Not pre-season prognostications really, just starting to look at what will be out there it seems. Dennis Dodd at Sportsline profiles Louisville and the overhaul of college football:

The neighbors aren’t exactly next door, mind you. The new Big East extends from Connecticut to Tampa to Louisville, the westernmost outpost of the new league. Eight teams in eight states. Might as well call it the Big Let’s Do Whatever We Can To Keep This Thing Together In Order to Keep Our BCS Berth.

No shame there, especially since such shuffling is the reality of college football these days. The Big East’s situation is tied directly to the ACC starting the latest realignment tsunami two years ago. The fallout: Eighteen teams (15 percent of I-A) have found new homes since the end of 2004.

And I keep coming back to the question: What was in it for the MAC to take Temple? Kind of hurts their credibility, don’t you think?

Dodd also does a brief schedule scan to highlight the best games of each week:

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh: Weis vs. Wanny in each coach’s first college game as a head man. Great — OK, really good — quarterback matchup: (Tom) Brady Quinn vs. Tyler Palko. Given each team’s knee-jerk fans, the heat begins right away for the loser.
…
Pittsburgh at Nebraska: On a hot September afternoon last year, Palko came of age in the second half against Nebraska. This will be tougher. Bill Callahan has had a year to work out the kinks, and the Panthers have to go on the road to Lincoln.
…
Pittsburgh at Louisville: Welcome to the Big East’s newest rivalry. Both programs should arrive at this date the top two teams in the reconfigured conference. Figure on a combined 80 points and a couple of 300-yard passing games by Palko and Brian Brohm.

Don’t you want Pitt to beat Nebraska, just to see Mark May rub it in Trev Alberts face? I know I do.

Speaking of looking ahead, it seems someone down in West Virginia is a little concerned about how Coach Wannstedt could set back the ‘Eers.

But his biggest impact on the WVU program might not be on the football field — at least not initially. According to published reports out of Pennsylvania, Wannstedt is hitting the state’s high schools hard in attempts to keep quality recruits home.

If he’s successful, a deep pool of talent might be a little shallower for the Mountaineers. A list of past standouts — former linebackers Grant Wiley and Adam Lehnortt come immediately to mind — is evidence of how important recruiting in Pennsylvania has been for WVU over the years. If Wannstedt is able to keep just two or three players home, it could have an effect on West Virginia football going forward.

Just an alarmist or seeing a real probability?