Growing up in the South, there are three seasons. There's football season, there's recruiting season, and then there is spring practice. It's never too early to start talking college football where I'm from and while thinking about what lies ahead for the 2006 season, What It Do came up with ten dirty questions that will affect what happens in the coming season.

1. Can Notre Dame build on last year's surprisingly successful season?

Charlie Weis worked a miracle last year of Norman Dale-"Hoosiers" proportions, taking a moribund Irish program and turning his troops into a legitimate BCS team in a matter of months. Brady Quinn is a Heisman Trophy frontrunner and Jeff Samardzija may be the best receiver in America, but can the Irish improve on defense enough to become a championship team? Also, are teams going to figure Weis out the second time around? Time will tell, but I believe Weis will continue to be very successful.

2. Can Lloyd Carr turn it around at Michigan?

There seems to be an increased amount of heat on Lloyd Carr at Michigan. It seems that the Wolverines have had a hard time getting started in recent years, losing games in September that effectively evict Michigan from national title contention. Michigan has looked slow on defense when they play teams with speed (Ohio State, Texas, any SEC team). The Wolverines can be successful this year, but they need a bounce back year from Chad Henne and a healthy campaign from Michael Hart. Mario Manningham is a stud at wideout, but he is going to need someone on the other side to step up and draw coverage.

3. Can Tennessee get it back?

Phillip Fulmer has been so successful for so long, but after the way the Volunteers bottomed out last year, one has to wonder if Tennessee can get it back this quickly. All the hopes and aspirations on Rocky Top rest on the right shoulder (and head) of Erik Ainge. Ainge, who two years ago looked like the second-coming of Carson Palmer, really regressed and lost his confidence. Lucky for him, the Vols re-hired David Cutcliffe, who tutored three Top 5 overall drafted QB's, (the Manning boys, Heath Shuler and a national championship QB in Tee Martin) as offensive coordinator. The Vols still have Top 10 talent, and a super sophomore RB in Arian Foster, but with some of the off-the-field trouble and a daunting schedule, they could have a much better team and still not achieve the lofty expectations of that fan base.

4. Who in the world will be Georgia's QB?

For five years, Mark Richt has had David Greene, D.J. Shockley, or some combination of the two as his QB. This year, he will have to go through the SEC with a new signal-caller. His choices are between longtime backup Joe Tereshinski, redshirt freshman Joe Cox, or super recruit Matthew Stafford. My best bet is that Richt will start with Joe T., but that Stafford will be the man by the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. This could be a recipe for short-term disaster Between the Hedges, playing in the brutal SEC East with a true freshman. It may pay dividends in 2007, but the Bulldogs may pay a heavy price in 2006.

5. Can USC weather these storm clouds?

It was bad enough that Pete Carroll was losing his whole starting backfield, but it looks as though Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart may have left some baggage in the form of NCAA infractions that could negatively affect the program. Add to that the Mark Sanchez sexual assault allegations, the Dwayne Jarrett eligibility issues, an unproven QB in John David Booty, and a gaping hole at running back, and you have a program that, on the surface, looks like it has nowhere to go but down. If anybody can rally the troops, it is Pete Carroll, but the distractions and lack of defense to go with an inexperienced offense could make USC as vulnerable as they have been since the Paul Hackett years.

6. Can California be trusted with a murky QB situation?

Jeff Tedford may be the best coach in college football right now, but can he really win big at Cal with no idea of who his starting QB is? The Joe Ayoob experiment can be deemed as somewhat of a failure and backup Steve Levy did an admirable job of stepping in. However, Tedford, in is best-case scenario would turn the keys over to the heralded Nate Longshore. However, Longshore is coming off a major injury and recently lost his father unexpectedly, so who knows what you can count on from him early this year. That is a problem when you open up at Neyland Stadium with 105,000 fans in 90 degree heat. The good thing for the Golden Bears is that as long as Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forcett are running the rock, you have a good chance of being successful. If one of these guys can step up at quarterback and get the ball in DeSean Jackson's hands, this team could be a sleeper National Title contender.

7. Can Texas repeat with a QB who has NEVER taken a snap?

Mack Brown finally got over the hump in the Rose Bowl and won his elusive national championship behind the incomparable Vince Young's epic performance. However, Young is now throwing footballs in the Music City and Texas has a QB depth chart as green as one could be. Either redshirt Freshman Colt McCoy or true frosh Jevan Sneed will get the call for the Longhorns. Whoever it is has a nice supporting cast of Ramonce Taylor, Billy Pittman, Limas Sweed, Jamaal Charles, and Selvin Young. But, with probable #1 Ohio State coming to Austin is September, there isn't much time to get comfortable for whoever the QB is.

8. Who is Dirk Koetter going to start at QB at ASU?

Will Koetter choose senior Sam Keller, who has been pretty darn good in his Sun Devil career, or does he choose sophomore sensation Rudy Carpenter, who put up sensational numbers down the stretch last season when playing in place of the injured Keller? My gut says that Koetter will stay with Keller, but I'm not so sure it is the right choice. I understand that it is easier to turn to the younger guy, if the older guy falters, but Carpenter seems to have that IT intangible that is hard to quantify, but even harder to obtain. He doesn't look the part, heck, he looks like he should be on a surfboard, but the Rudy is no walk-on. He can flat out play.

9. Will Florida State ever get any better offensively under Jeff Bowden?

The once-explosive Seminoles have been running in quicksand for most of the decade offensively, leaving it up to the great Mickey Andrews defenses to bail them out of most games. With the massive personnel losses on the defensive side of the ball, it may be up to Jeff Bowden's offense to more than pull its weight this year. Drew Weatherford was a typical freshman last year, really good at times, but erratic and easily rattled. His improvement is vital to FSU's success. With 6'6" Greg Carr having the ability to make big plays down the field, it all lies on Weatherford's ability to get the ball to him. If he falters, FSU could have a 2005 Tennessee type of season.

10. Is there much substance to the Urban Meyer hype?

Count me as a bit underwhelmed at this stage of the game. Now, I am not saying that Meyer isn't a good football coach, I just don't know if his style of offense can be successful, long-term in the SEC. What I was impressed with was Greg Mattison's ability to put a high-quality defense on the field in the matter of an offseason. That is the reason the Gators went 9-3 last season. Florida's offense plodded through most of the season and it seemed that the speedy SEC defenses had little trouble limiting the Gators offensive output. What's more perplexing is Meyer's insistence to turn Chris Leak into some spread option QB, which he's not. A coach's job is to play to his player's strengths and Meyer simply isn't doing that.