7 Days 'Til College Football

The NCAA Division I Football season officially begins one week from today! Sure, August 31 is a Thursday, but like the scummy, malarial pond at the oasis after crawling through thousands of miles of barren Saharan sands, I won't split hairs when it comes to finally quenching the unquenchable thirst. I will drink, and drink deeply.

This year, it's the Middle-American Conference filling my cup in style and taking on all comers in a MAC vs. the World extravaganza that pits more than half the conference against representatives of the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12.

Behold:

Boston College at Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan at Ball State
Temple at Buffalo
Minnesota at Kent State
Northwestern at Miami (of Ohio)
Toledo at Iowa State

Presumably the MAC sold out en masse (worse than ever the WAC does) to get some of that precious off-peak television coverage that has been the clever domain of Mid-Major teams capitulating to Disney to grab some national attention in recent years. So too bad the only nationally syndicated of the above will be BC at CMU, airing on ESPN2.

Admittedly, Northwestern at Miami (of Ohio), is a more interesting matchup than the BC/CMU game and will be airing on ESPNU. But the fact is still that you'll have to pay premium prices for your beer to watch this on TV. And probably there will be some regional broadcasts, but outside of small-market Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, we're talking a minimum of airtime so in the end, dang, talk about a backfire for the MAC.

Otherwise that day we've got a host of these exciting 'I didn't know they were D-I' matchups:

Rhode Island at Connecticut
Stephen F. Austin at Tulsa
UTEP at San Diego State
FIU at MTSU (that's Florida International at Middle-Tennessee State University, thank you)

The Pac-10 will be picking on the I-AA's Big Sky Conference:

Northern Arizona at Arizona State
Eastern Washington at Oregon State

And finally, the lone BCS Matchup of the entire day, the worst SEC team outside of Nashville, Tennessee plays Stever Spurrier's ego:

South Carolina at Mississippi State

Predictably, this is ESPN's choice for the evening's broadcast.

But I'm not complaining. I'll be grinning like this guy with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other, because in one week from now it's College Football.