Want to win two (2) free tickets to a BCS bowl game, plus have a shot at a bunch of other cool prizes?

Want to showcase your knowledge of college football and have fun while competing with other fans from around the country?

Then join the second annual Heismanpundit Fantasy Challenge!

This game is the only one of its kind on the internet. It’s simple, easy-to-manage and fun!

The Basics:

Each game participant will be issued the same 12-member team consisting of the players Heismanpundit.com considers to be the leading candidates for the most prestigious award in sports.

In addition, each participant will be allowed one wildcard player of his choice to add to his team, making a total of 13 players per squad.

How To Play:

Each week of the season, pick one (and only one) candidate from your team to play. His stats will produce your points for that week. However, he can’t be used again for the rest of the season.

The Challenge is like a chess game. You must think ahead and study the schedules and matchups to decide which player to play on which week. Should you play John David Booty against a weak team and risk him being pulled early in a blowout, or wait until he plays a tougher team and has to throw more? What if Darren McFadden emerges as more of a passing threat by mid-season? Will Pat White or Steve Slaton be the Mountaineer to play against Louisville?

Injuries are a part of the game and if a player is hurt, then there is no replacement for him.

At the end of the regular season, the points will be totaled up and a winner declared. If there is a tie, then the tie will be broken by whoever comes closest (before the season begins) to predicting the vote total (out of 923) of the eventual winner of the Trophy awarded on Dec. 8. If that somehow also results in a tie, then the tiebreaker will be solved with whomever comes closest to picking the correct runner up in the final vote.

Maybe your favorite player won’t win the Heisman this year, but you can win regardless by showing your knowledge of college football.

How The Game Is Scored

General Scoring

6 pts per rushing or receiving TD
6 pts for player returning kick/punt for TD
4 pts per passing TD
2 pts per rushing or receiving 2 pt conversion (note: teams do not receive points for yardage gained during the conversion)
2 pts per passing 2 pt conversion
1 pt per 10 yards rushing or receiving
1 pt per 25 yards passing

Bonus Points

2 pts per rushing or receiving TD of 40 yards or more
2 pts per passing TD of 40 yards or more
(note: the player must score a touchdown to score the points)

Penalty Points

-2 pts per intercepted pass
-2 pts per fumble lost

The points will be totaled on a weekly basis and posted on Heismanpundit.com.

The 2007 Heismanpundit Fantasy Challenge Team

John David Booty, QB, USC
Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
Steve Slaton, RB, West Virginia
Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville
DeSean Jackson, WR/KR, California
Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii
Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers
Erik Ainge, QB, Tennessee
Jamaal Charles, RB, Texas
Michael Hart, RB, Michigan
Pat White, QB, West Virginia
Ian Johnson, RB, Boise State

Each participant must choose a ‘wildcard’ player before the season begins. It must be a quarterback, a running back or a multi-purpose player (no pure receivers). It must be from a Div. 1-A team.

Each week’s entry must be emailed in by 6 p.m. PT the day BEFORE that player’s game is scheduled (so by Friday at 6 p.m. PT for a Saturday game, Thursday at 6 p.m. PT for a Friday, Wednesday at 6 p.m. PT for a Thursday game and so on)

The scoring for the contest starts with the games on Thursday, Aug. 30 and ends with the games on Saturday, Dec. 1. The players can be entered in any games including and between those two dates. Late entries will be taken up until Sept. 7.

The winner will be announced on Dec. 3, unless a tie breaker contingent on the award ceremony is in effect. Then, it will be announced on Dec. 8.

How To Join The League

There is a small one-time fee of $19.99 to join the HP Fantasy Challenge.

The grand prize for winning the HP Fantasy Challenge is two (2) tickets to the 2008 Rose Bowl. Second place will win a free Sportscrack t-shirt, while third place will get a signed copy of Bruce Feldman’s book, Meat Market.

You can join the league by credit card or paypal account by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post, or by clicking on the ‘Buy Now’ button at the upper right of the website front page.

