The reason I can be so certain, even though I have no affiliation (real or imaginary) with the Gator Bowl and/or Notre Dame? It's two-fold.

#1 - The Gator Bowl had it's 39th best (read: 24th worst) attendance last year for the Virginia - Texas Tech game. The announced crowd was more than 17,000 short of capacity... and that was the ANNOUNCED attendance. The bowl, with just two games remaining on existing contracts, needs to guarantee some attendance & viewership and -- in college football -- that means Notre Dame.

On a side note, this is also why the Gator Bowl may make any deal necessary to ensure Florida State or Miami ends up in Jacksonville, as well. Remember, the bowl committee still harbors some issues with the ACC for moving the championship game. There's an undercurrent there and the ACC needs to make nice with the Gator Bowl committee. A deal will get done for the Noles or Canes. I'm almost certain of it.

#2 - The Gator Bowl's crazy love-triangle conference affiliations (Big East, Big 12, & Notre Dame) provide for the Gator Bowl to take a Big 12 team and a Big East/Notre Dame in the two remaining years of its contract. Since the Big 2 of the Big 12 aren't available this season, the Gator Bowl would take a bowl-eligible Notre Dame over any team from the Big East, as per reason #1 above. There's no doubt that the Gator Bowl would love to get a Texas or Oklahoma in the game, but they can roll the dice this year and hope to get lucky in 2009.

So... while nothing is official until... it's official, I'm here to tell you it's official, for all intents and purposes.

For the complete 2008-2009 college football bowl schedule, see our bowl games page.

Here's a roadmap to how each of the ACC contenders can reach the championship game:

Atlantic Division

Maryland - Win out. Maryland holds or would hold all tie-breakers by winning out
Wake Forest - Win out and have 1 Maryland loss
FSU - Win out and have 1 Wake Forest loss
Boston College - Win out (BC would then hold tie-breaker in three way or two-way tie)

Coastal Division

Virginia Tech - Win out or lose to Miami & one Miami loss
Miami - Win out or beat VaTech to hold tie-breaker
UNC - Win out and one VaTech loss
Virginia - Win out, plus one UNC loss and two Miami losses

I'm pretty sure my math works out, but I may have forgotten to carry the seven somewhere. One thing is for sure - the ACC race will not be decided this weekend.

So... without further ado... my updated bowl game projections for games played through November 8, 2008.

Click here for the complete 2008-2009 College Football Bowl Game Schedule

New Mexico Bowl - San Jose State vs Colorado State

St. Petersburg Bowl - South Florida vs Houston

Pioneer Las Vegas - TCU vs Oregon

Eagle Bank Bowl - Virginia vs Navy

R+L Carriers New Orleans - Memphis vs Troy

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia - BYU vs Nevada

Sheraton Hawaii - Hawaii vs Stanford

Motor City - Central Michigan vs Illinois

Meineke Car Care - Cincinnati vs Maryland

Champs Sports - Virginia Tech vs Wisconsin

Emerald - Arizona vs Miami

Independence - Akron vs Florida International

PapaJohns.com - West Virginia vs. Florida Atlantic

Valero Alamo - Minnesota vs. Oklahoma State

Roady's Humanitarian - Boise State vs Boston College

Texas - Rutgers vs. Louisiana Tech

Pacific Life Holiday - Cal vs. Missouri

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces - Air Force vs Rice

Brut Sun - Oregon State vs. Nebraska

Gaylord Hotels Music City - Georgia Tech vs. Kentucky

Insight - Kansas vs. Northwestern

Chick-fil-A - Ole Miss vs North Carolina

Outback - Iowa vs South Carolina

Capital One - Georgia vs. Michigan State

Konica Minolta Gator - Wake Forest vs Notre Dame

AT&T Cotton - Oklahoma vs LSU

AutoZone Liberty - Tulsa vs. Vanderbilt

International - Connecticut vs. Western Michigan

GMAC - East Carolina vs. Ball State

Rose Bowl - Penn State vs. USC

FedEx Orange - Florida State vs. Utah

Allstate Sugar - Alabama vs. Pittsburgh

Tostitos Fiesta - Texas vs. Ohio State

BCS National Championship Game - Texas Tech vs. Florida

Bowl Eligible Teams through 11-8-2008

ACC - 8 teams eligible
FSU, Wake Forest, Maryland, Boston College, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Miami, Georgia Tech

Big 12 - 7 teams eligible
Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Big East - 5 teams eligible
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Connecticut, West Virginia, South Florida

Big 10 -6 teams eligible
Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa

Conference USA - 3 teams eligible
East Carolina, Tulsa, Rice

Independents - 1 team eligible
Navy

MAC - 3 teams eligible
Ball State, Central Michigan, Western Michigan

MWC - 4 teams eligible
BYU, Utah, TCU, Air Force

Pac10 - 5 teams eligible
USC, Arizona, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State

SEC - 6 teams eligible
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, LSU

Sun Belt - 1 team eligible
Troy

WAC - 2 teams eligible
Boise State, San Jose State

For a complete list of bowl game matchups by conference, dates, times, and television coverage, check our 2008 bowl game schedule.

