The journey to the 2011/2012 National Championship promises to be a long and treacherous road.  It starts in Arlington and Atlanta in week one of the college football season and then moves on to Tallahassee in week three. Week four will be our most defining look so far at shaping the National Championship Game. We have not one or two but three games that will go a long way to deciding who will play in January for the crown. Looking at Week Three we can't talk about the other two games without first talking about the SEC West. Arkansas travels to Alabama on September 24th in what looks like it could be a match-up of the best two teams in the SEC (sorry LSU fans).

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS AT ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

When: September 24th

Where: Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Each week during the off-season we will be doing this feature that will simply be called "This Week In College Football". We will cover the biggest news and stories of the past week and give some opinions and analysis. In addition to covering the weekly happenings we also do a weekly roundtable where we discuss varying topics and we give several opinions on each topic. Let's get to what happened this week in college football

WILL MUSCHAMP GIVES THE BOOT TO JANORIS JENKINS

Janoris Jenkins has been a busy guy this off-season. And I don't mean that in a good way. He's already been busted twice for pot since Muschamp became the coach. Last week I estimated that as a part of the "Florida Way" (which is has been extremely lenient on drug users in the past) Jenkins would probably miss the first two games of the season. This week Muschamp proved me wrong and booted Jenkins from the team. And this doesn't look like a Chris "Time To Die" Rainey suspension where he gets to come back when the schedule increases in difficulty. It looks like the real thing. I applaud Muschamp for taking a stand but I also wonder if Jenkins could have been "saved" if Muschamp had been more pro-active in his initial punishment. I'm not privy to what the original punishment was as all we know is that it was "internal". That being said, the punishment for the first offense of Muschamp's regime didn't do the job and didn't wake up Janoris. Muschamp should have sent a stronger message to Janoris initially. As it stands now Florida will go into the season without their best defense player as they try to change the culture down in Gainesville.

The NFL draft got off to a bang on Thursday night and will continue throughout the weekend. Because of the draft I won't be posting any new content of my own until Sunday when I post my weekly "This Week In College Football" column. On Monday, I will post the 4th game in the series "15 Games That Will Decide The National Champion". If you missed any of these posts you can check them out here: LSU/Oregon, Boise State/Georgia and FSU/Oklahoma. Since it is draft weekend, you all need to go back and take a look at some of the stuff that Kris posted over the last few weeks. Take a look at his Mock Draft Update from April 13th in which he breaks down every pick of the first round, his Top 100 Big Board (posted the day before the draft), and his Final Round 3 Mock Draft (posted the evening of the first round). Earlier this week we debuted a new writer, Jeff Contizano. Jeff's wheelhouse is the Big Ten so look for him to provide us with some good information and views about that conference as well as college football in general. His first offering is a look at the controversial Jim Tressel which you can read here. Now that we've got some housekeeping out of the way let's take a look at some interesting articles that have been posted out on the interweb recently...

1. Carolina Panthers = Cameron Newton QB Auburn
2. Denver Broncos = Von Miller OLB Texas A&M
3. Buffalo Bills = Marcell Dareus DT Alabama
4. Cincinnati Bengals = A.J. Green WR Georgia

This pick could be traded and I wouldn’t be shocked if the Falcons jumped up here or the next pick for Green or Jones.

5. Arizona Cardinals = Patrick Peterson CB LSU

I think Peterson goes here whether to the Cards or to Houston.

6. Cleveland Browns = Robert Quinn DE North Carolina

This is another hot pick as the Patriots are wanting to move up in the Top 10 to either take a top pass rusher or Julio Jones.

7. San Francisco 49ers = Prince Amukamara CB Nebraska

This is yet another trade hotspot as teams will want to move up for Gabbert with the Redskins being hot on the trail.

8. Tennessee Titans = Nick Fairley DT Auburn
9. Dallas Cowboys = J.J. Watt DE Wisconsin

This is a definite trade spot and I think this is where New England goes up for Julio Jones.

10. Washington Redskins = Blaine Gabbert QB Missouri

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1. Patrick Peterson CB LSU
2. A.J. Green WR Georgia
3. Von Miller OLB Texas A&M
4. Marcell Dareus DT Alabama
5. Julio Jones WR Alabama
6. Robert Quinn DE North Carolina
7. Blaine Gabbert QB Missouri
8. Prince Amukamara CB Nebraska
9. Nick Fairley DT Auburn
10. Tyron Smith OT USC
11. J.J. Watt DE Wisconsin
12. Cameron Jordan DE California
13. Aldon Smith OLB Missouri
14. Anthony Castonzo OT Boston College
15. Cameron Newton QB Auburn
16. Da'Quan Bowers DE Clemson
17. Ryan Kerrigan DE Purdue
18. Corey Liuget DT Illinois
19. Mark Ingram HB Alabama
20. Mike Pouncey OG/OC Florida

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They say there are three things that are certain in life. Death, taxes, and Jim Tressel dominating the Big 10.

