No asterisks in this roundup. Just cold, hard facts. And snarky opinions.

As the L.A. Daily News’ Scott Wolf reports in his USC blog, there is no bad blood between Pete Carroll and the guy who nearly had Carroll’s job:

Mike Bellotti and Pete Carroll do not hate each other. But there is a spirted rivalry there and it relates as much to USC’s first trip to Eugene in 2001 under Carroll as anything else. So that game will always have a heated atmosphere but the coaches do respect each other and sometimes work together, such as when they agreed last season’s clock rules sucked.

I’m sure another thing they can agree on is that Oregon’s uniforms suck.

Speaking of Oregon, the Ducks are reportedly interested in playing a game against Boise State in China in 2009.

“Quite honestly, it’s very Oregon,” said Jeff Hawkins, UO director of football operations. “You like to be on the edge. You like to be first.”

Embarrassing the Pac-10 on a global scale with those hideous uniforms: yes, that is very Oregon.

And speaking of embarrassments on a global scale…

Former Trojan O.J. Simpson, perhaps most famous for winning the Heisman Trophy in 1968, must give any royalties earned from the new All-Pro Football 2K8 video game to the Goldman family. The game features Simpson suiting up for the Assassins, a team with a knife-wielding mascot. As Johnnie Cochran and EA Sports would have said, “If it’s in the police report, it’s in the game.”

Getting a lot of attention (including on this blog) is the Sports Illustrated poll of starters of all 119 I-A teams. We’re not surprised that Pete Carroll and Urban Meyer were the most popular coaches, but what we want to know is… what about Karl Dorrell? The guy not only beat Carroll last season, but he generously gives known criminals a second chance by putting them on his coaching staff. Now that’s leadership.

Speaking of (alleged) criminals… former Virginia Tech star Michael Vick has the support of fellow QB Donovan McNabb. McNabb says his kinship with Vick dates back to the two of them touring Syracuse together in the mid-1990s. Good thing Vick didn’t go to the ‘Cuse to compete with McNabb: that would have really damaged his pro career.

From the ‘Unspecified reasons’ dept: Pitt’s top recruit, freshman quarterback Pat Bostick, left camp for unspecific personal reasons and it’s not known when he’ll return. And Tennessee tailback LaMarcus Coker, the team’s leading rusher, has been suspended indefinitely for what Phillip Fulmer referred to as an unspecified medical reason. We won’t speculate on those unspecified reasons (cough*homesickness*cough*and*cough*drugsaccordingtothisreport), but we do wish both Bostick and Coker the best, and hope they return to campus soon. Or, if they don’t come back, that at least their reasons are not serious and are very entertaining.

Miami coach Randy Shannon, when asked in a presser about the contributions of Graig Cooper and Javarris James, said this:

“I think Coop did a great job. He brought some some excitement to the team. And he’s a calm guy. He’s not an arrogant or flamboyant guy.” It was going well, then coach goofed. “Believe it or not, he and Javarris James are kind of like butt buddies.”

We knew there was a close-knit family atmosphere at The U, but honestly, that’s a bit much.

We’ll end with cause for optimism: sometimes college football experts actually know what they’re talking about. We know, we’re as surprised as you are. But that’s the only conclusion we can gather after College Football News gathered some of the sport’s truthiest journalists for an expert roundtable.

Among the highlights was Joe Schad discussing the Plus-One:

I understand some of the arguments for leaving the system the way it is. And many of those arguments were laid out for me in a recent conversation with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany. He notes the importance of preserving the tradition of the Rose Bowl. He notes that with even a four team playoff, up to three teams could be playing up to 14 or 15 games. He notes that even $40 or $50 million split up among the BCS schools does not create the type of financial windfall that make change essential. The bottom line is this: A four team playoff incorporating the current bowls on a rotational basis will appease the appetite of the fans. 1) Ohio State vs. 4) USC and 2) Florida vs. 3) Michigan, quite simply, would have rocked.

And what do you know, Richard Cirminiello concurs:

While the talk of a full-blown, NFL-style playoff is trendy and fun for roundtable discussions, it’s also an overkill remedy for solving the current problems of the BCS. Forget the eight or 16-team playoff, and start dialing your local representatives and college presidents about the plus-one format. The plus-one is so seamless and makes so much sense, it’s absolutely criminal it hasn’t been implemented sooner.

And Dennis Dodd gets right to the point when he discusses what tweaks he’d make to the BCS.

Plus one. See answer number one. Not perfect, but better.

That’s what we say when people ask us why college football is the greatest sport on earth despite its immensely flawed postseason: it’s not perfect, but it’s better.

Twenty two days until it’s MUCH better…