The Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator, Gus Malzahn, left the team in December to become the head coach at Arkansas State. Malzahn's offense is widely considered as a variation of a Hurry Uptempo Spread Offense (HUSO), lining up the quarterback in the Shotgun instead of under center and spreading out the defense with three wide receivers. He has had major success as the OC for the Tigers, including helping win a BCS National Title in 2011 over the Oregon Ducks and shattering many offensive school records. 

Auburn Fans

By the Eye on College Football bloggers

To celebrate the (now fewer than) 100 days remaining until the first Saturday of the new college football season, this is the CBSSports.com College Football 100: our countdown of the 2011 season's 100 most influential players, coaches, administrators, venues, or any other related

things in college football. It's like that other "most influential" list, but, you know, more important. Also: it's supposed to be fun. Enjoy.40. BRADY HOKE, head coach, Michigan. In the modern era of college football (a nebulous concept, but one defined here as "since the inception of the Heisman Trophy"), every Michigan head coach has stayed for at least nine years, with the exception of two: Gary Moeller, who coached for five years but resigned after an arrest for assault and battery in 1995, and Rich Rodriguez, who coached three years and was run out of town last January. Past them, Michigan has been a picture of stability over the years, and the concurrent success is no accident.

With that Rodriguez firing, though, the message from Michigan seems to be, "We'd like it if you stayed a while, but we'll tell you when to get comfortable." That's the power of high standards of success, and while Brady Hoke probably has a pass on getting results for the first year, he probably doesn't have that pass for two. Ohio State won't be reeling forever, after all, so this turnaround job that Hoke performed at San Diego State and Ball State prior to that needs to happen again, real quick. If Hoke makes progress down that road in 2011 -- and especially if he beats Ohio State -- he can start getting comfortable right away, and everything in Ann Arbor will be back to its normal, stable self. -- AJ

39. MATT BARKLEY AND ROBERT WOODS, dynamic quarterback/receiver tandem, USC. There's not a lot for USC fans to look forward to this year. They're out of the Pac-12 title race and can't go to a bowl game for the second straight season. But that's not a reason to stop watching, as the Trojans have one of the best quarterback/wide receiver duos in the country in Matt Barkley and Robert Woods. The latter was named Pac-10 Offensive Freshman of the Year and was on just about every freshman All-American team after racking up a USC record for all-purpose yards. (And in case you didn't know, USC has had a few pretty good freshman play in their illustrious history.)

Then there's Barkley, the golden-haired signal caller who is one of the top quarterbacks in the country and someone many have pegged as a top 10 draft pick if he comes out after the season. Entering his third year as a starter, much is expected of him after posting 26 touchdowns against 12 interceptions last year. The Barkley-to-Woods connection was among the best in the nation last year and should be one to watch as they hook up for more than a few touchdowns in year two. -- BF

38. BRANDON WEEDEN AND JUSTIN BLACKMON, equally dynamic quarterback/receiver tandom, Oklahoma State. For all Barkley's and Woods' succes, there wasn't a quarterback-wide receiver combination in the nation quite as devastating as Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon last season. The duo hooked up 111 times for 1,782 yards and 20 touchdowns, as both players seemingly emerged out of nowhere and became nationally recognized names. Blackmon then surprised a lot of people at Oklahoma State and around the country when he decided to come back to Stillwater for another season, and now the two are ready to perform an encore.

The question is whether or not they'll be able to. Blackmon may have snuck up on some teams last season, but you can be sure that he'll be the focus of a lot of opposing defense's film sessions this season. It also won't help that Dana Holgorsen is in Morgantown rather than Stillwater. So it won't be easy, but if these two can match -- or maybe even improve on -- the production they had last season, this might be the season in which the Cowboys finally break through for that elusive Big 12 title.

37. ISAIAH CROWELL, running back, Georgia. We gave the most important incoming freshman in the SEC -- and maybe the country -- his own special weekend breakout entry. Read it here.

36. GUS MALZAHN, offensive coordinator, Auburn. No matter how many times you read it, the list of losses from Auburn's national title teams remains staggering: the Heisman-winning quarterback, the nation's best defensive lineman, six other offensive starters including the top two receivers, seven other defensive starters including the top two linebackers. With all due respect to head coach Gene Chizik (and his smashing successes in the recruiting and team-building departments), nearly all the hope Auburn has of retaining its top-25 perch and position near the top of the SEC West standings rests in Malzahn and his spotless offensive track record. If anyone can take what's left at Auburn (which does include some highly-talented pieces, like running back Michael Dyer and potential breakout receiver Trovon Reed) and fashion an attack that can still keep SEC coordinators up at night, it's Malzahn.

Malzahn's influence can be felt outside of just his impact on the Plains, though. Even as some major programs (like Michigan and Florida) revert to more conservative, pro-style schemes, the runaway success of up-tempo spread offenses like Malzahn's and Chip Kelly's has encouraged teams like Pitt and West Virginia to follow their fast-paced lead. College football offenses seem to be gravitating towards those two opposite poles -- pounding pro-styles and lightning spreads -- and Malzahn's tremendous accomplishments are a major part of explaining the move towards the latter. -- JH

35. THE NCAA's 2011 CELEBRATION RULE, scourge of all that is fair and good in this world, NCAA rulebook. We know it's coming; it's only a matter of the who and where. From the moment a player heads towards a clear endzone, every head coach out there will have his heart skip a beat hoping his player won't do something stupid like ... celebrate? No, thanks to a new NCAA rule, fumbles near the end zone won't be the thing players, coaches and referees will be on the lookout for this season ... it'll be a celebration.