The Graduation Success Rate measures how many players earned a four-year degree within a six-year window, accounting for both transfers into the footabll program as well as transfers out of the football program.

So how do the BCS schools stack up against one another? I'm glad you asked.

2008 NCAA Graduation Success Rate for BCS Football Programs

1. Notre Dame 94%
2. Stanford 93
T3. BC 92
T3. Duke 92
T3. Northwestern 92
6. Vanderbilt 91
7. Wake Forest 83
8. Texas Tech 79
T9. Baylor 78
T9. Nebraska 78
T9. UNC 78
T9. Penn State 78
T13. UConn 77
T13. Indiana 77
T15. Colorado 75
T15. Iowa 75
T15. Syracuse 75
T15. Virginia Tech 75
19. Cincinnati 73
T20. Illinois 70
T20. Michigan 70
T20. Miami 70
T20. Rutgers 70
24. Florida State 69
T25. Clemson 68
T25. Florida 68
T25. Maryland 68
T25. Wash State 68
.........................................
T29. Kansas State 67
T29. Pitt 67
31. Virginia 66
T32. South Carolina 65
T32. Washington 65
T34. Oregon State 64
T34. Ole Miss 63
T34. Miss State 63
T34. Purdue 63
T34. West Virginia 63
T34. Wisconsin 63
T40. Okla State 62
T40. UCLA 62
42. Arizona State 60
T43. N.C. State 59
T43. Missouri 59
45. Louisville 58
46. Auburn 57
T47. Kentucky 56
T47. Texas A&M 56
T47. South Florida 56
T50. Alabama 55
T50. Iowa State 55
T52. LSU 54
T52. Tennessee 54
T52. USC 54
T55. Cal 53
T55. Oregon 53
T55. Kansas 53
58. Ohio State 52
T58. Arkansas 52
T60. Minnesota 51
T60. Michigan State 51
62. Texas 50
T63. Georgia 48
T63. Georgia Tech 48
65. Oklahoma 46
66. Arizona 41

I wasn't surprised to see some of the finest academic institutions grabbing the top spots, but I was SHOCKED to see Texas Tech at #8. Kudos to the Red Raiders!

The average GSR scores of the six BCS conferences:

1. ACC........72.3
2. Big East...67.4
3. Big Ten....66
4. Big 12.....63.2
5. Pac-10.....61.3
6. SEC.........60.5

For all the blustering about the Pac10's high academic standards, I would have expected one of those standards to be.... graduation.

The following are updated through October 27, 2008:

1 BIG 12 (78.18)
2 BIG TEN (77.24)
3 ATLANTIC COAST (76.97)
4 SOUTHEASTERN (76.54)
5 PAC-10 (74.33)
6 BIG EAST (73.44)
7 MOUNTAIN WEST (70.27)
8 I-A INDEPENDENTS (67.33)
9 WESTERN ATHLETIC (65.57)
10 MID-AMERICAN (65.18)
11 CONFERENCE USA (63.31)
12 SUN BELT (61.11)

A find a couple facets of the current rankings rather fascinating:

- The SEC is the fourth best conference, top-to-bottom? Seriously? The SEC is 20-7 out-of-conference against DI-A teams this year. Granted, three of those seven losses are to the ACC, but... the ACC returned the favor in losing three to the SEC. Sagarin has three SEC teams in his top ten, but the ACC gets the slight nod when you contrast the middle and bottom of each conference, which makes sense when you consider that there are... like... forty-seven teams tied for first in the ACC.

- Is another non-BCS blowout in the offing? Cinderella teams from the WAC (Boise State), Mountain West (Utah, TCU), MAC (Ball State), and C-USA (Tulsa) are all looking to qualify into a BCS bowl this year. Sagarin's ratings would seem to indicate that their resumes might be lacking if and when they get to the big stage.

