Is It Time Yet?

It's about damn time.

Don't get me wrong -- what Tiger Woods did at the US Open was spectacular TV. The Nadal-Federer final at Wimbledon was the best tennis match I've ever seen. The Tampa Bay Rays, as I've written several times before, are one of the best sports stories (not 'baseball' stories -- sports stories) of the last decade. And Michael Phelps is probably the most dominant Olympian we'll ever see in our lifetimes.

I get it. Blah, blah, and furthermore, blah.

Can we please play some freaking college football already?

I've been getting more "when do you guys come back?" e-mails this summer than ever before, which is a good thing. That means we've achieved traction in our college football coverage. August 25th officially kicks it off with the first episode of "Tailgate Overtime," with the entire cast returning: former UM quarterback Steve Walsh, former Florida State fullback William Floyd, and former UF wideout Chris Doering on the 'player panel,' with the media side once again represented by Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi and national sports radio host Todd Wright.

And me, playing the role of Bus Driver, every Monday night at 7pm.

I've already had a few people ask me about this -- "College Kickoff," the Friday night matchup show featuring Brady Ackerman and Terry Norvelle, will not be back in 2008. Additionally, we will no longer be producing those live one-hour postgame shows after Florida and FSU football games -- but check Gatorzone.com and Seminoles.com, both of which offer extensive streaming audio and video, including postgame press conferences.

Anyone who might be interested in the factors that led to those programming decisions can e-mail me, and I'll put you in touch with someone at Sun Sports & FSN Florida who will not only answer your question, but give you a rundown of all the college football programming that we're offering this season. That said, our goal is to pour all available resources into "Tailgate Overtime" on Monday nights, plus we offer this little carrot: five pregame shows, live and on location around the state, at some of the most intriguing games of the year. Seeing as how we used to do these shows from a studio with satellite "look-ins" at game sites, I'm thrilled to be finally taking our show on the road. Look for me, Brady, and a cast of who-knows-how-many outside the stadium one hour prior to kickoff at the following games:

Miami at Florida, Sept. 6
Florida State at Miami, Oct. 4
LSU at Florida, Oct. 11
Florida - Georgia (Jacksonville), Nov. 1
Florida at Florida State, Nov. 29

Not a bad lineup.

Aside from those five games, here's my preseason watch list for the first month of the college football season, a highly unscientific composite of games that will be worth your time in September:

FAU at Texas, August 30

Never mind the fact that UCF scared the holy crap out of the Longhorns at the Knights' opener in their new stadium last season -- FAU head coach/trailblazer/demigod Howard Schnellenberger raised the bar on this innocuous non-conference opener by opining that Texas "wasn't tough," suggesting that the mighty Borrowing Owls will simply lay multiple hats on whichever unsuspecting five-star wideout Texas rolls out there and subsequently send the 'Horns into the fetal position. Uffta.

While said comments ignited the Texas message boards, Schnelly backed off in subsequent interviews, claiming that he never really, umm, *said* that.

Doesn't matter. It's out there. And now the Owls, who claimed their first ever Sun Belt Conference title and gained an historic bowl win in 2007, are on the hook.

Sidebar: when I forwarded Howard's comments in an e-mail to Sun Sports studio producer Jamie Shapiro (Subject: What The Hell Was He Thinking???), Jamie replied, "he's a genius. This is the same coach who was laughed at in 1979 when he said that Miami was on a collision course with a national championship [a line he's also used at FAU]."

Yeah, but that was MIAMI. This is Florida Atlantic. He can't be right...can he?

USF at UCF, September 6

Everyone knows the drill by now: South Florida doesn't need this game, and doesn't want it. Too much to lose as a BCS-conference program playing a state rival from a non-BCS league, and the Bulls don't consider the Knights to be on their level anyway. The Knights are desperate to prove that they really are the team that won a school-record 10 games en route to a conference title and a bowl berth last season, not the squad that got hammered by South Florida 64-12 last October; the Bulls are desperate to prove that they really are the team that reached the #2 spot in the BCS standings last season, not the team that lost 3 in a row after a 6-0 start and went on to get smoked by Oregon 56-21 in the Sun Bowl.

I've written this before, and said it on the air: this series needs to continue. It's good for college football in Florida, even if the Bulls don't believe it's good for them.

USF at FIU, September 20

This game is interesting not so much for the potential outcome; odds are that the Golden Panthers will get hammered. The question is, by how much? Will FIU bring any home field advantage into this contest? And how does Jim Leavitt feel about playing UCF and FIU -- two non-BCS state rival programs that offer them little return -- on the road, in the same season?

Florida International went 0-11 last season before finally breaking through against North Texas, and head coach Mario Cristobal has been recruiting his guts out ever since he got the gig. FIU won't win this game, but the strides that the program is making under Cristobal -- who could motivate ice to stop melting -- will be apparent when the clock goes all-zeroes.

That's just September, mind you.

We haven't even touched on Florida's chances in the SEC, Miami's stunning youth movement (remember two names: Forston and Spence), or the fact that this could be, maybe, Bobby Bowden's final season at Florida State.

Pace yourselves, people. It's only the beginning.