Our only quibble is that Texas Tech should show up in the worst list, rather than the most boring list (although it certainly qualifies as boring too.)

3. USC — Mark Sanchez vs. Mitch Mustain vs. Aaron Corp: Even though the Trojans do have to replace four starters on their O-line and find a go-to-receiver, all eyes will be on the QB battle. Pete Carroll certainly has options. The fiery Sanchez has some starting experience, while Mustain, who drew raves for his pinpoint passing on the Trojan scout team last fall, was 8-0 as a starter at Arkansas in 2006. Corp is the darkhorse here. He’s a lanky redshirt freshman with very good athleticism and good touch. The guess: Sanchez.

Right now I think it’s going to be Mitch Mustain. Which means that Scott Wolf’s head is going to explode.

5. USC

The Trojans played like the best team in the country in their final four games of 2007, but will go into 2008 with plenty of questions. USC will lose quarterback John David Booty and tight end Fred Davis on offense, along with three very good players on the offensive line. The heart of the defense also will be gone, with tackle Sedrick Ellis, end Lawrence Jackson and linebacker Keith Rivers leaving. But coach Pete Carroll still has plenty of talent on hand. Freshman Joe McKnight looked spectacular against Illinois in the Rose Bowl presented by Citi. Mark Sanchez, a redshirt junior next season, is Booty’s heir apparent, but Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain will battle for the starting job in the spring. Another Arkansas transfer, Damian Williams, should boost the receiving corps. The Trojans’ schedule includes two difficult nonconference games (at Virginia on Aug. 30 and home against Ohio State), but the Pac-10 schedule flips with Oregon, Arizona State and California coming to the Coliseum.

Now, after signing day and the early entry deadline he has revised it.

4. USC Trojans
The Trojans will have to rebuild their offense [blah blah blah]. The defense also takes several hits, [blah blah blah]. But if USC can avoid the injuries that hampered it in 2007 — and if Mark Sanchez or Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain plays well at quarterback — the Trojans again will be a national championship contender.

Plus, with Ohio State jumping from #6 to #3, that makes the game on September 13th a battle of top-five teams on ABC in primetime.

What’s that you say? A preseason #1 team hasn’t won anything since SC in 2004? True. But starting out with support is a good thing any way you look at it.

The other 50% is not as concerned, and here’s why: every time a new head coach comes on the scene who poses a threat, Pete Carroll pays full attention to him and handles him appropriately (lessons learned with Jeff Tedford, Charlie Weis, Dennis Erickson and presumably next season with Jim Harbaugh). Chow may have lost some of his mystique because Vince Young hasn’t improved one iota since joining the Titans. And with the right mix of players, the Sarkiffin offense was far more inventive and productive than any Chow offense ever has. Sure, Booty didn’t develop like Palmer or Leinart, but as CommishRob will tell you, that guy is like four foot three. Also, Chow clashed egos with Carroll, is there any reason to think it won’t happen with another big ego? And he would have to take a 60 to 70% pay cut; even if you’re a multi-millionaire that’s a mega drop. Sure their offense will be more potent, but it’s not like USC isn’t used to dealing with (and shutting down) high-powered offenses in the conference already. And if UCLA goes 10-2 next season and challenges for the Pac-10 title and a BCS berth, someone will hire Walker away ASAP. Which brings us back to Neuheisel: even in his absolute prime, in a state where he didn’t share recruits with anybody, a great stadium, facilities, etc., he had one great team and a bunch of pretty good ones. I think the guy is a good coach, but it’s not like Urban Meyer just moved in down the street.

So I’m torn. My lean right now is, that Stanford loss was so seismic and devastating, that Carroll isn’t going to take anybody lightly and hopefully rededicate himself and his staff to getting this thing back on top. I believe they’ll squeeze out one more title before he returns to the pros.

In the meantime, kudos to UCLA. They are doing exactly what I’d have done as their AD or head coach. Another Pac-10 power only helps SC. Look at the SEC.

P.S. Don’t miss Scott Wolf’s take on this.

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.

Tonight: #2 BC at #8 Virginia Tech, Hokie Hokie Hi.

Tomorrow: Boise St at Fresno St, Can Boise win without the marrying man Ian Johnson?

Saturday:

Gameday: at Penn State as the ESPN/ABC corporate plan comes together with Gameday and the ABC national night game at the same place. Note, you will find no college football on ESPN during the day tomorrow as Breeder’s Cup Horse Racing takes over the Worldwide Leader.

This is my schedule and it should be yours:

• USC at Oregon (3:00pm EDT FSN). Will SC step up and take over the Pac-10 again or will Dennis Dixon (Vince Young StarterKit) lead Oregon to the top of the conference and give them a shot at the title game? CBS will be showing you the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” at 3:30pm and I might flip over for the chance at an outstanding crowd shot.
• Kansas at Texas A&M (7:00pm EDT ESPN2). I like this better than UCLA/WSU (6:30pm FSN) and South Carolina at Tennessee (7:45pm ESPN).
• Ohio State at Penn State (8:00pm ABC). Can Ohio State survive the “White Out” and keep its run atop the BCS standings?
• Cal at ASU (10:15pm FSN). ASU has played no one, so let’s find if they are for real or if Tedford’s boys will continue their losing ways.

• Dan Shanoff, formerly of ESPN.com’s Page 2 and now a weekly College Football contributor at Deadspin likes Ohio State over Penn State, Oregon over USC, Cal over ASU, Florida over Georgia at the Cocktail Party, WVU over Rutgers, and Virginia Tech to continue the curse of being #2 by beating BC on Thursday (Something bad needs to happen to Boston sports soon).
• SI.com’s Cory McCartney throws out his take with BC surviving its trip to Blacksburg, Ohio State staying undefeated, Florida continuing to own Georgia, and—in the Pac-10′s big games—SC to upset Oregon and Cal to upset ASU.

Since the multi-color (credited to Jim Rome) keeps paying this guy to make lines (which he steals from LVSC) I will let people see what he has on the big games of the weekend.

• VT -3.5
• Oregon -2.5
• ASU -3.5
• Florida -9.5
• Ohio St -3.5

So, Ohio State dominated Michigan St for most of the day then gave up some free points before running it down Sparty’s throat to seal the win.

BC moves to #2 without doing anything and 5 nights from now they will go down—making it 4 weeks in a row that #2 loses.

LSU got gifted a win by Tommy Tuberville’s special teams strategy of squibbing it every time, even with a one point lead and less than 4 minutes to go. Also, if LSU doesn’t make that last catch, Les Miles’s house would have been torched because they would have lost when they were in line for a chip shot FG to win the game.

Thanks for playing, Cal—now go end ASU’s dream season. (Also, props to ESPN’s Pat Forde, who predicted ASU would be 7-0 going into the game with Cal.)

Apparently OU can’t play outside of Norman or Dallas.

Game of the Week not on Thursday night: SC at Oregon (which has no line as the Dwarf’s status is still questionable). Oh, and VT is -3 to open the week.

A Florida victory over undefeated Louisiana State at Tiger Stadium could propel USC and California to the top spots in the national rankings — a coup for the Pacific 10 Conference.

Adding a touch of irony to this scenario, it was LSU Coach Les Miles who spent the off-season casting aspersions upon the quality of play in the Pac-10.

(Sorry, we had to include that jab at Les Miles too.)