On the day USC was picked in its customary fourth-place position in the SEC East, Spurrier talked about the challenges of coaching at a school with one conference championship in its 114-year history.

“I knew it would be difficult. If it was easy, it wouldn't be that much fun to try to do it,” he said Friday near the end of SEC media days. “If it was easy, all them other coaches would have been winning at South Carolina.”

Spurrier, who won a national title at Florida and an ACC crown at Duke, said the Gamecocks need to have a couple of big seasons and break the stronghold the troika of Tennessee, Florida and Georgia has held on the East.

And for the first time since arriving in Columbia before the 2005 season, Spurrier, 63, mentioned the possibility that someone else might be the man to do it.

“We need to win the division somewhere along the way. That's the next step we need to take, or else, if that doesn't happen in about five years then somebody else needs to try to do it because we've got a lot of good players,” Spurrier said. “That's what coaching's all about. If one guy doesn't get it done in seven, eight years, something like that, give that next guy a chance.

“But South Carolina can win. I really believe that.”

With a 21-16 record, Spurrier has more wins than any USC coach after three seasons. Following an eight-win season and a Liberty Bowl victory in his second year, the Gamecocks started 6-1 last fall and vaulted to No.6 in the BCS standings.

Scott, who's rated the fourth-best prospect overall in the Class of 2009 in North Carolina by rivals.com, previously had committed to Rutgers. But his father, Tony Scott, said Desmond was excited about the direction of Duke's program under Cutcliffe.

Desmond Scott is 5-foot-9 and 183 pounds and is a teammate of quarterback Corey Gattis, who committed to Duke last month. Tony Scott said Cutcliffe plans to use Desmond as an all-purpose back and split him out at wide receiver.

elsewhere

Former Saint Augustine's College star Alex Hall signed a four-year contract with the NFL's Cleveland Browns.

Hall, the Browns' seventh-round choice in 2008, was the only player from the CIAA conference selected.

North Carolina pitchers Colin Bates and Adam Warren were named to the 2008 All-ACC Academic Team.

Elmer Martin Jr., who played on Arkansas' 1994 NCAA championship basketball team, received a 15-year prison term after pleading guilty to drug charges.

North Carolina has given women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell a four-year contract extension through 2015.

Former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Kenny Kelly was arrested in Plant City, Fla., on three felony drug counts.

Sparky Woods is older now, but still lean and balding and quick to smile, the spitting image of the guy fired by South Carolina following the 1993 season. He's still a southern boy at 54, the drawl we first heard back when he was turning Appalachian State into a Division I-AA football power intact.

Now, though, after a year away from the game, Woods has returned as coach at Virginia Military Institute, attempting to turn around a program that was 2-9 a year ago, a program that is tough to turn around because of its discipline-laden, military traditions.

Woods, in Charlotte Friday for the Big South Conference media day, doesn't have to worry much about immediate expectations. The Keydets were picked to finish last among the league's six football-playing members by a panel that included coaches and media.

Defending champion Liberty was picked to win again, claiming 12 of 13 first-place votes. The Flames collected 77 total points, followed by Coastal Carolina (58), Gardner-Webb (52), newcomer Stony Brook (38), Charleston Southern (30) and the other first-place vote, and VMI (18).

The Big South, in its seventh season of what is now the Football Championship Subdivision, will finally start receiving an automatic bid to the playoffs, Commissioner Kyle Kallander announced. The bid begins with the 2010 season.

VMI, at least for now, is not expected to challenge for that spot, and Woods, the guinea pig when the Gamecocks first stepped gingerly into the SEC, understands that.

“I think there's three reasons you win, and I think we violate all three of them,” he said of his new school with a laugh.

“You've got to get players, and we have a difficult time doing that because of the military and the ‘rat lines.' You have to develop players and that's hard for us. We have four seniors, and two of them probably wouldn't have been there if we hadn't changed coaches. And the third thing is scheduling, although that's getting better.”

Woods was biding his time on his farm in Virginia - about an hour's drive from Lexington and VMI - when Keydets athletics director Donny White asked if he would be interested in the job. Woods wasn't sure, but drove up and took a look around.

“The kids are really great. They remind me of the kids when I first started coaching,” Woods said. He pointed to defensive end Andy Viola sitting nearby in a neatly-pressed white military uniform.

