On his weekly radio show tonight, MSU coach Dan Mullen named junior Chris Relf the starting quarterback for Saturday’s season opener against Memphis (6 p.m., ESPNU).

Earlier today, Mullen tweeted that he would probably name the starter there. About halfway through the program, he said, “Chris Relf is gonna start at quarterback for us, but we will play more than one quarterback in the first game.”

Relf and Tyler Russell have been battling all offseason for the job, and both will play. And it sounds like Mullen will stick with the two-QB system throughout the season.

“We need to get both of them in the flow for the rest of the season, for the big picture of the season,” Mullen said.

The second-year coach noted that both quarterbacks are much more ready this year. Relf has never drawn a start, and Russell, a redshirt freshman, hasn’t played a college game.

“He’s a quarterback now,” Mullen said of Relf. “He was kind of an athlete last year that could make things happen.”

Of Russell, he said, “He might have thought he was ready last year, but now he understands he was nowhere close to ready to step on that football field.”

Mullen also named Robert Elliott, a junior from Okolona, the starting tailback. On this week’s depth chart, he was listed as co-No. 1 with junior college transfer Vick Ballard. Mullen said those two and redshirt freshman LaDarius Perkins will all play.

“I’d love to see at the end of day all our tailbacks with equal reps and playing fresh and fast the rest of the season,” Mullen said.

My trusty 2010 college football syllabus says I should now bring y’all the best of the SEC blogs this fine afternoon. So, here is a little something on the other 11 SEC football teams. (Some of these beat reporters apparently do not blog 3-4 times a day like yours truly, so some of these are a day or two old.)

• ALABAMA: The defending national champs open with San Jose State, which is 0-3 against SEC teams. Bammer coach Nick Saban tried to say that his team’s record and SJSU’s record from last season are irrelevant, an assertion which I’m sure will be validated on the field.

• ARKANSAS: Law & Order: Two Razorbacks were suspended for the opener against Tennessee Tech, likely because of alcohol-related arrests in the offseason. Obviously, this drops the line from 45.5 points to 45 points.

• AUBURN: A couple of days old, but this sort of honesty should never be overlooked. Yeah, Arkansas State is gettin’ paid, so by all means, do your worst and call ’em Susan (2:05 mark).

• FLORIDA: Should Gator fans be worried about their defensive line? Not after these guys show up on their Moped of Death.

• GEORGIA: Coach Mark Richt said yesterday that one BCS opponent on the non-SEC slate is quite enough, thank you very much.

• KENTUCKY: We’re asking about pregame coin tosses (1:38)? Really?? The storyline well is obviously bone dry.

• LSU: My boy Randy Rosetta has his own SEC power rankings. We obviously have differing opinions about Georgia.

• OLE MISS: Another plea for a downtrodden athlete to be freed from his prison of oppression.

• SOUTH CAROLINA: As I write this, we’re less than three hours away from the first SEC game of the season, as the Gamecocks host Southern Miss. Wonder what kind of hotel rates the Golden Eagles are getting in Columbia.

• TENNESSEE: Some thoughts from UT quarterback Matt Simms, who used to play at Louisville until he realized, “I’m Phil Simms’ son. Why the crap am I playing for LOUISVILLE?!”

• VANDERBILT: It’ll be a meeting of the minds on Saturday when Vandy plays host to Northwestern. Pat Fitzgerald, the Wildcats’ coach, gives his thoughts on the Commodores. You might have the better team, sir, but you wouldn’t stand a chance against Robbie Caldwell on Last Comic Standing.

• BONUS: This entry would not be complete without including a funny, moving, inspiring post by Spencer Hall of Every Day Should Be Saturday (EDSBS). Outstanding.

Next game: vs. Memphis, Saturday, 6 p.m. (ESPNU, Clay Matvick and Herm Edwards)

Welcome to the first prediction thread of the 2010 collegiate football season. This is where we all pretend to have psychic powers and predict the final score of a game contested between dozens of 18-22-year-old men in funny-looking outfits (because seriously, sports uniforms just look silly when worn somewhere besides a sports venue, and by someone else other than the athlete who that jersey number actually belongs to).

Oh, I kid (mostly). To the game.