The rule -- actually passed last year but taking effect starting this season -- says that if an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty is committed during live play (say, a high-step into the end zone), instead of 15 yards assessed on the extra point or kickoff, the touchdown will be negated. The points will be taken off the board and the ball will be placed 15 yards from the spot of the foul. Remember the Reggie Bush somersault into the end zone? Though already illegal, if this rule had been in effect before, Bush would have been left with nothing to celebrate in the first place. So here come the pins and needles as everyone, fans and coaches alike, hope an 18-year old won't celebrate. Should be a fun season ... unless it's not. -- BF

34. STEPHEN GARCIA, quarterback, South Carolina. Strange as it may sound, it's true: the Gamecocks are the legitimate SEC East preseason favorite. They have arguably the league's best running back in Marcus Lattimore. They have inarguably the league's best receiver in Alshon Jeffery. They have an experienced, well-coached defense that just added the nation's No. 1 overall recruit at defensive end. With massive advantages like those, you'd expect the fifth-year senior, third-year starting quarterback to be the final piece of a championship puzzle--and maybe not just a conference championship, either.

But the bad news -- or is it the good news? -- for Carolina is that that quarterback is Stephen Garcia. There's no doubt anymore; if Garcia behaves himself over the summer, he will be the Gamecocks' starting QB again this fall. That means he might uncork a whole season like his 17-of-20, three-touchdown masterpiece in Carolina's 35-21 2010 upset of No. 1 Alabama, and bring home the 'Cocks' first-ever SEC title. It also means he might get suspended the Saturday morning of the biggest game of the season or fumble four times in a loss to Vanderbilt. Because he represents the team's best chance of capitalizing on its best chance yet to claim a championship, Steve Spurrier and Co. will just have to take the good with the bad. How much of each Garcia gives them could (or maybe will) singlehandedly determine who represents the East in Atlanta. -- JH

33. THE ACC'S SEPTEMBER 17th, nonconference opportunity, ACC. When the ACC expanded in 2004-2005, the hope was that adding Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College and a championship game would raise the football status of the supposed "basketball conference." But thanks to a poor bowl record and a total lack of national title contenders over the past decade, the conference has quickly become the butt of many college football jokes. The conference produces nearly as much NFL talent as the SEC, but with such little impact on the national scene, it's assumed the ACC just can't hang with the other BCS conferences.

Well, if the ACC is going to make a statement in 2011, September 17 is their chance. Most notably, it is the date of the aforementioned Florida State-Oklahoma showdown. But the Seminoles are only one of five ACC teams hosting a major non-conference showdown that day. Clemson welcomes defending champion Auburn to Death Valley for a rematch of last year's 27-24 overtime thriller. The Miami - Ohio State showdown in Coral Gables has much less star-power than before, but that might only benefit the Hurricanes. In addition, Maryland hosts West Virginia and Georgia Tech looks for redemption from last year's upset against Kansas. The Seminoles and Tigers may take a loss, but Miami, Maryland, and Georgia Tech all have shots to win their non-conference game. If the strongest argument against the ACC is how they stack up against non-conference opponents, the conference can silence those critics with a strong showing on the third Saturday in September. -- CP

32. TAYLOR MARTINEZ, quarterback, Nebraska. It takes a lot of self-confidence for a grown man to unironically adopt a nickname like "T-Magic," but fortunately for Nebraska fans, Taylor Martinez isn't lacking for that confidence--nor for freakish athleticism. The freshman quarterback conjured up memories of Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier as he ran for 965 yards and 12 touchdowns while throwing for 1631 yards and 10 more TDs. That's even taking into consideration a right ankle injury that bothered Martinez throughout the second half of the season, keeping him out of two games and limiting him in others. A healthy, more experienced T-Magic for the entire 2011 campaign could be quite the weapon.

However, as both Martinez and Denard Robinson demonstrated just last year, football is not a sport that caters to the health of smaller quarterbacks with heavy rushing workloads. The defenses in the Big 12 are no picnic for opposing QBs, but they're even more physical in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, the once-rocky relationship between Martinez and head coach Bo Pelini seems to have healed to some extent. Certainly, there aren't any reports of Martinez missing practices, and he had the chance to transfer this off-season but didn't. Once that first player-coach fight happens, contentment is usually relative and impermanent, but it seems like much more of a 2010 problem than a 2011 problem, and that's bad news for the rest of the Big Ten. -- AJ

31. BRYAN HARSIN, offensive coordinator, Texas. Earlier in the Top 100 we featured Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert. Well, if Gilbert is going to have a big impact on college football this season, odds are it will have a lot to do with his new coach, offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin. Okay, so technically Harsin is the co-offensive coordinator, but I really don't think Mack Brown fired Greg Davis and then brought Harsin in from Boise State so he could share play-calling duties with Major Applewhite. No, Harsin will be grooming one current Longhorn quarterback and one former Longhorn quarterback.

