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On more than a few occasions, I've spent that time at the Borders in Kips Bay, reading a variety of business books in a much-needed effort to improve my knowledge of financial investments. My hair gets more gray by the day, and it's time I understood what Jim Cramer rants about on "Mad Money" rather than just be consistently entertained by his shtick.

In addition to reading books on real estate, mutual funds and commodities, I also like to peruse the magazine rack. While browsing one night, I came across several college football preview annuals. Since a very young age, I've always loved season preview annuals. Whatever the sport, I start by flipping right to my favorite team to see how they are projected to do. For the past 15 years or so, that's meant looking up the Tennessee Volunteers. But as I enter a career in college athletics, my allegiances are now more practical, which led me to skip directly to the Rutgers preview. I'll be working there this fall and need to know all I can about the team and the Big East conference. After 10 minutes of catching up on Scarlet Knights stud sophomore quarterback Tom Savage, West Virginia jitterbug back Noel Devine and Pittsburgh defensive lineman Greg Romeus, I remembered, "Wait! Don't I write a college football blog? And aren't I about due for a season preview?"

With that flash of bookstore inspiration, I bring you the 2010 Extra Points Season Preview Extravaganza!

Let's start by picking the champions of all the conferences that matter. (In the past, I might have just picked the BCS conference champions, but as we'll see shortly, the Western Athletic and Mountain West matter a great deal now. It's a new world. Get used to it, Mark May.)

Conference Champs

ACC - Virginia Tech: Hokies top Boston College in the ACC title game. Eagles are bridesmaids once again.

Big East - Pittsburgh: Panthers beat West Virginia in Backyard Brawl to sew up BCS bid.

Big Ten - Ohio State: The Buckeyes are loaded and brimming with confidence heading into 2010 after their Rose Bowl win over Oregon

Big 12 - Nebraska: Big 12 South heavies Oklahoma and Texas are a bit down, leaving the Huskers to win one last league title on their way out the door.

MWC - TCU: Andy Dalton and company are back with a vengeance.

Pac-10 - Stanford: The lunch-pail Fightin' Harbaughs win the Pac-10 with guile and grit.

SEC - Alabama: The best team in the country still resides in Tuscaloosa.

WAC - Boise State: If the Broncos top Virginia Tech in their first game, they'll end up playing for the national championship and have a real chance to win.

EP'S Heisman Frontrunners

Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma
Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
Dion Lewis, RB, Pittsburgh
Jake Locker, QB, Washington
Ryan Mallet, QB, Arkansas
Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State
Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Oregon State
Ryan Williams, RB, Virginia Tech

EP Preseason Top 10

1. Alabama: The backfield of bruising Heisman winner Mark Ingram, Sunshine State speedster Trent Richardson and undefeated quarterback Greg McElroy leads the way. But there's so much NFL talent on this roster: wide receiver Julio Jones, defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, linebacker Don't'a Hightower ... and it goes on and on. Oh, and putting it all together is Nick Saban, college football's best coach by a country mile.

2. Ohio State: They're back. Every few years it seems Ohio State reloads for another shot at the national championship. Per usual, the Buckeyes are well-coached and have excellent line play on both sides of the ball. What will determine whether this is a very good 10-2 team that contends for a conference title or a superb club that rolls undefeated into the national title game will be the continued development of quarterback Terrelle Pryor. If he finally turns into the special player he was hyped to be coming out of high school, Ohio State can win it all. For their part, Jim Tressel and his staff believe Pryor is ready to take a big step forward.

3. Boise State: ESPN know-it-all Mark May was on the air the other day talking about how overrated Boise State is and how Virginia Tech is going to beat them by two touchdowns on opening day. I'm not one to rip Hall of Famers in this space, but my friends know how I feel about May's commentary. More importantly, Boise State is just an awesome football team. They are extremely well-coached by Chris Petersen. The offense is led by super-smooth quarterback Kellen Moore (think a lanky, lefty Tom Brady, before Giselle turned him into Justin Bieber), a stud running back in Jeremy Avery, perhaps America's best wide receiver duo in Austin Pettis and Titus Young, and four returning starters on the line. The defense is fast, physical and opportunistic.

May is wrong. There's no way Virginia Tech is good enough to beat this team by two touchdowns. In fact, I like the Broncos to handle the Hokies fairly easily. Let's bet on it, May! How about lunch at Qdoba?

