CFT: Urban Meyer has taken a trip to visit his daughter and went on vacation with his wife in Hawaii, but the Florida coach hasn't completely removed himself from the football operations during his leave of absence.

I read today that Notre Dame has just inked a deal to play Maryland at FedEX Field for the 2011 season, a neutral site game that will give the Irish four seasons in a row with such a game. They've also got Arizona State scheduled in Cowboys Stadium in Texas for 2013. Last year they played Washington State in San Antonio, a matchup that had to be created purely for the accumulation of frequent flyer miles, and they play Army this coming season at Yankee Stadium. Even an ardent Notre Dame detractor such as myself has to admit that the matchup and venue combination is pretty cool. The only bad thing about it is that it's scheduled for late November, the game before the Irish's season-ending rivalry match with USC. It might draw way more attention if they played it earlier in the season, like a kickoff game, but I forgot that they schedule other activities in Yankee Stadium around that time.

I applaud the Irish for doing more touring than Jimmy Buffet. It keeps their name out there, and gives their still enormous fan base a snowball's chance of seeing them somewhere outside South Bend, which is pretty handy since they don't always accept bowl invitations. Keeping relevant is important for a team that who although has it's own individual television contract, has played Georgia Tech almost as many times (34) as neighbor Michigan (37). Yet with new coach Brian Kelly barely settling into South Bend, the temptation to cut some slack on his upcoming schedule might be too great. Why risk going on the road when you could have a gut game at home and help your new coach build confidence, especially the week before your biggest game of the season? Kudos to the Irish for this unique scheduling approach. If they keep it up, they might be able to resist joining a conference for at least another decade.

Know this: These one-shot games are the way of the future. They allow easier scheduling logistics than a home and home, and generous payouts help ease the financial sting of the subtraction of a home game from the slate. And the venue and/or timing of the game give unparalled exposure. Last season's Chick Fil-A Kickoff Game gave ABC huge numbers, with football-starved fans eager for any pigskin action. It's like a bowl game to kick off the season, but even better than one because all of CFB is focused on you. The game isn't diluted with a bunch of other meaningless games like the bowl season is.

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I mentioned recently in my thoroughly and blatantly unbiased comparison of Auburn and Alabama in the 2000s that one of the great things about the statistical site CFB Data Warehouse is the rankings index they have that attempts to objectively compare all of the teams in the sport either all-time, in a quarter century, or in a given decade. Now that 2010 is upon us, the good folks at CFBDWH have finally compiled their rankings for the decade ending last year and we now get to see who they think were the top 25 programs in the nation from 2000-2009.

There are only four criteria: Winning percentage points, strength of schedule points, major-4 bowl appearances and national championships won. Three are pretty self-explanatory, but SOS still remains a mystery. I'm unsure exactly how they compile the number for that. Of course, I think that a thorough evaluation of teams in a given time period should include additional categories like conference titles and top 25 poll finishes--maybe the latter somehow is figured into their SOS. But regardless, it's still the quickest, best comparison a blogger can pull up for much-needed material in the off-season.

And the great thing about pulling up these indexes in the last few decades is that we all know that the national championship points are legit. CFBDWH also allows you to rank teams all the way back, where NC claims tend to be a bit more dubious. The site itself tends to accept what most schools claim in that regard, so you must consider that if you utilize material that old. But for the decade that just ended, I think we're pretty safe. And here are the results:

1) Southern California. 1048.86
2) Florida. 944.77
3) Louisiana St. 910.84
4) Ohio St. 904.24
5) Oklahoma. 889.13

6) Texas. 852.31
7) Miami (FL) 847.22
8) Georgia. 811.41
9) Oregon. 790.71
10) Florida St. 778.43

11) Virginia Tech. 763.98
12) Alabama. 746.64
13) Oregon St. 735.36
14) Michigan. 732.03
15) Auburn (AL) 730.85

16) Notre Dame (IN) 722.85
17) Tennessee. 714.54
18) Georgia Tech. 707.69
19) UCLA. 705.19
20) California. 704.23

21) Penn St. 697.85
22) Iowa. 692.56
23) Wisconsin. 691.83
24) West Virginia. 690.55
25) Boston College. 689.43


The first thing that pops out is that all of the teams that won multiple NCs-USC, Florida, and LSU--are all at the top, followed immediately by the teams that won single crowns--Ohio State 4th, Oklahoma 5th, Texas 6th, and Miami 7th--with the exception of Alabama, which came in at 12th. Georgia, at 8th, is the highest ranked team who didn't win a NC, but they won two SEC titles. Oregon, at 9th, was in the same boat with PAC-10 titles in 2001 and 2009 but no national crowns.