Once you have received your Transaction ID from Paypal confirming payment, you must send in an email that should include:

–Your Team Name
–Your Transaction ID from Paypal confirming payment
–Your Wildcard Player
–Two tie breaker picks: Your prediction of the vote total for the winner of the trophy awarded on Dec. 8 (out of 923 votes); and your pick for the eventual runner up in the race.

EMail these items and later your weekly player pick to HPfantasychallenge@gmail.com.

I will send you a confirmation email and you will be all set to go.

THE DEADLINE FOR SIGNING UP IS SEPT. 7th!

So, join in and have fun. The Rose Bowl awaits!

I’ll be talking Heisman today on CSTV.com’s Daily Buzz podcast with Adam Zucker.

Be sure to check it out.

My latest Heisman column is up at CSTV.com. This week’s subject is Cal receiver DeSean Jackson.

“Since I was a youngster, I’ve looked up to Desmond Howard,” said Jackson. “I always play him when I play PlayStation. He was just so versatile that I always wanted to make myself like him. Then there is Peter Warrick. I looked up to him, too, and watched as much film as possible on him, trying to learn his tricks.”

Jackson could mount a Desmond Howard-like run at the Heisman

What’s going on around CFB….

Chris Dufresne of the LA Times weighs in on the Pac-10 vs. SEC debate.

Why does the SEC do it?

Why can’t it just shut up and play?

Answer: It can’t help itself.

The SEC still can’t get over Auburn going undefeated in 2004 and having to watch USC and Oklahoma play for the BCS title.

It still can’t stand the fact LSU had to share the national title with USC in 2003.

The SEC’s status as the nation’s preeminent college football conference — rarely argued by anyone — is only demeaned by the league’s seemingly insatiable need to tell everyone about it.

“They’re fanatics,” first-year Arizona State Coach Dennis Erickson said. “Sometimes you’re so isolated, with tunnel vision, you think that nothing else exists. There is no other football. Do they even play out west?”

Erickson to the SEC: Drop dead

CFN’s Pete Fiutak is, apparently, hooked up to an IV of SEC-is-awesome Kool-Aid as he manages to fit every one of the conference’s talking points in the first couple graphs of this preview.

No one can deny it’s the best conference going at the moment. No one can deny that the overall speed and talent level is tremendous. The weekly drama is unparalleled, thanks to so many good match-ups, and the overall competition is so tough that it’s just about impossible to get through unscathed. So after the way Florida blew up Ohio State to win the national title, will the conference start to get every benefit of the doubt? It should.

Yeah, because, ya know, there is sooooo much talk out there in the media about how the SEC sucks and is overrated. How the heck did Florida manage to win a title, anyway, playing in such a little-hyped league? My favorite bromide is about how impossible it is to get through the league unscathed. I mean, if that were the case, we would surely see fewer undefeated SEC teams over time than every other conference, right?

Wrong. Check it out:

Undefeated Teams Per Conference Since 1992
(the first year of the SEC title game)
Big 12–5
Big Ten–4
SEC–3
ACC–1
Pac-10–1
Big East–1

As you can see, the Big 12 has had the most undefeated teams since 1992, but the Big Ten and SEC are not far behind. In fact, SEC teams go undefeated more often than Pac-10, ACC or Big East teams.

Undefeated, Untied Conference Champions since 1992
Big East–8
ACC–7
Big Ten–6
SEC–5
Big 12–4 (since its inception in 1996)
Pac-10–4

As you can see, the SEC is in the middle of the pack on this list, too. The Big East and ACC are skewed slightly by the dominance of FSU and Miami. Otherwise, it appears that going undefeated in the SEC is about as likely as in any other conference.

Sorry fellas.

Vince Dooley, one of several coaches to lead his team to an unscathed season in the SEC

More from Fiutak:

Maybe it’s time to start weighing the strength of schedule more when it comes to the SEC, and to realize that a one-loss team here could be the equivalent of an unbeaten team from another conference. That might especially be the case this season.

Well, which conference? The Sun Belt? If only the SEC actually played schedules that were ranked the toughest in the nation, you might have something there, Pete.

