THE INSIDE TRACK : THE HOT CORNER : A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

What: “Perelman’s College Football Companion”

Cost: $14.95; Perelman, Pioneer & Co., (323) 965-4900

Compiled by UCLA statistician Rich Perelman, the Companion is full of facts, records and statistics nobody will ever need, or want, to know.

But along with every Micron PC Bowl winner, Lou Groza award winner and miscellaneous statistic, this book has basic information that any level of fan could use:

Schedules, a brief 1999 preview, depth charts, 1998 results and game-by-game offensive leaders, as well as plenty of other information, for every team in Division I-A.

Granted, some of his information I could do without: Rutgers’ senior class record is 7-26-0, the team has yet to go to a bowl game and went 0-11 in 1997. But I would be concerned if I were a fan of the Scarlet Knights and knew that the cornerbacks combined for only 16 tackles and no interceptions with no starts a year ago.

The most die-hard fan already knows much of the information in this book about his own team. But if you’re looking down the road and want to know what kind of running game a November opponent has, this would be the book for you.

If your team is in the Mid-American Conference and you don’t know much about Buffalo, the newest member of Division I-A and the MAC, this book will give you an idea of what to expect.

There’s also plenty of information on the conferences: year founded, commissioner, bowl tie-ins, member schools and web site. Similar information can be found for each school.

Small and easy to carry, this book should be to the serious college football fan what a bible is to a hotel room: One shouldn’t be without it.