With universal No. 1 Southern California seemingly certain to reach the national championship game — those Arizona State and Oregon obstacles look smaller and smaller all the time — the real drama lies with the unfolding derby between the Southeastern and Big 12 conferences. Which of these leagues, each stocked with multiple top-10 teams, will supply the Trojans’ competition?

With no offense to the great offenses of Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, here’s hoping it’s the SEC.

Although we generally agree with the sentiment—in other words, we’d love to play in the title game against an SEC opponent—we always get a little nervous when the Trojans’ appearance in said title game becomes a foregone conclusion. Especially when that happens in September.

First, we have the story of Romeo Miller (Lil’ Romeo) in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Apparently the USC basketball program has offered a scholarship to Lil’ Romeo who has played only a third of the games at Beverly Hills High this season, but is one of the best friends of 5-star recruit DeMar DeRozan (who is also coming to USC). Coach Floyd insists that Romeo will bring new fans to SC hoops, but most think that Romeo brought SC DeMar DeRozan.

Second, we have the saga of #1 RB recruit Darell Scott. Darrell had it narrowed down to Texas and Colorado when he decided on signing day to attend Colorado. Apparently, Texas fans have decided that CU had to have paid Scott’s family in order for him to choose the Buffs over the Horns. The Austin Sports Report lays out the rumors that are swirling in Austin and on the ‘net. A job for Scott’s mom and some cash apparently brought Scott to Boulder, and the story about his uncle (who is on the team) was just a nice human interest story.

The recruitment of a big-time college athlete might be the dirtiest business in all of college sports. Forget the agents paying players while they are in college; the lengths that overzealous alumni and coaches trying to save their jobs will go to to get these kids is simply mind-boggling.

Oh, and don’t you think that Mack Brown is sad that he spurned the Longhorns (looking at all of the off the field BS he has dealt with in the last 12 months)?

It is rumored that Major came home for the opportunity to take over for Mack down the road (when he is done taking all of DeLoss Dodd’s money). Will Muschamp is here for a year, max, and merely opening up his reach outside of the SEC. Major has come home and will be the guy Mack picks to take over for him.

• Chuck Casserly made a smart move for the Texans, who play in the Peyton Manning division; they needed a pass-rush presence and in two years he has figured it out.
• The Saints made a good pick based on the fact that they had Deuce: Reggie works well in space and can catch the ball (see our only offense in 2004 against Va Tech).
• The Titans took the best athlete in the draft (who can’t throw the ball at all) and we didn’t make him beat us that way on 1/4/06.

1  USC at Notre Dame            20-Oct       $409          1        $379
2  Ohio State at Michigan       17-Nov       $408          3        $876
3  Oklahoma vs. Texas            6-Oct       $400          2        $419
4  UCLA at USC                   1-Dec       $312          4        $172
5  Tennessee at Alabama         20-Oct       $238          5        $181
6  Georgia at Florida           27-Oct       $274          7        $284
7  Texas at Texas A&M           23-Nov       $268          6        $233
8  Alabama at Auburn            24-Nov       $373          8        $321
9  Tennessee at Florida         15-Sep       $248          9        $180
10 Michigan at Michigan State    3-Nov       $218         11        $193
11 Notre Dame at Purdue         29-Sep       $105         10        $281
12 Arkansas at LSU              23-Nov       $128         12        $226
13 California at Stanford        1-Dec       $118         13        $ 77
14 Miami at Florida State       20-Oct       $113         14        $137
15 Army/Navy Game                1-Dec       $285         16        $150
16 Florida State at Florida     24-Nov       $401         15        $195
17 Georgia at Georgia Tech      24-Nov       $156         17        $161
18 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma   24-Nov       $160         19        $228
19 Pittsburgh at West Virginia   1-Dec       $139         18        $ 87
20 Oregon State at Oregon        1-Dec       $170         20        $173
21 Clemson at South Carolina    24-Nov       $414         21        $282
22 Virginia Tech at Virginia    24-Nov       $191         23        $147
23 Iowa at Iowa State           15-Sep       $122         22        $218
24 Arizona at Arizona State      1-Dec       $ 80         24        $ 69
25 Purdue at Indiana            17-Nov       $ 77         25        $ 59

Granted, this is a fairly useless ranking, as it only uses gross dollar volume of tickets sold through StubHub. But it’s interesting nonetheless. Also, it looks like the Washington schools didn’t make the cut.

