As we threw around ideas of how to maximize the usefulness of the podcast format, many readers expressed a desire to have some kind of opponent preview as part of the format. As we've discovered early on in this process, the podcast with Grady, Craig and I is plenty full enough just talking about the Cougs.

So, rather than try and figure out a way to fit that in with what we've already been doing, I took it upon myself to figure out another way to meet your thirst for information: Contacting an opponent expert to give their perspective on the upcoming game.

Ideally, we'd like for that to be an opposing fan blogger, specifically from the SBN network. But Stanford doesn't have any fan blogs. (Apparently, they're too busy diabolically running the world or dreaming up outlandish band routines or something to write about their sports teams.)

So, we called up Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News to talk about the trees, and I gotta say -- this is a must listen for all of you. He's a fantastic college football writer -- his College Sports Hotline blog is mandatory reading for any Pac-10 fan -- and his insights into Stanford are, frankly, awesome.

You can download the full file here, or just listen via the player below. If you're interested in subscribing to the podcast series, you can either search "CougCenter" in the iTunes store, or manually subscribe using the following feed: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss61020.xml