“This kid's going to be an engineer. We have guys who are going to be engineers. At Alabama we had a fine engineering school, but none of those kids could go be an engineer (because of time demands). Well, this kid's going to be an engineer.”

Woods said he told the team he knew they were already doing the other things the right way; his job was to help them win on Saturday.

“I may have the best job, Sunday through Friday,” he said, laughing again. “I just gotta make it more fun on Saturday. We've got to win some of them.”

It won't be easy. The Big South, in the shadow of the Southern Conference in this area for so long, is quickly getting better.

Woods sees that coming and wants to help.

Bulls offensive lineman Rashawn Curry earned a spot on the preseason all-CIAA team.

Here are the preseason predicted order of finish and all-CIAA teams:

Eastern Division

Virginia Union

Elizabeth City State

Bowie State

Virginia State

St. Paul's

Western Division

Shaw

Fayetteville State

St. Augustine's

Johnson C. Smith

Livingstone

Chowan

Preseason all-CIAA team — offense

Michael Thornton, TE, St. Paul's

Dawayne Frost, OL, Bowie State

Rashawn Curry, OL, Johnson C. Smith

Oliver Pazdry, OL, Shaw

Kynneth Moses, OL, Virginia Union

Laquentin Blair, OL, Virginia Union

Lenell King, WR, Shaw

Michael Hampton, WR, Virginia Union

Lamar Little, QB, Virginia Union

Isaac Redman, RB, Bowie State

Tarian Donaldson, RB, Virginia Union

Devon Wiggins, KR, Virginia State

Robert Brown, PR, Shaw

Preseason all-CIAA team — defense

Willie McCordy, DL, Bowie State

Marcus Kennedy, DL, St. Augustine's

Louis Ellis, DL, Shaw

Martellus Braxton, DL, Shaw

Terrell Allen, LB, Fayetteville State

Clinton Gee, LB, S.t Paul's

Brandon Smith, LB, Virginia Union

Donte Wise, DB, Fayetteville State

Greg Toler, DB, St. Paul's

Monte Coleman, DB, Shaw

Andre Lipscomb, DB, Virginia State

“When (Appalachian quarterback) Armanti Edwards graduates,” Lamb said. “He's the X-factor.”

Edwards, the league's 2006 player of the year, is still just a junior despite his two national title rings. And the man who makes the Mountaineers' spread offense go said Wednesday that he's likely to stick around for his senior season as well.

Every coach who could vote the Mountaineers No.1 in their league – eight of them – did so. Appalachian coach Jerry Moore picked Elon, but coaches aren't allowed to select their own team.

So the Mountaineers finished with 64 of 64 possible points, followed by Elon (47), Wofford (45), Georgia Southern (44), Furman (41), The Citadel (37), Chattanooga (19), Western Carolina (17) and newcomer Samford (10).

The media vote was just as overwhelming. Twenty-nine of 30 first-place votes were captured by Appalachian, with the lone dissenter picking Georgia Southern. Overall, the Mountaineers had 268 points, followed by Elon (215), Georgia Southern (191), Wofford (185), Furman (158), The Citadel (148), Chattanooga (83), Western Carolina (53) and Samford (49).

So all eyes turn toward Boone once again.

And while there were significant losses – receiver Dexter Jackson, now with Tampa Bay, and defensive back Corey Lynch, drafted by Cincinnati – come immediately to mind, Edwards thinks the 2008 Mountaineers will be tough again.

“Looking at it from the fans' point of view, we lost big names,” he said. “But from the players' point of view, we actually have people (the fans) don't know about who are going to be there this year.

“Our spring practice went pretty well; everybody was on point and knew what to do. So we're looking pretty good this season.”

What about the pressure of being a target for the rest of the league?

“I think we had the most pressure ever last year trying to win the third one,” Edwards said. “This year there might be more pressure, but we're just taking it one game at a time like we always do.”

While the Mountaineers appear dominant, Lamb, for one, believes the league is balanced beyond them.

“And remember, they beat Michigan but they lost two in this conference last year,” he said.

Moore understands that. Asked about being picked No.1, Moore said, “That didn't really surprise me. I was the guy that used to vote Marshall and Furman and all those people ‘one.' That's what you do.