As it stands, a quick glance at Phil Steele’s schedule rankings for 2007 reveals that the top eight schedules belong to Pac-10 teams. So maybe the Pac-10 should get the one-loss mulligan. The SEC? It manages to place one team (Tennessee at No. 18) in the top 20 in schedule strength.

And we all know that, when it comes to schedule rankings, Phil knows his stuff.

The new college football season is approximately one month away and the guys at Maddux Sports are locked and loaded for another huge season. It will soon be time to start checking the daily college football odds and figuring out which teams are going to be undervalued and overvalued by the oddsmakers.

According to most of the preseason magazines USC is the unanimous No. 1-rated team. They are also favored to win the 2007 college football national title by most bookmakers. The other college football teams that figure to be in the mix are LSU, Texas and West Virginia.

After dissecting all the magazines and sifting through the media’s predictions of the 2007 college football season, Maddux Sports has spotted a couple teams that seem to be overvalued and undervalued.

First let’s start with an undervalued team. Most publications are down on the Miami Hurricanes. After a season filled with turmoil resulting in a 7-6 record we can understand why some people see the Hurricanes as a middle of the road team.

The fact of the matter is Randy Shannon has come in and done a tremendous job getting the Hurricanes back on track. Under Larry Coker, Miami lacked that talent and killer instinct one had come to expect at the U. Already Shannon has locked up a top ten recruiting class for 2008, snagging 10 of the ESPN top 150 athletes. The X’s and O’s game plan will improve with Patrick Nix taking over the offensive play calling duties. The schedule is very tough but with better fortune, upgraded head coach, and a fresh attitude, the Hurricanes could accomplish a double digit win season in 07.

The team that will be the most obviously overvalued school to start the season is the Hawaii Rainbows. Sure the Rainbows have Colt Brennan and will score a boatload of points, but with all the media hype surrounding Hawaii being this years Boise State, pressure will mount each and every game Hawaii stays unbeaten. College football bettors will be betting hand over fist, wagering on Brennan’s ability to lead a prolific offense into a BCS championship game.

Which spots on the schedule figure to give Hawaii the toughest tests and provide the best betting opportunities to fade the Warriors? I can already tell you that one of our college football picks is likely to be on November 16th when Hawaii will fly into Nevada on short rest. The Wolfpack will be off a bye week and will be hosting a Friday night ESPN affair. Depending on how the season has gone, Nevada will probably be getting around 7 points in that game. It wouldn’t shock us to see Nevada win the game outright. Mark it down.

MadduxSports.com is a sports handicapping service specializing in predicting football games. Last season they ousted all other handicappers posting a 63% winning percentage, winning the UHC college football challenge. Expect another wallet stuffing year for the Maddux Sports NCAA football handicapping team.

We’ll have another season of HP Fantasy Football coming up next week.

We’ll have several fantasy games to choose from with all kinds of great prizes.

Also, interviews with DeSean Jackson and Jamaal Charles are on tap.

Stay tuned.

…with the rules from now on, Commish Mike Slive says. No, really.

Alabama, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Georgia and Auburn are among the most penalized schools in NCAA history. Auburn is tied for second overall with seven major infractions cases. Since expansion in 1992, every SEC school has either been on probation or hit with sanctions. Half the league has been nailed twice. At least.

In one wild 2½-month period next year Georgia men’s basketball, South Carolina football and Mississippi State football come off probation. Trying to make it to the checkered flag of compliance without any rubbin’ is a quiet goal.

Unfortunately, in the SEC, rubbin’ is racin’.

“If we don’t (make it to five years),” Slive said with some resignation, “it will be close.

“(But) we are in a position to put to rest to the old chestnut, ‘If you don’t cheat, you can’t win.’”

What a great attitude to take. But it’s nice to see a column that actually mentions this wonderful SEC pasttime.

Or, maybe we can just talk about how great the league is for the nine trillionth time since January.

I’ll start: Oh! The speed!

No word yet on which SEC school Eric Scott will be coaching at next season