Mike Leach was the subject of many coaching rumors this year, but it appears he’ll be staying put for the next five years, and he’s got close to 13 million reasons to celebrate. He’ll have a job on his hands next year with the losses of Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, but I figure that offense will work against any defense not named Oklahoma.

It’ll be hard to stay in the national title talk next year; Texas returns McCoy and bunches, and Oklahoma will probably be everyone’s preseason No. 1 or No. 2. Couple that with the fact that Ok. State should be better, and the Big 12 will be a tough division to compete in.

Over the years, I’ve turned more and more into an NFL fan over a college fan. It’s just how I am. The bowl games, to be completely honest, don’t mean that much to me (outside of the ones that Georgia Tech and Tennessee are participants in; and in this year’s case, given UT sucked, and Tech got killed, my interest was very low from the get-go).

But tonight marks a bowl game I’m very interested in, because it marks the evening that we all get to see just how far Ohio State can fall in it’s annual ass beating of a bowl game.

Tonight’s opponent? The Texas Longhorns, led by Colt McCoy, who’s pissed he finished second in the Heisman race. (Sam Bradford? Really? We couldn’t pick a guy with some straighter teeth?)

The game begins in about forty minutes, so it should be over in about fifty. Tonight will show that Ohio State isn’t just inferior to SEC teams in bowl games, but any team not represented by the Big Ten (and that’s a hard stake to claim, given Penn State’s recent success).

Enjoy the game. My prediction: UT 45, OSU 24. If Terrelle Pryor throws fewer than five interceptions, I’ll be really, really astonished.

It isn’t often these days good players in college hang around all four years, but that appears to be the case for Colt McCoy, the Texas Heisman hopeful that has announced he’ll be coming back for his senior year.

“I’m not going anywhere,” McCoy told the newspaper.

“I’m coming back because we have a solid coaching staff,” McCoy said. “And I’m coming back because I feel like I can develop the young receivers we have.”

If he does indeed return, it’ll be a showdown between him and Tim Tebow for the Heisman (my guess Tim, not being an NFL quarterback, will probably come back for his final season). I guess when you’ve got a girlfriend that looks like this, the NFL can wait a minute.

There’s always the playoff-playoff-playoff talk in college football, and I couldn’t agree more with this idea. I thought Auburn to snubbed years ago when Oklahoma played USC instead, and I can’t say at the end of each year that the team that won it wouldn’t have lost to any other team in the nation (take the NFL, for example, where last year’s Wild Card Giants went on to one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets of all time; no one called them at the beginning, and no one even gave them a shot once they got there).

Anway, I wanted to go to the BCS standings and see what a college playoff would look like at this point. If there was a playoff, the most popular idea I’ve heard is taking the top eight teams. If that was the case, this is the first round matchups we’d be watching.

#8 Utah vs #1 Alabama: This is the one game I don’t salivate over, because we know the outcome of this one. Oklahoma State is a close No. 9, though, and by the end of their regular season they’d surely jump.

#7 USC vs #2 Texas Tech: Are you telling me you wouldn’t want to see this offensive battle? It’d be pretty humorous to see Vegas set the over/under at 90.

#6 Oklahoma vs #3 Penn State: This would be your first round “upset,” if you could call it that. Penn State has played well, but they just don’t have the firepower to stick with Oklahoma.

#5 Florida vs #4 Texas: Are you kidding me? And this is only the first round…

The best thing about this system? No Ohio State, which means the games should at least be competitive.

Opening weekend of college football is just about done, but the game I’ve really been looking forward to — when my Vols head to California to face UCLA — will close the weekend tonight (and Rutgers and Fresno St. are about to go at it right now).

With that said, here’s a few thoughts on what’s transpired thus far.

Jackonsville State 14, Georgia Tech 41: The Jackets were able to run for 385 yards in its first game running the triple option. You don’t watch a D-I school beat Jackonsville State and say a system will work, but if Thursday night was an indication, then the system will work.

UGA 45, Georgia Southern 21: This isn’t the kind of game you want to see from the No. 1 team in the nation. That offensive line of Georgia has got to be a question mark.

Youngstown State 0, Ohio State 43: The biggest thing about this game wasn’t the score but the health of Chris Wells. If he’s out for a duration of time, and from what I saw from USC, you’ve gotta give the Trojans the nod during their showdown in two weeks.

USC 52, Virginia 7: Ouch. The ACC really showed that they’re an inferior conference this weekend.

Chattanooga 2, Oklahoma 57: Sadly, the score wasn’t even this close. It was 50-0 at halftime, and then the reserves came in.

Hawaii 10, Florida 56: They didn’t look as sharp as I expeted, but keep in mind that Percy Harvin is still out, but expected to play next week against Miami.

Illinois 42, Missouri 52: Chase Daniel had 323 yards and 3 touchdowns. As good a start as that was, he was outplayed by Juice Williams, who had over 400 yards throwing and 5 TD’s.

Appalachian State 13, LSU 41: There wasn’t going to be another miracle this year. Not against that defensive size and speed.

Villanova 21, West Virginia 48: They’re one of the teams I’ve said will play in the BCS Title game. It wasn’t the best showing, but a win’s a win.

Alabama 34, Clemson 10: Again: The ACC just didn’t show up. The Clemson game was never close, and Tommy Bowden proves again why you can’t rely on Tommy Bowden. You can’t say Alabama has more talent, but they sure did look like it Saturday night.

Louisiana Monroe 0, Auburn 34: I watched this game, and though the score shows a blowout, this game was a lot closer. Auburn’s offense never did click, and that’s hopefully just some rust in the new spread system they’re implementing.

Northern Arizona 13, Arizona State 30: Does anyone really think Arizona State will beat UGA? I hope they do, but I’m not really buying into it.

Virginia Tech 22, East Carolina 27: Again: Wake up, ACC.

Washington 10, Oregon 44: Say goodbye to Ty Willingham. He’s on thin ice as is, and losing by 34 points in the opener isn’t the way to start the season.

Last Week: 1-3
On the season: 3-5
How I’ll do this week: Hopefully better

Last week was tough. This week will be better. Here’s my picks.

-Virginia @ North Carolina (-3): Virginia got waxed by Wyoming and then played a close game against Duke. I know nothing about either of these teams. But I know plenty about Duke. UNC covers, wins by 10.

-Notre Dame @ Michigan (-7): One team can’t score, the other team can’t stop anyone from scoring. This is a game people used to have marked on their calendar, now it’s a game to see which coach is closer to being fired. That coach is Lloyd Carr. But it’ll be at the end of the season. As long as Michigan has Mike Hart and Notre Dame has, uh, who they’ve got, Michigan covers.

-Tennessee @ Florida (-8): I hate picking against the Vols — I went to school there a couple years, ya know? — but they couldn’t stop Cal on the road, which leads me to believe they won’t stop Florida, either. I’d love to be wrong about this one. But I think I’m right. Gators cover, do the Tebow-Chomp.

-Texas (-19) @ Central Florida: It was a close game, but the scoreboard in the TCU/Texas game wouldn’t indicate so. Even when they’re sloppy, they still cover. Central Florida? Gimme a break. Horns cover, win a blowout.

-Boston College (+6.5) @ Georgia Tech: My Yellow Jackets are looking as good as they’ve ever looked, but unfortunately so is Boston College. This is the first year in a long time I can remember being 2-0 and thinking we’ve got a chance — I mean, I’m just saying a chance — of playing for a National Title. Problem is, Matt Ryan’s pretty good, and averaging 400 yards, regardless of who you’ve played, is pretty solid in a two-game span. My National Title dream won’t come to an end this week; that said, BC covers, loses by a field goal.