“After today all this is over, anyway. It's a great thing for y'all and us, but at noon today, the fanfare is over. It's go back and sweat.”

PRESEASON SOUTHERN CONFERENCE

COACHES POLL

School (First-place votes) Points

1. Appalachian State (8) 64

2. Elon (1) 47

3. Wofford 45

4. Georgia Southern 44

5. Furman 41

6. The Citadel 37

7. Chattanooga 19

8. Western Carolina 17

9. Samford 10

MEDIA POLL

School (First-place votes) Points

1. Appalachian State (29) 268

2. Elon 215

3. Georgia Southern (1) 191

4. Wofford 185

5. Furman 158

6. The Citadel 148

7. Chattanooga 83

8. Western Carolina 53

9. Samford 49 PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

Offensive Player of the Year: Armanti Edwards, Jr., QB, Appalachian State

Defensive Player of the Year: Pierre Banks, Sr., LB, Appalachian State

OFFENSE

First Team

QB Armanti, Edwards, Appalachian State

RB Bryan Fitzgerald, Chattanooga

RB Devon Moore, Appalachian State

OL Brad Coley, Appalachian State

OL Joel Bell, Furman

OL Derek Wooten, Wofford

OL Ben Quick, Wofford

OL (tie) Mario Acitelli, Appalachian State

OL (tie) Thomas Slaughter, Furman

TE Larry Hedden, Furman

WR Terrell Hudgins, Elon

WR CoCo Hillary, Appalachian State

Second Team

QB Scott Riddle, Elon

RB Mike Brown, Furman

RB Dane Romero, Wofford

OL William Giles, Chattanooga

OL Ben Miller, Wofford

OL Chris Werden, Elon

OL Kevin Wiggins, Western Carolina

OL Dan DeHaven, The Citadel

TE Fenn Allen, Wofford

WR Andre Roberts, The Citadel

WR (tie) Blue Cooper, Chattanooga

WR (tie) Bo Williamson, Elon

DEFENSE

First Team

DL Larry Beard, Georgia Southern

DL Tony Robertson, Appalachian State

DL Terrence Reese, The Citadel

DL Anthony Williams, Appalachian State

LB Corey Weaver, Elon

LB Pierre Banks, Appalachian State

LB Seth Goldwire, Wofford

DB Carson Hill, Georgia Southern

DB Thomas Twitty, Furman

DB Leonard Love, Appalachian State

DB Chris Covington, Georgia Southern

Second Team

DL Kevin McCaskill, The Citadel

DL Neil Brown, ChattanoogaDL Layton Baker, WoffordDL Jeff Bradley, Western CarolinaLB Quintin Phillips, Western CarolinaLB Jacque Roman, Appalachian StateLB Joseph Thornton, ChattanoogaDB Raeshon Ball, ChattanoogaDB Cortez Gilbert, Appalachian StateDB Karlos Sullivan, ElonDB (tie) William Middleton, Furman

DB (tie) Cameron McGlenn, Elon

SPECIALISTS

First Team

PK Jesse Hartley, Georgia Southern

P Brandon Lane, Elon

RS CoCo Hillary, Appalachian State

Second Team

PK Patrick Mugan, Wofford

P Mark Kaspar, The Citadel

RS Mike Brown, Furman

Giuliani, a rising senior at Duke, filed suit in federal court in Greensboro.

Duke University officials said in a statement that they would "vigorously defend this lawsuit."

"Duke's coaches and student athletes are held to the highest standards, which include a strong commitment to fairness for all participants in our sports programs," Michael J. Schoenfeld, Duke's vice president for public affairs and government relations, said in a statement.

The complaint, drawn up by Robert Ekstrand, a lawyer representing some of the members of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team, outlines strife between Giuliani and O.D. Vincent, the head golf coach. Vincent came on board after the spring 2007 death of Rod Myers, the coach who recruited Giuliani in high school.

As an aspiring pro golfer in high school, Giuliani was promised life-time access to Duke's state-of-the-art training facilities if he came to Duke and paid $200,000 in tuition and fees, the suit claims.

"Things changed when O.D. Vincent took over," the lawsuit says.

Upon taking over the team last summer, Vincent talked about making the 13-member team half its size.

On Feb. 11, 2008, the suit says, Vincent announced that Giuliani would not be on the team.

