College Football 2011: New Storylines That ESPN Should Tackle for 30 for 30

ESPN's documentary series 30 for 30 had just three specials that featured college football.

There was the emotional one ("The Best That Never Was"), the cocky but surprisingly good one ("The U") and the cocky but surprisingly mediocre one ("Pony Excess").

ESPN created a new brand with 30 for 30. While it was developed as a way to pay tribute to some of the biggest stories in ESPN's first 30 years, it would be hard to believe that it doesn't come up with a way to keep this going in the future.

Another aspect that made the series interesting was ESPN's selection of a diverse group of directors for each documentary.

So if ESPN producers are reading this, here are some suggestions for future angles...of course, all college football ideas with a potential director.

Strip Tease—Reggie Bush

Sorry, this has nothing to do with Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian.

This one may be better.

We have a good-looking, superstar running back who wins the Heisman Trophy. All is well in the world.

Oh wait, Bush and his family received some inappropriate benefits, including some pretty cool housing. In the end USC has to vacate a bunch of wins, and Bush returns his Heisman.

It's the first time in the history of the award that a player "voluntarily" returned the Heisman.

Let's not forget, he also dumped Kardashian. Or did she dump him?

Director: Will Ferrell

Pay to Play—Cam Newton

OK, there's no proof (right now) that Cam Newton took a penny to play football at Auburn.

But there sure is a lot of smoke.

This has the potential to be Reggie Bush II, but Newton is smiling a lot these days after being the No. 1 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers.

It would still be an interesting documentary if ESPN just looked into Newton's father and what happened with Mississippi State.

Director: Andy Tennant

Beating the Odds—Mark Herzlich

Not every storyline has to be negative.

Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich is one of the more inspirational stories in more than 30 years.

The 2008 ACC Defensive Player of the Year was one of the best players in the nation and had a bright future in the NFL. Then he missed the entire 2009 as he battled Ewing's sarcoma—a bone cancer—in his left femur.

Herzlich persevered and returned in 2010, but the NFL draft came and went without a team selecting him.

Despite the snub, Herzlich seems like a player that will find a way to succeed at the next level. He's already proven to be a huge success as a human being.

Director: Ben Affleck

The Chosen One—Tim Tebow

This is easily the biggest no-brainer for the ESPN bigwigs.

Tim Tebow has poster boy looks, played quarterback for the Florida Gators, won a Heisman and was part of two BCS championships.

But Tebow is more than that.

There's the mission trips to help the underprivileged in Third World nations, there's his pledge of celibacy until marriage (really?) and, of course, there is the Tebow cult.

Men, women and children will buy anything with his name or likeness on it. They still do today, but now it has the Denver Broncos logo on it.

Maybe ESPN can once and for all figure out the true mystique of Tim Tebow.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Remember No. 6—Jasper Howard

Jasper Howard and his family actually believed he was getting away from the violence of Miami when he left South Florida to play football at Connecticut.

Instead the violence found him, as he was stabbed to death during the 2009 season, just hours after leading the Huskies to a win.

What was even more impressive was the next time UConn played. The Huskies traveled to Morgantown, WV to play the West Virginia Mountaineers.

WVU fans are normally a hostile group. However, on this day they showed a great deal of class by honoring the fallen Connecticut star.

Director: Morgan Spurlock

The Deal Maker—Larry Scott

The Pac-10 brought in Larry Scott from the Women's Tennis Association in 2009 to enhance its brand and improve its broadcasting situation.

Scott has done that and more.

He swung big and missed when he tried to lure Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Colorado from the from the Big 12 in hopes of creating a 16-team conference.

However, he did convince Colorado to make the jump, along with Utah from the Mountain West Conference, to form the Pac-12, which begins play this fall.

Scott followed that up by delivering a big TV package with Fox and ESPN in the neighborhood of $3 billion.

Director: Tim Robbins

Dazed and Confused—Rich Rodriguez

The rise and fall of Rich Rodriguez was ugly.

As the football coach at West Virginia, Rodriguez was a hero in the state. Around the nation, his name was always included in big openings. He almost left Morgantown for Alabama a year before he chose to go to Michigan.

But almost from the first day Rodriguez arrived in Ann Arbor, everything went wrong.

There was the legal wrangling over his buyout from WVU, which Michigan reluctantly helped pay. There were player defections and then a bunch of losses. There were also Michigan's first NCAA sanctions, which didn't play well with anyone.

There's also that 0-3 record against Ohio State.

He will more than likely be coaching somewhere in 2012, so this story isn't quite finished yet.

Director: Richard Linklater

Vested Interest—Jim Tressel

The Jim Tressel saga began in December and progressively got worse every day.

Tressel has lied to and deceived everyone in Columbus as well as the NCAA brass.

He finally resigned last week, but this story was made for an ESPN special.

Tressel pretends to be the law-abiding coach who preaches morals and values to his Buckeye teams. Guess that Senator nickname had a different meaning.

You think the sanctions against USC were bad? Wait till you see what the NCAA does to Ohio State.

This is a horror story where no one may be left standing (we're looking at you, Gordon Gee and Gene Smith).

Director: Wes Craven