It’s May, which means it’s time for what has become an annual tradition: naming the USC Trojans the favorites to win college football’s national championship. They’re 3-1 on the futures market, clear of four powerful teams tied with 6-1 odds. The Florida Gators may be the best of the foursome with returning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at quarterback. Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma will all agree to disagree about playing second fiddle to Florida or USC.

The Trojans get the nod after finishing in the top four in the polls every year since 2002, as Pete Carroll’s program continually cranks out NFL-quality talent. But 3-1 might be overdoing the expectations a bit. The Buckeyes are at least as qualified as USC to be national champions at twice the payout. These two teams will meet on Sept. 13 at the L.A. Coliseum with the winner en route to an undefeated 2008 campaign.

The Georgia Bulldogs are eligible next week to start handing out scholarships to high school football players. But according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia already has three players who have made oral commitments to enrol at Athens for the Class of 2009.

This is nothing new, or necessarily problematic from an NCAA perspective. Notre Dame wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello told the USA Today that over 1,500 players had made such commitments before the bowl season, or about 13.2 players per Division I program.

Assistant coaches like Ianello want to formalize these commitments and create an early signing period, with mid-December the preferred time. This is also the time junior college players are allowed to sign. The Conference Commissioners Association has heard this proposal before, though, and their decision on the matter requires the input from a number of concerned parties. Ianello expects a year or two to pass before anything happens.

The NCAA’s annual convention wrapped up last week without a decision on whether to overhaul the current Bowl Championship Series and have the college football champions decided in a playoff. The matter will continue to not be decided on in the boardroom.

It’s understandable if the NCAA doesn’t want to tinker with a system that, however ungainly, generates an incredibly lucrative bowl season. That lucre won’t be flowing as freely if the national champions lose credibility. Many fans – especially those from Georgia – don’t think highly about the LSU Tigers getting into the BCS Championship Game with two losses.

No matter what system college puts in place, there will be those on the outside looking in who believe they were snubbed. But the NCAA is probably not thinking about the teams. They’re thinking about how to protect the reputation of college football. A playoff system and a shorter regular season would be a good start.

If it seems fishy to you that the Cavaliers are No. 20 in the polls but getting six points against the unranked Red Raiders, you’re not alone. As good as the Texas Tech spread offense is, Virginia has an excellent pass rush and matches up very well in nearly every other facet of this contest.

The lesser Cavs offense lost a key player when RB Cedric Peerman was injured, but Mikell Simpson has stepped in and provided 4.3 yards per carry and 9.6 yards per catch. Texas Tech is not very good at stopping the run, losing four games that way. Between Simpson and QB Jameel Sewell, Virginia should be able to run the Red Raiders defense ragged.

At the other end, it’s up to Cavs DE Chris Long to get in Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell’s grill. The spread will make it difficult, but Long is a game-changer, just like his old man. He’ll find a way.

The Insight Bowl is more about the person who isn’t there: Terry Hoeppner, the late coach of the Hoosiers who succumbed to brain cancer this past June. Indiana rallied around his cause and made its first bowl game since 1993. Now the Hoosiers are getting four points against a Cowboys team that faltered down the stretch at 2-3 SU and 1-4 ATS.

This is not a good situation for the ‘Pokes. They’re No. 55 in efficiency, one notch below the Hoosiers. They are very poor defending both the run and the pass, and Indiana’s running game should feature prominently given the size mismatch on the line of scrimmage. Indiana’s defense is no great shakes either, and many casual observes expect the sexy Cowboys offense led by QB Zac Robinson to have a field day. At least we can expect a ton of scoring from both clubs in what should be one of the better New Year’s Eve games.

Alabama has been a thorn in the side of handicappers this year at 2-9 ATS. The Crimson Tide lost four games in a row to finish up the regular season at 6-6 SU. But don’t overlook this team as it prepares for a bowl appearance in Shreveport against the rebuilding Colorado Buffaloes.

The Tide navigated a perilous journey through the SEC this season, and that Week 12 loss to UL-Monroe (+24) really took the wind out of their sails. But Alabama has had plenty of time to regroup. This is a club that finished No. 30 in the nation in efficiency and played tough against LSU. The Buffs upset Oklahoma and Texas Tech, but are No. 53 in efficiency and just 2-4 SU and ATS in their last six.

Colorado doesn’t have a particularly good defense, so Alabama is in a strong position to protect QB John Parker Wilson and get some big points on the board.

Teams like Georgia may disagree, but this is a proper national title game. Too bad the Buckeyes couldn’t bring their whole team to the Superdome. Cornerback Eugene Clifford has been suspended for this game for violating team rules. But he was a backup to Malcolm Jenkins and won’t be missed much on this first-rate OSU defense.

Not that Ohio State doesn’t need all its weapons against the Tigers. Even with those two overtime losses, LSU was the top-ranked team in the nation in efficiency; OSU was third. More importantly, the Tigers finally have both their quarterbacks in game shape. Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux are capable of chewing up yardage through the air and with their scrambling.

LSU lays four points and the total is just 49.5, but this game doesn’t figure to be as close as it looks. The difference should be the underappreciated (!) Tigers defense, led by Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner Glenn Dorsey at tackle.

The time between the end of the regular season and the bowl schedule hasn’t been easy on the Oklahoma Sooners. Offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin is the new head coach at Houston, cornerback and top punt returner Reggie Smith is out of action with a broken toe, and safety Lendy Holmes reportedly failed a class and is academically ineligible for the Fiesta Bowl.

Nobody in Morgantown will shed a tear for the Sooners. West Virginia suffered an even bigger loss when native son Rich Rodriguez went to Michigan for the Wolverines head coaching position. At least Sumlin is still working the Fiesta Bowl for OU; the Mountaineers have to rely on interim head coach Bill Stewart to shield the team from distraction and pilot the famed Rodriguez spread option.

The Sooners are a public team and the Big East is still undervalued, but the coaching chaos in West Virginia (+8) has to be considered a backbreaker for the Mountaineers.

The Illinois Fighting Illini deserve a lot of credit for their superb season. They’re bowl-eligible for the first time since 2001, they beat No. 1 Ohio State, and they’ve earned a trip to the Rose Bowl.

This is where the ride becomes bumpy. The Illini were selected for the Rose Bowl not because they were the best team available (that would be Georgia), but because they’re from the Big Ten, and tradition dictates the Big Ten face the Pac-10 in this rivalry.

The Trojans are favored by 14 points and are expected to put a serious licking on Illinois QB Juice Williams. It was the USC defense that held things together while QB John David Booty struggled to recover from a broken finger. Now the Trojans are on a four-game winning streak (3-1 ATS) and bent on proving themselves in front of both the hometown fans and a national viewing audience.

The job description for the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines is pretty simple: Beat Ohio State. So when Lloyd Carr lost to the Buckeyes for the sixth time in seven years, his resignation seemed anticlimactic – especially after that loss to Appalachian State.

Rich Rodriguez may have been Michigan’s No. 2 choice to replace Carr, behind LSU’s Les Miles, but Wolverines supporters are still in love with their new coach. And rightly so. This is the man who brought the spread option offense to West Virginia and made the Mountaineers four-time Big East champions.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Wolverines didn’t hire a “Michigan Man” to take over the reins – Rodriguez is a WVU alum. But with Miles happily ensconced in Baton Rouge, the Rodriguez signing will not only keep Michigan among the elite programs in the nation, it will also bring some zest to the Big Ten. They need it.