FSU, who won four conference titles last decade, came in at 10th, probably because of a watered down ACC that didn't win a single national championship and didn't go to divisional play until 2004. Newcomer Virginia Tech, who won that first divisional title in 2004, also won conference crowns in 2007 and 2008, making them the second highest ranked ACC team at 11th. Curiously, Oregon State is 13th, having only shared a PAC title in 2000 with a Fiesta Bowl appearance. Evidently, their high SOS rating helped them with quite a few rungs on the ladder. Michigan 14th, who only won one outright Big Ten title, still went to two Rose Bowls, although they wouldn't have gone in 2006 had Ohio State not gone to the BCS CG, leaving UM that open Rose slot. Auburn comes in at a respectable 15th, with the SEC title and Sugar Bowl appearance in 2004.

Tennessee was the remaining ranked SEC team at 17th. Half of the conference was in the top 25. I guess there's really no need to mention which was the top conference in the decade, but you might be surprised who's #2.

So let's hear who got hosed, who got just deserts and who was a martyr!

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The NCAA football playing rules committee has announced some proposed rule changes, which must now be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel. If you think that sounds an awful like trying to get health care pushed through both houses of Congress, well maybe that's overstating it just a bit, because this isn't double-secret legislation.

The biggest change comes in the way of penalties on taunting. If a player commits the act before he crosses the goal line, the penalty is assessed from the spot of the foul--negating the TD. If it occurs while in the end zone, then the same rules apply, with the penalty being assessed on the extra-point attempt, 2-point conversion try, or ensuing kickoff--depending on the outcome of a quick game of three-card Monty. The changes, which enjoy almost universal support, would take place starting in the 2011 season.

"Taunting and prolonged individual acts have no place in our game, and our officials have generally handled these rules well," said former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, the committee chair. "This is just another step in maintaining our game's image and reflecting the ideals of the NCAA overall."

Oh really, Mike? If it was that important to you, why don't you just toss the player? Is that what Draco would have done?

Other rules changes suggested include:

Television monitors will be allowed in the press box coach's booths beginning in 2011. The home team has responsibility for insuring that coach's booths for both teams have identical television capability, complete with access to Youtube and Twitter and Holly Rowe's cell phone number.

Ending the requirement that players pants always cover the knees. Just the jock area is fine.

Eliminating the intentional "wedge" on kickoffs and punts, a rule implemented by the NFL last year. I doubt that anyone can explain what the hell that is because all I hear is wedgie...

Recommending conferences that do not have a pregame warm-up policy use a 10-yard, no-player zone between the 45-yard lines beginning 60 minutes before kickoff. Okay, what does that mean? For RV parking? No tail-gating? Special National Anthem Singing Area?

Requiring players who wear "eye black" to use solid black with no words, logos, numbers or other symbols. That will be effective next season, but not nearly as effective as requiring full-on mascara. Sissies! Seriously, they had to do something about it. Guys were trying to print War and Peace in there.

Anyone got any other rules changes you'd like to see? Okay, a few for me:

1) If you have a tight end line up for more than 50 plays in the game and never throw it to one of them, automatic ejection of the player. (Known as the Auburn rule) You won't be needing him anyway, or you would have done it already. Bring in a flanker.

2) Any player whose helmet falls off more than once in a game because he won't button the straps properly in the hopes that he will be seen on TV more easily will be ejected and forced to conduct all post-game interviews wearing his helmet.

