By BRAD SENKIW, Scripps Howard News Service

Florida will win the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division in 2009. The Gators are the No. 1 team in the nation, return 11 starters on defense and still have the great Tim Tebow behind center.

Hey, this is my SEC prediction column so I figured I'd get the easy stuff out of the way.

The West, however, isn't so simple.

David Cutcliffe doesn't talk like he's roaming the sidelines at Duke. Sure, he wears the blue and the white and occasionally the black, but his statements at the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Kickoff last week didn't sound anything like the head football coach of the Blue Devils.

John Wall isn't your typical high school recruit. That's been made apparent by a young man that hasn't even played a second of college basketball.
In case you don't know, the Raleigh, N.C. native is one of the most talented players in the nation, and he's yet to make a choice were he'll be attending school in the fall.

Maybe the NCAA isn't so bad after all.
If you've read my columns, and plenty of others, involving college athletics' governing body, there haven't been a lot glowing reports on its actions.
Usually, the NCAA is being ripped for a bad decision that makes little sense or a power move that appears more political or financial.

Talking with a co-worker recently, we were discussing the sports we care the most about and the ones that do little for us.
He was very knowledgeable and passionate about many, but when it came to college football, he said he had a hard time getting into it because it was a sport that he felt didn't name a "true champion."

It came as no surprise last week when Penn State football coach Joe Paterno stuck up for his old friend down in Tallahassee.

Nothing seems to change in November. The temperatures finally cool, the beautifully colored leaves fall off the trees, the Thanksgiving turkey goes in the oven and Steve Spurrier supposedly prepares for his last game at South Carolina.It never fails.

While the NBA was celebrating Boston's championship earlier this week, the college game was in mourning.Forty student-athletes -- 14 freshmen, 10 sophomores and 16 juniors -- gave up their college eligibility early and made entering the NBA draft official last Tuesday afternoon.And while making the jump early is nothing new, it's frustrating nonetheless.

Now that spring football is over, playoff talk is over and the long wait for a new season has begun, it's time to take shots at the issues of college football.There are less than 16 weeks between now and the season opener for most teams on the weekend of Aug. 30.