IT’S GAMEDAY, BOYS – WAKE THE HELL UP

Eight months of waiting. Eight months of spring games, preseason magazines, “is this the year?” optimism, and YouTube highlight reels from 2007. All of that’s over. Today, the real thing is back. College football is on your screen, in your veins, and blasting through your speakers until January.

Why It Feels Different

This isn’t just another Saturday. It’s the reset button for every fan base in America. Hope is undefeated right now. From the playoff contenders to the teams praying for six wins and a bowl trip in Shreveport, everybody’s got a reason to believe this morning.

• Marquee Kickoff in Dublin: No. 17 Kansas State vs. No. 22 Iowa State. A ranked Big 12 showdown to open the year overseas. You can smell the trap lines already.
• Sneaky Slate Stateside: Kansas vs. Fresno State in the Jayhawks’ new stadium. Stanford flying to Hawaii. FCS chaos waiting to cash an upset ticket.
• Cultural Reset: The grills are hot before 8 a.m., the beers are cracked before the first kickoff, and half the country is telling their wives and girlfriends: “See you in January.”

The Vibes Right Now

You didn’t sleep much. None of us did. The adrenaline hit the second you saw “0 days until college football” on the calendar. The coffee tastes better. The air feels different. Everything clicks when football is back.

Fans are out here with kegs and eggs, bacon on the skillet, Baileys in the coffee, and corny slogans coming out like gospel: Air: chilly. Bacon: crispy. Morning: wood. It’s dumb, it’s perfect, it’s why Saturdays matter.

What’s Coming

Today sets the tone. We’ll see botched punts, blown coverages, refs who couldn’t find consistency with GPS, and at least one coach dialing up a galaxy-brain play call that costs his team a W. And yet, that’s the magic. You can’t replicate this chaos anywhere else.

So, crack the cold one. Fire up the grill. Put three TVs on the porch if you have to. Today isn’t just a gameday, it’s the start of the season.

College football is back, boys. And it feels so damn good.