"Andrew and his teammates were shocked," the suit says. "Andrew had no prior notice of what was about to happen. At no time was Andrew ever given an opportunity to defend himself."

The suit goes on to claim that incidents of misconduct that Vincent cited in his reasons for expelling Giuliani were not appropriate reasons for expulsion. According to the suit:

-- On Feb. 2 Giuliani flipped his putter a few feet to his golf bag.

-- On Feb. 3, Giuliani leaned over his driver and it broke, and "in O.D. Vincent's telling, this became 'throwing and breaking' a club."

-- On Feb. 3, Giuliani walked ahead of his playing partner at Treyburn Golf Course and later that day "gunned the engine" of his car and "drove fast while leaving the golf course parking lot."

-- On Feb. 4, during a golf-team football game, "Andrew played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play."

-- On Feb. 10, while Giuliani was eating an apple, a teammate twice hit the golfer's hand and knocked the fruit to the ground. After that same teammate "slammed a door hitting Andrew's face," Giuliani "tossed the apple at a teammate, glancing off the side of his face."

The golf coach, according to the suit, "imposed a bizarre 'Lord of the Flies' scheme to determine whether Andrew's eligibility would be canceled permanently."

Giuliani claims in the suit that he is entitled to financial relief under the contract he entered with Duke when he agreed to come to the university.

In March 2007, Giuliani talked about his golf game in an internview with the New York Daily News. His handicap was a plus-2. He had a 1 handicap before heading to Duke.

"I'm just trying to work my hardest the last two and a half years here [at Duke] to hopefully one day be playing against Tiger [Woods]," he told the Daily News. "That's definitely the ultimate goal. I wouldn't mind seeing him in the final round of a major, that's for sure."

In 1994, Giuiliani stole center stage from his father during Rudy Giuliani's mayoral inauguration. The mayor's then-7-year-old son stood next to him at the podium mocking his dad's fist pumps, mouthing words and mugging for the crowd. The incident became a talk-show sensation and was immortalized in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

Harper set 21 school records in earning second-team All-ACC honors last season. He received 34 of 64 votes in a poll of media members on the league's top player, according to voting results released Wednesday.

He finished ahead of two teammates – James Davis received 16 votes and fellow running back C.J. Spiller had four. No other player in the league had more than two votes in balloting conducted this week at the league's media days in Greensboro, Ga.

Clemson was the media's pick to win the league championship.

Elsewhere

CIAA: The league's championship game is coming back to Durham. The Division II conference announced that its title game will be played at Durham County Stadium on Nov.8.

Last year's title game was in Charlotte, where Shaw beat Virginia Union 31-24 in double overtime.

CLEMSON: Alabama and Clemson will reportedly earn nearly $2million apiece for their season-opening matchup in Atlanta, the Birmingham News reported on its Web site.

NORTH CAROLINA: The University of North Carolina's Board of Trustees approved the design for a first phase of plans to substantially expand Kenan Stadium.

Considering that tickets don't go on public sale until Saturday, that's good news for ACC officials frustrated with declining attendance in the game's first three years in Jacksonville, Fla.

Kelly said there is a comprehensive plan to boost attendance as the championship begins a two-year stay in Tampa that will be followed by a move to Charlotte in 2010 and 2011.

The lowest-priced tickets in Tampa will be available for $25 and will include admission to the ACC's fan festival and a concert after the game.

The artist for the concert will be announced soon.

“It's value that I would say is unmatched in college sports and certainly in college football,” Kelly said.

Jacksonville saw its announced attendance fall from 72,749 to 62,850 to 53,212 over three years with a lowest ticket price of $60.

Kelly said between 35,000 and 40,000 tickets have been pre-sold to groups that include Tampa Bay Sports Commission members, ticket holders of the ACC's bowl partners and fans who bought tickets in Jacksonville.

Season ticket holders and fans on the ticket waiting list for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be targeted for the public sale. Buccaneers players who are ACC alumni, Ronde Barber (Virginia) and Derrick Brooks (Florida State), will do advertising spots in Tampa Bay promoting the championship game.

ACC officials also hope targeting younger fans and families will pay off in Tampa for the game, scheduled at 1 p.m. on Dec. 6. Thirty high school bands from the area will play at the game.

