It's Almost Time!

Welcome back!

 It's been about 6 months since my last post, and I'm sure my loyal readers (all 3 of them!) have been wondering when I would be back. Football season will be here before you know it! Do you know how I can tell? The preseason magazines have begun to hit the shelves (and my mailbox)!

The various conferences will be holding their media days next month, and then the teams will be holding their preseason camps, with the first games being played on August 27, the stupidly named Week Zero. 

But I haven't just been sitting around doing nothing for the last few months. Oh, no! I've just completed my preseason Power Rankings, and so will now begin writing my previews of all 131 teams and the 10 conferences, which will take me up until the first games. I will publish my previews according to the following schedule:

7/18    Part I        Teams 131-121

7/19    Part II       Teams 120-111

7/20    Part III      Teams 110-101

7/21    Part IV      Teams 100-91

7/22    Part V        Teams 90-81

7/25    Part VI      Teams 80-71

7/26    Part VII     Teams 70-61

7/27    Part VIII    Teams 60-51

7/28    Part IX       Teams 50-41

7/29    Part X        Teams 40-31

8/1    Part XI        Teams 30-21

8/2    Part XII       Teams 20-16

8/3    Part XIII      Teams 15-11

8/4    Part XIV     Teams 10-6

8/5    Part XV       Teams 5-1

8/8    Part XVI          MAC

8/9    Part XVII        CUSA

8/10   Part XVIII     SBC

8/11   Part XIX        MWC

8/12   Part XX        AAC/Independents

8/15   Part XXI       PAC 12

8/16   Part XXII      Big 12

8/17   Part XXIII    Big Ten

8/18   Part XIV       ACC

8/19   Part XXV      SEC

The following week, I will begin my normal game week schedule, which I will explain on Monday, 8/22.

Now, I'll finish off this short preview blog by saying that I won't be back until the 1st preview appears on July 18th. But I want to give you just a little background about who I am, and why I do this.

First of all, this is not my full time job, like a sportswriter or a magazine publisher. I have a day job, so while I strive to get my blogs out each morning they are due, sometimes that's just not possible, so I hope you will forgive me if I don't post until later that day or in the evening. Or even a day late. I will always announce when I publish on Twitter (@pbanderson) and Facebook, or you could just follow this blog (or bookmark this page) so you don't miss any. I do my own research, because I don't have a staff. All of the information/stats I present I find on the web, in a magazine, or produce (figure out) on my own. For example, in the individual team previews, I give you the stats and placements for each team's offense and defense; this comes from Athlon's preview magazine, but I could just as easily get that info from the NCAA website (I prefer how Athlon presents it). However, I also give you how each team has done over the last 3, 6 and 10 years, and where that places them in relation to all the other teams in FBS. That's my own research and computations, but I find that info interesting, and so I include it.

In addition, I don't have any proofreaders or editors to catch any typos or mistakes, so you may find a period where a comma should be (or vice versa), or a misusage of a word (too instead of to, for example), or any other type of mistakes commonly made while typing. While I do reread everything I post, I don't always catch everything, so please forgive me and my fat fingers. You are perfectly welcome to call me out and make fun of me, just make sure you aren't cruel about it...

Finally, I am a college football fan, and have been since the early 1970s. My 1st "favorite" team was the Auburn Tigers (with Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley!), but that was probably because my older brother, Phillip, liked them, but I soon moved on to liking whatever team was opposite of his favorites, as brothers tend to do (more on that in a moment). My next favorite team was the Tennessee Volunteers, but that was because we had lived in Tennessee from when I was 8 months until I was 5, but that only lasted for a year or 2. 

Growing up in Columbus, Georgia, I was blessed with a paper that covered Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, and Georgia Tech equally, and they used to publish SEC stats every week (GT was an Independent then), which I would devour religiously. I could also pick up the radio broadcasts of each of those teams every Saturday, and listening to Larry Munson pulled me into being a Georgia Bulldog fan (I eventually received all 3 of my degrees from UGA). But I would listen to any football game growing up- I distinctly remember hearing an Iowa-USC game in between static late one Saturday night. I would also watch whatever game ABC chose to show on Saturday, and loved when it was a double-header! And I remember listening to Leonard's Losers, and getting the Peek Size Football Guide before every season.

As I grew older, my brothers and I started predicting the games, and we have been doing it ever since- with a few years off for college, having kids, etc.- and we have now been joined by my brother-in-law and my son and my niece! As I mentioned above, my brother Phillip and I often took sides in the great rivalries. He liked USC, so I liked UCLA and Notre Dame; he liked Texas and Nebraska, so I liked Oklahoma; he liked Auburn, so I tolerated Alabama (for that 1 game, anyway); he liked Michigan, so I went with Ohio State. And so on. Since then, my "loyalties" have changed a lot, and much depends on my perception of the coach/program. For example, I have never rooted for USC, but I thought Clay Helton was a good and decent man, so I wanted him to do well. I've never been a fan of Michigan State, but hope Mel Tucker succeeds. So you see, my "loyalties" may shift. However, when I write my blog, or do my predictions, I try not to let my biases show. Though I will always be unabashedly a DAWG fan, that doesn't mean that I will always predict them to win, or manipulate my numbers to make sure they're number one in my Power Rankings. I try to be as honest about their failures and successes as I am with every other team.

Anyway, I hope that you'll join me this season! As always, feel free to leave a comment, and follow me on Twitter: @pbanderson

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!