The start of Bainbridge spring practice has got me itching for football season.

Once next Friday’s practice game against Thomasville wraps up, it’s going to be a long, long wait until the season starts.
I hate the dry season.

Not even the seemingly infinite amount of big league baseball being played can satisfy the itch.

So for now, I’ll continue hyping college football season, and all the things I want to see happen.

First and foremost, I can’t wait to see Florida State vs. Alabama play in Atlanta to kick off the season. The ‘Noles closed off the season on a high note with a very narrow win over Michigan in the Orange Bowl. Alabama is 0-1 in 2017 after losing to Clemson in the National Championship, and the Tide is angry.

This will surely be a Top 5 matchup, made so by the AP’s and TV’s desire to sell a top-ranked game so early in the season. Once the game was announced earlier this year, I asked our former reporter Brandon O’Connor (an FSU alumni) and our other reporter John Simpson (an Alabama alumni) to argue which team would win. Whoever could summon the best rhetoric that day would win me over, and they would get a point.

Alabama won 14-13. Which, coincidentally, is a pretty reasonable prediction for the score of the game.

Next, I’m curious to see what LSU will look like under Coach Ed Orgeron’s full control.

Coupled with new offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who seems to be a blast of fresh ideas for the stale Tigers, Orgeron seems to have players buying in. Recruits are flipping to LSU, and fan attitude is higher than it was under Les Miles’ final couple seasons.

Moving on, I’m interested in what both of this year’s Rose Bowl contenders will look like. I had Penn State as my dark horse College Football Playoff team, and the Trojans were the hottest team in the sport the final few weeks of the season. I like watching both these teams, and they’ll both likely start in the Top 10. Lots to lose, but even more to gain.

Finally, I hope Georgia obliterates Notre Dame into a thousand little pieces. The Dawgs play the Irish in week two. This has got to be the most exciting out of conference game they have scheduled in a decade.

A primetime TV slot and two teams desperate to make a big statement results in good football—always. Something about those Saturday night lights gets things cooking.

Rapid fire topics that I’m excited to see: Lane Kiffin coaching at FAU, Tom Herman coaching at Texas and P.J. Fleck at Minnesota.