There’s some debate among oddsmakers over who is the favorite to win the national title.

Some sportsbooks have LSU. Others have Southern Cal. Phil Steele says Florida State.

But everyone has Matt Barkley as the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.

Due to Nevada Gaming Control regulations, you’ll only find Heisman odds at online sportsbooks. But the Trojans’ quarterback is a solid favorite at each of the books already offering odds on the winner.

Barkley is as low as 3/1, in the same range that Andrew Luck began last season as the favorite. Wisconsin running back Montee Ball (4/1) and Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson (5/1) are Barkley's closest competition.

LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu, one of last year’s finalists, is listed at 50/1.

Other intriguing long shots include: Arkansas running back Knile Davis (60/1), Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller (60/1)and Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel (33/1).

And one intriguing money-burner: Kansas quarterback Dayne Crist, who, at 25/1, has the same odds as Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead. Apparently, the oddsmakers missed John Brantley's numbers in Charlie Weis' offense last year. 

Robert Griffin III was the 10th quarterback in the last 11 seasons to win the Heisman. Before Griffin, the last eight Heisman winners played in the national championship game.

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and in the case of the Duke football program, that’s especially true. When you’ve won a total of 11 games in the last three years (for comparison’s sake, four teams from the SEC won 11 games last year alone) it’s never a bad thing when you’re in the news.

Well on Monday morning, Duke football was in the news, for the unexpected of reasons: A young man by the name of Hud Mellencamp will be attempting to walk on to their football team. And if the last name didn’t tell you everything you need to know about the story, well, it should’ve. Hud is the son of famed singer John Mellencamp.

The news was first reported by CBS's Bruce Feldman on Twitter, who added an interesting little nugget at the end of his tweet:

John Mellencamp's son is walking onto Duke football team as a DB. Hud Mellencamp, a Golden Gloves boxer, didn't play HS football.

— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) June 4, 2012

No, we’re not talking about the part where the younger Mellencamp didn’t play football in high school, although that’s certainly an interesting nugget. That nugget may also cause the internet to blow up after about 290,000 people make the same, “Apparently you don't have to have any football experience to actually play at Duke” jokes. To which I say, bravo my friends. You’re all hysterical. Each and every one of you.

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We have now officially reached the doldrums of the college football calendar, where up is down, left is right, and the only thing passing for “news” these days is when a bunch of bloated (literally and figuratively) athletic directors get together in a secluded room, argue for eight hours, then spend the rest of the evening blowing through their expense accounts like John Junker at a strip club.

Good times! Oh, and how many days until kick-off again?

Thankfully we here at Crystal Ball Run are going to spare you. Rather than sitting around and twitting our thumbs for the next 90 days, we instead plan to hit you with more college football content then you know what to do with. Why’s that? Well, in addition to our regular coverage of whatever kind of interesting/unique/breaking news that comes up over the course of the day, we're also going to have what we're calling "theme" weeks. Every week from now until the middle of August, we're going to have a "theme" with at least one article a day from our various writers covering that specific topic. Some examples are "coaching hot seats," "breakout players.” Stuff like that.

And today, we start theme week by discussing America’s favorite stiff-armed trophy, the Heisman. Over the next five days our staff will give you everything you need to know about college football’s most prestigious award, including the darkhorses, defensive prospects to watch, Vegas odds and even a little insight on why some of the favorites might fall short. Overall, it’s going to be a fun time.

As we kick off Heisman week, the only appropriate place to start seems to be with the favorites.  Below are all the names you need to go heading into 2012, as well as some relevant stats, and a paragraph or two on each player’s candidacy. Later today we’ll also look at some off the radar players as well.

(Editor’s Note: Eric Galko is the Director of Scouting for the website OptimumScouting.com and has been nice enough to offer his services to Crystal Ball Run, profiling a 2013 NFL Draft hopeful in this space every week.

In his first profile, Galko looked at the curious case of Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, and where he could fit in on an NFL roster.

Today, he evaluates another fascinating draft prospect, Tavon Austin.)

The Clemson Tigers defense in the 2011-2012 season featured three top 120 picks in the NFL Draft last year and two more signed in undrafted free agency. Despite the NFL talent that was (and still is) on their roster, they were dismantled by one player in their final game at Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

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We now have a pretty decent idea of where everybody stands in the debate over which playoff format is the best for college football. The Big 12 and SEC want semifinals played in bowl games or neutral sites and the best four teams, regardless of conference affiliation. The Big Ten and Pac 12 want on-campus games and only conference champions (nobody really cares what the ACC or Big East). Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com says now it all comes down to forming a compromise. Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples says the SEC has drawn the line in the sand.

Not that his opinion really means a whole lot, to be honest, but NCAA president Mark Emmert says a four-team football playoff is workable. He would probably know, seeing as every level of college football utilizes a football playoff format.

It has been pretty funny watching all of the outrage over P. Diddy's son, Justin Combs, receiving a scholarship offer from UCLA. The school defends the offer to the music star's son as a merit-based scholarship, but some are calling for pulling the scholarship because, quite frankly, the kid does not need the financial help. Justin Combs committed to UCLA last November and is rated a two-star cornerback by Rivals.com. Personally, I see absolutely nothing wrong with the scholarship offer, as long as UCLA truly does believe it is something they would have given another two-star recruit. But even deep down inside you have to wonder if there are other motives in play here. The Bruins are trying to get back in the game in the PAC 12 and quite frankly a little star appeal from one of the music industry moguls can help UCLA catch up with the likes of USC a little faster than normal. The school is not pulling the scholarship, and I suspect that critics of the offer will move on soon enough.

