The NFL never really has hidden from that fact that its popularity is due in large part to gambling on the sport. The NCAA? That organization buries its head in the sand at the mere mention of betting on football and tries to pretend it doesn't help make its game much more popular.

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Well, the Atlantic Coast Conference has moved even closer to pro football in one respect in that it will become the first conference to release injury reports this fall. Each team's athletic trainer will compile a list every Monday of players who had surgery or are out for the season. On Thursday, another list will come out and players will be deemed probable, questionable, doubtful or out, which is how the NFL does it. However, the ACC won't address specific injuries. If a conference team is playing a Thursday night game, the final injury announcement will come after Tuesday's practice.

In addition, the ACC's report is just a guideline - not a rule - so coaches can still withhold information if they want. This was brought about so the coaches don't have to continually answer questions about injuries during the week - that will now be the responsibility of the trainer. Previously, each team could release as much, or as little, information about injuries as it wanted.

"I think everyone is looking for a way to get the information out uniformly, and the way the NFL does it is probably smart," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson. "They have a listing, there's a certain time they release it and that's kind of what we're looking to do as a conference."

One way this could get very interesting for bettors looking for an edge is determining which coaches open practices to the media and which don't. Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, who opens some parts of practice to the media, says he might have to change his policy because reporters might publicize the severity of an injury that otherwise might not be released until the Thursday night announcement.

"If I open up practice and (the media's) reporting on injured players and what they're doing in practice and what they're not doing in practice, it kind of defeats the purpose of the whole thing," Friedgen said. "I'm in a bind because some of the other teams in the league are going to do this and I'm not going to know their status, but they're going to know my status."

After reading this college football piece head over to our Motor City bowl preview page. Doc's Hawaii bowl preview resource is a must read for college football wagering. Our how to gamble on college football page is also a valuable tool for your college football research. Each of the handicappers listed under "the Advisory board" on the left navagation bar posts free college football picks on their individual pages.

The problem with this guideline is just that - it's a guideline, not a rule. So, theoretically, a coach could manipulate an injury report any way he wanted to, much like New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick does. And now coaches might close their practices to the media so their injury information isn't released by the media reporter before the official injury list is out.

My recommendation: Don't go placing your bets solely on this injury report until the kinks are worked out. Deception and looking for any edge will always have a place among the coaching fraternity.