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For more than a decade, every weekday during the college football season I have written 3-Point Stance, three short notes to entertain, make you think or maybe even both. This season, as Kickoff Week begins Thursday night, we move to seven notes, twice a week. The mathematically inclined will note that means one fewer note per week. You are getting slightly less for the same price. Which, by the way, is nothing. And have you taken a look at your half-gallon of ice cream lately? Its not a half-gallon.But I digress. Lets get on with the season: It is here, by god. It is here.Tide will overwhelm the Trojans on the line Its always dangerous to assess this years team by how it did last year. But when I look at No. 20 USCs chances against No. 1 Alabama on Saturday (ABC, 8 p.m. ET), I think of how Stanford dominated the line of scrimmage last season, held the ball for 35:42 and rushed for 262 yards against the Trojans in the Pac-12 championship game last December. The Trojans have a young defensive front. The Tide have three returning starters on the offensive line, including Cam Robinson, who might be the best left tackle in the country, not to mention a veteran defensive front.Fun fact from the Group of 5 San Diego State, which won its last 10 games a year ago, has the second-longest active winning streak in the FBS behind Alabamas 12-game streak. In the first six years of this decade, Northern Illinois four home losses are tied for the fewest in the FBS, with Alabama, Boise State, Clemson, Florida State, LSU and Stanford. And really, the Huskies lost only two at home. The other two home games were at Soldier Field. If you need to prove your Power 5 knowledge, mention that Florida State has won 21 straight home games dating to 2012.Tar Heels forced to backtrack after fumbling with appointment of Beckman North Carolina chancellor Carol L. Folt, on the short tenure of Tim Beckman as a Tar Heels volunteer coach: Moving forward I dont expect this situation to recur. I dont know Folt, but I know that a lot of university presidents are academics who couldnt find the football stadium with a campus map. Folt is a scientist who came to Chapel Hill after spending 30 years on the Dartmouth faculty. Between the ongoing NCAA investigation and the tone-deaf hiring of Beckman by head coach Larry Fedora, Folt has gotten a crash course on the dark side of the football team being the universitys front porch.Babers spread will thrive in Carrier Dome Texas offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert spent three seasons (2012-14) on the staff of Dino Babers at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green. Babers plucked Gilbert out of Temple (Texas) High to help install Baylors spread offense. Now Babers is at Syracuse, and Gilbert believes he will turn around the Orange because the Baylor spread is made for the Carrier Dome. To be able to play probably half or more than half their games in a controlled climate? Especially up there? It will be huge to run this offense in that kind of conditions, Gilbert said.K-State will try and catch McCaffrey if it can Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder, asked about the task of slowing down Stanford back Christian McCaffrey, last years Heisman runner-up, gave a tutorial on defensive preparation. Being able to identify where he is and why hes there becomes important, Snyder said. He can line up in a lot of different positions, and [we must] not get baited out of position because of where his linemen are. They have to understand what he can, but also equally important, what he cant do from certain positions. Of course, everyone is waiting to find out what McCaffrey cant do.Beamer ball alive and well at Virginia Tech?Virginia Tech will award its special teams player of the week with the honor of wearing the No. 25 jersey, the retired number worn by former Hokies head coach Frank Beamer, in the next game. Another cool special teams honor: Because Duke quarterback and team co-captain Thomas Sirk has re-injured his Achilles tendon, he will be replaced at the coin toss in each game by a special teams captain of the week. Four-year long snapper Thomas Hennessy gets the honor when the Blue Devils open Saturday against North Carolina Central.Looking for signs of life from the Buffaloes Yes, Colorado has won two Pac-12 games in head coach Mike MacIntyres three seasons. But here are some things to think about as the Buffs try to snap their streak of consecutive seasons with a losing record at 10. Four of Colorados five losses to Pac-12 South teams last year came by seven points or fewer. Eighteen starters return. Senior quarterback Sefo Liufau has started 29 games, thrown for nearly 7,400 yards and 49 touchdowns. It might be too much to ask against a schedule with road trips to Michigan, Oregon, USC and Stanford in the first eight games. But the Buffs just might show some life. Luis Lopez Jersey .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Justin Wilson Jersey . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/620l-ed-lynch-jersey-mets.html . LOUIS -- St. New York Mets Pro Shop . