Oh, sh*t. Summer is almost over!  Before I even knew it, Labor Day has crept up on us and it’s time for yet another fall…which can only mean, college football!

ESPN Game Day’s Chris Fowler has a great article on the opening weekend so I won’t bore you with another one. But here are some storylines and things I am looking forward to this fall.

Can Michigan win stay respectable while rebuilding? For those not privy to the goings on in Ann Arbor, or those who have been living under a rock, The Maize and Blue went out and hired Rich Rodriguez this summer, wooing him from West Virginia.  (Where, apparently, it is a crime to switch jobs. To say that there is some animosity between Rich Rod and W. Virginia is to say that Pacman Jones is a model citizen. )

Anyway, the Wolverines suffered when Chad Henne’s heir apparent Ryan Mallet transferred to Arkansas, and Freshman phenom Tyrell Pryor chose the Buckeyes over the Wolverines. Now Rich Rod is left with some scrambling of his own, trying to implement a totally new spread system without the proper personell.  Ask most coaches and it takes about 3 recruting classes to get the type of team that a coach needs to run his system. Unfortunately Michigan fans will grow tired quickly if their beloved struggle too mightily. This may be the year to take a few shots at Michigan if you are opposing teams, because once Rich Rod gets players that can run that system, and with the recruiting muscle of the Michigan name, watch out Big Ten and the rest because they are going to be hard to beat!

Will the Big 12 produce someone other than Texas or Oklahoma as a true contender for BCS Champion? For the last several years the Big 12 has been dominated by the Sooners and the Longhorns.  Other teams have shown a few glimpses of hope but as Oklahoma showed Missouri in last years Big 12 Championship game, thrashing the Tigers 38-17, there is still a long way to go to beat the big boys. Kansas and Missouri both should field good teams this year, but will they be good enough to topple the perrenial big boys?

Will Clemson or the ACC for that matter, be significant? It seems like Clemson has been at the doorstep for a few years but has never really gone all the way through.  They are a team that usually has enough talent to beat anyone and usually comes up with a big win.  They are also a team that tends to fall into a malaise and drop one or two games they shouldn’t. With a mediocre ACC (No Miami, Florida St.) can the Tigers finally put a whole season together?

Will the Pac 10 Remerge? The Pac 10 has always been a tease. Sure there has always been USC (at least the last 5 years) but teams like Cal, Oregon and ASU have teased us early in September and October before giving way and stumbling. Sure Oregon can blame last year on the injury to Dixon, but will the Pac 10 with 3 teams in the top 25 be able to show that they are more than just a pass happy, high scoring, defensless league?

Finally, when will the bitching start about the BCS? Depending on who wins some early match ups like, USC vs OSU, or Missouri vs Illinois, the bitching might start earlier.  Why? Usually teams that lose early in the year are forgiven later in the year and can sometimes squeak into the National Championship game, *cough, cough Ohio State*.   Lately, BCS bitching is as a big a staple in College Football as the USC cheerleaders, expect it to get worse, especially if you have a few teams like South Florida, BYU, and Fresno State, that make some early noise.  As the talent gap between the BCS schools and the non BCS schools gets closer, watch for the debate to begin earlier and earlier.

{What are you looking forward to in the college football season?}