Phil Steele emphatically emphasizes that this is not his top 10 but rather what he believes will be the AP top 10 for next season.  The always humble Phil states that he had 9 of 10 teams exactly right in his 2009 projection and that HE probably affected some of the voters on his only wrong pick because HE had Penn State as his #1 surprise team - thus the voters put them at #10 instead of LSU.  Whatever. Anyways, here you go (complete with his top 15 and each team's schedule):

Some very, very good non-conference games to note:   Penn State @ Alabama (9/11);  Miami, FL @ Ohio State (9/11);  Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (@ Fed Ex Field 9/6);  Oregon State @ Boise State (9/25);  Oregon @ Tennessee (9/11);  UCLA @ Texas (9/25);  Oregon State vs. TCU (@ Cowboys Stadium 9/4);  Iowa @ Arizona (9/18);  South Florida @ Florida (9/11);  Florida @ Florida State (11/27);  Nebraska @ Washington (9/18);  Georgia Tech @ Kansas (9/11);  Arizona State @ Wisconsin (9/18);  Florida State @ Oklahoma (9/11);  Oklahoma @ Cincinnati (9/25);  Miami @ Pittsburgh (9/23);  West Virginia @ LSU (9/25)

Circle September 11th on your calendar for next fall.  No question it is definitely one of the better days in September that I've seen in recent memory.

Fresh off his new deal with Nike, Ndamukong Suh stopped by to chat with Jim Rome on Miami Beach.

Call me crazy (or whatever other names you usually call me) but I think there's a slight possibility that the St. Louis Rams might pass on Suh.  Rookie QB Keith Null finished the season for the 1-15 Rams and had a passing rating of 49.9 in 4 games.  Before him, Marc Bulger and Kyle Boller weren't exactly lighting up the scoreboard with passing ratings of 70.7 and 61.2, respectively.   I don't think there's any doubt that Jimmy Clausen and Sam Bradford's names are being thrown around the St. Louis offices right now as this team needs an overhaul.  Obviously, that usually begins with a quarterback and not a defensive tackle.

Let's also not forget that the St. Louis Rams haven't had the best of luck with Nebraska players.  See:  Lawrence Phillips, Eric Crouch, DeJuan Groce, and Adam Carriker.

With ink still wet on letters of intent for the Class of 2010, NU has fallen behind for the Class of 2015.  On Friday, U$C catapulted to the top of the Rivals Team Rankings for 2015 when it received a verbal commitment from David Sills, a 13-year-old QB from Delaware.  Although still waiting on pubic hair, Sills is said to have the moxie and pocket presence of a young Joe Theisman.

In case you were wondering, this is not Lane Kiffin's first commitment from a prepubescent.  Last summer, Kiffin got 13-year-old Evan Berry (Eric's little brother) to pledge to the Tennesssee Vols.  No word yet on whether or not Ed Orgeron instructed him not to enrol in Junior High so that he could switch to U$C.

Quick to respond, Bo Pelini has gotten the jump on 2022 by offering Nyrel Sevilla, a hard-hitting 6-year-old Safety out of Huntington Beach, California:

It's not often that the N.Y. Times deigns to write about College Football.  When it does, the results are outstanding.  Case in point: this story about the courtship of Seantrel Henderson, an Offensive Tackle out of Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The #1 overall prospect in the Rivals100 for much of last year, Henderson had offers from everyone and had quite the official visit to "The U" over the Pro Bowl weekend:

Henderson and his father left freezing temperatures in Minneapolis in a limousine sent by Miami to head to the airport for their official visit to the university. The trip was Henderson's fifth and final official NCAA visit, and came on the weekend of the Pro Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla.

That night, Seantrel Henderson was taken to a Miami club, where he met the former Miami stars Willis McGahee and Bryant McKinnie. . . .  On Saturday he went to a South Beach nightclub, where he met Baltimore Ravens free safety Ed Reed, another former Miami player.

Sean Henderson said his son told him, "Wow, Dad, this trip right here is making my decision even harder."

Although tempted by the prospect of majoring in such things as Ballin-Outta-Control, Doin Werk, and Marine Biology at The U, Henderson would ultimately commit to U$C (pending a favorable outcome for the school before an NCAA Investigatory panel later this month).  For those who have never been to the MIA, here is a rough approximation of how Henderson's official went down:

Some of the finest Smokeshows we've shown here hailed from places like Duke and Cincinnati.  That's why it should come as no surprise that this week's installment - and perhaps the best yet - calls Central Michigan University home.

Casie Keller is a professional model that graced the cover of Playboy's College Girls Jan/Feb 2009 issue as well worked as a Playboy 'Special Editions' Speedo model.  I'm not quite sure how someone like this ends up at Central Michigan, but I'm just happy that this qualifies her as a legitimate 'College Smokeshow of the Week.'

I don't have any info about her ambitions in life or her major at CMU, but then again, I'm not really sure she's going to need one.  There's going to be plenty of work for her in the City of Angels. (HT: B.C.)

