From Matt Hayes at The Sporting News.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your Notre Dame guinea pig: Paul Rhoads. Pitt’s defensive coordinator will be the first coach to defend new Irish coach Charlie Weis’ offense–an offense that will be vastly different from the West Coast scheme former coach Tyrone Willingham used the past three years. The objective of Weis’ attack: spread and stretch. Spread the defense, forcing it to cover sideline to sideline, and stretch the defense by taking shots on deep routes. Rhoads says his staff has looked at game tape from Weis’ New England Patriots offenses to get an understanding of the scheme for the September 3 opener at Pitt. Pitt also has looked at last year’s Notre Dame-Pitt game to break down specific player tendencies. The problem: The Irish had 438 yards in a 41-38 loss last year. Speaking of the Irish, count Rhoads among those who believe QB Brady Quinn will thrive under Weis: “He has a ton of talent, and he’s still developing.” . . .

On the flip side, of course will be how Pitt’s revised defense will appear. Pitt is expected to be faster up the middle of the d-line and play a more aggressive defense. The corners won’t be playing off so much to permit the receivers easy catches. The more I find myself thinking about the 1st game of the season, the more I conclude that last year’s results, style, everything — mean absolutely nothing in this game. Both teams are going to be very different in how they play.

Bruce Feldman lists his top-10 gamebreakers for the last 20 years.

1. Deion Sanders, FSU. No one is even close when it comes to the theatre and drama of owning the moment. The Godfather of all gamebreakers.
2. Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State
3. Michael Vick, Va. Tech
4. Tommie Frazier, Nebraska
5. Marshall Faulk, SD State
6. Rocket Ismail, ND
7. Desmond Howard, Michigan
8. Charlie Ward, FSU
9. Randy Moss, Marshall
10. Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh

Just Missed the Cut: Champ Bailey, UGa; Charles Woodson, Michigan; Matt Jones, Arkansas.; Beau Morgan, Air Force QB; Antonio Bryant, Pitt WR; Hart Lee Dykes, Oklahoma State WR; Terry Glenn, Ohio State; K-Jana Carter, Penn State; Eric Crouch, Nebraska; Ricky Williams, UT; Donovan McNabb, Syracuse; Joe Hamilton, Georgia Tech QB; David Allen, K-State; Napoleon Kaufman, Washington; Peter Warrick, FSU; Tim Brown, ND; Deuce Palmer, ‘Bama; Tremain Mack, Miami; and Wes Welker, Texas Tech.

I never thought of Antonio Bryant as a “gamebreaker.” He came on as a force in 2002, but that was a surprise and seemingly out of no where. In 2003, when he was expected to be a gamebreaker, he was out for almost half the season with injuries — opening the door for Larry Fitzgerald to appear on the scene.

Feldman also notes another story on recruiting sites and their interactions with recruits.

Most Division I teams are covered by Rivals.com and Scout.com, the two predominant Web sites when it comes to college football recruiting.

When a player is being pursued by a university, he can expect to get a call from both sites that cover that particular school. The two such sites concerning Nebraska football are huskersillustrated.com (Rivals) and bigredreport.com (Scout).

“If it came out you were interested in Michigan, you’d get a call from both (Michigan Web sites) the next day,” Holt said.

And the questions that came from these Web reporters?

Almost always the same, Holt said.

” ‘What’s your top five?’ ‘What’s your strengths as a player?’ They always ask that one. ‘Have you been to any camps?’ “

Rivals.com comes off looking better and has quotes from their general manager, Bobby Burton, than Scout.com. Of course, Scout.com is now with Fox Sports, so who knows what is going to happen. What just keeps seeming clearer is that there is going to be some major fighting coming regarding internet recruiting sites, and probably rumblings of some sort of regulations.