UWIRE Football Poll: No. 1 Georgia

As college football teams around the nation launch into their sweltering summer workouts, UWIRE polled journalists from 58 schools to rank the top 10 teams heading into the 2008 season. Their week-long countdown of the top 5 teams concludes with the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs.

View UWIRE’s Top 10 Football Poll

Partying With College Cheerleaders: Virginia Tech’s 2005 Squad at the NCAA Nationals in Daytona Beach

Looks like 2005 was a fun year for the Lady Hokies. Not only did they gear up to compete in the NCAA Championships in Daytona, they appeared to do a little partying as well.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wrestling on the beach in a cheerleader uniform, is there? Nor is there anything wrong with carrying around a handle of Captain Morgan’s, right?

Man I wish these pictures were from 2008. These cuties from Virginia Tech would have a lot of explaining to do.

Watch these girls get hokie at UnCoached

High School B-Ball Phenom Lance Stephenson’s Choice Down to Three Schools

Lance Stephenson, the only junior on USA TODAY’s All-USA Boys Basketball Team, has narrowed his college choices to three schools, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via Zag’s Blog.

A 6-foot 5-inch star from Brooklyn, N.Y., Lincoln will decide between USC, UCLA and Kansas.

Check out the entire 2007-08 USA TODAY’s All-USA boys team. [USA Today]

Student Loans Start to Bypass 2-Year Colleges

Some of the nation’s biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions, even as they continue to extend federally backed loans to students at the nation’s top universities.

Citibank has been among the most aggressive in paring the list of colleges it serves. JPMorgan Chase, PNC and SunTrust say they have not dropped whole categories, but are cutting colleges as well. Some less-selective four-year colleges, like Eastern Oregon University and William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif., say they have been summarily dropped by some lenders.

The practice suggests that if the credit crisis and the ensuing turmoil in the student loan business persist, some of the nation’s neediest students will be hurt the most. The difficulty borrowing may deter them from attending school or prompt them to take a semester off. When they get student loans, they will wind up with less attractive terms and may run a greater risk of default if they have to switch lenders in the middle of their college years. [New York Times]

College Baseball World Series 20 Team Preview

With two-time defending champion Oregon State sitting on the bench, the College World Series is wide open. No. 1 Miami and the other seven seeded teams own 11 of the past 20 titles, but the road to Omaha is always full of upsets and drama. As the tournament gets under way across the nation, UWIRE has the inside pitch from the reporters who have been covering the teams all season – who’s hot, who’s not, players to watch and more. [UWire's Inside Pitch]