As always, enjoy the gallery after the jump (SFW) --->

Owamagbe Odighizuwa is off to UCLA to play for the second best college football program in Los Angeles.  Owa will be playing for DC Chuck Bullough, who has been a defensive coordinator for one year in his coaching career - that was the 2009 season at UCLA.  Bullough's defense in 2009 ranked #32 in total defense, #27 in scoring defense, #59 in rushing defense, #41 in pass efficiency defense, and #58 in total sacks.  Bo Pelini's defense in 2009 ranked #7 in total defense, #1 in scoring defense, #9 in rushing defense, #1 in pass efficiency defense, and #2 in total sacks.

UCLA also happens to be the same defense that surrendered 456 total yards, 27 points, allowed 35:38 of ball possession, and had 0 sacks vs. Arizona.  In the Holiday Bowl, Nebraska allowed 109 total yards, 0 points, and allowed 21:48 seconds of ball possession to Arizona.

In two seasons at UCLA, Rick Neuheisal is 11-14 overall and 6-12 in the Pac-10.  Before the Skippy regime began, Karl Dorrell was 35-27 and 24-18 in the Pac-10.  In two seasons at Nebraska, Bo Pelini is 19-8 overall and 11-5 in the Big 12 with one conference championship game appearance.

In Owa's press-conference, he stated that he was not only looking at the next 4 years, but the next 40 years of his life.  Nebraska ranks #1 in Academic All-Americans (All Sports) with 271 total.  UCLA ranks #10 with 112.

UCLA's Defensive End recruits since 2008: 4* Damien Holmes, 4* Datone Jones, 4* Keenan Graham, 3* Iuta Tepa, 3* Derrick Bryant, and of course, Owa.

Said Bo Pelini about Owa's decision:

It's his mistake. Honestly, I don't get all caught up in all that. I don't get all stressed out about whether they're going to come. If it's right, they're going to come. You can drive yourself crazy over the whole thing. In the end, it's a crapshoot if he's going to be as good as anyone says he was anyway. I thought he was a pretty good player. But in my mind the kids that don't choose to come here I don't believe do themselves a service because I believe we'll develop them better than the other guy. That's just the confidence I have.

You do what you need to do if you're Owa.  If taking helicopter rides with coach is up your alley, then go to UCLA.  If playing for a coach that committed 53 rules violations when he was at Colorado from 1995-8 (that cost the Buffaloes 5 scholarships and two years of probation) and faced a two-year ban from the NCAA when he was at Washington (gambling,) then go to UCLA.

The next time we will hear from Owa and his life of obscurity at UCLA is when Nebraska travels to Pasadena in 2012 and when UCLA comes to Lincoln in 2013.  As Pelini said, it obviously wasn't a good fit at Nebraska for him.  However, I'll be more than interested in a few years down the road to compare the college careers of Jason Ankrah, Cameron Meredith, Walker Ashburn, Donovan Vestal, and Josh Williams to Owa's career at UCLA.  I'm not saying all of these players will have better careers, but I'm guessing a few of them will have very comparable careers.  We'll have to wait and see.

Aren't too bad according to Olin Buchanan's formula at Rivals.com.

The chief statistician at Rivals.com profiles the BCS winners since 1998 and he found that they almost all possess the following 5 characteristics:

1.)  BCS Conference.   Teams not from BCS Conferences that have been unbeaten and unrewarded:  Utah '04 & '08, Hawaii '07, Boise '06 & '09, and TCU '09.  Bottom line is that none of these teams can garner enough points in the BCS standings due to their competition.

2.) 9 Victories the previous season.   He states 9 of the 12 BCS winners had at least 9 wins the previous season before their championship run.  Carrying momentum from the previous season is obviously very important.  Winning is infectious.  Nebraska was 10-4 in 2009.

3.) Have a winning record post-October in the regular season.   7 of the previous 12 BCS winners were unbeaten in November and only LSU in '02 didn't fit this criteria.  Nebraska defeated Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, and Colorado last season in November.

4.) Returning a starting QB that's a Jr. or Sr.   Gregg McElroy and Tee Martin are the only two QB's who don't fit this mold.  Love him or hate him, but Zac Lee has plenty of experience.  He's been with the program and Shawn Watson since 2007.

5.) Have at least 6 starters returning from a Top 20 scoring defense:   Tennessee is the only one team who didn't.  Nebraska finished the season as the #1 ranked scoring defense.  Barry Turner, Ndamukong Suh, Phillip Dillard, Larry Asante, and Matt O'Hanlon will be missed, but I don't expect the defense to have big drop-offs - if at all - statistically speaking.  The secondary will be the best we've seen in quite some time.

So after Buchanan churned out these numbers and narrowed it down, only THREE teams fit all five of these categories:  Nebraska, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech.

Another key factor in this mayhem is obviously the schedule.  Nebraska's 2010 schedule sets up just fine.