4. TCU: As good as Boise State is, TCU is right there with them as the best non-BCS program in the country. I think most people expected the Horned Frogs to beat Boise in the Fiesta Bowl last year. They were so, so dominant in the regular season, destroying good MWC teams like Utah (55-28), BYU (38-7) and Wyoming (45-10), as well as winning at Clemson. And despite losing defensive end Jerry Hughes to the NFL, most of the gang is back this fall. The Frogs host Jacquizz Rodgers and the Oregon State Beavers on Sept.

5. Florida: Doubt the Gators at your own risk. QB John Brantley has drawn rave reviews in his preparation to take over for Tim Tebow. Yes, they have a lot of other holes to fill, but the Gators have been stockpiling talent for years, and there's no one better than Urban Meyer, except my boy Sabo, of course. And the SEC East is down this year, which should help the Gators' cause.

6. Virginia Tech: Stud running back Ryan Williams is back from a knee injury and joins veteran quarterback Tyrod Taylor in a loaded Hokie backfield that also features hard-charging Darren Evans. Though they have some starters to replace on defense, you know that side of the ball will never be a problem with Frank Beamer and Bud Foster in charge of things.

7. Nebraska: Thank goodness the Bill Callahan era is now nothing but a distant memory in Lincoln. Watching the Huskers become a pass-first finesse team was like how it would be if America's sweetheart Marissa Miller turned goth. Not that goth can't be sexy if done right, but why mess up a good thing? Under Bo Pellini, Nebraska is back to a physical running game and a sledgehammer defense befitting the storied Black Shirt moniker.

8. Iowa: The Hawkeyes will once again have one of the best defenses in the country, led by colossus defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn, MVP of last year's Orange Bowl, and his linemate Karl Klug. On offense, gutsy quarterback Ricky Stanzi is back and so is talented running back Adam Robinson. If the young offensive line matures quickly, the Hawkeyes could top Ohio State in the Big Ten.

9. Oklahoma: Sam Bradford's gone, but Landry Jones gained valuable experience filling in last year. He'll be throwing the ball to the best receiver in the country, Ryan Broyles, a real threat to win the Heisman in Oklahoma's spread offense. I've always thought the Sooners lost their mental edge since becoming firmly established as a perennial top-five program again under Bob Stoops. Those early, pre-national championship Stoops teams were just a hungry bunch of animals. Coming off a six-loss season, you'd expect the Sooners will be hungry again.

10. Pittsburgh: The Panthers will start a new quarterback following the graduation of Bill Stull, but they have two solid candidates to replace him in Tino Sunseri and Pat Bostick. And whoever takes the snaps will have a plethora of playmakers to get the ball to, led by Heisman candidate running back Dion Lewis and future NFL wide receiver Jon Baldwin. The defensive line is deep and talented, led by Greg Romeus. The Panthers look like the team to beat in the Big East.

Moments of Levity

• I'm surprisingly excited about fantasy football season. As any serious person knows, baseball and basketball are far superior fantasy sports, but I think I might have some fun with the NFL this year. I plan to have no more than two teams. Salt's already got me signed up in the Holyoke League and, of course, I run our New York league, so don't even ask me to join your rag-tag operation.

The thing is, I'm stumped for a good fantasy football name. Incredibly, the people that brought you the Charleston Chews (baseball), Rhode Island Reds (basketball) and St. Paul Yellow Dogs (hockey), have never been able to come up with a football name that stands the test of time.

So I turn to my Extra Points readers to help me out. E-mail me at dante.carnevale@nyu.edu and let me know what my fantasy football team name should be. Please keep it PG-13. I'll share what suggestions I get.

• I've never been much of a beach guy. Maybe that's why I've been notoriously moody throughout my life. In a sudden about-face, I've been to the beach roughly 10 times already this summer and plan to go at least another three or four times. What's not to like? The sand feels good on your feet, the waves are a blast to play in, there are bikinis everywhere, you can fly a kite without looking like too much of a weirdo (underrated fun) and you always look like a million bucks with your tan afterward. Plus, there's no better exfoliate than a few days at the beach. I spent a week battling heavy surf in Westhampton and came back with quite a nice polish to my skin.

• I'm still not over the Celtics losing Game 7. Get back to me in October ... of 2025.

• I finally jumped on the "Mad Men" bandwagon, and boy, am I glad I did. What a great show. Smart, sophisticated and good-looking. On Sunday night in my house, it's "True Blood" at 9 p.m., then a no-brainer choice of "Mad Men" over the "Hung"/"Entourage" combo.

That's all for now, kids. The Red Sox are off today, so Borders it is. I need to brush up on mortgage law.