Who will be No. 1 when the Amway Coaches Poll is unveiled Thursday?

The team that will start the college football season at No. 1 will be unveiled Thursday with the release of the Amway Coaches Poll.

The coaches poll will be released today at noon eastern time.

Think Nebraska will be ranked?

Does it bother you if we’re not?

How’s that for short and sweet?

Northwestern Offensive Line Overhaul: At tackle, it’s a wide-open competition - Inside NU
So...who’s going to take those jobs?

Purdue Football: What to Watch for in Camp - Hammer and Rails
There are a lot of questions regarding our Boilermaker football team.

Alex Hornibrook airs it out to Wisconsin receivers in Badgers’ fifth practice - Bucky's 5th Quarter
Some big plays on both sides of the ball on Wednesday.

Rutgers Football: Linebacker Tyreek Maddox-Williams Suffers Season Ending ACL Injury - On the Banks
A report from NJ Advance Media’s Keith Sargeant confirms the news.

Former Northwestern coach Ara Parseghian passes away at age 94 - Inside NU
The legendary Notre Dame coach also spent eight seasons at Northwestern.

Notre Dame Football: Legendary Coach Ara Parseghian Passes Away at Age 94 - One Foot Down

One of Notre Dame’s greatest coaches and representatives has passed away after being treated for a hip infection

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is probably Parseghian’s most famous game where he played for a tie against Michigan State in 1966.

Ara Parseghian never regretted playing for tie in ‘Game of Century’ | Chicago Sun-Times
Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian never regretted playing for tie in ‘Game of Century’ against Michigan State in 1966.

Two Ole Miss Players Arrested Two Days Before Fall Camp - Team Speed Kills
The pair of defenders have been suspended for the season opener against South Alabama

Ken Webster and Detric Bing-Dukes arrested for shoplifting - Red Cup Rebellion
The arrests come just one day before the start of fall camp.

Oklahoma Sooners Football: Oklahoma QB Chris Robison dismissed - Crimson And Cream Machine
The freshman was dismissed for a violation of team rules, per Lincoln Riley

Kicker Matt Boermeester was removed from USC after an unfair investigation, girlfriend says - LA Times
Matt Boermeester's girlfriend said that Boermeester was unfairly removed from USC’s football team following a Title IX investigation she said was “horrible and unjust" to her and Boermeester.

Texas doesn’t want reporters to stand behind Tom Herman in its bizarre new media policy | For The Win

"Thank you in advance for adhering to this new policy."

I don’t particularly care for people standing behind me when I’m talking to someone either. It’s kinda creepy. Maybe it’s because in a past life I was murdered by a shiv in prison. Maybe it was Tom Herman in a past life who did it, and he’s still expecting my revenge.

Then There’s This

High school referee shortage: Abuse, pay drive them away

Perhaps no statistic underscored the situation more than this one: An average of only two of every 10 officials return for their third year of officiating, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Jill clipped this yesterday, and I thought I’d share my own experience about it.

A few years ago, my daughter decided to get trained as a soccer referee for our club here in Chaska, MN. First-year officials were typically assigned to referee the small kids - five years old. The fields were small, of course, as were the goals. Things started out okay; she officiated some games, things appeared to go well.

I had two other kids in soccer at the same time, and if memory serves, I was also coaching that year. After my games were over, I would go over to see how she was doing.

I was appalled at what I saw.

There were two incidents that stand out.

At one match, two little boys - five years old, remember - were running for a ball and ran straight into each other, knocking each other down. They got up as if nothing had happened and kept running after the ball, but their mothers went completely batshit insane - A MURDER HAD JUST BEEN COMMITTED AND THIS OFFICIAL IS DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT. They screamed not unkind things at my daughter, who continued officiating as if nothing had happened.

The second incident was worse. It was a very hot day, and my daughter called a game (as in blew the whistle that it was done) two minutes early. A head coach of one of the teams (did I mention this was a head coach of a five-year old boys team? did I?), a fully grown adult male, came over to my daughter and stood over her screaming at her doing his best to intimidate her.

I watched this from a short distance away. She just stood there, making no attempt to defend herself, nor talk back to him, but just looking at him as she (still) does me when she thinks I’m being an asshole. I watched to see if she was bothered by it, or to see if he would make one aggressive movement toward her at which point I would have cold cocked him and probably gone to jail. I was pretty impressed at her ability to deal with the situation.

She finished the season. The next year rolled around. I asked her if she was going to be an official again.

“You saw what happened. It’s not even worth it.”

Why is there a shortage of officials?

Because you’re assholes. You somehow believe that your child is somehow special, more special than anyone else’s child, and that anything that happens to them anywhere for any reason isn’t just chance, or part of the game, but a deliberate attempt to sabotage them from the greatness you’re sure they’ll achieve if everyone else just got out of the way.