Football fans…get ready to rumble. Sports Illustrated College Football guru Stewart Mandel ranks the 2007 Pacific-10 conference second from the top, edged only by the SEC. Which means the Pac-10-SEC civil war is back on. And this season I think the results may surprise you.

Now I am not arguing with the fact that the SEC may have an edge heading into fall 2007. I am just suggesting that the edge may not be as great as expected. 2007 recruiting classes aside, the SEC lost 17 players in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Those gone pro include both LSU and Florida starting quarterbacks (Florida QB Leak was un-drafted, but later signed with Chicago). Even with an abundance of new talent, these kinds of holes prove difficult to fill.

Compare the losses in the SEC to the fact that the Pac-10 will return with 165 starters. That is nearly 70%. This in addition to the fact that Rivals.com features three pac-10 quarterbacks including John David Booty (USC), Nate Longshore (CAL) and Rudy Carpenter (ASU) as candidates in their Top 10 Deep Passers list. Not to mention that the USC Trojan roster will include two prize transfers from the SEC: Arkansas, Damian Williams and Mitch Mustain.

When the SEC players start switching over, it gets you thinking. True the Southeastern conference is deep with talent. But do not underestimate the Pac-10 either. I guess there is only one way to find out for certain…and that is to watch some damn good football come fall.