Sporting News unveiled their preseason top 100 on Wednesday and it’s getting to the point in the college football offseason where we can finally begin seriously breaking down squads. Debating over preseason rankings might not be the ultimate example of well spent time usage, but it’s fun to debate nonetheless.

For those of you that are unwilling to click on the link – here is the Sporting News top 25.

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Miami
5. Florida
6. TCU
7. Nebraska
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Virginia Tech
13. Iowa
14. Florida State
15. Oregon State
16. USC
17. Auburn
18. Georgia Tech
19. Pittsburgh
20. LSU
21. Arkansas
22. Utah
23. North Carolina
24. West Virginia
25. Washington

While we won’t dive too deep into the list, here are some initial thoughts on the rankings along with who I might move around and why.

-Alabama at #1 makes sense, although they are losing pretty much their entire defense. While they still have some standouts at key positions, Saban will have to work his mojo to get them in shape. The offense lead by the nation’s best running attach and one of the better WRs in the country should thrive. Tough SEC schedule, but the champs should start on top.

-Miami has become a flashy pick for many, but #4 to me is simply too high. They are loaded at running back and will have more athletes on the field than they have had in years, BUT they play a brutal schedule and I don’t trust Jacory Harris. He played well in the majority of ‘09 and I was impressed with his progress. With that said, I believe he is still very capable of a clunker which is why I have my doubts about this squad.

-Wisconsin at 8 and Iowa at 13 just doesn’t make sense. Iowa returns all of their offensive weapons and gets their best playmaker Jewel Hampton back from injuries. They also have Adrian Clayborn back, who might be the best d-lineman in the country. They lost considerable talent to the NFL but Ferentz has proved he is capable of turning walk-ons into solid starters. This is a team that HAS to be higher, perhaps even in the top 5. Wisconsin should be very good this year in an underrated Big 10, but I simply think they might be outmatched talent-wise compared to both Iowa and Ohio State.

-My love for North Carolina isn’t news to any of you regulars, but in my opinion UNC deserves MUCH better than the 23rd ranking they were given here. They have top-10 talent, really. They will be one of, if not the best defense in the entire country and will likely see multiple players taken in the first round. The question for UNC will be can they score – and I think Butch Davis and John Shoop will be creative and successful in their play calling. If they can win a few games against some of the tougher ACC opponents, they could be easily battling for an ACC title and a BCS game.

-I want to say that Florida State should be higher, but I just can’t quite do it. This is a team that has a giant range of performance possibilities come September. For now, I suppose 14 will work, but watch out.

-Is there a tougher team to grade on this list than Oregon? Masoli’s impact on that team simply cannot be underrated and his loss cannot be talked about enough. With that said, they are loaded at RB.

Those That Didn’t Get in But Should Be

Connecticut – Great coach, solid squad that could be poised for big things in a potential down Big East

Texas A&M – They won’t be able to stop a whole lot of people but my goodness will they score.

Arizona – I like what they’re doing and think they could be poised to take another step forward.

I’ll be doing my top 25 early next week – stay tuned for more preseason nonsense that us derelicts can’t enough of.

For the 2nd time this offseason, assistant coaches are in the headlines. Not only are they making waves, but they are doing so because they are getting paid a lot of coinage. Oh, and in both situations they are from the SEC.

South Carolina announced they were raising their non-head honchos income by nearly 18% back in early May. The total salary for assistant coaches alone is 2.1 million clams. This included a 100% salary increase for Ellis Johnson who will make $700,000 as the assistant head coach for defense. <— That by the way sounds like an unimportant cabinet position in the White House, but I digress.

And not to be out done, of course, is the Florida Gators. On Wednesday, the Gators announced that assistant coaches will have a salary of at least 2.74 million. In this fascinating bit of circumstances, coaches will get a $10,000 bonus as part of the school’s new apparel contract with Nike, a car dealership “hookup” and the chance to earn even more money if the team performs well. Leading the way for the Gator’s crew of coaches is d-coordinator Teryl Austin who will look to replace Charlie Strong now that he’s moved onto Louisville. Austin will earn a base of $440,000 in 2010.

Kids, this teaches us some very important things.

1. You don’t have to be the head coach at a big-time SEC program to make a lot of money. In fact, being 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th in charge will pay just fine and you won’t have to deal with nearly the same amount of pressure.

And 2. It might suck to work under a guy like Urban Meyer on a daily basis, but holy hell does it pay well.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt wants NOTHING to do with talk about expansion.

The all-knowing mustache with a voice box made from god himself said he has been involved in “zero” discussions about potentially moving to the Big Ten and is letting the Panther suits take care of this situation.

Obviously a move would force Pitt to play more than 2 or 3 good team each year, although I can’t say the Big 10 would overwhelm them with talent or speed. In any event, we got your back, coach. And I think we understand exactly what you’re saying.