The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Last year I had a chance to interview West Virginia beat writer Mike Casazza on my podcast and I really thought the name of his book summed up college football to a tee. It's called "Waiting for the Fall" and that's what we are doing right now. There are some good parts of the off-season like National Signing Day, Spring Games and the start of fall practices but we are really all just sitting and waiting for that first kick-off of the college football season. I enjoy doing the previews that lead up to the first game but let's face it, we just want the first weekend to get here. With that being said, here's what we are waiting for in week one:

{gallery}WeekOne{/gallery}

Thursday, August 29th:

North Carolina at South Carolina, 6 PM EST, ESPN

Head over to Your Best 11 and Michael Felder will tell you why this game is so important.

Ole Miss at Vanderbilt, 9:15 PM EST, ESPN

If someone put this in a list of games were were waiting for about two or three years ago they would have been laughed off the internet. But Vandy went 9-4 last year. Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe and Ole Miss has as much positive momentum right now as any team in college football. Both of these teams would like to get off to a positive start to their season.

Saturday, August 31st:

Virginia Tech at Alabama (Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game), 5:30 PM, ESPN

A mis-match on paper but stranger things have happened. What if Katherine Webb breaks up with AJ McCarron just hours before kick-off?

Clemson at Georgia, 8 PM EST, ABC

Less than 100 miles seperate these two schools and it's a shame they don't play every year. 62 games have been played in this rivalry with Georgia holding a 41-17-4 and a five game win streak but the game hasn't been played since 2003 (Mark Richt's third season). Both of these teams have National Championship dreams and a loss in week one would be a huge setback for both schools.

TCU vs LSU (Cowboys Classic), 9 PM EST, ESPN

A Big 12/SEC match-up that should be interesting when you factor in the massive losses LSU had on defense and the possible return of Casey Paschall. 

Other interesting games:

Boise State at Washington

Northwestern at Cal

Oklahoma State vs Mississippi State (in Houston, Texas)

Penn State vs Syracuse (in New Jersey)

Washington State at Auburn

In the words of noted American philosopher Tom Petty…the waiting is the hardest part

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