With the majority of spring practices ending and collegiate football fans everywhere trying to make way too much out of limited sample sizes - seriously, we can tell how good or bad Jimmy Clausen is going to be from seven passing attempts? - it is time to turn our attention to actual games.  I tried to put together thirty of the best, most intriguing contests of the upcoming season to whet your appetite and to remind you we're really only four short months away from the return of pigskin.  This is the first half of the season, heavy on non-conference tilts and filtering into the beginning of league play, so take your stabs at what will be the ABC Saturday Night game or where Gameday will be.

1) September 1st, Wake Forest at Boston College: Wake Forest's surprise ACC Championship came in what I think we can all agree was a down year for the pirating Atlantic Coast Conference, but they return enough weapons this year - including nine starters on defense and "Name Sounds Like an Action Movie Hero" preseason first-team quarterback Riley Skinner - that they should be able to make a run.  The Demon Deacons also have the advantage of returning all the players they lost to injury last season, which if memory serves me correctly, was a lot.  On the other side of Chestnut Hill is a team also bringing back a bunch of familiar faces, as the Golden Eagles return most of their squad from last year, including quarterback Matt Ryan.  I'm not sure if I like conference games being in Week One, but the ACC sure does, so we might as well enjoy the Atlantic Division foes trying to get an early lead on one another.

2) September 1st, Rocky Top at California: California's SMQ-endorsed national championship bid went down in spectacular orange-and-white flames in Neyland Stadium to start the season, as we watched at some random Tennessee fan's tailgate in Atlanta (Why he was tailgating at Notre Dame/Georgia Tech while decked out in Volunteer gear was beyond me) while Jeff Tedford's defense tried the Notre Dame approach to coverage: don't do it.  Not surprisingly, it didn't work well, and now the Golden Bears get the chance to return the favor as Erik Ainge travels to the Land of Sandy Cohen without stud wideouts Robert Meachem or Jayson Swain.  Tedford has to hope his "Great in College, Terrible in Pros" quarterback voodoo works on Nate Longshore, who only has one experienced stud tailback to work with in Justin Forsett after Marshawn Lynch jumped ship to this weekend's draft.  This is also your first chance of the season for the DeSean Jackson Experience, so at least catch the highlights.

3) September 1st, Kansas State at Auburn: I watched Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman in the Texas upset and couldn't think of enough accolades to praise him with.  He was big, mobile, could make throws, had a swagger and I was sure he was going on to a great conclusion to the Wildcats' season.  As it turns out, in the Texas game and Colorado contest preceding it, Freeman threw five touchdowns; he threw six the entire season.  While he closed the season going 33 for 65 with zero touchdowns and five picks, he can get coached up, right?  Not sure what to expect from Auburn, considering when they have national title expectations thrust on them (2003, basically 2006) they struggle a bit, while when expectations are down, they flourish (2004, sort of 2005).  This season, coming off a nice Cotton Bowl win, Brandon Cox returns with a sick defensive line and no Kenny Irons, but considering how ineffective Irons was most of the season and how well his replacement, Brad Lester, played, Tommy Tubberville's crew should be competitive again.  Will be worth watching to see Quentin Groves and Tray Blackmon chase Freeman around the Alabama plains.

4) September 3rd, Florida State at Clemson (Monday Night): ACC and ABC combine to slap the Hurricanes right in the mouth, taking away their primetime, "detrimental to the sport of football because it's played so hideously" opener against Florida State and replacing them with the Bowden Bowl.  I wish someone could explain to me how Clemson went from running roughshod over Georgia Tech and looking like some revelation of how to play offense to losing to Kentucky in their bowl game, but they did, and now the younger Bowden must patch something together offensively to go against a Florida State defense that does not rebuild, but simply reloads.  Also, don't forget "All of The Seminole Athleticism + Experienced Drew Weatherford + Jimbo Fisher = An Offense That Almost Has To Be Better Than Last Season"...right?

5) September 8th, Miami (FL) at Oklahoma: Despite the fact if this game happened in the 2000-2003 range you would have taken it out to dinner, splurged for that extra appletini and done everything in your power to go home with it, it should still be a good-to-great non-conference clash and I applaud the Sooners and Hurricanes for inking the contract.  In Coral Gables, new coach Randy Shannon should hopefully bring some discipline to a team that should be in nearly the same boat as Florida State - great defense, no offensive line, highly-touted white QB who's been nothing but inconsistent his entire career - only without adding Fisher to the mix.  I didn't understand last season's fascination with Oklahoma even before Rhett Bomar gots paid and Adrian Peterson went down, and I'll maintain that position this season despite loads of talent (maybe I should just say starters?) coming back on offense and in the pilfering defensive secondary.  Color me skeptical, although this game should be a great test for both teams.