Because if there's anything that Harsin proved himself able to do in his time at Boise, it was produce good signal-callers. Harsin's biggest influence at Texas this year will be to help Gilbert increase his touchdown passes and significantly reduce the turnovers. Over the last three seasons at Boise State, Harsin helped Kellen Moore throw 99 touchdowns to only 19 interceptions. He also put together an offense that averaged about 43 points per game the last three years, and while the defenses in the Big 12 are a bit better than the ones Harsin saw in the WAC, if he can get within reach of numbers like that with the Longhorns in just one season, the rest of the college football world will likely cower in fear. -- TF

The 100 will continue here on Eye on CFB tomorrow. Until then, check out Nos. 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51 and 50-41. You can also keep up with the 100 by following us on Twitter.

Jeff Evans

Wide Receivers Coach Trooper Taylor commented on his group following a recent practice saying he didn't know who his starters were yet and wouldn't know until after a QB was selected. For Taylor, "making plays is not just catching the football. Blocking on the perimeter, that's the first thing I want to fix. We want to make sure we can block on the perimeter. We want a physical edge to us. So we block on the perimeter. And then catching the football is like giving your dog a bone. He's excited about that." True Freshman Brandon Fulse is a monstrous athlete that is 238 pounds and 6-foot-4. Fulse will most likely be the back up for the #3 spot. Lutzenkirchen calls Fulse "a really athletic kid" that "kinda got those baby-deer legs, baby-horse legs. He's just trying to figure everything out. He's done a phenomenal job with what he's got. The stronger he gets, the better he'll be. Our question for him from the beginning is if he's going to be physical at that three-back spot. It's such a hard thing to do coming straight out of high school. He's like me -- he was a receiver in high school. He's been being physical and finishing blocks. I think you'll see him out there this year."

Auburn Fans

Posted by Adam Jacobi

Dennis Dodd posted his annual list of Hot Seat Ratings today, so if you haven't perused them all, do so at once. At once, I say! Right now, let's focus on some of the untouchables, the 32 coaches who scored a 0.0-0.5 rating. Suffice it to say none of them are getting fired this year (or even next) without a major, unforeseeable catastrophe befalling the program. But past that, what coaches are truly untouchable, and who's just still on a honeymoon? Here's a look at 15 of those coaches, five for each category in the schools' alphabetical order, listed with Dodd's hot seat ratings.

THE HONEYMOONERS

Gene Chizik, Auburn, 0.0: Hear me out. Chizik is absolutely a 0.0 on Dodd's scale this year, and he would be even if the NCAA somehow finds a way to make Auburn vacate the 2010 BCS Championship (though that seems extremely unlikely at this juncture). But Auburn is expected to struggle this year, and while it's easy now to say that the title has earned Chizik a five-year grace period, what happens if Gus Malzahn gets a high-major head coaching offer and Kiehl Frazier doesn't pan out? If Auburn struggles through two straight .500 seasons and Malzahn takes off, that 0.0 turns into a 2.0 pretty soon.
Will Muschamp, Florida, 0.5: Muschamp is one of the most dynamic and promising new head coaches in the last decade or so, but the fact remains that he's a 39-year-old, first-year head coach at a "win right now" program. Oh, and John Brantley is still his quarterback. If Muschamp can't get his Gators back above the South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC East pecking order, his seat's going to ignite in a hurry.
Chip Kelly, Oregon, 0.0: The other coach coming off a 2010 BCS Championship berth also has two things working against him: a track record of only two seasons as head coach, and the possibility of major NCAA violations. For Kelly, the worry is more the latter than the former, and depending on where this business with Willie Lyles and Lache Seastrunk's recruitment ends up, Kelly could find himself in way more hot water than a 22-4 coach has any right to be. That's all "ifs" right now though, so for now, the honeymoon is still on.
Doug Marrone, Syracuse, 0.5: Marrone enters his third year with the Orange after guiding the once-proud program to a 36-34 Pinstripe Bowl victory over Kansas State last year -- Syracuse's first bowl win since 2001. He's got a solid core of skill players back, but the overall talent level at Syracuse is still low enough that a moderate rash of injuries could be enough to plunge Syracuse back to the level of 3-5 wins in 2011, and that's a good way to snap fans back into remembering that the Pinstripe Bowl is just... the Pinstripe Bowl. Marrone's still got a lot of work to do.
Steve Sarkisian, Washington, 0.5: Like Marrone, Sarkisian has performed the rather remarkable feat of turning around a program that had been mired in sub-mediocrity for the majority of the '00s. But like Marrone, the program's talent level isn't BCS-caliber yet, and unlike Marrone, Sark has to contend with losing a first-round draft pick senior quarterback, Jake Locker. Further, Washington's road schedule is brutal this year; the Huskies'll probably have to win at least two home games between California, Arizona, and Oregon just to get back to .500.

