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The South Carolina Gamecocks are just days away from opening up fall camp in preparation of the 2010 season...well, they've been preparing all summer with workouts just like other teams, but that is beside the point. So, today I'll do my best to navigate the schedule and give you an idea of how I think this Gamecock season will fair. vs. Southern Miss Carolina will kickoff the season with their game against Southern Miss. The Eagles aren't an easy opponent. They are historically strong on defense, and they have installed a spread offense. Southern Miss is coming off a 7-5 season, but they could easily have gone 10-3, losing three games by less than a touchdown. The Gamecocks should win. But it won't be a cakewalk. Gamecocks 27 Southern Miss 14 vs Georgia Carolina then opens SEC play with border-rival Georgia. The Bulldogs are in a little bit of a flux. Head coach Mark Richt is on the hot seat, they are installing a 3-4 defense and they are bringing in an inexperien

Expansion. We nearly had it. Colorado knocked over the first domino, which looked like it would set off a chain reaction and change the landscape of football. Then we get to Texas and expansion was stopped...for now at least. The new Pac 10 (currently with 11 teams) is a program away from having a championship game...and it looks like Utah will be the final piece of that puzzle. If Utah joins, I'd say the best way to split em up would be a pseudo North-South alignment. In one division, have Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and Cal. In the other, place USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado. And where will the title game be played??? LA of course. Now, to the Big 10 (which now has 12 teams) acquired Nebraska, and will have a 12 team league in 2011. For this conference, I see an East-West schism. In one division, I see Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois and Northwestern. In the other, I see Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Pe

Now that the ACC and SEC have been predicted, we move on to an overview of the rest of the NCAA Division I-A (FBS). Big East It will again be an interesting year in the Big East (and could be one of the last years for the Big East barring expansion). Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida are bringing in new coaches while West Virginia and Pittsburgh will be lead by stellar runningbacks. Really, the only team that doesn't look as if it will be the least bit competitive is Syracuse (wait for basketball season Orangemen). I still have a lot of questions for Louisville, UConn, Cincy, South Florida and West Virginia. Rutgers will be an interesting team to watch with QB Tom Savage and WR Mohammed Sanu. They will be a tough D, but I'm not sure if they have the best D in the Big East. The top team in my opinion, is Pittsburgh. They have an All-American caliber RB in Dion Lewis, a decent passing game, and a hard-nosed defense. Questions are at QB, but Lewis can compensate for that. P

Last time we focused on the ACC, picking how the season might play out, as well as All Conference first and second team. Today, we shift our focus to the SEC. West Will start off with the easy division to pick. No surprise, I'm going with Alabama. The Crimson Tide look to have a dominant offense headed by a huge, athletic offensive line and a 1-2 punch at runningback with Heisman winner Mark Ingram and sophomore Trent Richardson. They also have Julio Jones at receiver, just in case you were wondering if they had any other weapons, along with consistent play from their tightends. The only question for Alabama is defense, were they lost a few key guys, such as Terrance Cody, Javier Arenas, and Rolando McClain, but they do get LB Dont'a Hightower back. Everyone else will be playing for second, and I think that honor goes to either Auburn or Arkansas. I would throw LSU in the mix, but their QB situation and questions on defense are too big for me to overlook. Ole Miss lost almost e

With Phil Steele's pre-season All Conference selections coming out, we here at the Report believe it is time we unveiled our pre-season teams, as well as how we think the league will pan out. Today, the ACC is on display. First, look at the divisional races. Atlantic Looking at the Atlantic division that saw Clemson win its first divisional title, and make its first appearance in the title game, the Tigers are hoping for a repeat. Much of that hinges on the return of QB Kyle Parker, who will have to decide between the baseball or football depending on where he is selected in the MLB draft. If Parker comes back, Clemson will have a good shot, if he doesn't, it could be a rougher year. Personally, I think Parker is like a baseball after being struck by an aluminum bat...gone. QB Tajh Boyd is more talented, but Clemson will be a year away from returning to the ACC title game, but they will finish no lower than third this year. Personally, I think Florida State will win the divisio

A college football shakeup has been a hot button issue recently, and a column by The State's (SC) Ron Morris has brought the firestorm to South Carolina. In his piece, Morris makes note of a giant college football conference realignment that, among other things, would put South Carolina back in the ACC, a conference it left in the late 1960s. Though I don't agree with Mr. Morris' (no relation to me) idea that USC would go back to the ACC, I do agree there is a big conference shift that will, eventually, give us a college football playoff. After a long, and scientifically inexact process, I was able to come up with seven "Superconferences," based loosely on region . One important thing to note: These changes only effect football , while leaving all these conferences I did away with, intact for basketball, baseball and other sports. Conferences such as the SEC, ACC, MAC, and Mountain West would remain, while the Big 12 has a schism and splits, remaking the Sout

I've gotten to watch a week of games and highlights, and now I'm ready to make predictions on who will win divisions, the wildcard, and who will be playing in the World Series. National League East 1-Phillies 2-Braves 3-Marlins 4-Mets 5-Nationals *The Phillies are still the team to beat. The additions of P Roy Halladay and C Placido Palanco make their rotation the best in the National League, and give them another strong bat in the lineup. And you can't forget about the trifecta of SS Jimmy Rollins, 2B Chase Utley and 1B Ryan Howard (who will hit close to 50 HRs this year). Braves will win the wildcard. Central 1-Cardinals 2-Brewers 3-Reds 4-Cubs 5-Astros 6-Pirates *The Cardinals have the best pitching rotation in the division with Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Brad Penny . Don't forget the two dangerous bats of OF Matt Holliday and 1B Albert Pujols. West 1-Giants 2-Rockies 3-Dodgers 4-Diamondbacks 5-Padres *The Rockies are the favorite, but I think the Giants