All kidding aside, Jim Tressel's legacy at Ohio State is definitely one to remember. After taking over in 2000, the Vest posted a 7-5 record in 2001. That would be the worst year in his illustrious career in Columbus, as the Buckeyes would post a 99-17 (.853) record over the next 9 years, including a 61-11 mark in Big Ten play. 

When a Coach is hired at Ohio State, they are brought in to do two things; Beat Michigan, and win titles. In 2002, the Buckeyes won the National Title, defeating the Miami Hurricanes in an epic 31-24 overtime victory. The Buckeyes have won outright or shared the Big 10 Title 6 years in a row, and defeated arch-rival Michigan 7 years in a row. Life was pretty good for Coach Tressel, who's team expected to compete for another Big 10 Title this season.

But things haven't gone as smoothly recently as they have before. In December, 5 Buckeye players, including starters QB Terrelle Pryor, OT Mike Adams, RB Dan Herron, WR Devier Posey, and DE Soloman Thomas were suspended for receiving improper benefits and selling memorabilia, including championship rings and  Maize pants given to the Buckeyes for winning the annual UM/OSU game. 

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We start our journey to the 2011/2012 National Championship in Arlington and Atlanta in week one of the college football season. In the second week there are some quality games like Alabama/Penn State, Auburn/Miss State, Georgia/South Carolina, Notre Dame/Michigan, and Okie State/Arizona. But none of those games really stand out to me as much as week three when the Oklahoma Sooners travel to Tallahassee for a showdown with Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles of Florida State.

OKLAHOMA SOONERS AT FSU SEMINOLES

When: September 17th

Where: Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida

No descriptions on this one except trades which I'm doing just for fun. My last mock draft without trades will be up before the draft Thursday night and Top 100 big board also.

1. Carolina Panthers = Marcell Dareus DT Alabama
2. Denver Broncos = Von Miller OLB Texas A&M
3. Buffalo Bills = Cameron Newton QB Auburn
4. Cincinnati Bengals = A.J. Green WR Georgia
5. Houston Texans (trading their 11th pick, 73rd pick & 2nd rounder in 2012 to Arizona) = Patrick Peterson CB LSU

Houston is supposedly chomping at the bit trying to move up to get Peterson and the talk is that if Peterson drops to #6 then Cleveland would grab him in a heartbeat.

6. Cleveland Browns = Robert Quinn DE North Carolina
7. Washington Redskins (trading their 10th pick & 2nd rounder in 2012 to San Francisco) = Blaine Gabbert QB Missouri

This would make the Redskins happy because they wouldn't have to trade into the top 5 to get the QB they are supposedly very high on.

8. Tennessee Titans = Nick Fairley DT Auburn
9. New England Patriots (trading their 17th pick & 60th pick to Dallas) = Julio Jones WR Alabama

Belichick doesn't move up in the draft much but this is a move to get Tom Brady the big weapon he has needed since Randy Moss was at his peak. Plus the Belichick/Saban connection comes to form here.

10. San Francisco 49ers (through Washington) = Prince Amukamara CB Nebraska

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Spring practices are coming to a close and we all have to wait until the fall to salivate or agonize over statistics from scrimmages. We will start kicking out our Pre-Season Previews in a few weeks but until then we are taking a look at some of the big games scheduled in 2011. The way I see it there are 15 regular season games that will decide the National Champion. These aren't the only 15 game you should watch, because somebody could come out of nowhere like Auburn did last year, but these are the 15 most important games of the 2011 season. We started off with week one with a showdown between Oregon and LSU. For the second game we are staying in week one and heading over to the ATL.

Boise State Broncos vs. Georgia Bulldogs

When: September 3rd at 8pm on ESPN

Where: Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia

Each week during the off-season we will be doing this feature that will simply be called "This Week In College Football". We will cover the biggest news and stories of the past week and give some opinions and analysis. In addition to covering the weekly happenings we also do a weekly roundtable where we discuss varying topics and we give several opinions on each topic. Let's get to what happened this week in college football

JANORIS JENKINS BUSTED AGAIN

On the January 30th edition of "This Week In College Football" we discussed Will Mushchamp's first tough decision as the Head Coach at Florida. Janoris Jenkins had just been charged with possession of marijuana and Muschamp had just made a speech about doing things the "Florida Way". Ultimately Muschamp didn't do anything to Jenkins other than "internal punishment". Due to Muschamp's inability to take a stand against drugs Janoris Jenkins has once again run into trouble with drugs and the law. This is the second time in three months for drugs and it's his third brush with the law since May of 2009. Based on the Florida drug policy this is the second offense for Janoris so that would equate to a suspension for 10% of games (if he played for Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky or Miss State he would miss half of the season). Florida has one of the most lax drug policies in the SEC. It's another tough call for Muschamp. His best defensive player obviously is not worried about being punished if he's busted by the cops in a car with a marijuana cigarette. My prediction. Muschamp will suspend Jenkins for the dreaded Florida Atlantic and UAB games. What really needs to happen? Muschamp needs to be tougher because Jenkins looks like he's spiraling out of control.