[MaickiP]

My Fresno State Bulldogs have their first two-a-day practices starting next Tuesday and open the season at home against Cincinnati on Sept. 4. We would love to send Boise State packing off to the MWC next season by beating them at home and ending their BCS hopes. I think we may have a team this year that can finally win the WAC and make a run at the BCS for the first time since Boise ended our hopes in 2001 in the David Carr era or when Reggie Bush single-handedly took us down in the Colosseum in 2005. I think we would've been considered the top team in the WAC if not all of the mid-majors had Ryan Mathews stuck around for his senior season, but seeing where he got drafted and the deal he just signed, I sure can't blame him. After being snubbed by both the MWC and the Pac-10, I think we've got a pretty big chip on our shoulders this season, and a 7-game home schedule for the first time in I'm not sure how long, before 2002 at least. That should make up for our 7-game road schedule last season.

This whole season is going to be really interesting with it being the last season before all of the realignments happen next season with Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Boise all moving conferences, the Pac-10 becoming the Pac-12, the Big-12 only having 10 teams, and the Big-10 moving to 12. I think we're going to see a lot of shifting during the next off-season with a lot more teams switching conferences for the 2012 season.

This year I think I'm actually more excited about college football starting up than I am about the NFL season being right around the corner.