THIS IS the first and last time, I hope, I ever combine an open-date column with a season preview. With Marshall not opening until Sept. 10, I have been bouncing off the walls of the Edwards Stadium pressbox.
I have struggled with a format for this, because preseason rankings and team predictions have developed such a sameness.
Take Conference USA. In the East Division, you have Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky and Marshall in some order at the top, Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Old Dominion in the middle and Charlotte in the bottom.
In the West Division, the universal pecking order is Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, Rice, Texas-El Paso, Texas-San Antonio and North Texas.