R U REDY 4 SUM FTBALL?

Calling all football fans! Football season is now less than 100 days away and SportsNet has plans to make sure you’re ready for the upcoming season. Beginning today, we’re going to embark on a weekly football series that will span the next 13 weeks.

For the first 12 weeks, we will preview the 2010 opponents for LSU, Nicholls State and the New Orleans Saints.

On the 13th week, we will preview the teams we love – the Tigers, Colonels and the defending Super Bowl Champions.

Today’s version of the series begins with previews of our teams’ Week 1 opponents, North Carolina (LSU), San Diego State (Nicholls) and the Minnesota Vikings (Saints).

Here’s to football!

UNC searching for breakout year

When Butch Davis took over as North Carolina’s head coach in 2007, experts touted the Tar Heels were a college football sleeping giant.

After a few years showing signs they can shake their slumber and make the prediction hold true, the Heels hope their coach’s fourth year will be a charm and the team can become a power in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Heels are ranked as high as in the Top 10 in some preseason polls.

“We are building a program to compete at the highest level for a national championship,” Davis said at his introductory press conference. “It’s a process that takes time and we are heading in the right direction … We are climbing the mountain.”

Defense will likely be what makes or breaks North Carolina’s season. The Tar Heels return nine starters on a unit that was one of the best in the country last season.

North Carolina ranked No. 6 in America in total defense and allowed just 17 points per game.

“I think we have a chance to do some very good things,” said defensive tackle Marvin Austin. “Our goal is to be the best defense each and every Saturday. We want to be the best each and every week.”

In the team’s spring game in April, the Heels showed they have the potential to make Austin’s prediction hold true, intercepting five passes and making life miserable for their offense.

Leading the defensive surge will be senior linebacker Quan Sturdivant and senior cornerback Charles Brown.

The duo combined for 145 tackles and 15 tackles for a loss last season.

On offense, the Heels often struggled to find a rhythm in 2009 and ranked No. 83 in the nation in scoring offense.

But the Heels do return plenty of firepower and return plenty regulars from last year’s unit.

Quarterback T.J. Yates returns after completing more than 60 percent of his passes in 2009.

But Yates struggled with consistency last year and was intercepted 15 times – something he hopes to fix in the new season.

Joining Yates will be halfback Shaun Draughn, who rushed for nearly 600 yards last year and receiver Greg Little, who caught 62 passes in 2009.

The talent is in place and the Heels seem ready to tangle with the giants of the college football world.

They will get their chance on national television to open the season when they travel to Atlanta to take on LSU – a game that should set the tone for each team’s season.

“We had a great spring,” Davis said following the team’s spring game. “But we have a long way to go before September. We know that first one will be a tough one.”

QB’s ankle key to Viks’ success

All of the pieces are in place.

Virtually every impact player from 2009 is still on the roster.

Except one – and arguably the most important one: Brett Favre.

The Vikings have high expectations again in 2010, after just missing the Super Bowl last season. But most of those hopes hinge on their Hall of Fame quarterback.

Will he or won’t he return to the team after having arguably the best year of his career in 2009?

For the Vikings, it’s a wait and see that could last deep into August.

And that’s just fine with Vikings’ coach Brad Childress, who has said throughout the offseason he doesn’t mind waiting for his signal caller to make up his mind.

It’s up to him, but it’s not a deal where I need to put a gun at his head and say, ‘I need to know in a week, two weeks, two months’,” Childress told reporters following the team’s loss to the Saints last year. “He’s earned his time to be able to step away from it and talk to his family and figure out what he wants to do.”

But while the wait continues, contexts clues may point to Favre’s return.

The quarterback recently underwent minor surgery on his injured left ankle – the same ankle he injured in the NFC Championship Game against the Saints.

The surgery is designed to improve an athlete’s mobility, which is making many wonder why Favre would have the surgery if he didn’t plan on doing some running in the fall.

“I think the feeling is that he’s definitely going to come back,” said ESPN analyst John Clayton, after polling NFL owners at this past week’s NFL spring meetings. “And I think that was the feeling even before the surgery.”

With Favre back, the Vikings would undoubtedly be one of the teams to beat in the NFL again this season.

Minnesota was a few yards away from being able to attempt a game-winning field goal try in the NFC Championship before a last-second Favre interception thwarted the scoring drive.

But the Vikings return their entire defense, which gave opposing quarterbacks fits, recording 48 sacks as a team in 2009.

The Vikings did lose steady backup halfback Chester Taylor to free agency, but countered the loss by drafting Stanford workhorse Toby Gerhart in the second round of April’s NFL Draft.

Gerhart rushed for nearly 1,900 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Cardinal in 2009 and can provide depth and maybe even a replacement for starter Adrian Peterson if he continues to fumble the football.

With or without Favre, the Vikings open their season where 2009 ended – in the Superdome against the Saints. If both teams take the same path, a postseason repeat could be in the cards.

SDSU recovering from bad decade

The past decade wasn’t exactly a success story for the San Diego State football team. The team compiled just a 38-80 record and didn’t have a single winning season.

But second-year coach Brady Hoke believes he knows exactly how to turn things around.

Hoke inherited a similar program at Ball State and turned the program from a 2-win team in 2003 to a 12-win team in 2008 before taking over the Aztecs last season.

“I think this program is a real gold mine,” Hoke said when he took the job in 2009. “When I say that, the lifeblood of your program has to be recruiting and how you recruit … and I think this area and the state of California, there’s an abundance of talent … We’re going to be a team that plays with great toughness.”

In Hoke’s first year with the Aztecs last season, the win/loss record was probably not what the coach would have liked and the team finished 4-8.

But strides were made and San Diego State lost four games by 12 points or less, including a 10-point loss to nationally-ranked BYU.

And after a set of spring practices and a fresh recruiting class, Hoke said people should take note of the Aztecs in his season season.

“I think we’re a better football team than we were a year ago at this time and I think we’re a more athletic team,” the coach said.

San Diego State returns 15 starters on both sides of the ball, but the team plans to rely on a high-powered passing attack in 2010.

Quarterback Ryan Lindley joins returning receivers DeMarco Sampson and Vincent Brown in the Aztecs’ offensive lineup.

The receiving duo combined for more than 1,600 receiving yards last year and 14 touchdowns.

In the team’s spring game, Brown showed again just how dangerous he can be, catching a 74-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game.

Sampson added four catches for 69 yards on the afternoon.

Lindley said the team’s mentality is “completely different” heading into Hoke’s second season.

“It’s completely different. It all comes with how comfortable we are with the offense and the coaching the staff,” Lindley said. “We really worked on getting guys in the film room and in their playbook to really have an understanding of the offense and defense and having it come as second nature.”

On defense, the Aztecs allowed more than 30 points per game last year, but defensive back Andrew Preston believes the team has more depth and athleticism on this year’s squad, which will lead ultimately to more wins.

“We have a year in our system. Defensively, we all know exactly what we need to do now,” he said. “I think we’ll be good this year.”

After opening the season with Nicholls State, the Aztecs will travel to New Mexico State, before taking on Big 12 power Missouri.