HAPPILY MARRIED

Jimbo Fisher, Florida State, 0.5: That Bobby Bowden transition wasn't so bad after all, was it? That's because Fisher guided FSU to 10 wins in his very first year... unlike the last six years of the Bowden era. Seminole fans are going to start raising expectations to the levels of the mid-'90s, so four losses and an ACC Championship loss aren't going to cut it forever, but Fisher's recruiting well enough to restore FSU to glory quickly.
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, 0.5: How comfortably ensconced at Iowa is Ferentz? He's been coaching at Iowa for 12 years, and in seven of them, Iowa has suffered at least five losses. Ferentz runs a clean coaching staff, but there have been a couple isolated stretches of off-field embarrassments for the Hawkeyes -- and the rhabdo case certainly didn't help matters. But he's well-loved in Iowa City all the same, and the fact that he has turned down offers from Michigan and several NFL teams is not lost on Iowa fans or administrators. Moreover, his teams haven't been bad since his first two years on campus, and he's producing a double-digit win season once per three years; if he keeps that pace up, he'll be at Iowa for as long as he wants.
Charlie Strong, Louisville, 0.5: Strong has only been at Louisville for one season, but he's already got a winning season under his belt (unlike the disastrous reign of his predecessor, Steve Kragthorpe), and he's recruiting well enough (in particular, QB signee Teddy Bridgewater) to keep Louisville winning in perpetuity. If Strong leaves, it's because a powerhouse came calling; he's legit, and everybody at Louisville knows it. If he delivers a BCS win, you can move him into the last category here.
Mark Dantonio, Michigan State, 0.5: Dantonio has been more successful at Michigan State than Nick Saban was. Mark Dantonio is therefore a better coach than Nick Saban. QED. If Dantonio can avoid any more health scares and start routinely challenging for Big Ten (sigh) Legends division championships, he's set for life in East Lansing. Easier said than done with Nebraska coming to town and Michigan likely to rebound from the recent swoon, though.
Bo Pelini, Nebraska, 0.5: Bo Pelini has done a fine job in his first three years as Nebraska head coach, and on first glance, it appears the young coach is the perfect candidate to lead the Huskers into the Big Ten. There's been an odd sense of impermanence from Pelini's stay at Nebraska though; it's unclear whether it comes from his tempermental sideline behavior (and his brother's) or his itinerant career thus far -- this fourth season as Huskers head coach makes this the longest coaching job Pelini has ever held. Whatever it is, he seems to lack the stable, staid nature of his longer-tenured fellow coaches. That's not insignificant; if a coach can make his fans and boosters believe he's got everything under control when things go south for a year or two, his seat can stay nice and cool for longer. Pelini is respected, but he's not quite there yet.

YOU'LL HAVE TO PRY THEM FROM OUR COLD DEAD HANDS

Nick Saban, Alabama, 0.0: Saban delivered a national championship to Tuscaloosa in his second year there, and his Crimson Tide have finished with three straight AP Top 10 finishes. He's the highest-paid coach in college football for a reason: he earns it.
Chris Peterson, Boise State, 0.5: Peterson basically ruined the WAC for everybody else, going 61-5 as Boise's head man. Sure, you can wonder where he'd be without Kellen Moore, but Peterson did beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl with Jared Zabransky behind center. Now that Utah and TCU are both running off to BCS conferences, expect Boise to dominate the Mountain West for as long as Peterson's there.
Chris Ault, Nevada, 0.0: If this scale could go into negative numbers, Ault would be at least a -10. He's a College Football Hall of Famer who has overseen Nevada's rise from Division II to the upper echelon of the FBS mid-majors. Ault is a true Nevada lifer: he played QB for the Wolfpack in the '60s, and he's on his 26th year as a head coach with the program (his 39th overall in some facet with the Nevada athletic department). He is never, ever, ever getting fired. 
Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern, 0.0: Fitzgerald just signed a contract extension that has 10 years on it, but is a de facto lifetime contract. He'll probably be in Evanston for at least the next 20 years. Seems crazy to say something like that about Northwestern football, doesn't it? But here it is and here we are.
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech, 0.0: The Hokies owe as much to Beamer as just about any program and current coach in the country (other than the aforementioned Nevada and Ault or Penn State and Joe Paterno, who might as well get the school named after him upon retirement). When the ACC realigned in 2005 to include a championship game, the divisions were set up to ensure the possibility of Miami and FSU meeting every season. Instead, it's been Virginia Tech dominating the conference, appearing in four of six championship games and winning three. The ACC is Frank Beamer's conference, so the very notion of a hot seat for Beamer is essentially unimaginable.

Jeff Evans

It's Monday. We just celebrated Mother's Day. And in honor of Mother's Day here is an old commercial from former Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant that contains the famous words: "Have you called your momma today? I sure wish I could call mine."

So because our mommas would want us to be nice today, let's take a break from possible federal lawsuits and NCAA investigations and get back to actual football. A while back we gave your our 10 Burning Questions facing the SEC after spring practice. Today let's at look our friends in the ACC:

1: Is this the year Florida State wins another ACC championship and gets back into the discussion for the national title?

Every year I take a flyer on a team I think could surprise a lot of people. A year ago it was North Carolina, and if the Tar Heels had gotten everybody on the field (nine NFL draft choices) I might have been right. This year my wild-card team is Florida State. E.J. Manuel will fill in very nicely at quarterback for Christian Ponder. The backfield is deep. The defense is athletic. Did I mention that the Seminoles host Oklahoma on Sept. 17?

2: Will Georgia Tech's defense make significant strides in year two under Al Groh? Most assuredly they will. The learning curve is steep in Groh's system. But the Yellow Jackets, ninth in the ACC in total defense last season, are much more athletic on that side of the ball this time around. Two names to remember: DE Jason Peters and OLB Steven Sylvester. They can play for anybody.

