Most Returning Starters

Teams with the most returning starters for the 2012 season.

Tennessee 18
Derek Dooley may be on the hot seat, but with nine starters coming back on each side of the ball, it looks like he may be able to turn around Volunteer football. The offensive line comes into the season with ninety-nine combined starts.

UT-San Antonio 18
The Roadrunners have only played one season in their entire history. Start-up programs usually have a tough time, especially when moving up to the FBS in their second year of playing football. Eighteen returning starters should help the Roadrunners win some games. Most starters are only sophomores and juniors.

Florida 17
Florida was average last season. With alot of experienced talent returning, the Gators should be in the SEC East race. Ten starters return on a defense that was 8th nationally last season. Florida's defense will be really good.

FIU 17
Florida International looks set up to best last season's eight wins with eight starters returning on offense and nine starters coming back on defense. T.Y. Hilton may be gone, but the balance of FIU's top five receivers from last season are back. Mario Cristobal is building a beast in Miami. Did Pitt or Rutgers think they had a chance at getting him to leave?

On The Hot Seat: Week 14

1. David Bailiff—Rice went 4-8 this season and had its fourth sub-.500 season under Bailiff in his five seasons leading the program. Under Bailiff, the Owls have never won more than 3 conference games in a season except for the 2008 season where Rice won the Texas Bowl.

2. Robb Akey—The Vandals finished their fifth season under Akey, going 2-10. Akey has an overall winning percentage of .306 and a winning percentage of .259 against FBS opponents.

3. Mike Riley—Oregon State finished the season 3-9, losing the season finale to Oregon by a score of 49-21. The Beavers have now lost the last four Civil Wars. Mike Riley had his worst campaign as a head coach and has brought Oregon State fans back-to-back losing seasons.

4. David Cutcliffe—Cutcliffe is a good coach but in a very tough place to win. However, Duke seems to be paying him way too much money, $1.65 million per year, for providing four losing seasons. Furthermore, Cutcliffe’s Blue Devils are only 2-2 against FCS teams.

5. Derek Dooley—Dooley is 11-14 after two seasons. Surely Tennessee will need a lot of time to rebuild into the great program it once was, but Volunteer fans have a short fuse. Dooley will need to get at least 7 wins in the regular season next year to survive.

6. Mike Price—Mike Price finished his eighth season in El Paso with a 5-7 record. Each of Price’s last six seasons has featured more losses than wins. Price is 0-3 in bowl games during his eight-year tenure. How long will the Miners athletic department be complacent with subpar performance?

7. Frank Spaziani—Boston College is not going to a bowl game for the first time since the 1998 season. Boston College’s offense was atrocious this season, scoring more than 19 points only in three games. Spaziani’s record as a head coach plummeted to 20-19 after a 4-8 season.

8. Randy Edsall—Edsall inherited a 9-4 team and went 2-10 in his first season. One such loss was from a 38-7 thumping by Temple, Maryland’s first loss to Temple ever. Eight of the ten losses were by double-digit margins. Usually coaches shouldn’t be judged after one or two seasons, but Maryland has become the ACC’s blow-up doll.

9. Bobby Hauck—Hauck is 4-21 after his first two seasons. His winning percentage of .160 is the worst in the history of UNLV Rebels football.

10. DeWayne Walker—Walker’s Aggies are 9-29 in three seasons. Walker needs to show improvement in a WAC that becomes weaker next year with the departure of Hawaii, Fresno State, and Nevada.

Waiting list: Jeff Quinn, Dan Enos

Fired: Paul Wulff, Neil Callaway, Ron Zook, Steve Fairchild, Dennis Erickson, Turner Gill, Rob Ianello, Larry Porter, Rick Neuheisel, Mike Sherman, Pat Hill

NCAA Violations

College football has been plagued by scandals over the past few years. We've seen a can of worms bust open at Ohio State, USC vacating the 2004 national championship, improper benefits at North Carolina, Camgate at Auburn, the free textbook scandal at Alabama, recruiting violations at Oregon and Tennessee, and the list goes on and on.

The question arises: Has there been any FBS programs that have not come under the scrutiny of the NCAA?

The NCAA classifies violations as being either major or secondary. Major violations are ones that give a school an extensive recruiting or competitive advantage. Football and men's basketball are the two sports involved in most cases of rule-breaking. There are 17 schools in the FBS that have never been found to have committed a major violation in any sport since 1953, the year rule violations started being tracked. Those schools are Boston College, Northwestern, Penn State, Stanford, Air Force, Boise State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Colorado State, Florida Atlantic, Kent State, North Texas, Ohio, Rice, Troy, UAB, and Western Michigan. Only 4 are BCS conference schools. Boise State may be leaving the list soon as it is currently under investigation by the NCAA's infractions committee in five sports.

