Lineup

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

44 The Ball Stops Here

From Austin to Boise to Columbus to Tuscaloosa, defense now rules the game

By Austin Murphy

• Five story lines to watch this season By Stewart Mandel

GATEFOLD

55 Heisman Watch

Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor(right) leads the contenders for the sport's highest honor

By Cory McCartney

62 Scouting Reports

Breakdowns of the teams in SI's Top 25, plus predictions and players to watch for each of the BCS conferences

100 | ACC

101 | Big East

103 | Big Ten

105 | Big 12

106 | Pac-10

107 | SEC

108 | The Rest

FOR THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW, SI HAS PUT OUT FOUR REGIONAL COVERS

Departments

4 Leading Off

16 Letters

20 Scorecard

• Toothless Tiger

• Brett Favre's latest retirement speech

26 Just My Type

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mr. Popularity

by Dan Patrick

28 Faces in the Crowd

30 Inside . . .

• Baseball

The Rangers' rise

• The NFL

A draft bust busts out

• Swimming

Michael Phelps falters

110 The Vault

Pete Rose's hit parade

114 Point After

The beauty of ballhawks

by Phil Taylor

Stealing Home

It's baseball's most exciting play and one of its most dangerous weapons. So why has it been more than a year since anyone has pulled off the grandest theft?

By Bruce Schoenfeld

Page 36

ON THE COVER

Photographs by Peter Read Miller

Please Recycle This Magazine Remove Inserts or Samples Before Recycling

PHOTO

AL TIELEMANS (PRYOR)

PHOTO

MARK KAUFFMAN (ROBINSON)

FOUR PHOTOS