High School season is here! Coaches polls and State Finals predictions...

To say in a lot less words, I've missed high school football and obviously I'm not the only one out there! As I blog throughout the 2011 football season, you'll quickly see that I have a "northern Indiana bias," unlike our media that resides here in the greater Indianapolis area. Most of the media tends to favor more teams that are pretty much south of Kokomo. Call it what you will, but it's a straight-up bias against the northern part of this state. There are way too many teams from the northern half of Indiana that are almost ignored until they start making some noise midway through the regular season. Below is a look at the IFCA (Coaches poll) for all 5 classes here in the great football state of Indiana. Under each class' top 20 is my predicted State Finals representatives.

Indiana Football Coaches Association pre-season poll (2010 record)

Class 1A

1. Lafayette Central Catholic (15-0; 2010 1A State Champions)

2. Sheridan (8-3)

3. Pioneer (10-2)

4. Linton-Stockton (9-3)

5. Indianapolis Scecina (5-6)

6. Adams Central (7-3)

7. Indianapolis Lutheran (7-4)

8. Perry Central (9-4)

9. Southern Wells (8-3)

10. Milan (8-5)

11.Rockville (8-4)

12. Hagerstown (12-1)

13. West Central (6-4)

14. North Daviess (8-3)

15. Culver (8-4)

16. South Central (Union Mills) (10-3)

17. Clinton Prairie (10-2)

18. North White (7-4)

19. Winamac (7-3)

20. West Washington (9-3)

1A State Championship prediction: Lafayette Central Catholic (north) and Rockville (south)

Class 2A

1. Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (14-1; 2010 2A State Champions)

2. Andrean (9-4)

3. North Putnam (14-1; 2010 2A State Runners-Up)

4. Evansville Mater Dei (12-2)

5. Rensselaer Central (13-1)

6. Speedway (11-2)

7. Bremen (9-4)

8. Lewis Cass (7-4)

9. Heritage Christian (7-3)

10. Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter (9-2)

11. Tipton (8-5)

12. Guerin Catholic (8-6)

13. Northwestern (8-4)

14. Monrovia (6-5)

15. Southridge (7-5)

16. Fairfield (7-4)

17. Fountain Central (13-2; 2010 1A State Runners-Up)

18. North Posey (6-5)

19. Wheeler (11-1)

20. North Judson (3-7)

2A State Championship prediction: Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (north) and Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter (south)

Class 3A

1. Indianapolis Bishop Chatard (11-4; 2010 3A State Champions)

2. West Lafayette (10-3)

3. Hamilton Heights (12-1)

4. South Bend St. Joe's (9-6; 2010 3A State Runners-Up)

5. Heritage Hills (8-3)

6. Jimtown (9-3)

7. Evansville Memorial (7-5)

8. Eastbrook (11-1)

9. Brebeuf Jesuit (7-3)

10. Corydon Central (8-2)

11. Indian Creek (12-2)

12. Western (9-3)

13. John Glenn (9-3)

14. Tri-West (4-6)

15. Brownstown Central (11-2)

16. Mishawaka Marina (6-4)

17. Evansville Bosse (5-8)

18. Southmont (8-3)

19. Yorktown (3-8)

20. North Montgomery (7-3)

3A State Championship prediction: Eastbrook (north) and Indianapolis Bishop Chatard (south)

Class 4A

1. Indianapolis Cathedral (11-3; 2010 4A State Champions)

2. Columbus East (9-2)

3. Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger (13-1; 2010 4A State Runners-Up)

4. Evansville Reitz (13-1)

5. Concord (12-1)

6. Hammond Morton (12-2)

7. Mishawaka (12-1)

8. Delta (10-2)

9. Indianapolis Roncalli (5-7)

10. East Central (11-2)

11. New Palestine (9-2)

12. Lowell (6-4)

13. Jasper (9-1)

14. South Bend Washington (7-4)

15. New Haven (9-4)

16. Evansville Central (9-3)

17. South Bend Clay (8-4)

18. Plainfield (7-3)

19. Shelbyville (4-7)

20. Columbia City (10-2)

4A State Championship prediction: Concord (north) and Columbus East (south)

Class 5A

1. Warren Central (8-2)

2. Fishers (14-1; 2010 5A State Champions)

3. Carmel (9-2)

4. Valparaiso (13-1)

5. Ben Davis (6-4)

6. Hamilton Southeastern (10-2)

7. Center Grove (7-3)

8. Lawrence Central (13-2; 2010 5A State Runners-Up)

9. Penn (7-5)

10. Avon (9-4)

11. Merrillville (8-3)

12. Fort Wayne Snider (9-3)

13. Pike (9-3)

14. Chesterton (6-4)

15. Crown Point (8-4)

16. Columbus North (7-4)

17. Homestead (10-2)

18. Zionsville (7-3)

19. Lake Central (2-8)

20. Whiteland (9-3)

5A State Championship prediction: Penn (north) and Warren Central (south)

College Football: I'm so glad it's just around the corner!!!

With the many different things that happened over the off-season, I couldn't be more excited that college football is within sight!

The whole Jim Tressel situation that led to his eventual resignation as head coach at Ohio State, seemed to be what made the most headlines recently, along with Terrell Pryor's unique exit from Ohio State, seemed to keep college football fans even more excited for this upcoming 2011 NCAA football season.

Alabama will reload at QB this year with Greg McElroy's departure, sophomore A.J. McCarron will take over the reigns in Tuscaloosa. McCarron backed up McElroy the past two years, so his experience in Nick Saban's system should be key for the Crimson Tide.