Highlights:

• College football on ESPN or ESPN2 every night this week as they try and counter-program the MLB playoffs that they no longer carry. The best game of the weeknight slate is Thursday’s #8 Kentucky at #11 South Carolina. While Rich Brooks is convinced that his team is Top 5 material, I would like to see them beat someone away from home. (I will be flipping between this and my beloved Indians)
• Saturday early: I can’t recommend anything other than Erin Andrews in HD as she reports on Wisconsin at Illinois; my plan is to get the wife chores out of the way before 2:30 Central.
• Saturday midday: Oklahoma and Texas at the State Fair of Texas (ABC, Nessler/Griese/Maguire) or UGA at Tennessee (Bolerjack/Beurelein on CBS).
• SC on Versus. I know that DirecTV just got VersusHD but I am not sure what to expect with this.
• Saturday night: Start with Florida at LSU (CBS primetime with Lundquist/Danielson) then check out some of Ohio State at Purdue (Musburger/Herbstreit) and finish up with Nebraska at Missouri (The Greatness of Ron Franklin and the ass-whip of Ed Cunningham. They should really let Franklin role solo.)

• #1 USC left all of their crisp play in LA and squeaked by U-Dub by 3. SC looked terrible and I would not be surprised if LSU is #1 in the AP Poll.
• #2 LSU drove 90 miles to N’awlins and struggled with Tulane, but they won by 25.
• #3 Oklahoma was up 24-7 and should have finished off Colorado—however, they stopped doing anything well and CU got them at the gun with a FG.
• #4 Florida falls to Auburn. Apparently Tommy Tuberville knows how to stop Urban Meyer’s offense. So now their championship hopes rest on the trip to LSU; if they play like this LSU drills them by 20.
• #5 West Virginia (I was wrong about them) looked terrible and lost to South Florida. USF took advantage of Mountaineer miscues and now control the Big East.
• #6 Cal went to #11 Oregon and (I got this one right) Cal got the offense going late. Looks like they will move up to #3, thanks to Cameron Colvin’s fumble.
• #7 Texas looked awful. Living here in Texas, I got to see this game, and KSU kicked the sh*t out of the Longhorns. With both OU and Texas losing, the game at the state fair is now for staying in the race and not going 0-2 in the Big 12 South.
• #8 Ohio State beats the crap out of an awful Minnesota team. Maybe they will get Purdue’s best since Purdue played well (for 30 minutes at least) against Notre Dame before letting ND back in the game. The losing streak stands at 7 for the Irish.
• #9 Wisconsin survives at home against Michigan State. This game was a shootout and Sparty had a shot; just couldn’t execute late.
• #10 Rutgers looked very ordinary against Maryland at home and the middle of the ACC pack took down the Scarlet Knights 34-24.
• #12 BC plays a very tough 1-AA team in UMass and the the Minutemen keep it close. The Eagles squeak by with a 10 point win.
• #13 Clemson falls to the Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech 13-3. Tommy Bowden can’t seem to enjoy winning games and being ranked.
• #14 Kentucky wins again, and this after Coach Brooks claimed on the Jim Rome Show that his team could be as good as USC.
• #15 Georgia wins again, dominating Ole Miss in the second half.

So now the Top 10 will probably look like this:

1. USC/LSU (take your pick)
2. Cal
3. Ohio St
4. Wisconsin
5. Oklahoma
6. Florida
7. BC
8. Kentucky
9. Georgia
10. Oregon

At any rate, it won’t be hard to improve upon VY’s throwing motion …

Virginia Tech looked to be the 2nd most overrated team in the country; however, Pat Forde feels that LSU is #1.

The Ole Ball Coach pulled his magic against Georgia (this time in Athens) to upset the #11 Bulldogs.

Penn State made Casey Clausen wish for the Oaks Christian OL. Ohio State tried to lose its first game to another Ohio college since 1921 (looking ahead to the game in Seattle perhaps) and Wisconsin (25 pt favs) almost lost at UNLV.

The Student Body Right Top 5:

1. SC (homerism rocks)
2. LSU (VT is overrated)
3. Oklahoma (Miami ‘s offense is awful)
4. Florida (heads-up, Tennessee: Tebow looks scary)
5. Wisconsin

What to watch for in Week 3: Tennessee at Florida, Arkansas at Alabama, Ohio State at Washington, and USC at Nebraska.