3: When Miami opens against Maryland on Sept. 5, will Jacory Harris be the starting quarterback? Harris, the rising senior from Miami's Northwestern High, has had an up and down career that we never will forget. He has thrown for more than 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in three seasons. He has also thrown 39 interceptions. Conventional wisdom is that Harris has the talent but that Stephen Morris (1,240 yards, seven TDs last season) has the intangibles. New coach Al Golden did not make a decision after spring ball because he didn't have to. This will be the focus when practice resumes in August.

4: Is North Carolina going to be better than we think? I believe the answer is yes, which is hard to say about a team that lost nine NFL draft choices and had two more players who were expected to be drafted. One of the silver linings of all the NCAA problems last season (13 players suspended for various parts of 2010) was that a lot of guys got to play who weren't expected to see much action. Fifteen starters return from an 8-5 team. All four starters are back on the defensive line. Bryn Renner finally gets his shot at quarterback. "We lost a lot of talent but we have good players who are ready for their chance," coach Butch Davis said.

5: Can Logan Thomas pick up the mantle at quarterback from Tyrod Taylor at Virginia Tech? Taylor started 42 games and left as one of Frank Beamer's favorite players. Thomas is big (6-foot-6, 245 pounds), fast and accurate (went 40 of 70 and threw only one interception in spring ball) Even though Virginia Tech lost two great backs in Ryan Williams and Darren Evans, the next star is waiting his turn. Remember this name: David Wilson. He split time with track in the spring but when he did scrimmage he was awesome.

6: Will new OC Chad Morris make a difference at Clemson? He better. There was a sense of urgency at Clemson this spring. The Tigers went 6-7 with a team that had six NFL draft choices. Coach Dabo Swinney said it was "unacceptable," and he's right. Offensive coordinator Billy Napier was replaced by Chad Morris from Tulsa, whose job is spicing up the offense. Morris' system is identical to Gus Malzahn's at Auburn, and he has the perfect quarterback to run it in sophomore Tahj Boyd. Boyd is very athletic but must become a more consistent passer. Clemson has a long way to go after finishing 10th in offense in the conference last season.

7: Can North Carolina State challenge in the Atlantic Division with Mike Glennon as quarterback? Coach Tom O’Brien is betting yes. Glennon was a highly-recruited high school quarterback out of Virginia. He redshirted in 2008 and has played the past two seasons behind Russell Wilson, who was the All-ACC quarterback as a true freshman. Last week O'Brien informed Wilson, who plays professional baseball during the spring and summer, that Glennon would be the starter in 2011. Wilson had the option of returning as the backup. Wilson since has been given his release. The 6-6 Glennon completed 21 of 40 passes for 182 yards in the spring game. "Mike is very talented and has earned this opportunity," O’Brien said. If Glennon struggles and Wilson, now basically a free agent, goes somewhere else and lights it up, O'Brien certainly will hear about it from the Wolfpack faithful.

8: What will Maryland do under first-year coach Randy Edsall? Edsall, who took Connecticut to the Fiesta Bowl, was one of the more interesting offseason hires. The powers that be at Maryland said they let Ralph Friedgen go because they needed to re-energize the program and sell some tickets. Edsall is a very good coach but he's not Mr. Excitement. The good news is that the Terps return seven starters on each side of the ball and one of them is sophomore quarterback Danny O'Brien, a rising star in this conference who threw for 2,488 yards as a freshman despite seeing limited action the first three games. We'll find out about Edsall's impact in a hurry as the Terps open Sept. 5 at home against Miami.

9: Is Luke Kuechly of Boston College the best linebacker in college football? Well, let's look at the numbers. Boston College has played 26 games since Kuechly arrived at Chestnut Hall as a freshman. He has started all 26 and has averaged 13.1 tackles per game. Last season he led the nation in total tackles (183) and individual tackles (110). He is 6-3, 225 pounds of speed and muscle and, barring injury, he is your national defensive player of the year. There are some big holes to fill on the offensive line at Boston College (three guys who started a collective 121 games), but because of Kuechly on defense and senior RB Montel Harris (1,243 yards rushing in 2010) on offense, it would not be wise to sleep on the Eagles.

10: Is Duke really getting better under David Cutliffe? There is no doubt about it. Consider this: Duke has won 12 games in its first three seasons under the former head coach at Ole Miss and the guru for quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. That's two more wins than Duke had accumulated (10) in the previous eight years. Duke was 3-9 last season but four of those losses were by six points or fewer. "We're not in the business of moral victories around here, but we are getting better and learning what it takes to compete at this level," Cutcliffe said. "Now that has to translate into wins because, honestly, nothing else matters." Duke has a shot with eight starters returning on offense, including quarterback Sean Renfree (3,131 passing, 14 TD). With a non-conference schedule that includes Richmond, Tulane, and FIU (we won't talk about a Sept. 10 home game against Andrew Luck and Stanford) there is a chance of getting to five or six wins.

Jeff Evans

It's Monday. We just celebrated Mother's Day. And in honor of Mother's Day here is an old commercial from former Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant that contains the famous words: "Have you called your momma today? I sure wish I could call mine."

So because our mommas would want us to be nice today, let's take a break from possible federal lawsuits and NCAA investigations and get back to actual football. A while back we gave your our 10 Burning Questions facing the SEC after spring practice. Today let's at look our friends in the ACC:

1: Is this the year Florida State wins another ACC championship and gets back into the discussion for the national title?

