Nearly eight months after Cam Newton hoisted the BCS National Championship Trophy, college football is finally back into our lives and entrenched into our Saturday afternoon plans.
Some things have changed since then (Ohio State's Jim Tressel out at, Luke Fickell in) while others seem to stay entrenched forever (84 year-old Joe Paterno has given new hope to prospective head coaches in nursing homes everywhere).
Anyway, the first weekend has two especially attractive games previewed here (rankings as of AP preseason rankings):
No. 3 Oregon vs No. 4 LSU
Saturday 8 EST—The fast-paced Ducks' offense will face a good litmus test against the Tigers on, literally, football's biggest stage (Cowboys Stadium)
Chip Kelly's crew returns QB Derron Thomas (2,881 yards, 30TDs/9ints) and RB LaMichael James (1,731 yards, 24TDs) among others but will have their hands full against an LSU defense that is traditionally stout.
Preseason 1st-team All SEC safety Morris Claiborne (37 tackles, 5 ints) headlines Les Miles' seventh crew in Baton Rouge and somehow, despite all their questionable end-of-game clock management mishaps they've been able to pull out a few last-second miracles on their home turf.
Not this time though. Chip Kelly's squad is surely sick of hearing about SEC dominance after losing the title game by three points to Auburn.
Prediction: Oregon 27, LSU 24.
No. 5 Boise St. vs No. 19 Georgia
Saturday 8 EST—What Chris Peterson has done (61-5) in taking the small program from Idaho into a perennial title contender is nothing short of miraculous. They've not only dominated their mid-major conference (moving from the WAC to the Mountain West this year), but have famously beat some heavyweights along the way (OU, Oregon, TCU, Utah, and Virginia Tech.)
This year they return Heisman-hopeful QB Kellen Moore (3,845 yards, 35TDs/6ints) who finished in the top 10 in voting for college football's most prestigious award the past two seasons. Meanwhile, Mark Richt's program is coming off their worst season (6-7) since predecessor Jim Donnan's inaugural campaign back in 1996.
Star wideout A.J. Green is gone, but Georgia keeps bringing in the nation's top recruits (Rivals gave their 2011 a top-10 ranking for the fourth time in five classes) to re-load with, though their mediocre 14-12 record the past two years seems to suggest otherwise.
Sophomore QB Aaron Murray returns after a solid rookie season (3,049 yard, 24TDs/8ints) along with fellow preseason 1st-team All SEC picks OL Cordy Glenn and TE Orson Charles. Look for Georgia to be much improved for last year, but not quite up to upsetting the Broncos in Atlanta.
Prediction: Boise St. 31, Georgia 21.
