Thought since there isn't any breaking news today I'd highlight a few things from the Athlon Sports college football preview, on which Ray Rice and Greg Schiano are on the cover of the issue distributed in the Northeast. Tomorrow we'll take a look at the USA Today Sports Weekly preview, which also features Rice on the cover.

Looks like the editors at Athlon think very highly of the Scarlet Knights. I've flipped through or read four preview magazines so far, and Athlon has the Knights rated higher than any other publication.

Among the highlights:

• They rank the Scarlet Knights 10th in the nation, and second in the Big East, behind only No. 5 West Virginia, who just about everyone covering the sport thinks is a bona fide national championship contender.
• They gave every team in Division 1-A a projected record with three columns: wins, losses, and "swing games." No team in the top 14 has any guaranteed losses. The Knights have a projected record of 10-0-2, meaning if they win swing games against West Virginia and Louisville and don't lose any of the games they are "supposed to" win, they would finish 12-0. It will obviously take everything going right -- nearly perfect play from everyone on the field, plus some luck -- for that to happen, but clearly, it isn't completely out of the realm of possibility.
• Rice is on the "A list" of Heisman contenders, along with Arkansas RB Darren McFadden, West Virginia RB Steve Slaton, USC QB John David Booty, and Michigan RB Mike Hart. Louisville QB Brian Brohm, considered by some to be Booty's superior as an NFL prospect, is on the "B list", and West Virginia QB Pat White is on the "C list."
• Rice, OT Jeremy Zuttah and DT Eric Foster are all on Athlon's first team All-America team. Rice is one of two running backs on the team, along with McFadden. Slaton is on the second team and Brohm is on the third. (Hawaii's Colt Brennan is the QB on the second team.)
• They rank the Big East as the third best conference in the country, behind only the SEC and the Big Ten. That would have been unthinkable two years ago, but it's pretty hard not to agree with their rankings.
• A look at where Big East teams fell in Athlon's rankings: 5. West Virginia; 10. Rutgers; 13. Louisville; 31 South Florida; 53. Cincinnati; 55. Pittsburgh; 80. UConn; 99. Syracuse.

You can check out the whole Big East preview online.

Thoughts and analysis are more than welcome. And again, tomorrow we'll take a look at what USA Today's editors and writers had to say about the Scarlet Knights and the rest of the Big East.

Enjoy.

- Ben