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Chris Dufresne

Conferences expand, playoff hopes contract

Last updated Monday, August 9, 2010 - 6:05pm

LOS ANGELES -- Camp opens for most teams this week. USC jumped the starter's gun last Wednesday, but it wasn't an NCAA violation (the school has enough of those) because the Trojans play an early game at Hawaii.

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2010 college football schedule: cupcakes and cudgels

Chris Dufresne, The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, August 8, 2010 - 4:36pm

LOS ANGELES -- You can never be sure how a schedule is going to turn out because they usually are made years in advance, but catching the right or wrong breaks in a given season can mean the difference in a coach raising a trophy or a goodbye toast.

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(Sue Ogrocki/The Associated Press)
In this Nov. 28, 2009, file photo, Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones passes against Oklahoma State in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Norman, Okla. Jones actually played most of last season because starting quarterback Sam Bradford was hurt. His experience, plus the combo of running back DeMarco Murray and receiver Ryan Broyles and a stout defense, are among the reasons the Sooners are favored to regain their status atop the South.

Some college quarterbacks have big shoes to fill

Chris Dufresne, The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, August 6, 2010 - 4:27pm

LOS ANGELES -- There are enormous cleats to fill around the country at the quarterback position and, in Austin, Texas, one gigantic 10-gallon hat.

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Maybe this is all for the best

Chris Dufresne, The Associated Press Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 6:16pm

LOS ANGELES -- Pacific 10 Commissioner Larry Scott was back in his Walnut Creek, Calif., office Tuesday, plotting his next move after almost moving a mountain.

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Ten juicy topics that can marinate all summer

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 5:13pm

LOS ANGELES -- USC ended spring practice a year ago with Pete Carroll and Aaron Corp as the coach and quarterback, but things have changed: here, there and everywhere.

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By the looks of it, BCS won't be going away anytime soon

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Thursday, April 22, 2010 - 11:37pm

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Exit thoughts from the Bowl Championship Series spring meetings, where very little officially got done but, unofficially, a lot did.

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Meyer clung tightly to a whopper of a job

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, December 27, 2009 - 10:57pm

I am remembering Urban Meyer before he was Urban Meyer, sitting in the dark in his office one early Sunday morning three games into the 2004 season.

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Rankman got this one right: His preseason No. 1 Texas in BCS title game

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, December 21, 2009 - 10:41pm

Final regular season ratings, accounts payable:

Rankman reviewed his preseason top 15 and found that 10 of those teams made the top 15 of the final Bowl Championship Series standings. Rankman's preseason No. 1, Texas, is in the BCS title game.

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Texas could have made BCS controversy much worse

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Sunday, December 6, 2009 - 10:16pm

What was all that screaming about?

We've been saying all year the winner of the Southeastern Conference title game, Alabama or Florida, was going to play Texas for this year's national championship on Jan. 7 in the Rose Bowl.

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BCS standings have some practice runs before; they're still not ready

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 9:36pm

Harris Interactive wasn't about to be Harris Hyperactive like those other polls that haphazardly published in August, before anyone knew who was who or what was Washington.

Harris would let the season marinate a few weeks, and then it came out Sunday with a top seven that was identical to polls submitted by voting coaches and the Associated Press.

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(The Associated Press) Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray (7) is brought down by BYU defenders in the second half of the game.

BYU impresses Rankman, now at No. 11

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Thursday, September 10, 2009 - 6:30pm

A stock market correction is when the Dow Jones average drops 10% in a relatively short period of time.

A Rankman correction is when Oregon goes from preseason No. 6 into the laundry chute after an opening loss at Boise State in which the Ducks showed more punch after the game.

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Bradford's injury throws BCS title race for a loop

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Thursday, September 10, 2009 - 6:32pm

Call it six degrees of Sam Bradford's third-degree shoulder separation.

Last Saturday's injury to Oklahoma's starting quarterback, who threw 50 touchdowns last year on his way to the Heisman Trophy, did more than damage the Sooners' chances of winning this year's national title.

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Brigham Young may become a BCS insider

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - 10:34pm

Brigham Young is ... in it to win it?Bolstered by its 14-13 victory against previously third-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday, Brigham Young jumped 11 spots in The Associated Press poll and 12 spots in the USA Today coaches' index.BYU is No. 9 in the AP and No. 12 in USA Today, putting the Mountain West Conference team in position to challenge for a spot in this year's Bowl Championship Series title game.No school from outside the six power conferences has ever appeared in the BCS championship game.

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It's a long season, and it starts early

Chris Dufresne Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, August 3, 2009 - 8:35pm

It's about from here to Hialeah between now and the first week of 2010, when the Rose Bowl will host the Bowl Championship Series title game for the third time. August represents helmet fittings and hope. School is out, two-a-day sweat has yet to trickle and blocking sled slates are clean as coaches, from the cool of Palo Alto, Calif., to the saunas of the South, preach the gospel of promise.
A few important dates on the journey toward January:
Saturday: USC opens camp. After seven consecutive BCS games and Pacific 10 titles, this is a dynasty-in-transition year as the Trojans overhaul their defense while trying to prove this program has always been about Pete and repeat.

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