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Jesse Orosco Jersey . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Top heavy and offensively challenged. Aging and ripe to be toppled. That was how the Southeastern Conference looked earlier this season, and by its standards, probably still does to some.Halfway through the season, the SEC has only two teams in the top 10 but still can lay claim to the unofficial title of the deepest league in college football.No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0 SEC), the defending national champions, leads an impressive eight SEC teams in this weeks Top 25 . Three-loss Ole Miss sits No. 23 and LSU, which fired longtime leader Les Miles last month, has returned at No. 25.Its just the culture down there that makes football so important, SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears said. Boys grow up dreaming to play for their favorite (SEC) school instead of the NFL.And those dreams are coming true for much of the league this season.Leading the way are the undefeated Crimson Tide and No. 6 Texas A&M (6-0, 4-0). But even a couple of Tigers, whose seasons seemed finished except for playing out the games -- afore mentioned LSU (4-2, 2-1) and No. 21 Auburn (4-2, 2-1).The rest of the ranked SEC teams are Eastern Division leader Florida (5-1, 3-1) at No. 15, Arkansas (5-2, 1-2) at No. 17 and Tennessee (5-2, 2-2) at No. 18 and Mississippi (3-3, 1-2) at No. 23.Im not really surprised by it, LSU receiver Travin Dural said. Its not something I havent seen before.It adds up to a schedule filled with losable contests where its impossible to relax.Every game is going to be a hard game, Alabama linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton said. You have to go out there and earn it. Its not going to be given to you.Spears, who won a national title at LSU in 2004 under coach Nick Saban, understands that well. Growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the defensive end knew football was important. Even he didnt expect the fanaticism he saw in college.As a sophomore, Spears could not believe the scene he saw leaving the 2002 Sugar Bowl after the Tigers beat Illinois 47-34.There were grown men crying, he said. It wasnt like we won a national championship and they were out there like that.Its that passion, Spears said, that attracts coaches all over the country to fly South seeking top players.Spears alma mater, LSU, has rebounded with two straight wins under interim coach Ed Orgeron. The Tigers get a boost this week with the return of injured star running back Leonard Fournette for the Saturdays game against Ole Misss.dddddddddddd. That matchup kicks off a second half of games for LSU against ranked opponents with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M looming.Its just staying focused and keeping things in front that are in front, LSU safety Jamal Adams said.Look on any SEC schedule and its a gauntlet of games.Alabama plays its third straight ranked opponent this week in Texas A&M. The Aggies are playing a third ranked SEC team in four weeks.Tennessee coach Butch Jones expected the league to be the most competitive in some time. The teams and coaches who consistently succeed in the SEC are those who accept and embrace the intense challenge from week to week.The depth of your program will start to show itself and reveal itself, just from the grind of a long season, the physicality of this conference, Jones said.Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze believes his teams staying power -- the Rebels are the only Top 25 team with three losses -- comes from its strong schedule. Theyve lost to Florida State, Alabama and Arkansas, all ranked opponents.I would think that the message is carrying some weight that strength of schedule does matter, he said.Things dont get any easier as Mississippi faces two more ranked SEC teams next: LSU and then Auburn.Weve got our work cut out for us, Freeze said.Every SEC coach will say the same thing, knowing success can slip away in an eye blink.South Carolina was among the leagues top teams from 2010 to 2013, going 42-11 and finishing No. 4 in the country three years ago. But former Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier acknowledged letting recruiting slide and now replacement Will Muschamp is tasked with building back the FBSs last-place team in scoring.Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin believes the league prepares teams for competing against anyone in the country -- an attitude the Aggies plan to pack for Saturdays game vs. Alabama and the rest of the season.Comes time where maybe you go into situations and you just play, Sumlin said. Thats where we are right now.---AP Sports Writers John Zenor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; David Brant from Oxford, Mississippi; Mark Long from Gainesville, Florida; Brett Martel from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Steve Megargee from Knoxville, Tennessee contributed to this report.---OnlineAP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '