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Yesterday, the college football world got a chance to do one of their most favorite things—point the finger and pile onto Lane Kiffin. His comments defending Matt Barkley over at ESPN LA sparked a fire about how he refuses to take the blame and causes controversy every time he speaks.

Everybody stop.

Did you all watch the University of Southern California play football this year? Did you see a different ballclub than the one I saw?

I ask because if you watched the Trojans that I saw on a week-in, week-out basis during the 2012 season, I'm not sure how you can say that Lane Kiffin is wrong in his defense of Matt Barkley. If Barkley had the elite defenses that Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer had in their Heisman-winning seasons, then odds are Matt Barkley is a legitimate candidate to be at the ceremony in New York City.

It's likely, following his monster season, that Johnny Football still takes home the hardware, but the point remains that if Barkley's defense could have shown up to get stops, he would have had a shot at the Heisman.

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We're going with the early edition of the Your Best 11 Mailbag, Thursday. Next week, we'll go with afternoon questions, but we figured it was time to give the morning crowd a little time to shine. No need to dilly dally, here are your questions:

I'm a big Earl Wolff fan, personally. Combine, or not, I think his tape puts him in a position to get on the field for teams looking for a safety. He's got good range and is very effective against the run. He's a complete safety that just doesn't have some of the top-end speed that other guys possess.

Then, at the combine he showed some good wheels and was a very fluid guy in and out of transitions.

I expect he'll be a mid-round pick, and as a safety, he'll likely work his way into the rotation. The kid's got a good understanding of the game and in the right system, I don't think it's a stretch to expect him to be a starter at the next level.

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The NFL Scouting Combine serves as the unofficial moment in the college football offseason where we hit the reset button. It’s at this moment—somewhere between the first and final 40 completed in Indy—that we realize the talented group currently under the scouting microscope is gone from college football for good.

Excuse me while I pour out a can of warm Busch Light leftover from the tailgate season in their honor.

Although we’re quite familiar with this yearly ritual now, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. The players we’ve marveled over for the past three to four seasons are gone, off to get paid for their efforts, leaving us with another batch of faces to become familiar with before and during the fall.

There are plenty of known commodities still around in college football—be sure to enjoy Jadeveon Clowney while you can—although there’s no question we’re losing quite a bit in 2013.

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

College football is using science! This time they are going with electronic tracking devices in the Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, as Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News reported Tuesday. From Solomon's report, SEC football officiating coordinator Steve Shaw:

These leagues are following in the footsteps of the daddy, the NFL. The league was working with sensors as a way to deliver more information to fans, media and the like.

Yup, despite Shaw's tepid (at best) reference to safety, the real goal here has less to do with players and their safety and more to do with finding a new means of commodification within the sport. Whether that is viewer experience or delivering statistics, the point is that this is only tangentially related to the players.

Certainly, they could use the sensors for strength and conditioning work. A way to tweak workouts and monitor player production in an effort to squeeze the maximum amount of speed out of the guys on the field.

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Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Texas A&M quarterback/Heisman winner/celebrity magnet Johnny Manziel will face unthinkable expectations heading into the 2013 season. After putting up ridiculous numbers in his first year at quarterback—and also A&M’s first year in the SEC—Manziel now has the task of following this up.

His numbers were record-setting, and Manziel has parlayed that success into having one of the best offseasons in recent memory. He’s not just an exceptional football player capable of doing things we dream of doing in video games, he’s also embracing the celebrity status that he has achieved in record time.

How good will those numbers be in 2013? We examine that, along with why it’s good to be Johnny Football.

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Photo via Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated launched a salvo that resonated with college football and basketball fans alike. Both the Braxton Miller and Jadeveon Clowney covers made it pretty clear that heading into March, football is still on people's minds.

Sure, the "Sorry Hoops, Two More Weeks To Wait" at the top belies a sort of competition between the two sports, where an apology is needed. However, ultimately this is not about college basketball being bad. It's not about ratings or scoring or even a true battle between the separate entities.

Ultimately, like most things on the American sporting landscape, it's about football taking the lead and everyone else playing the background.

We've seen it for awhile with the NFL. The league locks down the news cycle for their schedule release. They televise their scouting combine and folks watch in droves, myself included. They force other sports to avoid Sunday competition for fear of losing viewers to the behemoth that is the NFL.

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The NFL Scouting Combine wrapped up with the defensive backs a day ago and the NFL masses left Indianapolis with more data, medical reports and personal takes than you can usually get in one place. The biggest job fair in sports came to a close and now we've got about two months of rumors, posturing and guessing games.

For draftniks the combine is great. NFL fans look at their possible targets and get giddy during the event. Fans of individual college teams all root for their guys.

Now, for a guy like me, who has been watching all of these kids work for their collegiate teams on Saturdays; the combine is a real treat because it means watching them go out and try to ball hard on the biggest individual stage they're going to get.

Whether you're a first-round-caliber guy, or a mid- to late-round pick, the combine is a chance to help increase the likelihood of an NFL GM, coach, scout and the like, falling in love with what you bring to the table. It's a chance to confirm what they have seen on film, prove that you belong on their board and, hopefully, make a couple extra bucks by showing what you can do.

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Image Via 247Sports

At 6’1” and 215 pounds, Dylan Moses already has more than enough size to be an NFL running back. He also sports a 40 that would be more than competitive with the group of gifted ball-carriers who were showcased at the NFL Combine.

The problem, however, is that he won’t graduate until summer. To be slightly more specific, he won’t be graduating eighth grade until this summer.

Despite his age—or specifically, his lack of—Moses is an in-demand commodity. He has now drawn the interest of and offers from two of the country’s most potent football programs. The secret is out; although, this is far from the first time we’ve seen a junior high athlete receive looks from colleges.

It’s not the norm (yet), but it could be soon enough.

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The question as to whether or not the Atlantic Coast Conference can ever be a truly major player in college football is one with a very simple answer. 

Yes.

The league, led by John Swofford absolutely "can" regain their spot alongside the other power leagues. Swofford's conference is not lumped in with the "others" as far as the playoff is concerned. His conference is set to make plenty of money to afford teams the ability to match salaries, keep staffs together and update facilities.

So, the answer is, "Yes, the ACC can be a player on the big stage of college football."

However, the real question is will. As in, will the ACC be a player on the collegiate landscape?

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Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Mostly, because it's not that big of a deal.

Certainly, there is a continued power struggle between which team is "The Real Carolina" as both use the moniker. The alumni bases overlap from a geography standpoint, especially in Charlotte, N.C. A city that is closer to Gamecock Country than it is Chapel Hill.

These teams have played 55 games against one another. They fight it out for recruits on a yearly basis. UNC pulling guys like Robert Quinn and Quinshad Davis out of the Palmetto State in recent years. South Carolina of course counters by grabbing guys like Larenz Bryant and Connor Mitch from the Tar Heel State.

Unfortunately, for a rivalry to exist beyond being the fuel of hypotheticals and sports radio bluster, the two teams have to actually play. That's something North Carolina and South Carolina just have not done enough to solidify the rivalry in a lot of folks' minds.