Five-Step Drop: Defending Lane

FanHouse's college football staff provides you with a personal quarterback. We do the primary and secondary reads for you so you can properly start your day. FanHouse will do a Five-Step Drop several times a week during the summer and then daily once preseason practice starts.

1. By now, all college and professional football (American-type, of course) fans have heard about the seemingly frivolous lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Titans against Lane Kiffin and USC for hiring Kennedy Pola as the Trojans' next offensive coordinator. For the legal details, check out this post from FanHouse's Clay Travis.

Anyway, Kiffin hadn't yet commented on the suit other than to say he was surprised ... until Thursday. After a visit to the Rose Bowl, which concluded the final day of the Pac-10's media tour, Kiffin had this to say:

"I think it has to do with the location of the team in the lawsuit."

Now, I'm not going to assume the Titans need to build PR in Tennessee -- especially with the presence of Chris Johnson -- but the Volunteers are infinitely more popular throughout the state. I actually think Kiffin may have a point here.

Even if he doesn't, though, enough's enough. I have sat idly by and watched him be slandered for the better part of two years. Sure, he's brought most of it on himself, so much of the mud-slinging is deserved, but at some point, it's just stale. Whether he deserves it or not, it's time to find a new scapegoat. This goes for all of us, including Jeff Fisher (whom I greatly admire and respect).

Let's just turn the page already.

2. More Pac-10: commissioner Larry Scott revealed to some media members how his plan of a 16-team super-conference fell apart. Basically, it's all Texas' fault. Scott reportedly said Texas "leaked" the plan before the Big 12 spring meetings in hopes that it would be reported and ultimately lead to the Big 12 staying together (which worked like a charm). Also, Scott blamed "Texas politics," which would be the entire state, not just the powerhouse school residing in Austin. This isn't really surprising stuff, except for the fact that he just came out and said it. Honestly, Scott's Pac-10 is really going to be a league to watch in so many ways.



3. Clemson has self-reported some secondary violations, several involving impermissible meal per diems and one seemingly ridiculous incident: in 2001, people attending a football banquet were served cookies after already having cake -- a violation of NCAA rules against "extra benefits." Yes, I'm dead serious.

4. The Kansas-Kansas State rivalry is too friendly? At least one columnist thinks so. If he's right, that's a shame. One of the best things about each football season is working up some pretty strong venom toward your alma mater's rival.

5. Northwestern University is launching a huge marketing campaign: "Northwestern, Chicago's Big Ten Team." It's probably long overdue, because Chicago has such a vast and rabid group of sports fans, yet NU has always taken a bit of a backseat. This isn't to say that the campaign will be able to net the die-hard Bears/Blackhawks/Bulls (and either White Sox or Cubs) group -- especially with large contingents of graduates from Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois and other prominent schools residing in the Windy City -- but it's at least worth a shot.

And the timing couldn't be better, because the Wildcats have a studly recruiting class on the way.