More Morning Playbook after the jump...

I'm not a fan of Sean "P. Diddy"/"Diddy"/"Puffy"/"Puff Daddy" Combs. I've found him to be a middling M.C. at best. He is a good hype man, though. I will give him that.

Well his son is in the news recently for all the wrong reasons.

Actually, to clarify, his son is in the news for a reason I've yet to figure out, exactly.

We are months past signing day, but apparently, some taxpayers in California are just finding out that Justin Combs, son of Sean Combs, committed to play football at UCLA. The younger Mr. Combs is a cornerback from New Rochelle, N.Y.

According to a website called BusinessInsiders.com, these taxpayers believe that Justin Combs should give back his scholarship, which has an approximate value of $54,000 for this coming year, since Combs is an out-of-state student attending UCLA. These unnamed taxpayers, according to the BusinessInsiders.com story, feel that the money should go to "students who need it more."

College costs are skyrocketing, and higher education via the traditional model is getting more and more expensive with each passing year. It is completely out of whack and out of control. I understand that. I get it.

However, maybe I missed something along the way.

( Editor's note: From now until the beginning of the season, CBR will periodically preview 2012's "danger games." Think Oklahoma St.-Iowa St. from a year ago or Oregon St.'s upset of USC in 2008 – those unassuming match-ups most likely to trip up the power teams. We start with a nasty surprise for the Michigan Wolverines in the second week of the season.)

Part of the beauty of football is watching 11 separate pieces filling individual roles come together in one cohesive whole. When executed correctly, nothing embodies that spectacular coalescence with the coordinated elegance of the triple option. And for unfamiliar foes, it is arguably the most bedeviling offensive scheme to prepare for.

This year, the supposedly up-and-coming Michigan Wolverines have one of those sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb dates on the schedule. The Air Force Falcons travel to Ann Arbor in the second week of the season and look to be bringing a whole heap of trouble with them.

Even when the cadets don't have a great team, they still manage to move the ball successfully on the ground. They routinely finish in the top 10 nationally in rushing yards per game. It's not a matter of just "compiling yards," either, as Air Force has ranked in the top 15 in yards per carry in three of last five year.

With guys like Mike Leach, Rich Rodriguez and Jim Mora getting back on the sidelines this fall, it's easy to see why so many fan bases are excited to get things started again in the fall.

But how do you evaluate their success since most of them are taking over programs that have hit rock bottom? Each one will go through a transition period, even John L. Williams at Arkansas.

Let's take a look at this season's first-year coaches and make a prediction for 2012.

Terry Bowden, Akron

I like the hire of Bowden at Akron. He's a proven winner and could turn the Zips around. Akron has invested well in its facilities and the administration has big expectations.

Except for one stop in his career, Bowden has won big in his first year. It's hard to see the same thing happening at Akron. But it shouldn't take Bowden long to have the Zips at a competitive level in the Mid-American Conference. no comments

The tweet to end all tweets...

The first billion is a helluva lot harder RT @Drake: The first million is the hardest.

— T. Boone Pickens (@boonepickens) May 31, 2012

Almost makes you wonder what T.Boone Pickens has on his iPod, does it not?

SEC meetings in Destin continued yesterday and you will be hard pressed to get every coach on the same page with scheduling. Eight games or nine games? Which rivalries will continue on an annual basis? LSU is doing what they can to get out of playing Florida every year, while Florida wants to keep LSU on the schedule. Rivalry.

Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com details some of the projections for a potential SEC Network, which could rival the results of the Big Ten Network (if not surpass). The same cannot be said about the Big East's television future.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban talks about preparing the 2012 Crimson Tide mentally for the upcoming season. He says what he was most proud of the team last year was how they responded to losing the first LSU game.

Steve Spurrier made another splash on Wednesday when he said that the SEC coaches voted unanimously to give athletes $300 per game for game-related expenses. Without trying to start up a "Should college football players be paid" argument, that seems like a good way to get around the legalities of paying athletes. I ask, what could student-athletes possibly HAVE to spend $300 on for game-day activities that is not already covered by the schools?

Meanwhile, in Kansas City, Missouri the Big 12 meetings got underway. Officially, Big 12 is in favor of a four-team playoff with a selection committee picking the four teams involved, emphasizing conference champions and the inlcusion of the top four teams in the country.

Also of note, Chuck Neinas says the current membership of the Big 12 is content with 10 schools after the additions of TCU and West Virginia this season. So put those Florida State, Clemson and Notre Dame rumors on hold for now. 

Of course, that does not mean the conference will not evaluate potential expansion options. Co-managing editor at Crystal Ball Run Allen Kenney says Texas and the Big 12 are gettin' all game theory on ya.

Cover any sport and you come across weird stories. After a while, you think you’ve seen it all, heard it all, and that there is literally nothing that can surprise you. And it’s usually at that point which a story comes along that is so bizarre you think to yourself, “Man, that’s so strange, even a Hollywood movie studio would never think to make it.”

Well, it’s safe to say we have one of those stories today, and it’s actually kind of funny I mention a “Hollywood movie studio,” since this particular story does involve a hallowed college football landmark, and the production of a “movie.” Of course if it were any random movie, that wouldn’t make the news here at Crystal Ball Run.

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