- The BCS conferences are head-and-shoulders above the non-BCS conferences. The separation between the Big East and Mountain West is statically significant, and I don't think we've seen any rankings that dispute that designation in the last four years.

The results were determined by evaluating each team's regular-season, nonconference schedule against BCS opponents from the time the BCS was formed (1998) through 2007. Since teams don't get to chose their bowl opponents, those games are excluded.

1. Florida State 70.3%

No. of nonconf. gms.	Rec. vs. BCS	Rec. vs. I-A non-BCS	Rec. vs. I-AA	Pct. of gms. vs. BCS
37	16-10 (.615)	9-1 (.900)	1-0 (1.000)	.703

The Seminoles have begun playing softer nonconference schedules in recent seasons, including -- gasp! -- Division I-AA Citadel in 2005. Nevertheless, over the past decade, no other program has been willing to play the big boys more often out of conference. Of course, Florida State's annual matchup against Miami became conference fare when the Hurricanes joined the ACC in 2004. Notably, FSU is 5-5 in its past 10 meetings with rival Florida, but 0-4 since 2004. We wonder whether Bobby Bowden's crew, coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons, will continue to scale back schedule difficulty in the coming years. The Seminoles will play more I-AA teams (two) in 2008 than they did in the previous 12 years combined (one).

2. USC 64.9%
3. Georgia Tech 57.1%

< Click here for teams 4-8 >

9. Clemson , Duke , Penn State , Stanford , Syracuse , Virginia 50%

No surprise at the top, really. FSU lived the "any one, anywhere, any time" mantra for the better part of the last two decades.

What is surprising to me is just how dominant the ACC is in the list. Of the top 14 teams, 7 are from the ACC. The Big10 and Pac10 both check in with three teams each. The Big East checks in with one team. How many from the SEC? Try zero. How many from the Big 12? Nada. What's up with that? Look I'm not saying the ACC is better - it clearly isn't this year and hasn't been for several seasons.

But... when it comes to strapping it on against anybody, the ACC leads the pack.

The Indy Star contacted FBS schools in an attempt to determine what percentage of football players (and scholarship atheletes, in general) were admitted despite falling below a university's minimum academic standards.

The results? Shocking.

At Cal, 95% of the football players admitted during the 2004-2005 year were special admissions. Georgia ('99-'00) and Texas A&M ('04-'05) both had 94% special admissions. On the opposite end of the spectrum, sixteen of the fifty-five responding schools -- including several of the nation's elite football schools -- did not have any special admits at all (Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Purdue, Texas Tech, Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas, Colorado, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Ohio State).

Here's a rundown of the schools with special admits that did comply with the request:

Alabama - 21%
Arizona - 33%
Auburn - 12%
Cal - 95%
Floirda - 18%
Florida State - 65%
Georgia - 94%
Georgia Tech - 9%
Indiana - 42%
Iowa - 41%
Iowa State - 21%
Kentucky - 64%
LSU - 82%
Louisville - 38%
Missouri - 61%
NC State - 25%
Oklahoma - 81%
Texas A&M - 94%
Washington - 48%
Washington State - 60%
West Virginia - 23%

Schools with zero special admissions reported in the football department:
Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Purdue, Texas Tech, Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas, Colorado, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Ohio State

I'm impressed that some of the higher ranked academic schools aren't taking any special admits. That's impressive. Then again, there's a time and place for special admits. All, college is about lifting people up right? I don't know where you draw the line, but 95% special admits is insane.

1. USC
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Georgia
5. LSU

50. Central Florida

Since the official components of the BCS poll are not available, BCS Guru has substitited the AP Poll rankings for the Harris Poll results, and used a median of 23 football computer polls to substitute for those computer polls which have not been published. All in all, it's an outcome that would likely be remarkable similar to the actual poll, were it available.

For those watching for Cinderella, look no further than #15 BYU. The Cougars get more love from the computers than the human polls, which could indicate some room for BYU to move up closer to the BCS top ten if they can impress more voters in advance of the first official results. Utah (#20) and Fresno State (#24) finish out the top twenty-five for the non-BCS teams.

Check out the full results and the backstory over at BCS Guru!

Surprise #1? Ten of the top 14 travel distances belong to BCS teams.
Surprise #2? Nineteen of the bottom 22 are BCS teams.

Note: These are DRIVING DISTANCES, so Hawaii is not included.
Note: Because there is no bridge to Hawaii. Seriously.

Which college football teams travel the most miles for games in 2008?