Mississippi State is a 21-point favorite† and, given a likely sellout and all the offseason anticipation, I could see that happening. Then again, over the past five years, the Bulldogs have not fared well against the spread as a home favorite – only once in nine such games has MSU covered, and that was last year against Jackson State (35-point fave, won by 38). Four of those games, State straight up lost. (Thank you for that info, Phil Steele.)

I’m not sure if MSU will cover, because I could see Memphis, re-energized by new coach Larry Porter (who must be a Dan Mullen clone because he’s stolen MSU’s copyrighted mantra of “relentless effort”), making things tough on the Bulldogs. Cannon Smith was once a really good high school quarterback, and there’s not much useful film to watch on the Tigers.

Most definitely, though, MSU will win. If you happen to be a betting man‡, well, let history be your guide. And as this week’s ESPNU analyst will remind you, focus on what’s most important: Not covering a spread, but playing to win the game.

My prediction: MSU 35, Memphis 17. (Don’t forget to vote on Facebook, fools!)

*–Not really.

†–For entertainment purposes only! Gambling will leave you penniless and gives you severe acne.

‡–I’m not a betting man, thus my immaculate complexion. Not sure how to explain the bank account, though.

Give Dan Mullen credit: He knows how to sell. That’s been well-established, and he probably picked up a few extra listeners for his season debut of DawgTalk tonight. It airs at 7 p.m. (on 96.3 in Tupelo, 100.9 in West Point), and Mullen tweeted earlier that some starting positions could be revealed tonight.

Then, he got more specific: “QB Position might be one of those positions named tonight.” When you capitalize a common noun, you know it’s extra important.

So, any guesses? We know it’s either going to be Chris Relf or Tyler Russell. I’d go with Relf simply because of his experience and his supposed improvement as a passer. As a fellow writer told me the other day, though, you never know with Mullen. He certainly has a touch for the dramatic.

Besides, whoever starts might not even throw the first pass of the season. Remember who threw the first one of 2009? Yeah, Chad Bumphis, a freshman receiver at the time. It was incomplete.

So who knows, maybe Bumphis gets the nod at QB and will line up in the Wildcat formation with Relf and Russell split wide. Oh, PLEASE let that happen.

Next game: vs. Memphis, Saturday, 6 p.m. (ESPNU, Clay Matvick and Herm Edwards)

You read that headline right. Not counting on freshmen, just counting them. That’s what I did for today’s opinion offering – I looked at each SEC team to see how much of a contribution each received from true freshmen in 2009.

What I did was see how many combined games they played, and how many starts they made. Came up with some interesting data. Here’s a look at it, with records and postseason info included:

Alabama: 97 games, 5 starts (14-0, 8-0, BCS title)

Arkansas: 107 games, 8 starts (8-5, 3-5, Liberty Bowl)

Auburn: 134 games, 19 starts (8-5, 3-5, Outback Bowl)

Florida: 65 games, 5 starts (13-1, 8-0, Sugar Bowl)

Georgia: 101 games, 10 starts (8-5, 4-4, Independence Bowl)

Kentucky: 67 games, 8 starts (7-6, 3-5, Music City Bowl)

LSU: 45 games, 5 starts (9-4, 5-3, Capital One Bowl)

MSU: 84 games, 24 starts (5-7, 3-5)

Ole Miss: 94 games, 26 starts (9-4, 4-4, Cotton Bowl)

South Carolina: 117 games, 26 starts (7-6, 3-5, Papajohns.com Bowl)

Tennessee: 142 games, 18 starts (7-6, 4-4, Chick-fil-A Bowl)

Vanderbilt: 56 games, 15 starts (2-10, 0-8)

As I noted in my column, it’s not surprising that the teams relying the least on freshmen in starting roles were Alabama, Florida and LSU. Also notable is that for teams with a higher number of true freshman starts, many of those starts are accounted for by just one or two players.

As for games played, that one’s a little harder to put in context without some sort of deeper statistical analysis. The two teams with the lowest numbers, LSU and Vanderbilt, had very different seasons. Then you look at Alabama, Arkansas and Auburn, and those numbers could probably be explained in part by “garbage time” – little-used players seeing the field when a game is out of hand.

