On Wednesday.  Oops.

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--- ESPN's Bruce Feldman lists makes a list of the top celebrity fans and their schools.

Other items include the news that Virginia is jacking up ticket prices and commentary on the "bump" recruiting rule as it relates to Nick Saban's hot water moment this week.

Also: Friday Mailbag.  Topics include the Nick Saban recruiting scandal, Penn State vs. Michigan, elite receivers for 2007, Rocky Seto, Ryan Perilloux and UCLA football 2005 vs. 2007.  Oh, and Urban Meyer's itching for a return to text messaging.

--- ESPN's Ivan Maisel pens the first entry in a four-part series about the mess at Arkansas dubbed: "Broyle-ing Point."  Maisel is in the bag for Houston Nutt, and provides a heartfelt if wacky (Karl Rove conspiracy!) defense of the man.

--- ESPN's Pat Forde says 2007 and the anxiety over the Barry Bonds home run record chase is a great time to discuss race/race relations.

Fair enough, but I have a bone to pick with something almost unrelated in his article:

My question is whether we, collectively, were more naïve when McGwire and Sammy Sosa were jacking home runs, or whether we wanted to believe in what those guys were doing so badly that we ignored the evidence slapping us in the face. Because in retrospect we look like a bunch of ignorant morons.

I suspect that Bonds had the bad timing to blow up about when we were starting to figure out the entire steroid scam, with the help of some tough investigative journalism. Tough break there for Barry.

"Tough investigative journalism".  It's interesting how celebrated the Bonds investigation is within the circles of sports journalists.  Unfortunately I think they came too strongly to the defense of the San Francisco newspaper writers who published leaked grand jury documents.

Grand jury documents and testimony are sealed and confidential for a good reason.  The courts and society are made worse for each and every time they are made public.  Whatever good was done by those journalists I found their handling of secret grand jury documents indefensible.  They put themselves above the courts and had no right or sanction to do so, especially for such a trivial matter.  To the extent that they are defended by media colleagues for that aspect of their investigation, I cringe.

--- Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel devotes nearly an entire mailbag to nothing but the Reggie Bush scandal.

Sadly, it wasn't very enlightening (sorry, Stewart).  Then again, it's difficult to be informative when your best questions look like this:

If USC is stripped of its 2004 national championship due to the poor judgment of Reggie Bush's parents, who would the title go to: Oklahoma or Auburn?
--Brian Jones, Perry, Ga.

It that were to happen the title would be vacated, end of story.  I've been thoroughly and consistently amazed at the ignorance of fans and media when it comes to the Reggie Bush scandal.  That speaks to both the good and bad of college football.  Our fans care so very deeply about their own teams but very often possess an equal amount of hatred and ignorance towards all other schools and their situations.

To be clear, it seems all but certain Bush and his family committed the alleged violations.  Few dispute that.  However the way the situation's been played in public, the ignorance/impatience of the public towards the NCAA's weak enforcement powers, the inability to distinguish between Bush's actions and those of USC and what the NCAA's rules are designed to accomplish  ... it simply makes all of us look bad.

--- CBS SportsLine's Dennis Dodd opines about the Jimmy Clausen/Demetrius Jones battle for the starting quarterback gig at Notre Dame.

It could be a tough year for the Irish, but Dodd fails to realize what a gift it was when tailback Darius Walker (stupidly) declared for the NFL draft.  The guys behind him are simply more talented and needed nothing more than reps to acclimate to the game.  With Walker in town, it's arrested development.  But he left, and the Irish should have a solid run game either this year or the next so it's no longer a one man quarterback show with the offense.

--- Yahoo! Sports' Terry Bowden updates his blog with fond memories of Mike V, LSU's live tiger mascot who died not long ago.

Back in 1993, in my first game in Baton Rouge, La., as the head coach at Auburn, he scared the hell out of me with about the loudest roar I've ever heard seconds before we were to run out of the tunnel for the game. There is an old joke about wearing red coaching pants on the sidelines during a tough game because of how bloody it was going to be and not wanting to alarm the players. Well, let's just say, I could have used some brown pants on the sideline that day. …

--- The Sporting News' Matt Hayes says things won't be any easier for Mitch Mustain at USC.

An article that has nothing to do with Mustain but everything to do with his mom.  Hmm...  In all seriousness, USC for the most part runs a professional operation and won't bait-and-switch the way Arkansas did.

Also: new offense is the best prescription for Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama.

Willie Tuitama was watching cut-ups of the new offense in the film room last December when his new coordinator laid it on the line. "I told him if he's getting hit in this offense," Sonny Dykes says, "it's his fault."