1. Fresno State 18,190 miles
2. UTEP 15,016
3. Florida International 14,692
4. Florida Atlantic 14,534
5. Louisiana Tech 13,648
6. Notre Dame 13,348
7. Oregon State 13,278
8. San Diego State 13,134
9. Stanford 12,984
10. Idaho 12,798

Again, no big surprise that the most geographically diverse conferences are leading the top spots. After all, the longest roundtrip for a WAC conference game is 4,348 miles. (Idaho at Louisiana Tech)

The one standout is Notre Dame. The Irish go from sea to shining sea with games at Washington, at Boston College, and at USC.

I know what you're thinking and the answer is YES - college football players can accrue frequent flier miles for their travel. (NCAA Bylaws § 16.12.1.11(b))

Which college football teams travel the fewest miles for games in 2008?

110. Virginia 3,060 miles
111. Nebraska 3,050
112. Mississippi State 3,036
113. Indiana 3,018
114. Duke 2,922
115. Miami (Ohio) 2,874
116. Central Michigan 2,599
117. Ball State 2,464
118. Purdue 2,280
119. N.C. State 1,734

Again, it's not that shocking that the least geographically diverse conferences primarily make up the bottom of the list. The Pack play two games (@ UNC and @ Duke) where the total roundtrip is less than 100 miles... combined! I don't know that it's right to "criticize" the Wolfpack for After all, NC State was ranked as the #60 most difficult pre-season schedule. The fact that they never cross more than one state line when traveling... bonus.

Which BCS teams lead their conference in miles traveled for games in 2008?

Pac10 - Oregon State (7th) 13,278
ACC - Miami (21st) 9,952
Big XII - Colorado (22nd) 9,166
Big East - South Florida (42nd) 7,462
Big 10 - Ohio State (46th) 7,364
SEC - Georgia (47th) 7,264

Check out the whole thing over at Rivals. There's some interesting details on the longest & shortest road trips as well as the complete list of how many miles each team travels this year.

I'm basing my list simply on perceived stature, which I believe is generally more static than factors such as current roster, current salary, and other more dynamic factors.

The Top College Football Coaching Jobs

1. Notre Dame - The most visible head coaching job in the country, with (arguably) the top legacy and traditions in all of college football.

2. Texas

3. Michigan

4. Ohio State

5. Oklahoma

6. USC

7. Nebraska

8. Alabama

9. Florida

10. Georgia

11. Florida State

12. Miami

13. UCLA

14. Penn State

15. Tennessee

16. Texas A&M

17. LSU

18. Iowa

19. Wisconsin

20. Colorado

Just outside the top twenty (alphabetical): Arizona State, Auburn, BYU, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Ole Miss, Oregon, Virginia Tech, Washington, WVU

Not that you need an invitation, but... tell me where I'm wrong.

Why these teams:
Boise State has the inside track on any MWC expansion and owns the Idaho market.

While San Diego is significantly larger than Fresno, the Bulldogs carry a greater percent of their market and have a greater name nationally than SDSU. The argument is stronger with regards to San Jose State.

This would give six teams in the western division, Boise State, BYU, Fresno State, SDSU, UNLV and Utah. To be geographically aligned they would need another team for the eastern division. Tulsa and Houston both are good options but Houston brings more TV dollars. The eastern division would be Air Force, CSU, Houston, New Mexico, TCU and Wyoming.

While the scale may be tipped towards the western division at this time these things tend to balance out with time. Also remember the PAC 10 could expand and weaken the western division. Replacing BYU and Utah with Nevada and San Jose State balances these divisions nicely.

Why it makes sense:
12 teams for a championship game while expanding the California and Texas markets definitely show the money is there. A contract with CBS for the championship game would benefit the conference more than holding it on the mtn., like they do with the Holy War. The conference could easily pick up 2 bowl slots that followed the teams to their new conference.

The best reason to expand is that it could break the BCS glass ceiling. The MWC and to a lesser degree the WAC have recently challenged the BCS conferences while the ACC and to a lesser degree the Big East have recently struggled in the BCS. Adding these three teams could tip the scales for the MWC. By expanding preemptively the MWC could increase its chances of becoming a BCS conference before it is forced to respond to an expansion by the PAC 10.

Three benchmarks will be used here to measure the strength of these conferences. The first is the number of ten win teams in these conferences for the last three years. The second is the record of each conference against 10 win teams from other conferences for the last three years. The third is performance in BCS bowls of the teams each conference would have in this scenario. I use three years to avoid charges of homer bias by excluding Utah’s 2004 season.