As for MSU, seven true freshmen were credited with starts: Johnthan Banks (7), Chad Bumphis (6), Fletcher Cox (4), Josh Boyd (3), Chris Smith (2), Brandon Heavens (1), and Riley Saunders (1).

Saunders? Apparently he got credited with some sort of special teams start. Not every school counts those the same way, which means there is a small margin of error with my numbers (plus, I might have missed a guy here or there, as such tedious work is fertile ground for oversights).

So, hope all you fellow statheads enjoyed that.

• GAME DAY IMPROVEMENTS: My boy Danza Johnson has a story in the news section of today’s Journal examing the changes MSU has made for football game days. Among them: shutting down Stone Blvd., the new Junction Grill, a mobile trailer selling Bulldog apparel, and extra RV hookups.

• ON THE LINKS: Colleague Parrish Alford writes that Ole Miss can thank MSU for educating it in the option game. … Ron Higgins of the Commercial Appeal writes about cowbells. … Also from the C-A, Dan Wolken believes the season opener is a must-win game for Dan Mullen. … Also, if you missed it last night, MSU reserve fullback William Shumpert is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery for a herniated disc on Tuesday. The redshirt freshman from Fulton is expected to make a full recovery.

As I’ve said before, I loathe preseason rankings, and I’m not the only one who feels that way. But, y’all demand it, so I supply it. Thus, my first set of SEC power rankings for 2010.

While last year counts for something in these rankings, I am certainly factoring in things like returning starters, experience at key positions, and end-of-game clock management coughLesMilescough.

Feel free to disagree, but don’t be like some yahoos and take the rankings personally. Just one man’s semi-informed opinion (put down on paper while using the squeaky clean “facilities” at the Daily Journal world headquarters). If you wanna get worked up about something, check out the ProCombat uniforms Nike unveiled today. But grab a trash can or your worst enemy first, so you’ll have somewhere to vomit.

Here are my final 2009 rankings, by the way. Those rankings will be in parentheses===>(), a form of punctuation that is vastly underutilized in the newspaper industry. (Grammar rant over)

Let’s do this.

Team (Pvs): Comment

1. Alabama (1): Even with Mark Ingram being out due to an injured knee, the defending SEC and BCS champion should be OK with this Trent Richardson fellow, and forgive me for name stereotyping, but shouldn’t he be playing lacross for William & Mary instead of football for Bama? Oh, also, this is weird: Ingram’s Heisman trophy has a ding in its left knee. /voodoodoll’d

2. Georgia (7): Whaa? Georgia? Yeah, that’s what I asked myself after I jotted that down. Sure, they’ve got a freshman quarterback, but the rest of the offense is back. Thus, the Bulldogs get the edge over Florida, which also has a new QB and has questions at receiver. Plenty of optimism in Athens, with coach Mark Richt opening his Tuesday press conference with this gem: “It’s good to be undefeated.”

3. Florida (2): I think John Brantley will be a fine quarterback for the Gators, but they take a dip in these rankings because I can no longer make Tim Tebow pronouncements like, “Tim Tebow’s famous speech following the 2008 loss to Ole Miss actually came straight from the Second Book of Maccabees (canonize it!).” On the upside, Chris Rainey has the makings of a fine receiver.

4. South Carolina (11): Wow, from 11th to this? I’m obviously a delusional fanboi. Two surprising stats wrapped up in one: Steve Spurrier has won only 35 games in his five years in Columbia, but that’s the most wins over a five-year stretch in program history. This year, I think it all comes together, unless Stephen Garcia says “Screw this!” and sabotages everything.

5. Auburn (5): Good ol’ Kirk Herbstreit actually picked the War Eagles to knock off Bama and win the Western Division. HAHAHAHA YOU NEED DEFENSE FOR THAT. But seriously, Arthur Gustav Malzahn III has that offense going stronger than a bottle of Russian vodka.

6. Arkansas (6): Everybody is saying the Razorbacks will be to 2010 what Ole Miss was to 2009. Some differences, though: We know Ryan Mallett is a good quarterback, and he’s got tons more weapons at his disposal than did Jevan Snead. Plus, Mallett showers four to five times a day, and nothing says success like heavy use of aqueous cream.

