Wethersfield, US
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If the light is constant, I use M mode. If not, A mode, generally with the lens wide open. Like you, I just watch my shutter speed and bump up the ISO if needed.
For autofocus, I would stick with AF-C mode, release priority (custom menu a1). For football I leave Focus tracking (a3) off, but some people like to use it. Experiment with that one.
I generally use the 9-point dynamic area mode and leave the AF point right in the center. Once you leave the center point, you're using non-cross-sensors. Whether it's because of that or for some other reason, I haven't had much luck getting the D7000 to track reliably when set to focus points outside the center 9 points. You can also try single-point mode, but for football I find the subject a little small for single-point, especially on a 70-200. You may do better, though.
You will find the auto WB of the D7000 much better than that of the D80, especially during daylight. Field lights are a struggle for any WB system, so I recommend using a custom WB unless you are unfortunate enough to find yourself on a field that has the kind of lights whose color varies with the 60-Hz power cycle. In that case, you're going to have screwed-up white balance no matter what settings you use, so just accept that you'll have to fix the WB in post. (And maybe shoot RAW because of it.)
Just to whet your appetite, here is a frame taken with the D7000 and 70-200 at 200mm, f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 3600, just as the JPEG came out of the camera except resized for the Web:
The WB was on Auto and is a little off because of that. Here is a 100% crop to give you a better idea of the image quality:
Finally, here is the succeeding frame, cropped and with some WB adjustment in Photoshop:
-- Jon
Wethersfield, CT, USA
Connecticut High School Sports Photos  Attachment
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