3) Any offense, within two minutes of the half, must throw at least one pass per four downs and at least pretend they're trying to do something other than run the clock out.

4) Line the field with sensors and lace a chip into the ball. I'm tired of chains and measurements that drain momentum and lengthen the game time. Oh, and if you could get that yellow first down marker to be visible to the players on the field, that would be cool, too.

5) No more icing the kicker time-outs. If you have one remaining and it is the last play of the game, it will automatically be called when the ball is spotted--not when the guy has lined up. Any attempt to call succeeding timeouts will result in 5 yard penalties and more beer commercials

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From the news of the weird today, I heard this one on the radio and had to look it up later just to make sure they were yanking our chain. According to a site which tracks such things, it appears that Alabama coach Nick Saban has more fans from the state of Alabama on the social networking site Facebook than even God does. You can draw your own conclusions on that one. By no means scientific or realistic, the number of people subscribing to certain fan pages seems to be consistent in certain areas of the country, with God usually coming out on top in most states in the south, but sometimes barely edging Starbucks or the occasional Chick-Fil-A.

Heck, the Saints now rule with Louisiana residents, and while allegiences to sports teams are nothing new, the worship of a specific coach is somewhat interesting, although not totally surprising in this case, as Jimmy Sexton might have had this adolation specifically written into Saban's contract as the Capstone threw him the keys while he deplaned that inbound flight from Miami. God's agent, while unavailable, did email that the Lord may want to discuss the matter in person and released his itinerary, which included a flight into Saban and Tuscamorrah later this week.

Oh, write your own damn jokes. It's what the comments section is for.

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With all the recent talk of conference changes, we had almost forgotten the original impetus for it, the Big Ten. As rumors of the Pac 10 poaching Colorado from the Big 12 have fallen this week, it seems that Missouri might not be the only target of a possible Big Ten expansion. Seems that "preliminary exchanges" between the Big Ten and the University of Texas have already taken place, according to a confidential source to LJWorld.com. If true, as strange as it may sound, it's not the only time Texas has considered such an interesting conference arrangement. Before the Big 12 was welded together from the old Big 8 and Southwest conferences, Texas considering joining the Pac-10.

If Texas did join the Big Ten, the drawing power for the conference for TV ratings would be astronomical, possibly eclipsing even that of the SEC. However, one look at a map will indicate that the logistics might be hard to reconcile. The travel costs of all sports would be enormous, and one would have to wonder if the extra money would be worth it. But Texas, already the most valuable CFB program in the nation, could possibly absorb it, especially if certain financial concessions were made by their suitor. Texas already receives more TV money than any other team in the Big 12, and would certainly demand a Texas-size share of any new agreement. There are also reports that Texas may also consider forming it's own state-wide TV network, although no details on how that would work are known.

I'm thinking that this is all a ruse, if it's even true at all. The Big Ten is posturing for a specific reason. Perhaps it's to sufficiently motivate Notre Dame to finally consider losing their virginity independence. Or could it be to significantly drop the price and demands of other potential draftees like Pitt and Missouri? And think about the state of Texas itself. They used to be their own separate country for God's sake. Do you think they would stand for the loss of tradition and see their cherished Horns run off to join a durned Yankee conference? They might as well build another Alamo in Ann Arbor for that matter. Besides, there's no way that UT could drop the rivalries with Oklahoma and A&M. And you can't play two OOC games like that every year and a Big Tweleven schedule and expect to compete for many national championships.

Sorry, Big Ten. Ya'll come back now. Ya hear.

h/t: OU-Ron

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Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli faces a burglary charge in connection with a theft at a campus fraternity house in late January.

Oklahoma State offensive lineman Russell Okung is showing off for representatives of 27 NFL teams, including three general managers.

AUBURN, Ala. - Ben Tate spent most of Auburn's pro day watching, relaxing and trying to stay loose.

Mike Balogun hopes his year away from Sooners football won't mean he's forgotten come time for the NFL draft.

A new study has found that one in three early-stage breast cancer patients who received genomic testing when deciding about treatment options felt they did not fully understand their discussions with physicians about their test results and their risk of recurrence.