Every year I take a flyer on a team I think could surprise a lot of people. A year ago it was North Carolina, and if the Tar Heels had gotten everybody on the field (nine NFL draft choices) I might have been right. This year my wild-card team is Florida State. E.J. Manuel will fill in very nicely at quarterback for Christian Ponder. The backfield is deep. The defense is athletic. Did I mention that the Seminoles host Oklahoma on Sept. 17?

2: Will Georgia Tech's defense make significant strides in year two under Al Groh? Most assuredly they will. The learning curve is steep in Groh's system. But the Yellow Jackets, ninth in the ACC in total defense last season, are much more athletic on that side of the ball this time around. Two names to remember: DE Jason Peters and OLB Steven Sylvester. They can play for anybody.

3: When Miami opens against Maryland on Sept. 5, will Jacory Harris be the starting quarterback? Harris, the rising senior from Miami's Northwestern High, has had an up and down career that we never will forget. He has thrown for more than 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in three seasons. He has also thrown 39 interceptions. Conventional wisdom is that Harris has the talent but that Stephen Morris (1,240 yards, seven TDs last season) has the intangibles. New coach Al Golden did not make a decision after spring ball because he didn't have to. This will be the focus when practice resumes in August.

4: Is North Carolina going to be better than we think? I believe the answer is yes, which is hard to say about a team that lost nine NFL draft choices and had two more players who were expected to be drafted. One of the silver linings of all the NCAA problems last season (13 players suspended for various parts of 2010) was that a lot of guys got to play who weren't expected to see much action. Fifteen starters return from an 8-5 team. All four starters are back on the defensive line. Bryn Renner finally gets his shot at quarterback. "We lost a lot of talent but we have good players who are ready for their chance," coach Butch Davis said.

5: Can Logan Thomas pick up the mantle at quarterback from Tyrod Taylor at Virginia Tech? Taylor started 42 games and left as one of Frank Beamer's favorite players. Thomas is big (6-foot-6, 245 pounds), fast and accurate (went 40 of 70 and threw only one interception in spring ball) Even though Virginia Tech lost two great backs in Ryan Williams and Darren Evans, the next star is waiting his turn. Remember this name: David Wilson. He split time with track in the spring but when he did scrimmage he was awesome.

6: Will new OC Chad Morris make a difference at Clemson? He better. There was a sense of urgency at Clemson this spring. The Tigers went 6-7 with a team that had six NFL draft choices. Coach Dabo Swinney said it was "unacceptable," and he's right. Offensive coordinator Billy Napier was replaced by Chad Morris from Tulsa, whose job is spicing up the offense. Morris' system is identical to Gus Malzahn's at Auburn, and he has the perfect quarterback to run it in sophomore Tahj Boyd. Boyd is very athletic but must become a more consistent passer. Clemson has a long way to go after finishing 10th in offense in the conference last season.

7: Can North Carolina State challenge in the Atlantic Division with Mike Glennon as quarterback? Coach Tom O’Brien is betting yes. Glennon was a highly-recruited high school quarterback out of Virginia. He redshirted in 2008 and has played the past two seasons behind Russell Wilson, who was the All-ACC quarterback as a true freshman. Last week O'Brien informed Wilson, who plays professional baseball during the spring and summer, that Glennon would be the starter in 2011. Wilson had the option of returning as the backup. Wilson since has been given his release. The 6-6 Glennon completed 21 of 40 passes for 182 yards in the spring game. "Mike is very talented and has earned this opportunity," O’Brien said. If Glennon struggles and Wilson, now basically a free agent, goes somewhere else and lights it up, O'Brien certainly will hear about it from the Wolfpack faithful.

8: What will Maryland do under first-year coach Randy Edsall? Edsall, who took Connecticut to the Fiesta Bowl, was one of the more interesting offseason hires. The powers that be at Maryland said they let Ralph Friedgen go because they needed to re-energize the program and sell some tickets. Edsall is a very good coach but he's not Mr. Excitement. The good news is that the Terps return seven starters on each side of the ball and one of them is sophomore quarterback Danny O'Brien, a rising star in this conference who threw for 2,488 yards as a freshman despite seeing limited action the first three games. We'll find out about Edsall's impact in a hurry as the Terps open Sept. 5 at home against Miami.

9: Is Luke Kuechly of Boston College the best linebacker in college football? Well, let's look at the numbers. Boston College has played 26 games since Kuechly arrived at Chestnut Hall as a freshman. He has started all 26 and has averaged 13.1 tackles per game. Last season he led the nation in total tackles (183) and individual tackles (110). He is 6-3, 225 pounds of speed and muscle and, barring injury, he is your national defensive player of the year. There are some big holes to fill on the offensive line at Boston College (three guys who started a collective 121 games), but because of Kuechly on defense and senior RB Montel Harris (1,243 yards rushing in 2010) on offense, it would not be wise to sleep on the Eagles.

10: Is Duke really getting better under David Cutliffe? There is no doubt about it. Consider this: Duke has won 12 games in its first three seasons under the former head coach at Ole Miss and the guru for quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. That's two more wins than Duke had accumulated (10) in the previous eight years. Duke was 3-9 last season but four of those losses were by six points or fewer. "We're not in the business of moral victories around here, but we are getting better and learning what it takes to compete at this level," Cutcliffe said. "Now that has to translate into wins because, honestly, nothing else matters." Duke has a shot with eight starters returning on offense, including quarterback Sean Renfree (3,131 passing, 14 TD). With a non-conference schedule that includes Richmond, Tulane, and FIU (we won't talk about a Sept. 10 home game against Andrew Luck and Stanford) there is a chance of getting to five or six wins.