(I'd also like to thank the Canes and Sooners for scheduling this on the same day as Notre Dame at Penn State, as I'd imagine the Powers That Be at ABC will opt for this sexy non-conference game as opposed to putting the Irish at night in Beaver Stadium.  Granted, all their student section does is chant curses and jump up and down to "Zombie Nation", but considering our options at quarterbacks, the less lathered up the fanbase gets tailgating the better.)  

6) September 8th, Virginia Tech at LSU: Considered putting Virginia Tech's first game of the season - what will surely be a heavy-hearted opener in Blacksburg against East Carolina - here for obvious reasons, but instead we'll go with their trip down to Baton Rouge.  The Hokies return their usually stout defense along with a talented fleet of wide receivers, although Sean Glennon needs to improve from his 2006 campaign, which ended in a three-interception loss to Georgia in the Peach Bowl, to make any use of them.  Beamer Ball gets a chance to do their damage against a new Tiger quarterback, most likely either Matt Flynn or Ryan Perrilloux, while both teams try to avoid the distraction of the Golden Girls.

7) September 15th: Southern Cal at Nebraska: How long have Husker fans been counting down to this game?  Since Callahan took over?  Years?  If you'll remember, in the 2006 version of this game that came at you live from the Coliseum, Nebraska decided to take their primetime forum to declare to the nation that "In the face of a seemingly superior team, instead of going for it, we're going to run into the line three times and hope we cover the spread".  With Arizona State transfer Sam Keller handling the passing side of the offense (his "CHUCK IT DEEP" skills going along nicely with Callahan's short-passing game), a corps of running backs coming back behind an experienced offensive line and the Sea of Red, Nebraska might pose a challenge to Southern Cal's World Tour of Defensive Domination.

8) September 15th, Ohio State at Washington: In Ty's third season at Notre Dame, he perfected the art of knocking off teams he shouldn't while losing games he certainly should have been winning.  This could quite possibly be one of those games in his third with UW, as the Buckeyes fly across the country without the names Smith, Ginn, Gonzalez or Pittman to help them out, leaving sophomore Chris Wells and whoever gets plugged in at quarterback to face the Huskies.  Ohio State loses all of their big names on offense and their experienced defensive line, leaving the overrated James Laurinaitis to continue the Tressel tradition of solid defense.  While Washington is throwing freshman quarterback Jack Locker out to the wolves, it remains to be seen just how vicious those scarlet and grey wolves will be after what happened in Glendale back in January.

9) September 15th, UCLA at Utah: Doesn't this just seem like a game Karl Dorrell will lose?  Coming off what should be a quality win over BYU, the Bruins travel to Salt Lake City, where they come out flat and a healthy Brian Johnson executes the spread to perfection.  Southpaw Jesus Ben Olson struggles, so Dorrell panics, plugging in Patrick Cowan and starting a season-long, wishy-washy battle under center.  UCLA dispatched the Utes with little difficulty last season, but I think the rematch could be a lot more interesting.

10) September 20th, Texas A&M at Miami (FL) (Thursday Night): After jumping from the Big East to the ACC, are the Hurricanes eyeing a move to the Big 12 South?  "Miami on Thursday Night" has turned in some classics the last few years (West Virginia, Louisville), and this one should follow suit, as the highly-hyped (but incredibly one dimensional) Aggies travel to the Orange Bowl for a primetime showdown.  We've already touched on the good (talent) and bad (offensive line, execution, not sucking) of the Canes, but let's not forget what an experienced Texas A&M team has going for it: Stephen McGee is comfortable in the option, All-Name and All-Girth first teamer Javorskie Lane will punish Shannon's defense alongside speedster Mike Goodson and a very experienced front seven (six seniors) leads a defense which returns eight starters.  As long as Miami continues their regression to normal Cane standards and the Aggies don't return to typical A&M results, this should be a great start to the weekend.  

11) September 22nd, Penn State at Michigan: A lot of conferences had down years last season, but the Big Televen could claim superiority over the others for most of the season due to the much-ballyhooed tandem of Ohio State and Michigan.  Sadly, you have to play bowl games, and while Penn State and Wisconsin did well against SEC footbaw on New Year's Day, Kirk Herbstreit's dream national championship participants were embarrassed by the Trojans and Gators.  Fast forward to the 2007 season and you're predicting a league that's trying to bounce back after losing Drew Stanton, John Stocco, Troy Smith and Drew Tate to graduation.  

