trojans have on offense with QB Matt Barkley, WRs Robert Woods and Marqise Lee and RB Curtis McNeal. There are NFL teams that would trade with USC straight up with those four spots. And you probably could throw in the tight end combination of Xavier Grimble and Randall Telfer, too.

Yes, the defense, with eight starters back, should take a step from solid to good in 2012. And, yes, the schedule sets up well, with both Notre Dame and Oregon coming to the Coliseum.

But there is one major issue: depth. The sort of players USC recruits don't like to think of themselves as "depth," which is why they often leave when it's clear they are backups or reserves. The latest is WR Kyle Prater, a once-touted recruit who fell behind due to injuries and being less good than his recruiting pedigree. The Trojans previously lost RB Amir Carlisle, who's transferring to Notre Dame, and RB Dillon Baxter, who fell afoul of coach Lane Kiffin. It also appears that WR Brice Butler is leaving.

The point: Things are thin behind Woods, Lee and McNeal. And they are even more worrisome on the lines. Sure, the Trojans welcome back four starters on the offensive line but there's a significant step back on the second team. Further, the defensive line is replacing three starters, though the depth there is better.

The most important thing for USC next fall is simple: staying healthy. The Trojans' likely starting 22 as it stands today will be a tough match for any team, SEC or otherwise. But the difference between the 2012 Trojans and, say, the 2004 version, is a lack of A-list depth.

USC is a almost certain preseason top-five team in 2012, along with LSU, Alabama, Oregon and probably Oklahoma. And if things fall into place, we might finally have that USC versus the SEC national title game we've been lacking in the BCS era, for whatever reason.

Of course, Oregon fans might have some thoughts on this.

1. As ugly as it was, Florida State’s 18-14 win over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl made the Seminoles 9-4. That looks a lot better than the Fighting Irish’s 8-5, especially given that Florida State and Notre Dame began the season ranked Nos. 6 and 16, respectively. The Florida State defense held up its end of the deal. In the past eight games of the season, the Seminoles allowed an average of 11.5 points per game. That includes the defensive touchdown the Irish scored Thursday night.

2. Just like Florida State, Texas’s 8-5 record sounds so much better than 7-6, especially after the Longhorns went 5-7 in 2010. Texas made great strides on defense and smaller ones on offense, which had to muddle through the inexperience of quarterbacks David Ash and Case McCoy. The Longhorn offense can’t afford to sputter next season, not with the Oklahoma schools atop the Big 12 and TCU entering the league. Even a head coach like Mack Brown, armed with a new contract extension, has to keep progressing from 8-5.

3. It’s good to see that Steve Spurrier handed over the South Carolina defense to Lorenzo Ward, who will be promoted from defensive coordinator to assistant head coach, the title that Ellis Johnson had before leaving Columbia to become head coach at Southern Mississippi. He is well-respected in the coaching fraternity because he has made secondaries better wherever he has coached, from Alabama to Virginia Tech to Arkansas to the Gamecocks. The easy answer for Spurrier is the right answer.

The prediction is in the books. Now let's look at the keys for Notre Dame in Thursday's Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

1. Stay disciplined. Fair catch the punt if you have any doubt. Channel that edge after the whistle. Defense and special teams are the name of the game for FSU, and Notre Dame will play right into the Seminoles' hands if it can't protect the ball or aids the Seminoles offensively with penalties.

2. Protect Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix. FSU's defense is ranked sixth nationally and fourth in scoring. It also ranks ninth in sacks, averaging three per game. The Irish offensive line has to withstand the Seminoles' lethal pass rush, and Rees and Hendrix have to show a strong presence in the pocket and get rid of the ball when they're in trouble.

3. Bring the rush. Ethan Johnson said he's 110 percent after resting the sprained right ankle that sidelined him for four games this season. Stephon Tuitt appears to have recovered from an illness that forced him to miss the past two games. Florida natives Louis Nix and Aaron Lynch (an FSU decommit) are pumped to play in their home state against a team from Florida. And did we mention FSU's offensive line? The Irish pass rush should have a field day against a Seminoles offense that amassed just 95 total yards in its regular-season finale against Florida.

Forbes magazine put together a list of the top 20 most valuable college football programs, and the team at the top is no surprise.

Everything's bigger in (Austin) Texas. Especially football budgets.

The Longhorns topped the list with a value of $129 million, producing $96 million in revenue and $71 million in total profit, far ahead of its nearest competitors.

The program's value is $17 million more than No. 2, Notre Dame. Its produced $19 million more in revenue than Alabama, second in that category. It produced $18 million more in total profit than No. 2 Georgia.

The Big 12 had three teams in the top 20. Oklahoma checked in at No. 10 and Texas A&M was No. 17.

The Sooners were valued at $87 million, produced $59 million in revenue and made $36 million in profit.

The Aggies were valued at $63 million, produced $45 million in revenue and made $30 million in profit.

Forbes also studied the game's best teams for the money, and Kansas State checked in at No. 1 this year. Its expenses were just $11 million, which cashed out at $1,086,705 per victory, the best mark of any team in the country.

Oklahoma State checked in at No. 3, at $1,253,388 per win. Its expenses were $14 million.

Baylor was No. 8, at $1,619,672 per win. Its expenses were $15 million.