Jeff Evans

By Steve Hummer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Mark Richt doesn’t squander tears on a football game.

What is there in a game to make a man cry? Lose to Central Florida on the last day of 2010, come back and try to make it right next September. That’s a challenge, not a tragedy.

Wednesday, far away from the fields of the SEC, Richt cried.

The Georgia football coach stood holding hands with his wife, Katharyn, in a small, crumbling schoolroom off a cratered dirt road that ran up the face of an unnamed Honduran hillside. A man whose language they did not understand was shouting a prayer as if trying to rattle the floorboards of heaven.

So this is what it takes to break down one of college football’s most stoic coaches.

Carlos Cantarero, the rare Baptist preacher in a Catholic land, was very much on his game that day. Dressed in white from neck to pants cuffs, one hand cradling a frayed Bible open to the book of Matthew, the other punching a fist toward the tin roof, Cantarero filled the space with his spirit.

There was so much for which to pray. Life is hard in San Antonio, Honduras. Farmers scratch a living from whatever plot of land they can find that’s not too tilted to plow. They drink untreated water that is the color of chalk, fetched from a half-mile away. Sometimes, in drought, the water barely trickles out, and those who don’t get there early go home empty.

Cantarero had the Richts at amen. Neither sat before first rubbing the mist from their eyes.

He may have little grasp of Spanish, but this much Mark Richt said he understood: “Here was a man crying out to God.”

And the Richts cried along with him. It wouldn’t be the only time they were so moved on a five-day visit last week to this poor Central American nation, a trip undertaken at the invitation of mega international charity World Vision.

How could he have known that day in 1986 as he prayed in Bobby Bowden’s office and gave himself to Christ that he would be led to this distant land? As a grad assistant at Florida State, Richt was in the back of the room as Bowden spoke to his team after the shooting death of Seminoles lineman Pablo Lopez.

“If that had been you, do you know where you’d spend eternity?” Bowden asked.

Those words drilled into Richt’s soul. The next day, he met with the head coach and the direction of his life was forever changed.

Richt has been continually upping the ante on his beliefs ever since — maturing as a Christian, he says — to reach this stage, his most ambitious trek yet into the frontiers of righteousness.

Beyond this tiring fact-finding trip, Richt put a lake vacation home up for sale in order to help finance a whole new level of giving. And it’s not like he doesn’t have other concerns on his mind.

This may be a swing season for Richt at Georgia. Much, including his very foothold on a job he has had since 2001, may depend upon improving on a 14-12 record over the past two seasons.

Some have seized on the argument that Richt has let his Christianity and his desire to apply it outside the locker room distract him from a single-minded pursuit of another SEC championship.

Earlier this year, former Georgia quarterback Fran Tarkenton, an NFL Hall of Famer, laid into Richt on several fronts in a radio interview. Not all his complaints were temporal.

“[Richt] is a wonderful guy,” Tarkenton told Atlanta’s 680 The Fan. “He is a good Christian guy. He wants to be a missionary. He goes on missions. That is a wonderful thing. But do you know the religion of [Alabama’s] Nick Saban? Or [Auburn assistant] Gus Malzahn? Or [Oregon’s] Chip Kelly? I don’t think we care what their religion [is]. We hire them to be football coaches. If we are hiring religious instructors, let’s go to the Candler School of Theology over here in Decatur and get some of their people to come and coach our football team.”

With so much riding on this season, would Richt burrow into his Athens office this summer, if only to give the appearance of a man fully giving himself over to this season?

Quite the contrary. He went to Honduras, for the third time in his life. He left the comforts of a Bulldogs athletic facility just renovated for $33 million and went to places where a small fraction of that money would save lives by the score. That kind of thing tends to broaden a man’s perspective beyond a 120-yard-by-53 1/3-yard field.

This trip was not about a football coach, nor about his wife, Richt constantly reminded the newspaperman and the Fox Sports South tandem that accompanied him. The story was out there, he said, among the poor of Honduras and the World Vision workers who are trying to give them a boost to simple self-sufficiency.

But, of course, it must inevitably get back to him. World Vision can use his notoriety as much as his money: “The coach is basically giving us his Good Housekeeping seal of approval,” said World Vision’s national director of philanthropy, Zack Aspegren.

And, while they decide whether or not to answer Richt’s call to sponsor a child through World Vision, Georgia fans can debate how this all may affect the SEC opener against South Carolina.

Richt rejects any notion that his heightened interest in serving a humanity outside the school’s athletic association mailing list conflicts with the demands of college football’s toughest conference. Success does not require its servants to wear blinders, he argues.

“Ask Tony Dungy if he was that way,” said Richt, beginning to list former big-time professional or college coaches who shared an active spiritual side. “Ask Bobby Bowden. Ask Tom Landry. Ask Tom Osborne. Those guys had success. We’ve had success, tremendous success. Lately, though, it hasn’t been much to write about.

“I think [the idea that winning requires complete tunnel vision] has been proven untrue and it’s still untrue.”

There is a long list of reasons to stay motivated in his profession, Richt points out. Your family, your players, your staff, the fans.

“Being on this trip has certainly added to that list of reasons why we want to succeed,” he added.

