In our continuing look at the pre-season football magazines, filtering out what's said about the Huskies so you don't have to, we today peruse The Sporting News season preview.

Here's how TSN sees the Pac-10, and it's pretty similar to everyone else:

1, USC
2, Oregon
3, Cal
4, Oregon State
5, UCLA
6, Arizona State
7, Stanford
8, Arizona
9, UW
10, WSU

TSN also has USC fourth and Oregon seventh in its overall Top 25, the latter the highest I have seen a non-Trojan Pac-10 team in any national ranking.

TSN does have some positive words for UW, however.

Jake Locker is named as its first-team All-Pac-10 QB (the magazine only does one team, unlike most of the rest that name multiple squads). Locker, however, is the only Husky named to the all-conference team. TSN also gives UW an up arrow in its stock report rating (also getting up arrows are Cal and UCLA. USC, OSU, ASU, Arizona and WSU all get down arrows and Oregon and Stanford steady arrows).

TSN also names UW's Husky as "The Best Mascot'' and in its "Four Fearless Forecasts'' section predicts that the Huskies will win a game this season "probably in the team's second game against Idaho.'' In another "fearless forecast,'' TSN states that Arizona "will lose a game it shouldn't'' and mentions its game at UW Oct. 10 as one of UA's "best bets for a head-scratching loss.'' UA got a pretty head-scratching win last time it was at Husky Stadium, so UW fans probably figure turnabout would be fair play on that one.

Much of the team writeup is stuff you probably already know (hopefully, anyway, if you read this to any extent and I've done my job). Sadly, the magazine undermines its credibility a little bit with a sorely out-of-date list of "projected starters'' that among other things includes Senio Kelemete as a starter at DT (he was moved to the OL before spring practice and will enter the fall a starter at RG). The depth chart was probably needed before spring ball for production reasons so I point it out largely just to make sure that if you do see it, know it's the magazine that is wrong and UW hasn't suddenly made some changes since the end of the spring or something.

Most interesting of the team writeup may be what TSN calls the "Professor's Grade'' and overall assessment. UW gets a grade of D with "teacher comments'' that include:

--- "Huskies have a difficult schedule;''

--- "Holes on both lines and in the secondary;''

--- and "Dearth of elite players.''

TSN also rates UW's top five recuits as David Batts, Marlion Barnett, Nathan Fellner, James Johnson and Desmond Trufant.

It's amazing how 12 Saturday afternoons a fall spurs so much conversation the rest of the year....

--- ESPN.com's Pat Forde looks at the top 10 college football rivalries for 2009 and puts the Apple Cup at No. 8 --- though for mostly non-football playing reasons,certainly understandable given the football playing in this state of late. (Though I think Vantage would be a better neutral site just because). You can also vote for your top 10 rivalries here.

--- Athlon Sports looks at the sleeper running backs in college football this year from a fantasy standpoint and lists Chris Polk, who has gone from one of the most highly-touted frosh in the country to sleeper in one year --- and he's still a freshmen.

--- John McKay is No. 2 on the Buster Sports list of the top 30 Pac-10 coaches of the modern era. That must mean Pete Carroll is No. 1 Well, either Carroll or Joe Avezzano, who also hasn't been mentioned yet. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's Carroll, however.

--- ESPN.com also has this look at the recent All-Poly Football Camp in Hawaii, which was attended by UW coaches (I think Johnny Nansen). There's also this list of some of the top players at the camp with UW mentioned as being particularly interested in DL Beau Yap. And here's a report on the camp from the Honolulu Advertiser.

--- BetUs.com has this assessment of the Huskies and whether they are worth a longshot wager to win the Pac-10. Like just about everyone else, the writer figures UW is good for a wins this year.

--- BusterSports.com also reviews some of the prop bets in the Pac-10 this fall.

All for now.

First today is the continuation of the Pac-10 coaches countdown from Buster Sports, which finally reaches to Don James, ranked third in the modern era.

That obviously leaves USC's Pete Carroll and John McKay at one and two (or two and one). I don't think you can argue McKay at all --- the late '60s early '70s USC teams remain one of the two greatest dynasties in modern Pac-10 history. Carroll's USC teams are obviously the other. Some might argue that James' longeviety should move him ahead of Carroll.