10 win teams in the last three years:
ACC: 6 (BC, VT; WF, BC, VT; VT)
Big East: 6 (WV, Cincinnati; Louisville, Rutgers, WV; WV)
Expanded MWC: 7 (Boise State, BYU; Boise State, BYU, Houston, TCU; TCU )

Expanding this to 9 wins would give the ACC a slight lead. In this benchmark the expanded MWC is comparable to both the ACC and Big East.

Record against 10 win teams from other conferences:
ACC: 4-18
2006: BC vs Central Michigan, BC vs BYU, Miami (FL) vs Houston
2007: Virginia Tech vs West Virginia

Big East: 4-8
2007: USF vs UCF, WV vs Oklahoma
2006: Louisville vs Wake Forest
2005: WV vs Georgia

Expanded MWC: 3-20
2006: Boise State vs Oregon State, Boise State vs Hawaii, Boise State vs Oklahoma

When looking at games against top teams over the last three years the Big East is clearly the best of these three conferences. The ACC has a slight lead on the expanded MWC. It was an eye opener for me to see how the MWC has not played as well against top teams as I had thought. They need to play top BCS teams, not the middle of the pack to improve this benchmark. Boise State and Fresno State are already doing this.

All time BCS Performance:
Current ACC: 4-10 (2-4)
Current Big East: 3-3
Expanded MWC: 2-0

To catch up with the current ACC the expanded MWC would need to win 2 of its next 12 BCS games. At least one of the ACC's BCS games featured a game with two of its current members. FSU beat VT in the championship game. Removing this game one could argue the expanded MWC would need to win one out of four National Championship games to be as impressive as the ACC and win one of its next 10 BCS games.

The expanded MWC would need to win one of the next four to equal the Big East's performance. Any appearance in the championship game would be a level the Big East has not reached since the ACC expanded. Of note is Louisville's BCS win their first year in the Big East.

Bases on results of teams that actually have made it to the BCS the expanded MWC results are likely to be significantly better than both the ACC and Big East if the Expanded MWC were given an equal number of games.

Conclusion:
The benchmarks used demonstrate that expanding the MWC by adding Boise State, Fresno State and Houston would produce a conference very close in performance to the current level of both the ACC and Big East. Added TV markets, a championship game and increased bowl presence make such an expansion a lucrative proposition to the conference.

A natural conference division, using the Rocky Mountains, exists that maintains the best rivalry games. A back up plan exist for an eventual PAC 10 expansion, replacing the defectors with San Jose State and Nevada.

Indeed, if the expanded MWC became a BCS conference, would a spot as low man on the totem poll in the PAC 10 be as appealing to teams that are already the cream of the crop in a BCS member MWC?

So I ask, should the MWC expand?

Playboy 2008 College Football Preseason Poll
Predicted finish in parenthesis

1. Oklahoma (12-0)
2. Ohio State (11-1)
3. Florida (11-1)
4. Missouri (11-1)
5. USC (11-1)
6. Georgia (10-2)
7. West Virginia (10-2)
8. LSU (9-3)
9. Auburn (9-3)
10. Kansas (9-3)
11. Texas Tech (9-3)
12. Arizona State (9-3)
13. Texas (9-3)
14. Wisconsin (9-3)
15. Clemson (9-3)
16. Utah (9-3)
17. Cincinnati (9-4)
18. Virginia Tech (8-4)
19. Arkansas (8-4)
20. Boise State (9-3)
21. Illinois (8-4)
22. Kansas State (8-4)
23. Tennessee (8-4)
24. Oregon State (8-4)
25. Georgia Tech (8-4)
26. BYU (10-2)
27. Arizona (8-4)
28. California (8-4)
29. Rutgers (8-5)
30. Central Florida (8-4)
31. Michigan (7-5)
32. Penn State (7-5)
33. Nebraska (7-5)
34. Oklahoma State (7-5)
35. Colorado (7-5)
36. Purdue (7-5)
37. Connecticut (7-5)
38. Louisville (7-5)
39. Oregon (7-5)
40. Alabama (7-5)
41. Mississippi State (7-5)
42. South Carolina (7-5)
43. Florida State (7-5)
44. UCLA (7-5)
45. Boston College (7-5)
46. Texas A&M (7-5)
47. Miami (7-5)
48. Virginia (7-5)
49. Notre Dame (7-5)
50. New Mexico (7-5)

In honor of Playboys presumptive champion, Oklahoma, we proudly link to Playboy's Oklahoma Sooners model (NSFW) in Playboy's Girls of the Big 12 college pictorial edition (~very~ NSFW).