It’s a straight-line equation: More winning = longer job life = more money to donate to World Vision.

Higher calling

“The Hole in Our Gospel” is the story of Richard Stearns, a former CEO of the china maker, Lenox, who left that lofty corporate position to lead World Vision.

The bulk of the book is a challenge to the reader to recognize all the blessings he has and the higher calling to share them with the sick and starving world around him.

Some of it Stearns wrote as his personal account of a high-powered executive who came to realize that making fancy dishware and being a good country club Christian was not enough. Scripture demands more. That part spoke loudly to Richt.

Soon after finishing the book, Richt put a call in to the author. They spoke for a while, and shortly thereafter World Vision dispatched Aspegren, the man in charge of courting the charity’s largest donors, to visit the Richts in Athens.

Another transformational chapter in the story of the concerned Christian coach was being written.

When it came out in May that the Richts intended to sell their nearly $2 million second home on Lake Hartwell, bloggers kicked into high gear. Many surmised that Richt was selling in anticipation of losing his job. No, no, Richt was compelled to explain. He was simplifying his life, reordering his priorities in order to give back more.

He and Katharyn decided that sacrificing their cherished getaway place was necessary in order to put their beliefs into action.

The entire family will be affected by the decision to support World Vision. As the Richts
went through U.S. Customs on their return from Honduras on Friday, they discussed a future sit-down with their four children to weigh the difference between wants and needs in order to budget more money for the poor.

The Richts are going to give a significant amount to World Vision — Aspegren’s visit and his presence on the Honduras trip signifies that. Asked if it could be as much as the final sale price of the lake home, Richt replied, “I’m not saying that.”

“[Selling] is to put us in a better position to be more generous,” said Richt, who is paid around $3 million per year.

“You got the upkeep; you got taxes, all those expenses that go along with the house. No matter what kind of income you have, if all your money is going toward paying off a mortgage and upkeep, that becomes more your focus.”

Before the full extent of Richt’s giving will be determined, before he will launch any effort to rally support from Georgia fans and his team, World Vision suggested the coach take a four-hour plane ride to witness its work.

The scope of the charity is vast. Last year, worldwide, it raised nearly $3 billion in contributions. “We’re the No. 1 distributor of food around the world — including McDonald’s,” Aspegren said.

Its primary mission is to establish a basic foundation — clean water, nutrition, health, education — from which the people in poor areas around the world can build decent lives. All in the name of doing Christ’s work. (For more information, go to worldvision.org).

Unlike his other visits to Honduras — once with his entire family on a work mission, once with a few Bulldogs players — this trip was not about picking up a hammer and helping to build a house. This was about learning ways to change the prospects of entire communities.

Emotion pours out

In his life as a major college coach, Richt is famously guarded with his words and his emotions. Nothing seems to shake him from a state of outward calm. His faith insulates him from the chaos of the game or the carping of his critics.

Those who find peace in the material world can have it taken away in the blink of an eye. Hadn’t the economic downturn proven that, Richt asked as he sat in the Tegucigalpa airport, ready to board for home.

“The peace I have is eternal. No matter what happens [on Earth], it is not the same as compared to eternal life,” he said.

Far away from football, Richt showed just a little more of himself.

At a carnival-like event in Gracias, where the children were being taught about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases through games and contests, Richt smiled uncomfortably as he participated. Asked to name three methods of birth control, he fidgeted and stammered and finally just checked out from answering the question. After mentioning abstinence, he wanted no part of that one.

On a dirt soccer field near Yamaranguila, he couldn’t help himself as he watched kids play with a new soccer ball. He put himself in goal, challenged them to get a shot by him, and was a kid again for a few minutes.

In a quiet moment that same day, outside a school, with no interpreter near, he tousled the hair of an 11-year-old boy who had given a rousing talk and demonstration of World Vision’s impact on his town. “You are going to be a special young man, with God’s help,” he told young Selvin Garcia. Despite the language barrier, they still both noticeably brightened during the exchange.

It was in the village of San Antonio, a particularly deprived pocket in the western part of the country, where the Richts’ hearts were practically plucked from their chests.

A half-mile uphill hike from the schoolhouse where Cantarero offered his impassioned prayer, the Richts came upon the most stunning example of need they would find on this trip.

There, a little girl stuck her hand in a concrete basin filled with murky water, absentmindedly splashing it about. An American would scarcely allow his or her dog to drink from such a dirty pool. Delivered in a stream from somewhere higher on the hill, that was the community’s drinking water. Two women washed clothes in a second basin below that.

Overwhelmed for a moment, off to one side, out of view, Katharyn buried her head on her husband’s shoulder and wept.

Later she explained, “We are so abundantly blessed, and then to see children who have nothing, not even clean water, it’s wrenching.”

“We see a lot of that emotion from people who come here and see it firsthand,” Aspegren said.

There was an overwhelming supply of images to pack for the trip home.

On the final stop of their tour of World Vision projects, before the five-hour drive back to the Honduran capital Thursday, the Richts were taken to one last little church with one more gathering of people, these from the village of Portillo.

Speaking for them was Jose Quintanilla Miranda, who sought a reliable water source for the village so the crops may grow better and the children stay healthier. He told this stranger from America, “This is a beautiful place with still so many challenges. Do not forget about Honduras.”

That would now be impossible for Richt, regardless of how this or any football season tries to consume him.

Jeff Evans