7. LSU (3): The AP’s Ralph Russo rated LSU’s Mike the Tiger the No. 4 mascot in the whole dang nation. Suffice to say, that’s a ranking the Tigers’ football team will not see this year. And for Mike’s sake, Les Miles, pull your hat down already.

8. Mississippi State (9): Coach Dan Mullen has been mum on many things of late, and that is why the Chris Relf finger situation became a much bigger deal than it should have been. I haven’t seen so much unnecessary drama since I watched Eclipse.

9. Ole Miss (4): The Rebels don’t have much at receiver, and now they don’t have what they thought they’d have at quarterback. Raymond Cotton left, then Jeremiah Masoli showed up only to get the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag from the NCAA. I wouldn’t be booking another trip to Dallas, put it that way.

10. Tennessee (8): What an offseason. Lane Kiffin bolts, players get in a bar brawl, Bryce Brown bolts, and now new coach Derek Dooley is handing out Boy Scout badges to journalists. And the struggles have only begun.

11. Kentucky (10): I obviously have no respect for the Wildcats, who have been to FOUR STRAIGHT BOWL GAMES! What’s wrong with me? Maybe it’s that three of those trips were to the Music City Bowl. Plus, new coach Joker Phillips just isn’t as Twitterific as Rich Brooks.

12. Vanderbilt (12): Speaking of Twitter, thank heaven Robbie Caldwell is on it. We’ll learn all we need to know about his team and turkey insemination.

The first SEC coaches teleconference of the 2010 football season was held this morning, and MSU’s Dan Mullen had plenty to say, especially when asked about the toughness of his schedule.

Actually, the question was about SEC non-conference scheduling as a whole. The questioner wanted to know if SEC teams should beef up in that department.

Mullen shot back, “You must not have researched our schedule. Last year we played the hardest schedule in college football, and it was considered one of the hardest schedules in the last 10 years in college football. This year I looked in the preseason, someone had a preseason ranking of our schedule, we’re in the top five hardest schedules in the country again this year. I have no idea what you’re talking about, man, but you might want to research that.”

Mullen then said he doesn’t pay much attention to other SEC teams’ non-league schedules.

• Mullen said the race at the ‘H’ receiver position is still a tight one between sophomores Chad Bumphis and Brandon Heavens. Bumphis led the Bulldogs in receiving last season, but that hasn’t guaranteed him any job security.

“Brandon’s really pushed him,” Mullen said. “I don’t know who’s gonna actually start the game for us yet. We’ll make that decision later in the week. Those two guys right now are at a point that you could almost split time and you really wouldn’t miss a beat.”

Mullen said Bumphis has been working on becoming a better all-around receiver, focusing on route-running, beating man coverage and blocking.

“Chad was our leading receiver last year as a true freshman just because of our complete lack of depth at the receiver position. Chad’s done a good job of working and trying to improve himself as an all-around player, and so has Brandon, so we’ll see both of them play.”

• Another undecided position is tailback. Robert Elliott and Vick Ballard are separated only by an “or” on the depth chart. Mullen said it’s still his goal to be a strong running team.

“We’re really not gonna try to change our approach. We want to run the football, and we’d like to be balanced, but we’re always going to be a team that likes to run the ball.”

Next game: vs. Memphis, Saturday, 6 p.m. (ESPNU, Clay Matvick and Herm Edwards)

In today’s Daily Journal I have a story on senior linebacker K.J. Wright, who was one of four players elected as captain on Tuesday. He’s certainly established himself as a leader, the guy the rest of the defense will look to.

That role often belongs to the middle linebacker, in this case Chris White. He’s a captain, too, but he’s only in his second year at MSU (he was a junior college transfer last year). Wright’s entering his fourth year in the program and is on his fourth defensive coordinator (Manny Diaz) since coming to Starkville.

Wright has been moved from strongside to weakside linebacker – a.k.a. “will” linebacker – and he’s set to have an even bigger year than 2009, when he was second on the team with 82 tackles. And he likes working next to White.

“Usually, the sam, he’s outside the box, and the mike and will, they’re usually side by side,” Wright said. “So me and Chris, we’re always talking on every play. We tell each other formations, what you’re looking for. It’s just better for us to communicate with each other with being right by each other.”

