The Return of College Football and Off-Season Conference Un-Champions

First of all, let me just bask in the light at the end of a dismal tunnel. DCI notwithstanding, the summer is largely devoid of sports that keep my interest. They say it's always darkest before the dawn, and with college football/marching band less than 48 hours away, that dawn is on the horizon.

Too much? Didn't mean to wax that poetic, but honestly, I'm quite glad to seethe sport and activity that spawned the very name of this blog return. That said, this offseason was particularly active in terms of media surrounding the sport exposing some of the seedier underbelly and chipping away at the veneer I shall henceforth call "shamateurism", courtesy of Jason Whitlock, who brought the term to my attention. I still love college football, but I feel watching this year will require the same nose-holding typically reserved for wearing Nikes or shopping at Wal-Mart.

I'm not without a bit a oomph at the end of the off-season, however and so, from the six BCS auto-qualifying conferences, I bring you the Off-Season Conference Un-Champions.

ACC: This one's a no-brainer; the Shalal--er--shenanigans recently exposed down at Miami make the U a shoo-in for this conference title. UNC was not with out its share of media this summer with the Michael McAdoo situation and the firing of Butch Davis, but sadly (fortunately?) with the Nevin Shapiro happenings running wild in Coral Gables, the Heels couldn't even get out of the Coastal Division.

Big East: There is a bit of comfort in the fact that many aren't paying attention to the football side of the conference. West Virginia will wave the league's banner for their coach-in-waiting scuffle that handed Holgorsen the reins a year early, but by and large, things are relatively quiet in my home conference.

Big Ten: Clearly The Ohio State. But here's the interesting thing: Because I'm told these things are transferrable, they took the same award in the NFL as well. Oh wait...

Big XII: Two programs dominated the headlines as foils in a situation that may tear the league asunder. While Texas dipped its toes in the water of habitual line-stepping with the Longhorn Network, Texas A&M gets the nod. After all, having your own network isn't necessarily un-champion behavior. Hollering about how you're out and--at least at the time of this post--having nothing to show for it is.

Pac-12: I seem to recall that USC's still ineligible for the post-season, but like on the field in 2010 , they had a relatively quiet off-season anyway. The reigning conference football champions and national runners-up, however, are winning (losing?) in this arena as well. Oregon's run-ins with a "street agent" named Will(ie) Lyles put them above the rest.

SEC: LSU jumped out to a late lead to take this one. Anytime the phrase "kicked a Marine in the head" is thrown around your program, you can forget the word "allegedly" before it. You're already losing in the court of public opinion.

That's it for now; I'm hoping to crank one more out before the season starts ::checks watch:: tomorrow. Happy New Season!