Pryor says he has narrowed the list to two, but is not letting on which ones. Below is the list of the four schools he is still considering, along with my odds.

• Ohio State (3-1)
• Michigan (9-2)
• Penn State (5-1)
• Oregon (10-1)

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.

They are talking about it being in December or January, just 6–8 weeks before the regular signing day. This isn’t really that early, since it seems that nowadays everyone wants to give verbal commitments as soon as possible anyway (to end the recruiting process and stop the Internet rumors about them). And some disagree that the current proposal doesn’t make sense for a sport like football.

As a fan of college football and an outspoken critic of pretty much everything about how the game is run, I think that there should be an early signing period—in August. Get the kids signed before their senior year of HS so that they can just concentrate on being high school seniors. If a school believes a kid is the best as a junior then they should have no problem with him signing before he plays a down of his senior season. This also would hopefully stop the early offering some coaches do knowing that they can pull the scholarship later if the kid doesn’t play up to his “potential” in his last season.

Holmes becomes the latest addition of what is developing into an excellent offensive line class this year for USC. The Trojans have targeted the line and have done a wonderful job of assembling talent at this position. Holmes becomes the fifth line prospect to commit and the fourth rated in the ESPN 150. You don’t need to be an expert to see that USC is assembling a great line class, and its newest member recognizes that.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t be the best offensive line class, and I can’t imagine any five guys being better as a group,” said Holmes. “It will definitely be a fun four or five years.”

For what it’s worth, I tested my “line play will beat playmakers” Phil-osophy in NCAA Football for PlayStation when it came to recruiting, and it’s working out quite well.

Rivals was very, very good at picking the top teams – of the top 25 winningest teams of the last six years, all were either pegged in or very near their respective positions by the recruiting rankings or achieved them by winning against overwhelmingly lower-ranked opposition; of the top 25 teams according to the recruiting rankings, 18 are in the top 30 in winning percentage. This is to be expected when you spend most of your time distinguishing between a small number of high-profile, four and five-star guys but can’t possibly make the same level of distinction among a much larger number of two and three-star prospects with more variability among them than the star-based rankings are designed to show. If Rivals indicates a team’s talent is good, it’s probably right; if it indicates it’s just average, or below average, that team probably still has a shot – but only to an extent. You’d be wrong if you cast your lot with the gurus completely, and wronger if you ignored them.

HT: Fanblogs.

Ohio State leads with 8 of the top 100, and what Scott Wolf calls a lackluster USC recruiting class is second with 7 of the top 100. But those of you who know the Phil-osophy of Football (line play is 90% of the game), should take note that SC has locked in some of the top linemen, especially on the offensive side. Now, you might think that it wouldn’t hurt to get a few playmaker WRs into camp, but we have enough underachieving WRs on the roster already. If one of those guys steps up—ever—the offense will be good.

Oh, and in related news, these recruiting rankings are almost always utter BS.

Just as it is on the field, with coaches chasing Urban Meyer and his fresh national championship with Florida, the Gators coach is setting the standard for Web sites, too.

Oh my, is he ever. You look at Meyer’s brand-new official Web site and then you look at the others, and it’s like looking at an iPhone and then the phone your great-grandmother had, back on the farm.

Slick? It gives the word a whole new meaning.

Among those handful of coaches who now have official Web sites are Alabama’s Nick Saban, Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer, Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer, Arkansas’ Houston Nutt, Texas’ Mack Brown and, get this, even Steve Spurrier.

As a matter of fact, Meyer’s website happens to be all about recruiting:

A Gator helmet held aloft and the words “THIS IS GATOR COUNTRY” greets you when you go to CoachUrbanMeyer .com. Move your cursor over the helmet and it divides and the Gator logo appears accompanied by a menacing growl and the theme music to “Jaws.”

“Daah-dut, Daah-dut, Daah-dut . . .”

Everything about the site is designed to sell Florida football, mostly to recruits.

So this must be what happened: Moody got a little frustrated, decided he’d explore some other options. He stumbles upon Meyer’s website, becomes entranced by the Gator logo, with its menacing growl and cinematic soundtrack, and the rest is college football history.

Also, Pete Carroll’s absence from the list of coaches above clearly explains why USC has struggled of late in its recruiting efforts.

The Jim Harbaugh Quote Machine continues to crank out good copy. The latest?

“The most important goal is to earn the right to show we can beat ‘SC. We need to earn that.”

Well, that and earn the right to not lose to UC-Davis.

Big news from the “other” USC, as Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier ripped his own university. He even hinted that he may leave Columbia if he encounters any more problems with getting his players admitted.

“As long as I’m the coach here, we’re going to take guys that qualify,” Spurrier said. “If not, then I have to go somewhere else because I can’t tell a young man, ‘You’re coming to school here,’ he qualifies, and not do that. And we did that this year.”

He says he had to apologize to two recruits who signed with South Carolina last winter but were denied academic entry.

