Footbaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll!

Well, it's now officially college football season! (You can tell because Baylor already has a losing record.)

That means it's time for Coach Sherman: Year One!

I am trying not to get my hopes up too far about The Shermanator, especially for his first year. Some people (and by "some people," I mean "idiots on TexAgs") think that anything less than nine wins is unacceptable, or than ten wins shouldn't be a problem. Ten wins?!? The Ags haven't gotten double-digit wins since 1998. Come on, people! First year coach! Ease up on the expectations.

Ergo, I am setting my expectation bar here: six wins. Just six, just get bowl eligible. (We would go to a lame bowl at six wins--I don't think we'd get passed over because Aggies travel well--but the name will never be lamer than the GalleryFurniture.Com Bowl, and at least we won that one.) I think, given this year's relatively forgiving schedule, that we could do better than that, but I refuse to be up in arms if we are not.

The exception, of course, is if in racking up six losses, we look horrible. Despite the saying "a win is a win," I am going to be very disappointed if our wins come from being just-barely-less-horrible than the other team, or if our losses are by monumental margins. Because I am just too familiar with that, thanks to our previous coach.

That's why it's oddly fitting that the Aggies' season opener is against Arkansas State, the same cupcake the "Coach Fran Era" began with. Back in 2003, it was a fairly unimpressive outing. I am anxious to see (well, hear--it's not like this baby is going to be on network TV) if the ShermAggies can do better than a field-goal-heavy 15-point not-really-a-beatdown of Ark State.

After tomorrow's game, it's on to New Mexico at New Mexico and Miami at Kyle (I predict that we may lose one of those two, but as long as it's not flat out embarrassing like last year's Miami at Miami [when Miami turned out to be awful against opponents that we . . . anyone other than us], I think I'll be OK with it), and then Army at Kyle (which, if we lose it or have to win it with "a last-second goal-line stand" AGAIN, will make me very unhappy). So, I'm thinking 3-1 or 4-0 for what I keep trying to remember not to call "preseason." Depending on those performances, we'll see what may be possible in the Big XII.

One note about that Big XII schedule now, though--many football analysts have us losing to Iowa State at Iowa State. Um . . . no? They're . . . the Baylor of the North? You guys are . . . high? But I guess I'll have to eat my words if and only if we are much, much worse than we ought to be.

Special bonus time! Here are three non-Aggie football stories I'll be following:

1) How good is Kansas?

I never totally felt like I knew the answer to this last year. Basically, they had two tough games--Missouri and Virginia Tech--which they split. However, this year they have a real non-conference game (South Florida) instead of all cupcakes, all the time (Mangino's motto! [I'm sorry; Mark Mangino fat jokes are one of those things that you think will get old, but they never do]). They also trade the easiest-possible slate of South games they had last year (Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and Baylor) for the tougher counterparts to each of those teams (Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech). It will be amazing if they do as well this year as they did last year, but even if they drop two of their games against the South + Missouri, I'll be more convinced that they're legit than last year.

2) Can Texas Tech live up to the hype?

Man, sportswriters are going crazy over Tech this summer. I've seen BCS bowl predictions, and at least one national championship prediction. O . . . K? I mean, I do think Tech will have the best team they've had in recent memory. That being said, they're still in the Big XII South. They have to get past Texas (which they may be able to do this year, sure) and Oklahoma--and I can't think that really, even if I try to put aside my semi-irrational hatred for Texas Tech, that that's really going to happen, last year's head-to-head matchup aside. (Maybe if Bradford gets all concussed again?) Plus, Tech has that pesky tendency to drop games to terrible teams. So my guess on the original question is . . . no, not really.

3) So . . . how about those Badgers?

I do live in Madison, WI, and attend the University of Wisconsin, so I feel like I ought to care about this. And I guess I do. After all, the Badgers are predicted to be the second best team in the Big Televen and are figured to have the best shot in the conference of taking down Ohio State. And yet . . . it's the Big Ten. They play boring, boring football here, that's all I'm saying. Maybe someday the 'sband and I will move back to Big XII or even SEC country. One can hope.