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Whether lounging at a tailgate party, standing in a rowdy bar, commiserating among coworkers or -- in "What's Hot, What's Not" tradition -- on a date, you don't want to get caught spouting last season's conventional wisdom about this season's biggest college football issues. While you fire up the grill or scour ESPN.com's complete college football preview, be sure to file away the talking points below:
| WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT: COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2005 | ||
| Category | Hot | Not Hot |
| Heisman would-be promotional angle |  Matt Leinart's "Deja U-S-C" poster |
 Chris Leak's "Leaky Boat" toy |
| Blood-boiling rivalry | Texas vs. Oklahoma | Miami vs. Florida St. |
| Road-trip mecca | Boise St. | Washington |
| Coaching search | Super Bowl rings? | Redskins' buy-out? |
| Hot QB in Big Ten | Drew Tate (Iowa) | Troy Smith (Ohio St.) |
| Uniforms | Classic BYU | Michigan nouveau "piping" |
| Player violation | Summer-camp benefits | Ballroom-dance course misstep |
| Underground Heisman candidate |  Omar Jacobs (Bowling Green) |
 DeAngelo Williams (Memphis) |
| BCS's biggest problem | Competition from AP poll | Competition from computers |
| Please give him more pub | Bruce Gradowski (Toledo) | Vince Young (Texas) |
| Poll to respect | Online by fans | New BCS "human" poll |
| Coaching style to emulate | Meyer's "team-first" | Spurrier's "me-first" |
| Cripes, he's still in college? |  Brad Smith (Missouri) |
 Brett Basanez (Northwestern) |
| Bandwagon team to root for | Louisville | Utah |
| Mascot | Native American imagery | Native American imagery |
| Mr. Excitement | Ted Ginn (Ohio St.) | Joe Paterno |
| Retro jersey to be seen in | Michael Vick (H.S.) | Maurice Clarett |
| Biggest shoes to fill | Brian Johnson (Alex Smith) | Kyle Wright (Brock Berlin) |
| Multi-skilled | Reggie Bush (USC) | Kickers who can tackle |
| Trend | Spread offense | Zone defense |
| "He's Due" coach |  Mack Brown (Texas) |
 Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) |
| Conference to watch (besides ACC) | SEC | Pac-10 |
| Likely BCS tilt issue | Everyone has one loss! | Too many unbeatens! |
| Prototype QB | Legs to go with arm | Arm to go with legs |
| Non-BCS sleeper | Boise St. | Fresno St. |
| Best place to get school-specific info | Fan blogs | School blogs |
In the Page 2 "Hot/Not" tradition, some picks -- though not the teams we like to win each major conference -- simply outperform (or underperform) expectations:
| PAGE 2 CONFERENCE PICKS | ||
| Category | Outperformer | Underperformer |
| SEC | Alabama | LSU |
| ACC | N.C. St. | Florida St. |
| Big 12 | Texas A&M | Colorado |
| Pac-10 | Besides USC? | Pick one |
| Big Ten | Purdue | Wisconsin |
| Big East | Pitt | W. Virginia |
| Non-BCS leagues | Teams with tough schedules | Whining about the BCS |
| Title outlook | Anyone but USC | USC's insane expectations |
Dan Shanoff is a columnist for Page 2. His "Daily Quickie" commentary appears every weekday morning.