The two teams I would favor in the league, simply due to their advantage in quarterback experience, would be Penn State and Michigan.  After The New Math provided the lone blemish of the Nittany Lion's 2005 season, Penn State couldn't return the favor last October, losing two of their quarterbacks to injury as the Wolverines suffocated them in State College.  The scene changes back to Ann Arbor in a September game that could help propel one team to the 2007 Big Ten championship.  While Anthony Morelli played well in the Outback Bowl, my sources tell me he was the worst quarterback in Saturday's Blue-White game.  While that shouldn't bother Penn State fans too much - hey, at least he didn't break into anyone's apartment and beat them up - his numbers on the road last year against Notre Dame, Ohio State and Wisconsin should provide some worry: 56 for 91, 462 yards, 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions.  Henne, Hart and Manningham might have their way with a different Penn State defense than they've faced the last few years.

12) September 29th, West Virginia at South Florida: I'm putting West Virginia at South Florida on the list instead of West Virginia at Rutgers for one main reason: Tampa is where seasons go to die.  For whatever reason, the Bulls wreck havoc at home, and they're returning both lines and stud quarterback Matt Grothe, your Big East Freshman of the Year.  South Florida beat Pat White and Steve Slaton's crew (although the backfield stars were banged up) in Morgantown last season, so there's no reason to think they won't be able to derail Rich Rodriguez's national title hopes in 2007.

13) October 6th, Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas: Mmm...excuse me...I'm just finishing up these delicious cupcakes Pete from BON sent me.  Apparently, even after putting together their 2007 schedule, Texas still had enough delicious pastries to send over to the Rakes office for Rob and I.  Before playing Oklahoma at the State Fair, the Longhorns take on Arkansas State, TCU, Central Florida, Rice and Kansas State, which means we'll be privy to loads of "Colt McCoy For Heisman", "Limas Sweed is Roy Williams!", "Texas is making the title game!" and "Mack Brown is a genius!" talk before Bob Stoops tries to end the recent mini-run of UT victories.  The schedule gets a little tougher for Texas after this game - I stress the little part - but this is most definitely their first real test of 2007.  

14) October 6th, Florida at LSU: We've made it a month into the season without mentioning the defending champs, and that's only because I made the rash decision not to include their annual classic with Rocky Top - stupid, I know - but they're making the leap onto the list with a huge splash: Death Valley versus LSU.  If Tim Tebow hasn't sharpened his teeth as the consistent custodian of Urban Meyer's offense by now, he's in big trouble, as the Gators lost some of their biggest playmakers on both sides of the ball (Jarvis Moss, Reggie Nelson, Dallas Baker).  Meyer's recruited (see: stole) enough young talent to rebuild quickly and try to keep pace with Billy Donovan, but it remains to be seen how well those eighteen and nineteen year-olds function with "Hold That Tiger" blaring.  

15) October 6th, Iowa at Penn State: This seems like a curious game to end the first half of our list with, but try to follow my logic.  Sort of like Auburn, Iowa is perfectly fine at trudging along to double-digit win seasons under the radar, terrorizing the Big Ten and then making a New Year's Day bowl game.  Last year, led by senior quarterback Drew Tate, there was a lot of hype for a Hawkeyes team that ended up being absolutely terrible.  This year they return a reasonable fifteen starters, but Kirk Ferentz was pissed before, during and after the Alamo Bowl about the quality of play, so I imagine the practices are going to be extra crispy.  

Before rolling into State College, the Hawkeyes play at Iowa State and at Wisconsin, so let's say they manage to scrape into Nittany Lion country with one or no losses.  Their schedule after the Penn State game?  Illinois, at Purdue, Michigan State, at Northwestern, Minnesota and Western Michigan.  That's right, folks, Ferentz and his boys are recipients of the "Avoid Ohio State and Michigan" privilege that leads to excessive hype for some teams (Purdue, circa 2005, which lost five straight in the middle of the season after the Irish punked them in West Lafayette) and helps others gain powerful "Complaining About The BCS Abilities" (Wisconsin last season, although they only missed Ohio State, but in the Big Ten last year, that was more than enough).  Morelli, his stash of weed, a great fleet of receivers and whoever they put in at tailback (11th-year senior Austin Scott?) could be the only thing defending the BCS from its Iowa City overlords.

The heart of conference play?  Interstate showdowns?  The march to the championship?  The second set of games coming tomorrow.