The wait is (just about) over!

College football season is upon us! I have no more excuses.  No more grad school, no more negligence.  Yes, I'm finally updating my blog.  So now that I'm a Big Ten alum - do I see things any differently?

My M.A. Graduation - University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Well, no.  Of course I'm still biased toward the SEC.  I'm a Gator first and foremost, and no additional degrees will change that.  My belief that the SEC will be dominant may also be due to recent brainwashing from the recently launched SEC Network, though.  It's my new favorite channel.  I'm loving the classic SEC games.  The last 3 things in my DVR are games from January 1997, January 2007 and January 2009.  I'll give you 3 guesses what games they are.

I really do want to be excited for Gator football season this year, and I'm honestly trying to get hyped up, but I'd be lying if I said it's not difficult after that 4-8 meltdown last year.  I refuse to set any type of comeback expectations.  For now, I'm just concerned with the Idaho Vandals. Will Muschamp - if you lose to Idaho, I'm not eating potatoes for a year.  Seriously.  And French fries are one of my favorite things on this planet, so please don't do that to me.  As far as I remember, Idaho went 1-11 last year.  So just take this season one game at a time.  Beat Idaho and start 1-0.

Beyond the Florida-Idaho game, I'm obviously also excited to see how Rutgers represents itself in a new conference (for the 2nd year in a row).  This time, they're in the overrated Big Ten.  Let's see how they fare in a non-conference road game against Washington State.  The Cougars haven't impressed me (my mom went to Washington, so does it surprise you I'm not impressed by Washington State?) in recent years, so I think Rutgers has a shot to win this one on the road.  Rutgers joining the Big Ten does complicate things for me a bit, though.  I am a Husker alum, but Rutgers is my hometown team and has always been my #2.  Make no mistake - I still want Nebraska to play well and win games, and I certainly won't be upset if Nebraska beats Rutgers, but this creates some conflict for me.  For now let's just see how Rutgers looks against Washington State.  And well, the Huskers are a lock over the FAU Owls.

My hopeful pick of the week is clearly Oklahoma State over those disgusting FSU Seminoles.  I haven't heard much about the Cowboys for this season, but they typically have a decent offense, and with the game being in Texas, I feel like the crowd should favor Oklahoma State.  Come on Cowboys.  Please show up, and please beat FSU.  Then there's that other game in Texas - LSU vs Wisconsin.  I'm guessing this game will go down to the last minute or so based on how both teams usually like to play.  I'll call for an LSU victory sealed in the last 90 seconds of the game (or OT).  I'll be surprised if the game isn't close, but I think Lucky Les prevails in this one.

My upset special to start the season should be really obvious.  LET'S GO NAVY.  With Ohio State being forced to play a QB with no experience, and with the game being in Maryland, I really think Navy will show up with the confidence to win this game.  I want to clarify that I do feel bad for Braxton Miller, though.  That really sucks to be getting ready to play in your senior season only to be hurt in practice a few weeks before the season and have to wait another year to finish your college campaign.  However, I don't feel sorry for Urban Liar at all, and I hope he is completely frazzled and loses every game this season.  Let's go Midshipmen!!!

Other picks for the first week - I'll take South Carolina over Texas A&M.  Spurrier knows how to win games, and as much as I like Sumlin, I think his team will need some time to adjust to playing without Johnny Football.  I'll pick Georgia over Clemson, as much as it pains me.  Another painful one for me to pick is Miami, but I'll take them over Louisville only because the Cardinals lost a great coach in Charlie Strong.  If Strong were still there, make no mistake, I'd take Louisville in a heartbeat.  And Auburn is going to embarrass awful Arkansas.  West Virginia has absolutely no chance of beating Alabama.  Nick Saban is gonna be out to prove something this year - even more so than usual. 

We'll see if any teams really impress me this weekend.  I'm not going to make some insane final four or Heisman pick before the season, because I honestly don't know what to expect this year.  But at the end of the day, I really just have 2 words to say:

GO GATORS!