This past week the US News released its 2009 list of "America's Best Colleges." With three schools ranked in the top 25 in the nation (Stanford #4, California #21 and UCLA at #25), the PAC-10 wins the CouchQB honor of being the smartest football conference in America.

Now lets focus our attention on the dumbest. The number of schools considered "Tier-1" by US News stops at 130, and with a #130 ranking LSU barely makes being "tier 1" by the hairs on its chinny chin chin. Arkansas comes in at #125, and South Carolina and Tennessee both tie at #108.

That's four teams in the bottom 25 for the SEC, more than any other football conference. SEC wins the CouchQB award for being the dumbest football conference in America.

Stanford is so sure you will love their upcoming football season, that they're issuing the "Stanford Gridiron Guarantee," offering season ticket holders their money back if they're not satisfied with the 2008 season.

If at the end of the season you do not feel that you received your entertainment value for the ticket, Stanford Athletics will refund the price paid for the season ticket.

Of course, there was this little gem hidden under footnote number 3:

Refund must be requested prior to the USC game on Nov. 15 and ticket must be physically turned into ticket office by Nov. 5, 2008. Refund will be processed within 30 days after request for refund. The USC game ticket must accompany the refund request.

I bet the football players love seeing that. Considering how the only home games Stanford has in 2008 other than USC are Oregon State, San Jose State, Arizona and Washington State, it's easy to see how a huge revenge loss at home to the Trojans could put a real damper on most fans' collective satisfaction.