26 days….less than four weeks and then college football starts the 2012 season.  College football is far and away my favorite sport. I love the early season heavyweight matchups, I love rivalry games, I love bowl week, I love the sense of community at tailgates across the country, I love it all.  Personally, I can’t wait

This season brings lots of questions regarding several of our “local” teams and I’m very curious to see them answered.  Texas A&M has another new coach and is moving to a new conference.  Will last season’s struggles follow them to the SEC or will Kevin Sumlin and a ton of new starters be able to right the ship?  Baylor is coming off the best season in their long history, will the departure of Heisman winning RG3 bring them back to the middle of the pack in the Big XII or will head coach Art Briles keep them humming along?  Mack Brown has put together another stellar recruiting class but will UT get enough from the quarterback position to return them to the college football elite?  Or will that stout defense and, perhaps, the best stable of running backs be wasted this year?  Speaking of UT quarterbacks…former 5 star recruit and longhorn qb Garrett Gilbert is enrolled at SMU.  Will the promise he showed during the national championship game return under coach June Jones?  Or will he be prone to turnovers, like he was at the University of Texas?  And can June Jones get SMU to a 4th straight bowl game?  Across the metroplex, TCU will finally get the chance to see what they can do week in and week out against BCS conference teams.  Will the frogs continue their winning ways?  Or will they be exposed as a team that can dominate the inferior Mountain West Conference, but not play with the Big XII teams?

Across the country, one has to wonder will the SEC add to their six consecutive national titles?  Will USC and Oregon bring national championship contenders back tot he PAC 12?  How will Mike Leach fare at Washington State?  How will Penn State fare in general?  Is Michigan back?  Is Urban Meyer the right coach at Ohio State?  Will Notre Dame regain its relevance on a national level? Does the Big East matter anymore?  Did the ACC drop football entirely and decided to focus solely on basketball (I kid, I kid)?

All of these answers will eventually be answered to some degree or another.  All I know is that I can’t wait.

Only 26 days…