But Carroll's sheer dominance of the conference coming after a time when parity had seemed to render such dynasties unlikely to happen again is a good counter argument. I see some of you have already begun debating this in the comments section and one poster pointed out how close James was to going to about twice as many Rose Bowls as the six he did. The 1982 and 1983 Apple Cup losses, when UW needed just a win to go to the Rose Bowl, were particularly hard to take and if the Huskies had won those and gone to four straight Rose Bowls, you could maybe move James up a spot. But being where he is makes it clear that James is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in conference history, which is obviously as it should be.

Also available today is the UW preview from Athlon's magazine, which is now on-line.

Here was my recap from last month of how Athlon's previewed UW and the Pac-10.

I see that Bruce Feldman's blog entry ranking the 10 toughest non-conference schedules in the country this season elicited a few comments.

Feldman lists just two Pac-10 teams --- USC third and Oregon fifth.

I helped compile a similar type of list for the Lindy's Pac-10 magazine that is hitting stores this week (I honestly haven't seen the final product yet so I don't know if it reads exactly this way or not).

The one difference in our rankings was also taking into account the Pac-10 portion of the schedule (obviously, everyone plays the same teams, but some get five at home and four on the road, others the oppostite, and who the home and road teams are and the order can make a difference).

So here's how I ranked them with comment:

1, USC --- The Trojans seem to earn this spot every year and do so again with non-conference tilts at Ohio State and Notre Dame (USC's other non-conference game is San Jose State at home). Trojans also have to play both of what look to be its toughest conference foes on the road --- Oregon and Cal.

2, Washington --- Welcome to head coaching, Steve Sarkisian. Now take on LSU in your opener and travel to Notre Dame four weeks later. UW's only gimme is Idaho at home. Huskies also play five of seven on the road in mid-season.

3, Oregon --- Ducks deserve some points for being a rare BCS team willing to travel to Boise State. Ducks also host another non-BCS power, Utah, as well as Purdue. Ducks play seven at home overall, however.

4, UCLA --- Bruins travel to Tennessee in week two and then host Kansas State before playing five of nine conference games on the road.

5, Stanford --- At Wake Forest and home to Notre Dame highlight non-conference schedule and Cardinal also goes to USC.

6, Cal --- Bears get Maryland at home and a tricky game at Minnesota in that school's new stadium in non-conference play.

7, Arizona State --- Road game at Georgia makes it tough enough but other two are walk-overs --- Idaho State and UL-Monroe at home.

8, Oregon State --- Cincinnati at home will be tough and Beavs also go to UNLV and have five road Pac-10 games.

9, Washington State --- No true road non-conference game for Cougs, who play Notre Dame in San Antonio, Hawaii in Seattle and SMU in Pullman.

10, Arizona --- Trip to Iowa gives some respectability to non-conference slate that otherwise features Central Michigan and Northern Arizona at home.

On second thought, I'm thinking I maybe could have flipped ASU and OSU near the bottom, but I gave the Devils the edge for going to Georgia. I may have Cal too high, as well, but Minnesota could be pretty good and Bears have five Pac-10 road games.

As for the teams at the top, USC deserves the credit it gets for year-in and year-out playing one of the toughest schedules around.

UW's scheduling has been well-debated here and elsewhere. The LSU series (UW also goes there in 2012) was skedded last year. As reported at the time, UW needed a game after Nevada backed out of a planned contest here. (Meaning UW did have plans to have the sort of A-B-C schedule everyone on here seems to want --- the Huskies would have had Nevada and Idaho at home and Notre Dame on the road --- but had to alter those late in the game when Nevada backed out. That's happened a lot to UW through the years with Navy and Indiana also backing out of games in recent years, which also helped to make the 2007 schedule a lot tougher than it would have been otherwise). The Notre Dame game is the finale of a four-game series that began in 2004 and included two games there and two games here.

And to answer the obvious question, here's UW's schedule for 2010. It's another one that figures to be ranked among the toughest in the country beginning with a road game at BYU and then home games against Syracuse and Nebraska. Syracuse may not be any good, but any trip to BYU is tough and Nebraska is a relatively young team that could be better in 2010 than projected to be this season.