Jake Locker returning for his senior season at Washington certainly makes the trip to Seattle much tougher, but we're still talking about the Pac-10.  As QB Garrett Gilbert goes, so will Texas.  However, you have to figure he will be battle-tested as the Longhorns will have already played @ Texas Tech, UCLA, and Oklahoma before their trip to Lincoln.  Oklahoma State's defense finished #31 last season, but they lose 8 starters from that group not to mention Zac Robinson and Dez Bryant on the offensive side of the ball.  And perhaps the game that frightens me as much as any of the aforementioned teams is Texas A&M in College Station.  The Aggies return future NFL QB Jerrod Johnson with RB's Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael to go along with 9 returning starters on defense.  Not going to be easy at all.

Expectations in Bo Pelini's 3rd season are certainly going to be raised.  After all, 3 of his 4 losses in 2009 were by 2 points or less. The 2010 team will be better as a whole especially when you consider the Huskers will have no less than 16 returning starters.  Returning to a BCS bowl game for the first time since the 2001 season is without doubt there for the taking.  BCS Championship?  Let's not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.

Last week, we asked how many of the "Final Three" big fish NU would land on Signing Day.  DXP readers must be clairvoyant, because nearly half of you (49%) correctly predicted that the Huskers would go 2 for 3 ("That third kid was overrated anyway.")  Much of the remainder was evenly split: 24% were Kool-Aid drinking optimists who predicted that we'd get all 3 ("BCS Title here we come"), and 23% underestimated our staff in predicting that we'd get just 1 ("Better one than none.")  The final 4% who predicted that we'd come up completely empty ("Goodbye, cruel world") must have been pleasantly surprised and, hopefully, have by now found good use for all of that Rat Poison they'd set aside to off themselves.

This week's poll stays on the topic of recruiting . . .

We can all agree that winning a National Championship would have the greatest positive impact on NU recruiting.  Next in line would probably be winning a Big XII Title.  After that, the hierarchy is up for serious debate, so we'll put the question to you.  Which of the following would provide the greatest boost for NU recruiting: a Husker winning the Heisman, a Husker going 1st overall in the NFL Draft, or Nebraska appearing in a BCS Bowl?  If you have a particularly strong argument for one or the other, send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and it will appear along with the poll results next week.

Owamagbe Odighizuwa stood at the podium today wearing an orange polo shirt as he was set to make his announcement.  After he thanked everyone he's ever known and stated that he'd be comfortable playing at any of his final three choices, he chose to go play for Skippy Neuheisal at UCLA.  Of his final three choices, I thought all along that UCLA would probably be his third choice.  Evidently, Owa thinks they were his best fit.

Even with the loss of Owa, Nebraska went a solid 2 for 3 today to bolster their overall ranking on Rivals to the #23 ranked recruiting class.  No question that keeping Lavonte David and signing Brion Carnes and Corey Cooper certainly takes away some of the sting of Owa's decision.  Overall, I'd still consider this day a big success for Bo Pelini and the Nebraska program as every recruit is now signed.

Oh, one more thing.  Nebraska plays UCLA in 2012 and 2013.  See you soon, Owa.

CNNSI.com first reported it this morning and it's official now that 4* S Corey Cooper (Maywood, IL) has signed his letter of intent to play at Nebraska.

Rivals profile here. 
Scout profile here.

Said Cooper:

"I just found that I really like it there," said Cooper. "The team, the school, the coaches, everything about it I liked. Nowhere else could beat Nebraska.  I've never seen a crowd or anything like what I've seen at Nebraska.  It's crazy how much they love their team."

Major, major commit here.  Cooper (6'2, 200 lbs., 4.45 speed) is the #2 rated prospect in the state of Illinois and chose Nebraska over Notre Dame and Illinois.  Cooper is known for his big-hitting ability and should no doubt excel in Pelini's secondary.  He plans on enrolling in classes this summer.

Most obscure music you'll ever hear in his Youtube highlight video below.

4* QB Brion Carnes (6'1, 185 lbs., 4.64 speed) of Brandenton, FL has put everyone - including himself - on quite the roller coaster ride the past few days when he supposedly committed to Western Kentucky during his visit last weekend.  However, this morning he signed his letter of intent to play at Nebraska. Carnes, the second cousin of Tommie Frazier, finally came to his senses and it should be interesting to see how quickly he fits into this offense.  His athleticism will be a welcomed addition to this QB group we currently have.  Rumors have been floating around about his ACT scores and I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the days to come.

Rivals profile here.
Scout profile here.

Said Carnes about his commitment and Tommie Frazier:

"Just the atmosphere. Just the fact this is Nebraska. My goals and dreams are to push for a BCS national championship, try to contend for a Heisman Trophy. I feel like I can do that at Nebraska. I talk to Tommie all the time. While I was here at Manatee, he told me it was going to be a tough road to go through. And it was. I was going through this and that. I didn't know where I was going to be. I prayed about it. I put it in God's hands."

More to come with later with Owamagbe Odighizuwa's decision - Jeremy Crabtree thinks he's heading to UCLA.  His official announcement will be at 1:30 CST on ESPNU.