Football magazines already hit the shelves

I was walking through the supermarket today when I stopped by the magazine rack and noticed that not one but two college football magazines had already made their way to the shelves.

I guess it shows your age when you remember when you were lucky to see one football magazine out by the Fourth of July. Now both Lindy’s and Sporting News are on the shelves in May with Athlon probably not far behind.

Here are a few of the highlights:

* UNLV is picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference by Lindy’s and sixth by Sporting News.

* The Rebels are ranked No. 81 out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) teams by Lindy’s right behind Marshall. Nevada is No. 69 while Hawaii is No. 89. Western Kentucky comes in at No. 120.

* Lindy’s picks TCU to win the Mountain West Conference and ranks the Horned Frogs No. 14 nationally with Utah (No. 23) and BYU (No. 25) also cracking the Top 25. The Sporting News picked Utah to repeat as champions and ranked the Utes No. 19 overall ahead of BYU (No. 22) and TCU (No. 24).

* Wide receiver Ryan Wolfe and linebacker Jason Beauchamp were both first team all-MWC picks by Lindy’s with junior offensive tackle Matt Murphy a second team choice. Wolfe and Beauchamp also made the Sporting News’ all-MWC squad. That magazine didn’t pick a second team.

* Lindy’s rated Wolfe as “the most dangerous deep threat” in the MWC while The Sporting News said the 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior had the “best instincts” of any player in the MWC and acknowledged talented sophomore receiver Phillip Payne as possessing “the best hands” in the conference.

* Lindy’s ranks Wolfe as the nation’s No. 19 wide receiver right ahead of Notre Dame’s Malcom Floyd.

* The Sporting News projects just three Mountain West teams in bowl games: Utah (Poinsettia), BYU (Las Vegas again) and TCU (Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth). It has Nevada finishing second to Boise State in the WAC and playing in the New Mexico Bowl.

* Lindy’s projects a Florida vs. Texas matchup in the Jan. 7, 2010 BCS National Championship game at the Rose Bowl. It has USC facing Ohio State six days earlier in the Rose Bowl, Virginia Tech playing West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, LSU against Penn State in the Sugar and Oklahoma and Boise State in a Fiesta Bowl rematch. Both magazines rank Florida No. 1.

UPDATE: Came across the national edition of Athlon on Monday morning at Albertsons. Rebels are ranked No. 84 in that magazine.