This is a week when I'm trying to get in some vacation time, so this may be my only entry of the day here. So I'll try to make it a hefty one with a few answers and a few links.

First, some Q-and-A's.

Q: If Alejandro Maldonado is so good, why did the recruiting services list him with just one offer?

A: I think mostly because he's a kicker. Unless you need one you usually don't really recruit one. It's not like every other position where you usually get a few no matter what. He's a West Coast guy, obviously, and if you examine the Pac-10, a lot of teams have pretty established, young kickers (Arizona State and UCLA come to mind) so they probably aren't going to offer any this year. I remember that part of the reason UW got John Anderson out of Florida is because it was one of the few schools that was offering a scholarship and had an immediate opening for a kicker. But as Yogi Berra might say, if you have it, then you don't need it. Also, it's still relatively early in the process. I'm sure he would have gotten more offers if he stayed on the market.

Q: Isn't three kickers too many to have on scholarship, as UW may have in 2010?

A: I saw this discussed quite a bit on here yesterday in the wake of the Maldonado commitment, with people remembering that UW used to depend on walk-ons for all of its kickers. The days of depending on walk-ons, however, are over. That's not a real workable strategy in this day and age. And interestingly, one person who often says to me that UW should put more kickers on scholarship is one of the main exhibits of the walk-on strategy --- Chuck Nelson. I've had several conversations with Nelson where he has said he feels like college teams don't pay enough attention to the position and should always have several on scholarship to ensure competition and getting a competent kicker. His point is that it's worth spending an extra scholarship or two on a kicker to make sure you get a good one. Do you really need, say, that 10th linebacker on scholarship at the risk of not having a good kicker given the potential value to the team of each player? Steve Sarkisian obviously seems to side a little with Nelson in putting great value in the kicking game.

Q: Per your note yesterday on Pac-10 coaches on the hot seat and saying that there aren't any, wouldn't Arizona's Mike Stoops be in danger of Arizona falls back to the pack as it seems could happen this year?

A: First off, I would think last year bought Stoops a little bit of time (and I'm also not convinced Arizona drops off all that much if the defense and other skilll players besides QB are as good as they look like they could be on paper). But most practically, Stoops got a pretty hefty raise and extension through 2013 after last season that would seem to ensure he's safe for a little while.

NOW FOR A FEW LINKS. ...

--- ESPN.com's Ted Miller has a funny take on the back-and-forth fake Twitter pages created for Sarkisian and WSU's Paul Wulff, apparently by fans of each of the rival schools.

--- Speaking of Facebook and Twitter, Arizona officials are warning their athletes about the dangers of using those sites.

--- Here's a Cal take on the Tevin Carter situation.

--- BetFirms.com picks USC first and UW ninth.

--- This is the last official day in office for Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen, which I know for many of you might rival, say, Oregon going on probation as a reason to party. Here's one more Q-and-A with Hansen on his way out. And here's a list from one Sporting News writer on the challenges awaiting new commish Larry Scott.

All for now.

Sounds as if Colton (Calif.) kicker Alejandro Maldonado has made it 100 percent officially official this time with his commitment to Washington.

The kicker had been reported as a commit a couple months ago only to have his coach say later there had been a little bit of a misunderstanding.

But Dawgman.com reports that Maldonado has committed to UW for real this time.

He even indicates that he may try to graduate early and report to UW next spring saying that he has been told that "they need a kicker right away.''

UW obviously has a young kicker on scholarship in sophomore Erik Folk. But he has battled injuries throughout two seasons at UW and was inconsistent in the spring and the Husky coaches appear to be ensuring they have plenty of competition at that spot. UW also has JC punter Will Mahan coming in this season. Mahan can also place kicker, if needed.

Maldonado's commitment means UW would have three kickers on scholarship in 2010 --- Maldonado, Folk and Mahan --- assuming all stays status quo between now and then.

Here are Maldonado's stats for last season, showing he had 36 touchbacks kicking off and averaged 39.2 yards per punt, so he appears to have the requisite strong leg.

There's also a good scouting report on Maldonado near the bottom of this link (under the kicker section).

Off with another batch.

Q: Will Nick Montana be able to graduate high school early to enroll at UW next spring?