“In my opinion, I still believe we made a mistake… Hopefully, I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen, because I can’t operate like that. I can’t operate misleading young men.”

Well, Ball Coach, you clearly misled them into believing they were signing with an SEC title contender, so why stop now?

And forget USC-Notre Dame, we could have just witnessed the beginning of the new defining intersectional college football rivalry: those natural rivals, Wyoming and Syracuse. Just listen to Wyoming coach Joe Glenn discuss the Orange(men):

“I’ve got a new favorite team this season,” Glenn quipped. “Anybody who beats Syracuse.” Glenn cracked a few jokes at the expense of Syracuse, and he’s anything-but-pleased with the cancellation of the return game in a home-and-home series the Cowboys signed with the Orange. “They leave a hole in our 2009 schedule, so if you want to wish bad luck on somebody this year, wish bad luck on Syracuse,” Glenn said. “They signed a contract to come to Laramie and play, and they didn’t honor it so I’m putting all kinds of voodoo on them.”

If you’re starting a garage band and are looking for a name, you could do a whole lot worse than ‘Joe Glenn’s Voodoo.’

From the ‘He’ll have a busy time at Confession’ department: Notre Dame nose tackle/defensive end Derrell Hand was arrested on Thursday for allegedly propositioning a prostitute. But you can understand how this could happen, considering, as the South Bend Tribune writes, “he had not seen action during his first two seasons at ND.”

Former Buckeyes speedster—and lone BCS title game bright spot—Ted Ginn Jr. hasn’t played a down for the Miami Dolphins, but LeBron James has already signed his buddy to a marketing contract. Ginn said, “To do this, not so much for money but to maybe get on a Sprite commercial with LeBron or anything, that’d be fun.” You know what else would be fun? If you don’t turn out like LeBron’s other Buckeye buddy, Maurice Clarett.

The Sea of Red will be missing a little blue this fall. The Lincoln Police Department is looking at cutting civil services to meet its budget, and that could mean fewer police downtown on Nebraska football game days. It shouldn’t be a big problem, though, considering that Lawrence Phillips hasn’t been in town for several years.

His troubles apparently behind him, former prized QB recruit Ryan Perrilloux has been reinstated by LSU coach Les Miles. And Low-Key Lester sounds thrilled:

“It’s hard for me to represent welcoming him back. It’s tough for me to say.”

Wow, we can feel the love from here. Clearly Miles holds Perrilloux in about as high regard as he holds Nick Saban and USC’s conference schedule. So welcome home, Ryan.

Ohio State offensive tackle Kirk Barton is a character: he wasn’t afraid to say in 2004 that Troy Smith should start over Justin Zwick, or to crack open a bottle of champagne and a victory stogie in the locker room after the Buckeyes beat Michigan. And when he leaves Columbus he’ll be looking to channel that personality into the perfect outlet: sports radio.

“I’ve listened to Jim Rome since I was in seventh grade,” Barton said. “I love sports talk radio. Not to sound too corny, but you know how guys go to fantasy camps? They go to Notre Dame or go be with the Boston Red Sox and pay like five grand to get to be a Red Sox player? That’s kind of what I’m like. Kids were listening to Britney Spears and Puff Daddy growing up. I listened to Dan Patrick and Jim Rome. Then I get in front of you guys, and I have to remember I’m Jim Tressel, not Jim Rome. I have to channel him.”

That’s not to say that Coach Sweatervest isn’t, in his own special way, an entertaining and electrifying persona.

After allegedly wielding an AK-47 following a nightclub scuffle in downtown Gainesville, Florida offensive lineman Ronnie Wilson has been given probation. Probation, huh? Apparently you don’t do jail time in Alachua County unless you’re wielding a shoulder-mounted missile launcher or a hand grenade… or you’re not a football player for the defending national champs.

And speaking of discipline problems… Texas has experienced its own spate of offseason arrests and behavior issues. The comprehensive Longhorn blog Burnt Orange Nation does what so many team- and university-devoted blogs don’t: it actually admits that the school has a problem. The ‘Nation calls for Mack Brown and his staff to exercise tighter discipline and to nip the problem in the (increasingly large) bud. That’s a refreshing and accurate take, and something we could use more of in places like Gainesville and, frankly, central Los Angeles.

But hey, it could be worse: at least you’re not a high profile Catholic university that prides itself on its moral fiber but just saw your defensive end busted for allegedly soliciting a hooker.

We’ll end today’s roundup with another annual sign that college football season is just around the corner: ESPN’s Mark Schlabach just unveiled his “What’s hot (and not) for 2007″ column. At the top of the “Hot” list is USC, and here are Schlabach’s reasons why:

Heisman Trophy candidate John David Booty. Prep All-America running backs stacked up like club sandwiches. The best defense in the country. And of course, the Song Girls. Maybe Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh wasn’t exaggerating when he called the Trojans the best team in college football — ever.

And we’re not exaggering when we say that we can’t wait for the season to get here.

