There's a column in here somewhere, and we'll soon explore the topic more in-depth, but did you see these two stories?

Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports absolutely crushed it with this explanatory piece about how NFL teams are doing due diligence on prospects. Show them an attractive woman's profile, get on to their Facebook page and then sift through all the friends, pictures and comments:

"It works like magic," said a personnel source that was familiar with his team's tactic of using counterfeit profiles to link to Facebook and Myspace pages of potential draft picks. The source directed Yahoo! Sports to one of the team's "ghost profiles" - a term he coined because "once the draft is over, they disappear. It's like they were never there."

Elsewhere in cyberspace, John Calipari's daughter Megan changed the status update on her Facebook page and broke a major college basketball story in the process. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com details the scoop:

JOSH PASTNER IS THE NEW COACH AT MEMPHIS!! YAY!!

Chances are you won't be drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs this month, or be named the head coach of a Conference USA program anytime soon, but these types of stories raise a whole new set of issues for students, reporters, employers and anyone who has a Facebook account.

What's your reaction?

The baseline for Dwayne Evans is set with mid-major programs from the Mid-American Conference and Horizon League. But Northwestern has also looked at the Neuqua Valley forward, and his stock only figures to rise over the next several months. In this Sun-Times News Group piece, Scott Powers breaks down Evans' well-rounded game.

Recruiting projections are still just guesswork, as quarterback Dan LeFevour has shown at Central Michigan. As part of an interesting series, the Sun-Times shines the spotlight on Benet, with an essay from LeFevour and all sorts of trivia about the Redwings.

-Notre Dame senior forward Brittany Bock, a Neuqua Valley graduate, is among 15 semifinalists for the 2008 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation's top Division I women's soccer player.

-Washington University (St. Louis) sophomore running back Jim O'Brien, a Wheaton Warrenville South graduate, was selected to the all-University Athletic Association first team as a kick returner for the second-consecutive season. O'Brien averaged a conference-best 25.0 yards per kick return, and was second in all-purpose yards at 107.2 per game.

-Wisconsin-Whitewater freshman Alyssa Bauer, a Naperville Central graduate, has been named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's all-Midwest region honorable mention team. Bauer was also recognized on the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's all-defensive team.

When Trevor Stellman hit Cordario Collier for a 17-yard pass in the second quarter, it meant Thomas More College had successfully converted on third down for the fourth time in its first seven attempts.

The Saints were trailing, but only by three points. And they appeared ready to put up a good fight against North Central College, the nation's second-ranked team, in an NCAA D-III first-round playoff game Saturday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

But Stellman was intercepted on the next play by Derek Sulo and the Cardinals never looked back in their 44-23 win.

"We finally did get (their momentum) stopped eventually, but not before they got like four or five straight third down (conversions)," said NCC linebacker Matt Wenger, who made 12 tackles and had an interception. "It's really frustrating when you have a team third-and-10 and you give up 11 yards and you're still on the field. But we got it figured out."

When North Central College faces Thomas More College on Saturday afternoon, the teams may see some of themselves in each other.

Both teams point to strong running offenses and strong running defenses. Whichever team does both of those things better will likely come out the victors in their NCAA Division III first-round playoff game at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

"Good football teams are able to run the football, and good teams are able to stop the run," Saints coach Jim Hilvert said. "Especially when it comes to the games in November and December, you've got to do both."

As written about in today's Sun, the Big Ten has formally proposed an early three-day signing period for college football recruits that would begin on the third Wednesday of December. Many coaches like Purdue's Joe Tiller are strong advocates for the policy, arguing that it strengthens the verbal commitments of prospects and saves money for universities. Some, like Illinois' Ron Zook, feel an even earlier signing period gives coaches even less time to get to know the personalities of recruits.

Personally, I can't make up my mind on this either way. On the one hand, I understand Tiller's perspective and on the other I get Zook's attitude as well. What do you think? Is this a good thing for recruits? Is it a good for the game?

Stud running back Rashard Mendenhall has moved on to the NFL, but Illinois is still loaded for Bear. Of course, to challenge for the Big Ten title, quarterback Juice Williams will have to throw like he did in the upset of Ohio State, and Arrelious Benn should be primed for a huge year. The defense also must continue to improve.

Central Michigan quarterback and former Benet star Dan LeFevour appeared on ESPN's First Take on Friday morning. Here he talks about facing Georgia, the Heisman and his hole-in-one.

LeFevour also did an online chat with ESPN.com in which he answered questions from fans. You can find it here. Clearly, LeFevour's star is on the rise. These days he seems almost like an ambassador. Is there any doubt that he's the representative of the MAC? Of small conferences everywhere fighting for Top 25 recognition?

Jeff Dooley over at ESPN The Magazine ranked the Big Ten as the third best conference in the nation this season behind the SEC and Big 12.

His analysis of the Big Ten this season was clear: Ohio State is the only real deal. It's a tune that Big Ten fans are all too familiar with every season. Sure, OSU is my pick to win the conference. They have 18 starters coming back and this year the Buckeyes smell like the real deal, but, as a whole, is the Big Ten getting the shaft this season? Seems to me that Wisconsin, Penn State and Illinois will all have strong programs this season. Michigan State has a great running back in Javon Ringer. I think 2008 has the potential to be a good year for the Big Ten.

What do you think? Is OSU a sure thing? Will Illinois fall apart without Mendenhall? What excites you or concerns you about Big Ten football this season?

Central Michigan unveiled a new, gigantic billboard of quarterback Dan LeFevour on Tuesday in Detroit. The former Benet star is now, unquestionably, the face of the program and really, the face of the Mid-American Conference.

LeFevour's success at CMU has thrown his name into the mix as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate this season. Chris Huston, the author of widely respected Heismanpundit blog, thinks LeFevour is a "legitimate darkhorse" for this season, but that he's being promoted for a serious 2009 run. The 60-foot high and 30-foot wide version of LeFevour is plastered on the back of the scoreboard at Comerica Park. The sign faces Ford's Field. LeFevour made a few brief comments about the billboard to ESPN's Graham Watson.

I think the billboard is very telling - the MAC and CMU plan to push LeFevour and a billboard in downtown Detroit will help make him more of a household name. If he's more of a household name, he has even more of a chance of becoming the first non-BCS player to win a Heisman, especially if he has another killer season like the last two. What do you think?

The petty sandbox fight is over, and the haves have figured out how to slice up our money between them thusly. Now we can go back to watching Big Ten football on television the way it was intended: on the couch at your own house.

No longer will we be forced to suck up to friends with digital satellite or spend a grip of money at a sports bar. The nightmare is over friends.

The Big Ten Network and Comcast ended their prolonged negotiations on Thursday and announced that the BTN will be available on all Comcast cable systems in time for football season.

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast will initially launch the network as part of its expanded basic level of service to promote it to the majority of its customers residing in states with Big Ten universities (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, with the exception of the Philadelphia region which will launch on a broadly distributed digital level of service) starting August 15th. (Comcast does not have systems in Iowa, the eighth Big Ten state.)