A: No, according to what he said on the KJR-AM Saturday during the show with the Dawgman.com guys. Montana said his transfer two years ago from De La Salle High in Concord, Calif., to Oaks Christian in Westlake Village, Calif., made it so that he won't be able to get the credits in time to graduate early. (By the way, interesting article today out of Tennessee on the trouble Sark's buddy, Lane Kiffin, is having finding a top-flight QB for the Class of 2010. QBs went early this year, indicating how critical it was that UW land Montana).

Q: Now that they have replaced the turf at Husky Stadium, will they still have the number on the sidelines honoring Curtis Williams?

A: Apparently, it's uncertain at the moment exactly what they will do with the number, which has been painted on the field since 2004. There is apparently some thought of honoring Williams in a different way, such as with a memorial in the locker room or something. UW officials are talking with the Williams family about it.

Q: Any Pac-10 coaches on the hot seat this season?

A: Not according to ESPN's Ted Miller, who says not to be surprised if there aren't any coaching changes after this season. As Miller points out, there's kind of a mix right now of coaches who are either completely secure in their jobs (Pete Carroll, Jeff Tedford, Mike Riley) or not on the job long enough to warrant firing yet (just about everybody else). For some reason, though, I think I'd still be surprised if there isn't a change somewhere as it seems like there almost always is, even if it's not just a school firing someone.

Q: What's with kids these days? How come their word doesn't seem to mean anything anymore, like Tevin Carter committing to UW and then changing his mind and now committing to Cal?

A: Personally, I don't think kids have changed all that much. But I do think the process of recruiting and the coverage of it has changed quite a bit. The recruiting calander seems to be getting earlier and earlier all the time in terms of offers and commits, and that can lead to a lot of time to rethink a decision (and not always of the kid's doing, but parents, coaches, whoever, who may suddenly decide an athlete should look around some more). I also think the coverage of it leads to people thinking there is more changing of minds these days. There didn't use to be the almost daily inquiry into a kid's every thought on this stuff. I bet lots of guys in the '70s and '80s waffled all over the place on these things as this is a really tough, potentially life-altering decision. But we just didn't know about it back then.

All for now.

As the headline says. ...

--- The East beat the West 13-12 in the state all-star game yesterday in Everett. But sounds as if UW recruit Andru Pulu had a standout game, according to this report in the Everett Herald, as it notes that he led all tacklers with 12, including seven solo.

--- As many of you noted on here earlier, the Huskies held their Rising Stars camp Friday and Saturday. Scout.com reported that Bethel High DL Happy Iona received a scholarship offer after the camp. According to their list, he is the only other in-state player with an offer other than those who have already committed.

--- Jake Locker, meanwhile, helped out at a camp in Bellingham Saturday.

--- BetFirms.com has this assessment of UW, with the most notable fact that the Huskies are a plus-7500 bet to win the Pac-10 this season. Would you take that? (According to gambling friends, I misinterpreted this as 7500 to one when it is instead plus 75, meaning one dollar down to win 75. Either way, I think the point is clear on UW's odds this season).

--- The Orlando Sentinel has a good look at the incoming commissioners of the Pac-10 and the Big East. As noted, the reign of Tom Hansen officially ends on Wednesday, with Larry Scott taking over. One thing that struck me, however, is the author's assertion that the Pac-10 has to fight the perception of being a weak conference solely because USC has been so strong. For years all we heard from those back east is that the Pac-10 isn't any good if someone other than USC is winning it in football (or UCLA in basketball). Seems a little bit like the Pac-10 can't win on that front. Also, note that UCLA AD Dan Guerrero points out that geography is a huge part of the reason for the TV deal paling compared to that of the SEC. A new commissioner is not going to get the Pac-10 the exact same deal as the SEC.

--- Speaking of Hansen, Sportsline.com had another long Q-and-A with him on his way out this week. One thing interesting to note is that Hansen had some pretty innovative ideas when he first came into the conference, something that might catch some of his detractors by surprise. (And if that sounds like something of a defense of him, it is in the standpoint that I feel he's way too easy of a target for all that some don't like about the Pac-10. The geography and time zone issues are things no human can do anything about and the chancellors and presidents hold sway on a number of others. And to expect to just magically fix all of those problems is a little unrealistic).

--- Former Oregon QB Justin Roper is going to Montana.

All for now.