It was announced by the NCAA that the men's basketball tournament will expand to 96 teams . Here is a link to the Indianapolis Business Journal for more details. The actual vote for this is still three weeks away , but all signs point that this will go through. Though I am not a fan of this, it does have merit. More teams equals more games The overall product won't be watered down , just the first round. Missed class time won't be a problem. They will miss a maximum of one extra day. The extra revenue will help fund non-revenue sports , such as track and field, tennis, etc. As I have stated in an earlier post, I was not a fan of expansion, for the simple reason I think the tournament lasts long enough, and by April, I'm ready for baseball and Opening Day (which should be a National holiday). This has a good chance of taking effect in the 2011 tournament. This won't diminish the importance of the regular season, it will enhance it. Now, the regular season conferenc

How many of you picked Kansas to win it all? I did, and now my bracket is busted...thanks a lot Northern Iowa. Also, I made the foolish choice of picking Texas to beat Wake Forest, and then top Kentucky on their way to the Final Four...thanks to the Deacs, that won't happen either. And I couldn't be happier. These upsets prove that the tournament doesn't need an expansion with would give the top seeds a bye week, and let the lower ranked teams play the UNI's and St. Mary's and Temple's and Cornell's of the world. What makes the tournament exciting are those first round, seemingly insurmountable games that feature an all-world one or two seed, against some mid-major school that no one has heard of (I didn't even know there was a school in northern Iowa, much less that they played basketball out there). There is the argument that more teams means more upsets, but that isn't true. As stated, the top teams would get a bye, and the lower seeds would just

I l o ve history. It is one of my favorite subjects in school. I just find it interesting to look back in the past and draw parallels to today. Of course to do this, the history text must be accurate, and give all sides of an issue. But I guess the Texas school board has decided that giving all sides isn't needed anymore. According to the New York Times story published March 12, the Texas School board, which is an elected body, decided it would be a good idea to inject a more "conservative" view of American history, science and economics textbooks. Why does this matter to you? Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks, and what they decide is appropriate in a book is what is used by schools across the country. Here are some of the amendments the board made that was deemed appropriate: Teaching how the Venona papers "legitimized" McCarthy's claim of communist infiltration. The "unintended consequences" of Title IX, affirmative action and the

I love baseball. In my opinion, it is the greatest game played here in the states, and is slowly become the worlds number two game, behind soccer of course. But just because I love the sport doesn't mean I think it is perfect. In fact, I think MLB could use a few changes to make things more interesting. I'll skip how the TV deals favor the Yankees and Red Sox, and get to the main point of this piece. I think that MLB needs to do a realignment to not only make the divisions more geographically friendly for travel, but to also level the playing field. The best example of this unfairness is the NL Central and the AL West. In the current NL Central there are six teams, compared to the four in the AL West. To me, all divisions should have the same amount of teams, giving each team the same chance of making the playoffs. In my realigned MLB, there will still be six divisions. and we can keep the American League-National League rivalry, though I would like for the designated hitter ar

It seems just like yesterday we were watching the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns play for the National Title in the Rose Bowl. Or maybe it was like yesterday National Signing Day and top prospects gave new light into a programs future. College football has become a year-long sport, and the next big event is the start of spring practice, followed by teams annual spring games. This is the time of year when teams get a chance to look at younger, unproven guys and see what they can do, to implement new schemes, or help settle position battles. This goes the same for both the South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers. This edition of the Lake Report, we will focus on objectives for the spring, and a projected post-Spring ball roster. Keep in mind, this report will only include players enrolled for the spring semester. Another report will come out in the fall including all incoming players. Clemson The Tigers will have an interesting spring to say the least. They will have to pre

Signing Day has come and gone, only to mark the next recruiting cycle that will take place for 2011. But before we get ahead of ourselves and look at the next class of high school seniors, I want to take a look at the signed guys for both Clemson and South Carolina, give a grade to each school and give a projection for the state of South Carolina's top 15 prospects for 2011. Also, I'll give my rating of where the two SC schools rank in their conferences. Clemson The Tigers signed a very small class in 2009, which led many to believe they would sign a monster-sized class for 2010. And the Tigers made good on that expectation, signing 23 players, and this class addresses some needs and and has some pretty highly rated guys. But the one word I'd use to describe this class is fast. According to Rivals, Clemson signed seven guys that ran the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds or faster. They also addressed what I believe is the biggest need in defensive backs with the losses of many s

We can put a wrap on the 2009-2010 season for both teams from South Carolina. Both teams showed signs of improvement, and showed areas for improvement. I'll take a look at both schools, give a grade to their seasons, areas of improvement, and outlook for 2010-11. Clemson Tigers The Tigers did well under first year coach Dabo Swinney. They did something they never did under Bowden, punch a ticket for the ACC Title game. They also featured an electric duo in CJ Spiller and Jacoby Ford. Looking at the season, they beat almost all the teams they were suppose to, but the loss to Maryland is a glaring black mark on the record. The two losses to Georgia Tech also hurt, because one cost them the ACC title and a shot at the Orange Bowl. In fact, if Clemson could've beat South Carolina, this might have been considered one of the best seasons in Clemson history. Also, QB Kyle Parker improved throughout the year using the weapons he had. The defense was good as well, led by DE Ricky Sapp,