South Florida

The Story: The NCAA has granted a waiver request for USF basketball player Augustus "Gus" Gilchrist that will allow him to be eligible to play by mid-December. Gilchrist was ranked as a top 60 recruit in the class of 2007 by several recruiting services. He originally signed with Virginia Tech in November 2006 but was reportedly uncomfortable attending the college in the aftermath of the shootings.

This is the second of six annual statistical projections of BCS conference starters. The lineups are based on the Starting Fives series of articles released two weeks ago, along with a couple of changes due to recent developments.

#23 USF @ Cincinnati 7:30PM EST on ESPN

BIG EAST FIVE-YEAR STANDINGS

This ranking tries to answer a simple question: Who has been the best team in the Big East over the last five years?

Thanks to our friends over at Icon Sports Media, CHN has access to thousands of great college & NBA basketball photos.  Each day, along with our daily Big Picture, we'll be featuring a Cheerleader (or Dancer) of the Day. In September & October, we'll be rolling out some girls of the gridiron.

Three games are on tap tonight, with two ranked teams looking to make a statement on a day dominated by the MLB playoffs and the vice presidential debate. Last night's game wasn't much of a test for #17 Boise State, as they extended their home win streak to fifteen games with a 38-3 pasting of Louisiana Tech. Hopefully the games tonight will offer more in the way of suspense, and I think they will.

Pittsburgh (3-1, 1-0 Big East) @ #10 USF (5-0, 0-0) 7:30 PM EST on ESPN