The most recent "significant" OOC win turned out not to be all that significant, as Maryland defeated a Rutgers team that -- although ranked in the top ten at the time -- went on to finish the season in fifth place in the Big East.

Suffice to say, it's been a while.

The ACC, which boasts a 1-9 BCS bowl game record in the last ten years, needs to step it up in 2008.

Here are 10 games that will determine if the ACC has returned to the national stage:

1) Florida State vs Florida
For better or for worse, the Seminoles have been the gold standard for the conference. When the Noles are good, the ACC seems to get a fair shake on the national stage. When the Noles are bad, well... the last few years of "ACC in decline" talk should prove my point. This is FSU's best team in four years and -- despite the preseason hype -- the Gators may be ripe for the picking in 2008.

2) USC @ Virginia
No one in the country expects UVa to win, so let's not even go down that road, but it's important for the ACC that the Cavs don't get blown out at home. The ACC matched up pretty well against USC when represented by VaTech, so the Cavs need to do their part and make a game of it.

3) Cal @ Maryland
Cal may very well be a top three team in the Pac10 this season, while the Terps are likely middle of the pack in the ACC, but Maryland gets the Bears at home and needs to show up. The Terps looked bad against Oregon State in their bowl game... so a strong showing this season would help raise the ACC.

4) Va Tech @ Nebraska
A young Hokie team ventures into the sea of red... and ought to be able to pull off a win. Virginia Tech may be favored on the road against an improved Husker team. This would be a solid win for the ACC.

5) Clemson vs Alabama
There's a lot of hype around the 2008 Tigers and the opener on a national stage will be a significant opportunity for the ACC to man up against a middle of the pack SEC opponent. There's no way that the ACC can be taken seriously if the consensus pre-season pick can't knock off Bama.

6) UNC @ Rutgers
North Carolina needs to show it can win on the road, and this OOC matchup should be ripe for Butch Davis and the Tarheels. UNC has been tabbed as a sleeper pick in the ACC and absolutely needs to show up for the Scarlet Knights. This is the type of middle vs middle game that helps define the how the conference stack up at the end of the year.

7) South Carolina @ Clemson
Again, the pre-season pick can't go down to a middle of the pack SEC team, even if it is a rivalry game. Some people think the Tigers could be 11-0 at this point. Regardless, Clemson needs to seal the deal and knock off the Cocks before the ACC can even look for respect.

8) NC State @ South Carolina
Speaking of knocking off the Cocks, NC State will get their shot on the road. Another example of a middle versus middle game. The Pack need to swing this one into the ACC's favor.

9) UConn @ UNC
The defending Big East co-champ gave Wake Forest all it could handle in the bowl game, so UNC will have to be very careful not to look past UConn's lesser reputation. Every game against the Big East is a must win for the ACC to return to credibility and this is no exception.

10) James Madison @ Duke
Let's be honest, I don't expect a whole lot out of Duke this year and neither do you. But the Blue Devils might be able to take new coach David Cutcliffe's system and score a season-opening win. Then again, the Dukes aren't just any FCS team - they're the pick to win the FCS championship. This is going to be a challenging game for the Blue Devils, but its a game that the ACC really needs to win. This is Duke's chance to do its part for the conference.

So there are 10 OOC games that can shape the season and the perception for the ACC. Of course, the conference could rattle off all ten and still manage to blow it in the postseason bowls, but....

What do you think? Where is the ACC going to rank this season? Can the ACC get back into the upper crust or is it another year of being the sixth best football conference?

While the study takes all recruiting into account (not just college football) it's interesting to contrast who spent what on how successful their efforts are percieved to have been by contrasting them to the Rivals.com college football team recruiting rankings.

College Recruiting Expenses vs. College Football Recruiting Rankings

A few other notables from the top-twenty in spending:

Texas - $1,156,800
Oklahoma - $1,120,800
Georgia Tech - $1,111,900
West Virginia - $1,094,200

Here's a few interesting takeaways from the report:

- Recruiting budgets at the top-twenty spenders repesents just 1-3% of the athletic departments budget.
- 21 schools spent more than $1 million on recruiting.
- USF had the lowest spend among BCS schools at less than $500,000.
- Louisiana-Monroe spent the least in DI-A - $134,300.
- Of the BCS conferences, the SEC spends the most on recruiting ($13,129,700) while the Big East spent the least ($6,125,700).

The complete list of spending by school is online... enjoy.