Prediction Time.

Finally... it's time, and it couldn't have come soon enough.

The blazing hot of the summer has given way to a campus full of blazing hot co-eds in their sundresses.

Keep up the good work girls, you're doing great.

Oh yes, and did I mention that football starts this Saturday?

Yes, yes, yes flocks of beautiful women all around and a return to more moderate temperatures (praise Christ) aside, my main source of conversation for school makes its long-overdue return to stadiums all around the country.

It's been an off season marked by extreme length, the Fulmer Cup, and many changes. While some things haven't changed (ESPN still has a boner for USC, Ohio State, Florida [and this year Georgia]), there have been some tweaks in college football. We've got a new play clock and some more new tackling rules. The change most relevant for Tennessee and Auburn fans is a new direction on the offensive side of the ball.

Ask an Auburn fan, and they'll spout an oft-used line that goes something like this:

"Against Alabama, we ran 55 plays of offense and won by 3. Against against Clemson we ran 1,704 plays, and scored one billion points."

That's not much of an exaggeration... I was there.

...times 55

Auburn slugged it out with Alabama for 4 quarters and managed 17 points. Lot of running plays, lot of defense (e.g. not terribly exciting football for non-Auburn or Alabama fans). A month later against Clemson in the Peach Bowl they ran up and down the field on the "other" Tigers. The typically conservative Tommy Tuberville has threw caution to the wind (and openly mocked it) by hiring a man with a mind-numbingly expensive book: spread offense guru Tony Franklin. Auburn's days of "three yards and a cloud of dust" are over, as they field a fast, physical offense lead by talented sophomore quarterback Kodi Burns (or Chris Todd). The short pass will take the place of the short run, as Auburn's offense will go from Power-I with two backs to a Shotgun spread formation with a QB and one back with multiple receivers (The "Spread Eagle"). It should be a fast, explosive, fun-to-watch brand of football, and I for one am looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.

As for Tennessee, the wait is nearly over, and the unveiling of the Clawfense (or as it will be at football games, the "CLLLLLAAAAWWWWfense!") is near.

"Boys, if you lose this game..."

The thing is though, that anybody who watched Auburn beat Clemson or watched Troy nearly beat Georgia knows what Auburn is going to run this year (for the most part). That's why I have some idea what to write when I talk about them.

Conversely, who the hell watched Richmond football games? I can't find a single video that shows what Dave Clawson ran up there. Ergo: I have no idea what to expect when Tennessee takes its first snap against UCLA on Monday.

That's probably a good thing. Because chances are if I (lazy college student armed with a computer and the internet) know what to expect, then the UCLA coaching staff (well paid former football players and experts armed millions of dollars and every scrap of tape concerning the 2007 Richmond Spiders) probably does too.

Most of the Knoxville media have been reporting the same line over and over: "We're going to get the ball to our best players."

What a vague, cliche, commonsensical, and mildly frustrating statement. But it is beautiful in it's simplicity.

The best I can do is to take the coaching staff at their word. I suspect that we will see more multiple receiver formations, more shotgun, more spread, more G-Gun, and all around more big plays. Oh, and more Brandon Warren, big thanks and congrats to him.

10 Random Predictions for College Football 2008

Clemson will bust... again. This one's not very hard. Clemson has made a name for themselves lately as underachievers in an underachieving conference. This year will be no different. I think 2 ACC teams and 1 SEC team will trip them up.

Georgia will be good, but not great. All this Georgia love from everywhere is making me nauseous. All because of what, beating Hawaii? "The hottest team in the country last year." Georgia's gonna win a lot of games, but I predict 2-3 losses for the Dawgs - the first of which will be Arizona State early on. Also, the comparisons between Herschel Walker and Knowshown Moreno will cease (like Georgia, he's really good, but not great).

The 40 second play clock will last one more season. In the past when NFL ideas were implemented in college football, people responded pretty negatively. I say leave that junk where it belongs and give us more time to win games.

Ole Miss will surprise people. Houston Nutt is a damn good coach. Enough said.

Duke will too. Same reason.

I am going to be attacked at the Tennessee / Auburn game. I am a good Tennessee fan, loud and proud, which is great for Neyland Stadium. Place me in a orange shirt in the middle of the Auburn student section, it's hot and sticky, the liquor has been flowing for a while, and if the Clawfense starts working like Clawkwork (ho ho ho), an agitated Auburn fan will likely take his aggression out on me. My pleas of "No, please, no I actually root for you guys every other weekend!" will go unnoticed.

A traditional power will face a sleeper for the national championship. One of the current dominating teams (USC, OSU, etc...) is going to face an team no one was talking about to begin the season (see where I'm going with this?).

Lou Holtz's on-air antics will become strangely entertaining. The man is a hoot, I have to admit. With the loose dentures / lisp, the old school references, those crazy as hell pep talks, off the wall statements, and the fact that he genuinely seems to enjoy what he's doing, it's hard to dislike someone so sincerely goofy.

At the end of the season, ESPN will hire "the Daves" of Raycom. Why? Because everyone wants them to. They just lost the rights to cover SEC games, and basically got shit on by the big boys. They're a lovable lot, and now that ESPN is covering games in HD, all the negatives (cough*horridpicturequality*cough) of Raycom would be eliminated, and we'd still get to be treated to their mediocre, yet familiar and comfortable observations.

This season is going to be fairly predictable. Teams will generally win games they're supposed to win, with a healthy sprinkling of upsets every week. Pretty much, this will be a garden variety football season (which is still supremely better than any other sports season).

And now in closing...

Predictions for the 2008 Tennessee Volunteers:

A note: Pre-season predictions will remain as-is, and will be weighed against game week predictions in future blogs (just to see how clairvoyant I am).

Tennessee - 30, UCLA - 17

UAB - 14, Tennessee - 42

Florida - 27, Tennessee 20

Tennessee - 24, Auburn - 27

Northern Illinois - 3, Tennessee- 49

Tennessee - 31, Georgia - 30

Mississippi State - 17, Tennessee - 20 (OT)

Alabama - 21, Tennessee - 30

Tennessee - 27, South Carolina - 21

Wyoming - 3, Tennessee - 41

Tennessee - 31, Vanderbilt 21

Kentucky - 21, Tennessee 34


10-2, (6-2 SEC) Cotton Bowl Berth

Go Vols.