Just some quick thoughts going through my head

I just wanted to post one thing really quick. Collegefootballnews.com's (Its linked on the sidebar) preview of Duke mentioned how it would never win an ACC title. Never is a long time, I think they are probably wrong, one year will come when maybe Miami or FSU is down, and Duke will have a bunch of Seniors, and they'll win some games. I've wanted to post what I'm going to now for a while, and now its on my mind, so I will:

Top Ten Football Programs (In terms of how their limited success surprises me)that should be better than they are:

10. Kansas- Seriously, if Nebraska can be a great program, and Kansas State can sell itself as a football school despite being one of the worst programs ever, the school in Lawrence can do better than they are doing.

9. Boston College- I know they've had some success, but its been limited. There is no great football school in the northeast. They can be that. Perhaps, given their move to the ACC and their isolation from everyone else in the conference, they will be able to capture the minds of players in New England and elsewhere in the Northeast.

8. Minnesota- They once were great. Now, without a campus facility, they lack any sort of pull to make kids want to go there. They are trying to build a stadium on campus, which would be the newest stadium in the Big Ten in forever, so they have that selling point.

7. Hawaii- Come on, I realize you play your games at 1 AM eastern time, but you get to play in Hawaii. They are building something now with June Jones.

6. Rutgers- They are the only D-1 school in a talent rich state, and have easy access to eastern Pennsylvania, given that Temple is terrible. But they stink. Lou Holtz said a long time ago that they should change their name to "The University of New Jersey" rather than have their off-putting, faux-Ivy League name. He may be right.

5. North Carolina- They don't need to worry about Duke. Wake is an afterthought for the kids in state. NC State will always be thought of as second rate. Chapel Hill has everything you might want, it has academics, and a good area. They've produced some good players (LT, Dre' Bly). It just has to be put together, maybe by a guy wearing a visor perhaps?

4. Missouri- (Sorry Kaiman) Two great football cities on either side of the state. Talent in the suburbs of those cities, as well as easy access in the rest of the state and southern Illinois. But they never take advantage. They have a solid history as a program, but it seems thatsince the Big XII was formed they have never put it all together other than working with one great player (Brad Smith). (Speaking of that, Virginia Tech is headed down this road. Since Vick left, they have done nothing but underachieve, entering the new ACC, they can't afford to do that any more, speaking of which...)

3. Virginia- They should own the mid-Atlantic. There is no reason that they and Maryland, and even Virginia Tech, can't be good at the same time. Charlottesville is a beautiful area, not as backwater as Blacksburg is. Virginia has fertile recruiting ground the the Newport News/Norfolk area, and they should get more kids form DC. UVa stands for something academically, but they also underachieve from where they could be athletically, this will sound familiar later.

2. Illinois- Growing up in Big Ten country, at a time when Ohio State was down a bit, Michigan/Illinois was the big game every year. Michigan won, but everyone knew that Illinois would usually be their top competition. Then Jeff George and John Mackovic left, and its all gone to hell. They won the Big Ten title a few years ago, but that was with a big group of seniors who'd been through a lot together. Last year, they failed to win a game against a D-1A opponent (they beat Illinois State, the fighting Starkos). They have an incredible base of talent in Chicago and the suburbs. They have downstate virtually to themselves, they should get more people than they get, and the coaching should be better than it is.

1. The University of California, Berkeley- Every time I see Cal play, I wonder why they have to be a sort of one hit wonder. They do well every few years but they do not stay good over a long period. There is not a public university this side of Penn that can provide the educational advantages Berkeley can, and the Bay Area is a great place to live. They aren't going to be USC, they don't have that tradition, but there is no reason they cannot reach the same level, and surpass, the athletic prowess of the private school they hate so much in Palo Alto. Stanford has the best athletic program in the country. Football is not one of its best sports. Cal could, and if they can keep Jeff Tedford for a while they just might, become dominant in Northern California and start to effectively wage battle with USC for recruits. That would make them a national power in the same way Florida or Florida State has been