For instance, after dislocating his kneecap last week in practice, USC starting quarterback Mark Sanchez says he's feeling "optimistic" about playing in the Trojans' season opener at Virginia on Aug. 30.

"I'm optimistic about it, we're ahead of schedule," he said on Monday. "Everything [sic] felt good. That's a good sign. If it were up to me, I'm playing. [But] I want to be ready for the whole season. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

And he's right.

If I were Sanchez, I wouldn't be in any rush to start against the Cavaliers with a perfectly good backup in Mitch Mustain. I mean, he did win eight straight starts as a true freshman at Arkansas after all, and remember, we're talking about victories over SEC foes like Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi and South Carolina.

That's not too shabby for a guy that didn't even get a crack at LSU and Florida, either (Houston Nutt probably wishes now that he let him).

So sure, Sanchez has a reason to be anxious. He wants to show that he's USC's No. 1 quarterback after he and Mustain battled all throughout the spring in what became one of the bigger college football stories during this offseason.

Because with no more John David Booty, the question on USC fans minds as the Trojans won the Rose Bowl last year was who will Pete Carroll hand the torch to next?

His previous quarterbacks in Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Booty have all recorded spectacular numbers in addition to leading their teams to national and conference championships, so who would the Trojans call on next to do the same?

For Carroll, that guy is Sanchez.

And it still will be even if the junior sits the first game out and leaves it to Mustain to take care of business against a team that shouldn't pose any threat to USC's speed, swarming defense and crisp passing game.

"It's painful to try to flex it too much, bend it all the way," Sanchez further offered. "It's more uncomfortable than anything. The swelling is mostly gone. For me to play against Virginia, I've got to be back Monday or Tuesday of next week. It's very possible. I can't not practice all week, do my rehab, fly to Virginia and play. I'll say Tuesday at the latest.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to play. That's the way I've got to look at it. We'll be fine either way."

Carroll should know that. The Trojans might be playing 2, 500 miles away from home, but they're in a whole different league when it comes to playing a team like Virginia, who finished last season at 9-4 overall after losses to arch-rival Virginia Tech and Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl.

And with some smart scheduling by Carroll to give the Trojans a bye week after returning from Charlottesville, Va., Sanchez should have enough time to get ready for USC's big Sept. 13 date with Ohio State at the Coliseum — a game that's got national championship indications written all over it in the third week of the season.

"He's getting close," Carroll said with regard to Sanchez's return. "We'll see what happens. He's on course to make a recovery by next week."

So if the Trojans want to beat the Buckeyes in front of their hometown faithful and preserve a chance at winning a national title in 2008, they might be best going with their No. 2 guy even if Sanchez says he's ready to go on game day.

After all, shouldn't we be letting the doctors make that call?

Here's a funny thought: UCLA has a starting quarterback for its season opener before USC does.

Well, it's not like Rick Neuheisel had much of a choice.

The Bruins, if you forgot, are without Patrick Cowan (torn ACL) and gimpy backup Ben Olson (broken foot), leaving Neuheisel to pick from two redshirts: junior Kevin Craft and freshman Chris Forcier.

But so far it's been Craft who has impressed Neuheisel the most, naming the JUCO transfer the Bruins' starter for their season opener at home against No. 18 Tennessee in what could be an early-season eyesore (bloodbath?) in Pasadena.

"He's earned it with his consistent play and he has the best mastery of the offense at this point," the first-year head coach said.

Neuheisel, after all, was a quarterback himself at UCLA before going on to coaching.

So between him and offensive coordinator Norm Chow, you'd imagine that the Bruins will be able to get things right sooner or later this season.

Still, it's going to take a few bumps in the road through the first half of 2008 before that progress begins to shine through.

Neuheisel understands that, and Craft could just happen to be the guy to do it.

Between his days at Mt. San Antonio Junior College and San Diego State, he has the experience to know what it will take to make the Bruins a contender in the Pac-10.

Whether he'll put what he's learned in practice to use in the games, we'll just have to wait and see...

Since we're talking about quarterbacks, we might as well bring up the Ben Mauk saga and the issues that Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly is facing right now a week before the week..

Most of those issues, of course, point directly to Mauk, who claims he deserves another year of eligibility after lost playing time while he was at Wake Forest.

And now he's gone so far as to sue the NCAA less than a week after his final appeal for extended eligibility was rejected.

"Despite being a model student-athlete (and person) for the NCAA and despite having earned the NCAA significant revenues, the NCAA hsa wrongfully, arbitarily and capriciously denied Mr. Mauk's request to participate in a fourth year of athletic competition for reasons completely beyond Mr. Mauk's control," the lawsuit states.

But even with Hardin County Judge William Hart granting a temporary restraining order on the NCAA to allow Mauk to practice with the Bearcats, Kelly isn't taking any chances by letting the senior take snaps under center.

"That's ludicrous to even think that we would put him on the field and put our football team in harm's way," he told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

As Kelly knows, the Bearcats would be forced to forfeit games and give bowl money if they were to let an ineligible player participate.

At this point, though, with the NCAA already having rejected two of the quarterback's appeals and turned him down during a visit to the association's reinstatement committee, you can bet that it's a hopeless act of faith for Mauk.

At least Dustin Grutza, back in his starting QB spot after losing it to Mauk last year, sure hopes so.

Grutza isn't the only one relishing his No. 1 spot on the depth chart.

Senior Stephen McGee is also enjoying the pronouncement last week of his starting quarterback role at Texas A&M.

"Everybody wants to play," he said. "I want to play football for as long as I possibly can. I'm excited to be in the huddle again."

McGee can expect not only to be in the huddle, but also to be airing it out to his receivers this fall.

While the spread option was what former coach Dennis Franchione stuck by during his tenure with the Aggies, new head man Mike Sherman's pro-style offense is something that's resonated a lot more with McGee's style of play.

"In the end, Stephen was the most consistent," Sherman said. "It was day-to-day stuff going back to the spring. I tried to be oblivious to last year. I wanted to see what he could do."

For Sherman, it was enough to name him the starter after McGee failed to throw an interception in fall workouts.

Don't think, though, that if McGee can't get the job done Sherman won't look elsewhere for help.

"Nothing is just set in stone, other than the fact that he is the starter in the first ball game," Sherman admitted.

But with McGee gaining more confidence and growing to like Sherman's new offensive system more and more throughout fall camp, he could be starting the 11 — and potentially 12 — games remaining on the Aggies' schedule this season.

And luckily for McGee, it would be all fun and games then.