In other words, Tuitama's days as the Pac-10's punching bag are over.

The Wildcats have hired former Texas Tech offensive coordinator Dykes to run their offense.  Fun fact about the Tech offense:

Here's another interesting little fact about the Tech offense: In the past seven years, no quarterback has missed a start because of injury.

Also: Inside Dish.  The MAC's next great quarterback, secondary woes at Georgia, Oklahoma's solid set of receivers and the hope of an improved offense at Wyoming.

Also: 'National' playoff scheme falls short three ways.

2. Why would any conference want to lessen its bargaining power with network and cable television? Argue all you want, but a national playoff throws a big, wet blanket on the regular season. It's a different animal; it 's a different concept to sell.

The SEC's record-breaking deal with CBS of a few years back would never have happened had there been a playoff. The regular season is not as attractive, and CBS likely would save the big dough to bid for the national playoff. In case you're wondering, that national playoff money would be split among all 119 Division I teams.

Bigwigs from the Big Ten -- which begins its Big Ten Channel this season -- will be laughed at when it starts demanding top dollar from network television and advertisers to watch regular-season games that don't mean squat. Last season, Illinois-Ohio State meant something because one never knows what's going to happen.

With a national playoff, no television network or advertiser in its right mind cares about Illinois-Ohio State. And those entities sure as flip don't care about -- and won't pay for -- Illinois-Ohio State volleyball. Because of the current system, the Big Ten can tell ESPN and/or Proctor & Gamble that it must televise/advertise during the volleyball game if it wants the football game.

Get a national playoff, and bargaining power is done.

--- The Sporting News' Tom Dienhart breaks down the Big East, SEC and ACC schedules.

--- The Sporting News/Rivals.com's Mike Farrell examines whether a legendary high school coach should have banned Alabama coach Nick Saban from campus.

--- The Dallas/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram's Wendell Barnhouse says the Texas Tech/Texas A&M game should be played in North Texas, at the new Cowboys stadium.

Fans might not be happy, but the price is right.

Also: Big 12 Conference should consider permanent sites for championships.

What makes the most sense for the Big 12 is to have the football championship game in Texas and the basketball tournaments in Kansas City.

Geographic location is important. Putting the football title game in Arlington, in a domed state-of-the-art facility, would be the best for fans. With the new Sprint Center coming on line in Kansas City, that location is the best for basketball.

Here’s my worthless recommendation: After 2010, anchor the football title game in Arlington at Jerry World. After 2011, put three out of every four men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in KC, with the other hoops site being Oklahoma City.

Additionally, there's a note in the same column suggesting that Big 12 coaches are in favor of the "five years of eligibility" proposal.

Big 12 athletic directors are supportive of the football coaches’ push for a fifth year of eligibility for their sport.

Nebraska athletic director Steve Pedersen is chair of the football issues committee, which is considering the merits of playing five years. Under the five-year rule, redshirting would end and there would be no injury hardship rulings.

The idea of five years of eligibility in football has been around for about 15 years. However, because it’s a “football only” rule, the idea has never gained momentum. And faculty representatives have been against the concept because they think it promotes the idea of taking five years to finish degree requirements.

--- The Austin-American Statesman's Kirk Bohls is in favor of a fifth year of eligibility for football players.

Such legislation would be welcome because it would enhance graduation rates, end the perplexing notion of redshirting players, end the silly thought of not putting third-teamers in a game during mopup situations for fear it would cost an entire season of eligibility and therefore would get more players on the field to help depth, raise morale and give reserves a chance to show what they can do.

--- The Mobile Register's Paul Finebaum says Tommy Tuberville is alive and well, finally emerging from Nick Saban's shadow after several months as the forgotten man in Alabama football.

And already he has his talking points memorized and ready go to:

"Next year is a murders' row schedule for a young team," Tuberville said. "We have four very tough road games in the conference (Florida, Arkansas, LSU and Georgia). The four toughest teams in our conference we are going to have to go on the road and play."

Also: Mike Slive puts polish on SEC's image.

Good read.

Also: Steve Spurrier mum on Alabama job.

Clearly, there was intense back-channel conversation going on, but the sense here is it never got very serious, in part because Spurrier didn't want it to.

His family, most of whom have relocated to Columbia, S.C., was steadfastly against the move. And Spurrier, while tempted with the lure of coaching at one of the most storied programs in history, was more inspired by making history at South Carolina.

Money was never a factor.

However, according to one close Spurrier confidante, Spurrier could have had the job if he wanted.

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