Some say that Oklahoma's Bob Stoops is possibly on the "hot seat" in Norman. I beg to differ with that, simply because of Stoops' track record. In his 12 years at OU, Stoops is 129-31 with one National Championship (2000) and 7 Big XII titles. He's not going anywhere.

Georgia's Mark Richt is another that I really don't think has much to worry about, despite a 6-7 record in 2010 and 7-9 in SEC play the past two years. Richt is 96-34 overall in his 10 seasons in Athens. They can't be too picky with his performance based on the top quality conference that the SEC is.

Butch Davis was fired at North Carolina a couple of weeks ago after going just 28-23 in four years.

Rick Neuheisel is for sure on the edge of being fired at UCLA for a 15-22 mark in three years. After he was 33-14 at Colorado and 33-16 at Washington in his previous coaching adventures prior to landing in LA, Neuheisel needs to push for 8 or 9 wins this year and that might be a tough task.

Ron Zook might be somewhat safe at Illinois after a 7-6 record last year, including a Texas Bowl thumping of Baylor, 38-14.

Texas A&M's Mike Sherman might be in the same boat as Zook. Sherman is only 19-19 in 3 years leading the Aggies. Last year's 9-4 record might have salvaged his job, even though he lost the Cotton Bowl to LSU, 41-24.

Dennis Erickson started his time in Tempe in 2007 just how the Sun Devil faithful was hoping, with a 10-3 record, share of the Pac-10 title and Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors. Since then, erickson has gone 15-24. He'll keep his job because he's been around and Arizona State will give him more of a chance than most would an older coach in this era.

From the looks of how the pre-season polls are rating teams with almost a month before the first kick, 2011 will definetely prove to be another highlight-packed season in the college ranks.

My preseason Top 25:
1.   Oklahoma
2.   Oregon
3.   Alabama
4.   Virginia Tech
5.   Notre Dame
6.   Florida State
7.   LSU
8.   Boise State
9.   Ohio State
10. Nebraska
11. Stanford
12. Texas A&M
13. Oklahoma State
14. Georgia
15. West Virginia
16. Arkansas
17. TCU
18. Florida
19. Michigan State
20. South Carolina
21. Michigan
22. Wisconsin
23. Miami (FL)
24. Texas
25. USC
Outside my Top 25 and looking in...
Missouri, Penn State, Auburn, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, North Carolina, Illinois, Northwestern, South Florida, Arizona, Arizona State, Mississippi State, Iowa.

There are a lot of talented players to watch this Fall as college football takes the stage. These players are not ranked in any particular order. Below are my Top 15 Quarterbacks, Running Backs and Wide Receivers...

Quarterbacks:
Andrew Luck/jr/Stanford
Kellen Moore/sr/Boise State
Landry Jones/jr/Oklahoma
Case Keenum/sr/Houston
Dayne Crist/sr/Notre Dame
Darron Thomas/jr/Oregon
Brandon Weeden/jr/Oklahoma State
Taylor Martinez/so/Nebraska
Jordan Jefferson/sr/LSU
Garrett Gilbert/jr/Texas
Denard Robinson/jr/Michigan
Jacory Harris/sr/Miami (FL)
Stephen Garcia/sr/South Carolina
Aaron Murray/so/Georgia
John Brantley/sr/Florida

Running Backs:
LaMichael James/jr/Oregon
Marcus Lattimore/so/South Carolina
Trent Richardson/jr/Alabama
Daniel Herron/sr/Ohio State
Ray Graham/jr/Pittsburgh
Silas Redd/so/Penn State
James White/so/Wisconsin
Edwin Baker/jr/Michigan State
Knile Davis/jr/Arkansas
Jeff Demps/sr/Florida
Tauren Poole/sr/Tennessee
Michael Dyer/so/Auburn
Vick Ballard/sr/Mississippi State
Cierre Wood/so/Notre Dame

Wide Receivers:
Michael Floyd/sr/Notre Dame
Ryan Broyles/sr/Oklahoma
Justin Blackmon/jr/Oklahoma State
Alshon Jeffery/jr/South Carolina
Demarlo Belcher/sr/Indiana
Juron Criner/sr/Arizona
Jeff Fuller/sr/Texas A&M
Mike Shanahan/jr/Pittsburgh
DeVier Posey/sr/Ohio State
Derek Moye/sr/Penn State
Roy Roundtree/jr/Michigan
Lance Lewis/sr/East Carolina
Patrick Edwards/sr/Houston
Jordan White/sr/Western Michigan
Conner Vernon/jr/Duke

Tight Ends (Top 8):
Tyler Eifert/jr/Notre Dame
Michael Egnew/sr/Missouri
Orson Charles/jr/Georgia
James Hanna/sr/Oklahoma
Drake Dunsmore/sr/Northwestern
Jordan Reed/so/Florida
Coby Fleenor/sr/Stanford
Jacob Pederson/so/Wisconsin

The Heisman trophy is going to be an interesting race all season long. I would probably guess that the list of 10 that are the front-running candidates are:
LaMichael James/RB/Oregon
Andrew Luck/QB/Stanford
Kellen Moore/QB/Boise State
Landry Jones/QB/Oklahoma
Trent Richardson/RB/Alabama
Michael Floyd/WR/Notre Dame
Justin Blackmon/WR/Oklahoma State
Ryan Broyles/WR/Oklahoma
Marcus Lattimore/RB/South Carolina
Case Keenum/QB/Houston

Look for more on the 2011 college football season as August progresses. Also, soon I'll be making my predictions and giving an Indiana High School football outlook before the regular season begins on August 19th.