• MORE ON EX-BULLDOGS: The Commercial Appeal writes about a couple of former Mississippi State players, linebacker Jamon Hughes (about whom I wrote on Monday) and wide receiver Delmon Robinson. Hughes was the leading tackler for Memphis last year and is the starting middle linebacker; at MSU, he was the fourth-leading tackler in 2007.

Robinson is a second-string receiver, and in his one year at MSU made 12 catches for 125 yards. He then transferred to Copiah-Lincoln Community College before arriving in Memphis.

Also from the C-A is a Tigers notebook.

• MULLEN VIDEO: In case you missed my tweet last night, I posted video of coach Dan Mullen‘s media chat following yesterday’s practice. I normally don’t post five-plus minutes, but technical issues on my laptop forced me to upload it straight from my iPhone, and there’s no way to edit it beforehand when doing it that way.

Anyway, nice to see Cannon Mullen getting some face time.

Next game: vs. Memphis, Saturday, 6 p.m. (ESPNU, Clay Matvick and Herm Edwards)

Following today’s practice, we had only coach Dan Mullen to speak with, as players were not made available. But more on that in a moment.

Mullen said that the team has elected captains (he initiated the vote), which is not something MSU did prior to last season (although Jamar Chaney and Anthony Dixon were captains for the Egg Bowl). They are all seniors: defensive end Pernell McPhee, left tackle Derek Sherrod, linebacker Chris White and linebacker K.J. Wright. So, you’ve got three defenders, two of which were junior college transfers last year.

“In the second year in the program, a lot easier to name captains, because they understand what our leadership’s about, what our players are expected to do and what we’re looking for in the team,” Mullen said.

The number of captains on defense is reflective of the experience on that side of the ball.

“I just think it shows some of the leadership there. We’re still a young offensive team and trying to find some of that leadership on offense, and sometimes a lot of the younger players need to step up into those roles, and hopefully down the road they’ll develop that.”

• As for not having players available today – originally, we were going to be allowed to speak with them – Mullen said that was part of transitioning to the game week routine. He did not say it had anything to do with Wright talking about QB Chris Relf’s banged-up finger on Monday (Mullen did not include Relf on the injury report).

“It is a transition for us, being in the first game and getting the whole mindset different, getting ready to play the first game. It’s a different routine than we’ve had, so I figured I’ll be the spokesperson for the team this week and let everybody else get ready to play.”

Of course, this is just the latest in a string of occurrences that have left the rest of us in the dark. Mullen provided few details of the Bulldogs’ full scrimmage earlier this month, the depth chart shows a lot of position battles being undecided, and there was the complete closing of practice to media this week (originally, we were to be allowed to view the first 10 minutes on Monday and today, which is just stretching).

Mullen defended the openness of the program, citing open practices during the spring and the first week of fall camp. But he admitted to not wanting to give too much information to the opposition.

“I don’t like anybody having information on us,” Mullen said with a smile. “What we do within our team, we want to prepare our way and get our players ready to play. And that’s really important to us. And information, what other people have, I’m really not that interested in what they get to find out about us.”

• As for Relf, when we saw him walk past after practice, there were no bandages on either hand. He could’ve dumped them back on the practice field, but nothing looked amiss with him, so there’s little reason to think he won’t be available to play Saturday.

Mullen said Relf seems to be in a good mindset this week.

“I see him a lot more relaxed. Last year in kind of the game plan, trying to grasp what the game plan was from week to week, where this year I think he’s been through the routine of game planning, and so the little tweaks and little changes you make for specific game plans really hasn’t phased him too much this week.”

I’ll have video of Mullen posted in a while.

It’s a different feel this week. The heat, drudgery and monotony of August camp have given way to the unmitigated excitement of MSU’s season opener versus Memphis (Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPNU), not to mention cooler temps. I can actually ride with the windows down without my back sticking to the seat.

The imminence of the season gives us fresh storylines and endless angles to discuss.

So, while there were many good questions asked in this forum over the summer, this is football season, which means I expect y’all to bring me your best queries. To paraphrase Dan Mullen, I expect relentless effort from your brains!

So, drop your questions below, and I’ll have answers for you on Friday.