Twenty four days and counting…

Most of the major preseason polls have closed, and with 97% of precincts reporting, we can report that USC is getting a little bit of attention. They top both the College Football News poll and the USA Today coaches poll. That should be good news for Trojan fans, but America’s Newspaper puts it into perspective for us.

The last five preseason number one teams in the USA Today poll have made the BCS title game. But their combined record is 1-4, with USC winning in 2004.

In a related story, MSNBC’s Mike Celizic says Pete Carroll could the next Knute Rockne. Jeez, why does Carroll continue to fly under the radar? The sport’s best-kept secret, that guy.

Speaking of legendary coaches who should be mentioned in the same breath as Rockne, the still-fiery Joe Paterno says he has no plans to retire. And who can blame Joe Pa? He’s just discovered how much fun it can be to coach from the press box.

“You can see so much more, you can do things,” he told reporters, according to the Post-Gazette. “I tried not to interfere with the guys upstairs because they know what they’re doing. But, every once in awhile, I’d drop a little note to them and say, ‘Hope to get this,’ or ‘That corner’s playing awfully tight.’

“You’re really a cheerleader most of the time down on the sideline. … I enjoyed being upstairs, I really did. I sat down, had a nice time, had a cup of coffee. I felt like a newspaper guy. I was even able to watch television.”

If Joe Pa’s plan to have his players clean Beaver Stadium every Sunday didn’t have them shaking in their sweatervests in Columbus and angst-ridden in Ann Arbor, these latest comments no doubt strike fear in the hearts of the Big Eleven. The thought of Paterno sitting eight hundred feet from the field, having a nice time, drinking a cup of coffee, watching TV, means Penn State is nowhere near irrelevant.

The LSU Tigers have pulled off quite a coup, swiping an athletic beast from Indiana. I mean, this latest addition to the program is an absolute man-eater, a stone-cold killer. That’s right: a new Bengal tiger. The latest Mike the Tiger will arrive from an Indiana state facility called Great Cats. Les Miles would no doubt prefer a Southern tiger because everyone knows the Southern cats are much tougher, but he’s at least content with the fact that the new tiger isn’t coming from the wussy West Coast.

Texas DT Andre Jones is being sought by police for questioning in last week’s aggravated assault in Austin. Should have just settled things like a man: by throwing a water balloon.

In preparation for the Olympics, Beijing police are threatening to arrest fans who swear at a soccer match this weekend in the capitol.

“It is just way out of line to have 30,000 people shouting and swearing en masse,” police spokesman Liu Chunjiang was quoted as saying.

The spokesman is right: 30,000 people shouting and swearing is embarrassing. I mean, only 30,000? Those fans clearly have a lot to learn from the majesty that is 90,000 college football fans shouting and swearing en masse.

The Northern Colorado punter allegedly stabbed by his depth chart rival once considered sharing an apartment with his alleged attacker. That would be like Single White Female. Only with two dudes. And a football. And a shank. And a tiny program nobody has heard of.

With wide receiver Andrew Norman transferring from Arkansas, only one of the heralded ‘Springdale Four’ remains in Fayetteville. Despite this complete implosion of one of the most vaunted recruiting classes ever, we still say that the pressure-packed recruitment of 18-year-old kids upon whose shoulders universities’ profile and athletic revenues will ultimately reside, remains an exact science.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says players’ last names will return to Sooners jerseys. Since Miami is now removing player names from their jerseys, when the Sooners and Canes meet on September 8 why don’t they just switch jerseys?

Alabama’s Tyrone Prothro has taken a medical scholarship, which sadly means his playing days are most likely finished. That’s the bad news. The good news is, Prothro will most likely retire knowing he made of the most ridiculous catches ever. It doesn’t beat an SEC title or a BCS ring, but it’s something. Something cool.

We’d like to thank the always entertaining Every Day Should Be Saturday for calling our attention to Mike Leach’s outstanding performance at Big 12 Media Day.

“It’s very savage to play in Lubbock,” Leach said. “I would recommend that everybody try to avoid it. There have been scalpings and there have been some people that quite just haven’t returned.

“There are some people, unfortunately, based on the way the conference goes, that are going to have to come to our place. Sadly, I can’t guarantee their safety or that things will necessarily go the way that they like.”

Why do we get the impression that that would be true in Lubbock even if they didn’t have a football team there?

We’ll end on a serious note. You can forget about USC trying to go wire-to-wire, or Darren McFadden trying to get that Heisman, or the Gators trying to repeat. The story of the season is life trying to return to normal in Blacksburg, Virginia. After one of the most trying offseasons in the history of the sport, the Virginia Tech Hokies returned to practice yesterday. Hokies QB Sean Glennon said it best:

“I think it’s a relief,” Glennon said. “We’ve been asked so many questions. There’s been so much media attention. ‘When are you going to get back out there?’ Now it’s good to have all these questions behind us. Just to be back out here and to be with my teammates. It feels good to be out here throwing the football around. I missed it.”

So did we, Sean.

27 days until kickoff…