2010 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl Preview

December 30, 2010 6:40 PM ET

Stadium: LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Payout: $1,600,000

Played: 1998-present

Once known as: N/A

Broadcasters: Mark Jones, Bob Davie

Sideline Reporter: Cara Capuano

Storyline: North Carolina and Tennessee will meet for the first time since 1961 in the Music City Bowl. North Carolina spent much of the season immersed in scandal involving sports agents, improper gifts, and academic misconduct to the detriment of the football programs reputation. Despite having to sit seven players all season, the Tar Heels were able to perform well enough to make it into the postseason and go 4-4 in ACC play. Tennessee was 2-6 and had to win its final four games to become bowl-eligible. Freshman quarterback Tyler Bray was the spark the Volunteers needed; he went 4-0 as a starter. Tennessee is trying to regroup under new head coach Derek Dooley after Lane Kiffin and some recruits left the program after one year. The Volunteers will be playing 180 miles from home and can expect a Vols-friendly crowd. The Tar Heels need to win this game to end the reputation-damaging 2010 season on a positive note. The Volunteers need to win to get above .500 and to prove their program is finally on the rebound.

All-time Series: 20-10-1 Tennessee

Line: North Carolina by 1

	North Carolina			Tennessee
Overall Record	7-5		Overall Record	6-6
Conference Record	4-4		Conference Record	3-5
Bowl Record	12-5		Bowl Record	25-23
Last Bowl Win	2001 Peach		Last Bowl Win	2007 Outback

SEC Home Attendance Figures

	Alabama			Arkansas
Bryant-Denny Stadium			Razorback Stadium, War Memorial Stadium*
S4 San Jose State	101,821		S4 Tennessee Tech	69,596
S11 Penn State	101,821		S25 Alabama	76,808
O2 Florida	101,821		O23 Mississippi	73,619
O16 Mississippi	101,821		O30 Vanderbilt	70,430
N13 Mississippi State	101,821		N13 UTEP	67,330
N18 Georgia State	101,821		N27 LSU*	55,808
N26 Auburn	101,821
AVERAGE	101,821		AVERAGE	68,932
	Auburn			Florida
Jordan-Hare Stadium			Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
S4 Arkansas State	83,441		S4 Miami (OH)	90,178
S18 Clemson	87,451		S11 South Florida	90,612
S25 South Carolina	87,237		S25 Kentucky	90,547
O2 UL-Monroe	80,759		O9 LSU	90,721
O16 Arkansas	87,451		O16 Mississippi State	90,517
O23 LSU	87,451		N13 South Carolina	90,885
N6 Chattanooga	87,451		N20 Appalachian State	90,119
N13 Georgia	87,451
AVERAGE	86,087		AVERAGE	90,511
	Georgia			Kentucky
Sanford Stadium			Commonwealth Stadium
S4 UL-Lafayette	92,746		S11 Western Kentucky	66,584
S18 Arkansas	92,746		S18 Akron	64,014
O9 Tennessee	92,746		O9 Auburn	70,776
O16 Vanderbilt	92,746		O16 South Carolina	67,955
N6 Idaho State	92,746		O23 Georgia	70,884
N27 Georgia Tech	92,746		N6 Charleston Southern	61,884
			N13 Vanderbilt	60,391
AVERAGE	92,746		AVERAGE	66,070
	LSU			Mississippi
Tiger Stadium			Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
S18 Mississippi State	92,538		S4 Jacksonville State	55,768
S25 West Virginia	92,575		S18 Vanderbilt	51,667
O2 Tennessee	92,932		S25 Fresno State	55,267
O16 McNeese State	92,576		O2 Kentucky	55,344
N6 Alabama	92,969		O30 Auburn	61,474
N13 UL-Monroe	92,518		N6 UL-Lafayette	53,144
N20 Mississippi	92,915		N27 Mississippi State	58,625
AVERAGE	92,718		AVERAGE	55,898
	Mississippi State			South Carolina
Davis Wade Stadium			Williams-Brice Stadium
S4 Memphis	56,032		S2 Southern Miss	70,438
S9 Auburn	54,806		S11 Georgia	80,974
S25 Georgia	56,721		S18 Furman	73,681
O2 Alcorn State	50,439		O9 Alabama	82,993
O23 UAB	56,423		O30 Tennessee	79,336
O30 Kentucky	54,168		N6 Arkansas	75,136
N20 Arkansas	56,406		N20 Troy	74,117
AVERAGE	54,999		AVERAGE	76,668
	Tennessee			Vanderbilt
Neyland Stadium			Vanderbilt Stadium
S4 Tennessee-Martin	99,123		S4 Northwestern	37,210
S11 Oregon	102,035		S11 LSU	36,940
S18 Florida	102,455		O9 Eastern Michigan	33,107
S25 UAB	95,183		O23 South Carolina	33,425
O23 Alabama	102,455		N6 Florida	33,848
N13 Mississippi	96,044		N20 Tennessee	37,017
N27 Kentucky	101,170		N27 Wake Forest	21,338
AVERAGE	99,781		AVERAGE	33,269

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

Alabama	101,821
Tennessee	99,781
Georgia	92,746
LSU	92,718
Florida	90,511
Auburn	86,087
South Carolina	76,668
Arkansas	68,932
Kentucky	66,070
Mississippi	55,898
Mississippi State	54,999
Vanderbilt	33,269