Some light, light Monday morning news for you: per BetOnline.com, Wisconsin's 45-point favorite status over UMass is the largest among Week 1 games. Early So freakin' early, yeah, but it's more brain fodder for getting through the wait until summer workouts and fall camp and all that good stuff. Other notable B1G lines: Minnesota (-17) vs. UNLV; Michigan State (-24) vs. Western Michigan; Northwestern (-6) vs. Cal; Penn State (-4) vs. Syracuse; Iowa (-6.5) vs. Northern Illinois.

Tom Fornelli has a nice read over at The Champaign Room taking a look at the top-heaviness of the Big Ten in light of recent discussions regarding the recent discussions on the depth of the SEC and Big 12. Fornelli looked at how many weeks Big Ten teams have spent in the AP top 15 since 2007, and the results confirmed what we knew about Wisconsin -- the Badgers were steady members, second-most in the conference at 41 weeks. Check out the rest of the article for a more figures, as well as further reasoning as to why the Big Ten might be the most top-heavy conference in the land.

We talkin' about practice, y'all. The NCAA approved a rules proposal that moves the start of fall practice up two weeks. Previously, what was termed "Midnight Madness" for most programs came on or around October 15. Now, teams can start practicing in very early October -- not in an effort to practice every damn day and drive their conditioning drills into the ground, but rather to allow coaches to space out their practice schedules and develop the most appropriate program. Bonus bit of good thinking: As ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan points out, this is also the rare instance where the NCAA moves quickly to set in motion a policy that actually makes some sense. This plan first surfaced about two weeks ago.

Pump the brakes, at least for a little while, y'all. LSU officials are denying an agreement to play Wisconsin in Houston at the 2014 Texas Kickoff Classic has been reached, saying it's continuing to talk to other schools. Fox 26 Sports Wisconsin initially reported the deal was done, citing anonymous sources. Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also reported no deal has been reached, nor is one close.