Following expansion to 12 schools in 2005, the ACC hoped to settle on one site for its fledgling championship game. On Tuesday, commissioner John Swofford said the ACC will re-evaluate the future of the game after seeing how it is received after two years each in Tampa and Charlotte.

Charlotte organizers would like the game to establish a permanent home in Charlotte after 2011.

And they're happy to do it under the current BCS post-season format.

“I like it the way it is,'' Davis said as coaches and players gathered in Georgia to talk about the upcoming season. “I love the bowl games, I like the fact that kids get a chance to be rewarded for having a great year and going 8-4 and 7-5 … I would be crushed if the bowl games somehow, some way, were eliminated over the next six, eight, 10 years.”

There's little chance of that happening.

In late April, Bowl Championship Series officials rejected a plan for a four-team, “plus-one” playoff model, opting to keep the current format. The national champion will continue to be decided by pitting the top two teams in the season's final BCS poll in a rotating bowl game until at least the 2014 season.

ACC Commissioner John Swofford, who is also the BCS coordinator on behalf of all the conferences, said Tuesday the ACC presidents never officially voted on the “plus-one” idea because it quickly became apparent that other conferences wouldn't support it – and the BCS needs unanimity among conferences to make any changes.

“There would have been a fair amount of support for the plus-one model (among ACC presidents),'' Swofford said, adding he didn't know whether those supporters would have made up the majority.

The Rose Bowl's separate TV contract with ABC would have been a tall hurdle for the BCS had it wanted to adopt the plus-one format.

But there is also a comfort level in the current BCS system among many conferences, Swofford explained.

There are three reasons:

Respect for the traditional bowl system.

A time frame now in which bowls begin before Christmas and conclude before second semester classes start.

The continued importance the bowl system places on the regular season.

Said O'Brien: “If there are no more than one or two undefeated teams, there's no purpose to going to a playoff. With 12 games ... it's tough to go undefeated. So you're playing for the national championship (from) the first game on.”

Several ACC coaches, including Clemson's Tommy Bowden and Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson, said they would like to see some sort of playoff format, particularly if it is in conjunction with the traditional bowl system.

Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer said he also became a supporter of the plus-one model after the 2004 season, when his team played Auburn in the Sugar Bowl.

“They were undefeated with a great football team, a team that deserved to have a chance to win the national championship. And they got shut out,” he said.

Davis had a similar experience after the 2000 season when, as coach at Miami, his 10-1 Hurricanes played Florida in the Sugar Bowl rather than Oklahoma for the national championship. But he insists those situations are the exception to the rule.

“I've been a coach now since ... 1973, and I think back all these years, and there are very few years in that time span that it ever worked out that the right team didn't become the national champion,” he said.

“If you're getting it right 97 percent of the time, the other three percent – which happened to us, the year we didn't get a chance to play Oklahoma, nobody should get a chance to complain more than me.

“But I still believe that what we're doing now is probably better than taking the eight best schools – then everybody else, you're done for the year.”

Even in a playoff system, the coaches pointed out, there will always be controversy.

“No matter what number you go to, whether it's No.5 or No.9 or No.17, somebody's going to be mad,” O'Brien said.

That's why, the three Triangle coaches agreed, the current bowl system works because it makes so many players, alumni and fans happy – because they get to participate in the postseason.

“I think we have to be careful of shutting out a lot of people if we go to an eight, 12, 16-team playoff,'' Cutcliffe said last week.

Fifty-one of the 65 voters in the ACC preseason media poll released Monday afternoon selected the Tigers to win the ACC title at the league's media kickoff.

Clemson hasn't been favored to win a division or the overall title since 1991. That also was the last time the Tigers won the ACC title and the last season before Florida State joined the conference.

North Carolina, picked second in the Coastal Division, also is perceived to be rising. The Tar Heels haven't been picked higher than fifth overall or in their division since 1999, when the media picked them fourth in the ACC.

The media rankings, with first place votes in parentheses and total points, were as follows:

Atlantic Division: Clemson (59) 383; Wake Forest (5) 304; Florida State (1) 265; Boston College 154; Maryland 147; N.C. State 112.

Coastal Division: Virginia Tech (58) 383; North Carolina (4) 288; Miami (1) 253; Georgia Tech (1) 195; Virginia (1) 161; Duke 85.