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I think Ol' Hayden had the best eye for coaching talent. So many good/great ones came out of Iowa.

I believe Nix and Venables are the only ones here who didn't become head coaches, and Venables by his own choice.  Nix is now a DC at UTSA.

Of the remainders, I'd say Franklin and Mullen are the only ones who proved to be home runs.  Stoops is right there.  Jury still out on Locksley and Sark I suppose.  The only totals busts were Applewhite (although I think they may have pulled the trigger too quickly at Houston), and English, who bombed as EMU's head coach, and has just been bouncing around for a decade as a position coach.

English is interesting because he took one of the two worst jobs in the sport (maybe the worst?), posted the first non-losing season in 15 years and the second  in 20 and still managed to produce the second-worst winning percentage in program history. 

Pages: 26 – 33

2007 Preseason Top 25:

#1 USC: Unless you’re a Trojan, you probably hope some NFL team dangles a monstrous enough carrot (Brinks truck full of cash, team ownership, full control…) that finally lures away the King of L.A. Because if Pete Carroll stays at Southern California much longer, the annual race to the BCS championship game is going to become a yearly “to see who gets to play SC.”

#2 LSU: The SEC, while deep as usual, has a more manageable field of elite teams this year, and LSU’s league schedule is favorable. All roads lead right back “home” – in New Orleans for the BCS championship game.

#3 Michigan: Was it foreshadowing that the previously great defense gave up a combined 74 points in the last two games? We say yes. The Wolverines will win in a watered down Big Ten, but will get tripped up somewhere after Sept 1 opener against Appalachian State.

#4 West Virginia; #5 Texas

#6 Wisconsin: Yes, Bret Bielema is is that good…Yes, it doesn’t matter that neither you nor Bielema knows who the starting quarterback will be (that rarely matters in Madison)…Yes, PJ Hill will carry the load and become the next great Badgers tailback.

#7 Tennessee; #8 Virginia Tech; #9 Louisville; #10 Oklahoma

#11 Florida: QB Tim Tebow, a Heisman candidate before his first start, already owns the campus. Now it’s his offense, too. It will be one of the strongest in the nation with Tebow, WR Percy Harvin, WR Andre Caldwell and…well, somebody at tailback.

#12 California

#13 Ohio State: The Buckeyes can’t rub their eyes and make last season’s BCS championship game go away, and no amount of wishing will bring back Heisman-winning QB Troy Smith. Good news is OSU has the potential for a winning formula – pound the ball with 230-pound sophomore Chris Wells and clean up messes on defense with LB James Laurinaitis, CB Malcom Jenkins, and DE Vernon Gholston.

Page: 29: Another full-page sports betting ad

#14 Arkansas; #15 TCU; #16 Rutgers; #17 Georgia; #18 Texas A&M; #19 Hawaii; #20 Wake Forest; #21 Florida State; #22 UCLA; #23 Auburn

#24 Boston College: The man roaming the sidelines is no longer the stolid Tom O’Brien, it is Jeff Jagodzinski, and the ex-Green Bay offensive coordinator will be a little more loosey-goosey with the playbook. It’s a perfect time to do that because senior QB Matt Ryan is the best in the ACC.

#25 Nebraska: Huskers fans haven’t appreciated the fact that Bill Callahan has improved in each of his three seasons. Some Big Red fans, though, are running out of patience. Look for more improvement, but not as fast as Nebraskans want. Count on the Huskers stiff-arming an explosive Missouri team for a division title, with Big Red getting nine or 10 wins and a nice bowl game.

Page 32: List of Full National Rankings 1 – 119, from USC to Florida International

Page 33: Another (!) full-page sports betting ad

That was the year UGA had two mystifying losses to USCe and Tenn, beat Alabama in OT and smoked Florida and then Hawaii, when they should have played USC.

Ended up ranked 2 in the AP poll.

swing and a miss on 2007 Nebraska and Billy C.

Whiff on 2B's as well.

I think there were cracks in that locker room too, and those got to be BIG cracks in 2008.

#3 Michigan: Was it foreshadowing that the previously great defense gave up a combined 74 points in the last two games? We say yes. The Wolverines will win in a watered down Big Ten, but will get tripped up somewhere after Sept 1 opener against Appalachian State.

Our Michigan folk missed this nugget ^ ^ ^