During the past few weeks, I’ve done my best to provide our readers with a thorough preview of the upcoming college football season. Everything from big games to the coaching situation in South Bend to the Bowl Championship Series has been covered.
Closer to training camp and when news regarding lineups starts to circulate, we’ll look at rankings among college programs.
Now it’s time for some fun. College football season is, in my opinion, the greatest segment of the sporting calendar. The fall outdoors, coupled with the electric atmosphere, some of the most raucous masses of humanity, great rivalries and exceptional levels of both talent and coaching set this part of the year away from any other.
Here are 20 reasons to love the coming months, from many different angles:
1. The return of a two-time national champion and Heisman winner (Tim Tebow)
2. Tailgating
3. The end of an eight-monthlong anticipation
4. The leaves changing color
5. Not-so-blistering warmth
6. ESPN’s College Gameday
7. Watching a biased analyst in Lou Holtz and a narrow-minded one in Mark May perform the verbal version of Ultimate Fighting Championship
8. Marching bands
9. Bowl Championship Series talk
10. “Rocky Top”
11. Florida vs. Georgia, the former “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”
12. The end of baseball highlights
13. Helmet stickers, as given by ESPN College Football anchors each Saturday night
14. A game for America in Army vs. Navy
15. Watching the Brett Favre drama almost be over (well, hopefully)
16. Seeing Joe Paterno still wander the Penn State sideline
17. A silenced Lane Kiffin
18. Lee Corso
19. The revelation of Florida State’s newest attempt at bypassing academic codes
20. Finding out which lower-echelon Pacific-10 team causes Pete Carroll to lament about not qualifying for the BCS National Championship this time
Here's why you should get excited
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