Well, it's been kind of a crazy week in the world, hasn't it?  TGIF.

Time for a roundup to wind down this week, and we've got a lot to cover.

---The latest from the pundits: ($)Bruce Feldman on the toughest roads to the title, Stewart Mandel opines in his mailbag about his readers' lack of reading comprehension, there's so much going on lately Tom Dienhart has to play catch-up, Ivan Maisel goes contrarian and questions the paradigm "defense wins championships", Pat Forde goes into terribly annoying parental lecture mode, Dennis Dodd's top 25 has been released and Oklahoma has been dropped to No. 15, Cory McCartney singles out ten freshmen ready to play and finally Paul Finebaum reflects on the legacy of "legendary" (his words, not mine) former Auburn coach Pat Dye.

---Remember that little dustup a few weeks ago about Auburn's academics?  Well, the university has cleared athletic department officials of any wrongdoing.

No surprise there, and no cynicism either.  It was obvious based on the original story that the transgressions had nothing to do with anything the athletic department had facilitated or encouraged.  For whatever reason the partisan nature of college football fans demands they paint with the broadest brush possible and see the misdeeds of an individual or a few people and extrapolate it as a function of an entire institution rotten to the core.

---Heh.  Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom "suited up" for Practice two days ago, wearing a red cross shirt to signify injury.  He had missed a previous practice for personal reasons and as punishment arrived in pads, football pants and a helmet.  Must-see picture($) here.

---MGo's latest: a preview of Northwestern, "The Show Goes On"

---USC is clearly thumbing its nose at outsiders who mock its Hollywood image and turbulent offseason, issuing a press release about a team meeting interrupted by coach Pete Carroll and actor Will Ferrell, dressed as characters from his new movie Talladega Nights.  Here's the release and more from fullback Brandon Hancock' blog and reporter Scott Wolf's blog.  The team later spent the evening watching Ferrell's movie at a campus theatre.

---Hancock also has an interesting entry on his site about what he calls "The Third Eye".

---And the most important USC item of the day: star receiver Dwayne Jarrett, who came under scrutiny for living in an expensive apartment with teammate Matt Leinart and not paying equal rent, has been cleared by the NCAA.  However, he must pay $5,352 to a charity as punishment.

The NCAA's rule on this issue remains absurb, as athletes should be able to enter living arrangements as they so please, so long as it's a sensible plan and not accomodated for by overeager boosters or auto dealers etc.  However, given that the rule is on the books, this is a fair and sensible ruling.  What's interesting is the demand for Jarrett to submit a sum of money to a charity.  That comes awfully close to a fine if you ask me, and last I checked the professional leagues fined their players, not the NCAA.  This further weakens the amateurism line the NCAA's so recklessly tried to defend over the years.

---Navy blogger Pitch Right has head coach Paul Johnson channeling Allen Iverson.  That's amazing.  He also has a rundown of state-by-state football records during the 2005 season and adds a political twist.  That should nicely compliment a similar effort by CFR last year.  And from the archives: all you need to know and more about the great Phil Steele.

---Speaking of Phil Steele, EDSBS does a podcast interview with Mr. VHT.

---It looks like the Daily News has finally gotten around to adding a UCLA blog for Bruin beat writer Brian Dohn.  It only took them around six months from the day they created one for USC... do you think it would have taken this long if the UCLA fan base and readership cared about their football team?

---More on UCLA: their schedule poster is out and to quote The Wiz, it's uninspiring.  You have to love how asleep at the wheel UCLA's marketing department is to include a picture with the uniform back of linebacker John Hale front and center.  Hale was last seen pleading no contest to assault charges stemming from an incident at his parents' house this offseason.

---Finally, it's back!  Be sure and keep tabs on ViewFromTheRockyTop's neat "Animated Race to the National Championship"