Happy Days Are Here Again

This coming weekend marks the return of college football to the sports landscape and, damn, I just feel like a giddy little boy about it. The next dozen-plus Saturdays will be filled with College GameDay, Kirk Herbstreit spouting haughty nonsense, Lee Corso spouting good-natured nonsense (like your grandpa telling a drunken story), and cheerleader crotches flying over the set.

Our Boilermakers open the season on the road against a MAC team. Solid job, athletic department! Opening with a MAC team is dumb in and of itself when everyone else is opening with complete patsies... but to do it in their building is just annoying. The official company line is that Purdue is going to Toledo to open this season in order to get them to come to West Lafayette twice -- a 2-for-1 deal. While I'm not usually arrogant enough to act like we're superior to other teams/conferences, I actually do think we are superior enough that we shouldn't have to be a MAC team's home opener, especially after that perennially good MAC team had a down season and will be looking to repeat their feat from 10 years ago in Tiller's first game at Purdue, when we went into Toledo and lost 36-22.

If you're looking for a Toledo football breakdown, check out Vandelay Sports' opinion. Interestingly, they feel there are holes in this team after a 5-7 record in 2006 and a revolving door at quarterback, but they see Purdue as a victory.

Really.

I hope some of the Boilers see this and take some pride in the idea of walking into an excited atmosphere and laying the smack down, showing some Big Ten pride. I definitely think this is a scary game for the Boilers but it's the kind of game a good team wins and we all seem to think the Boilers are poised to be a "good" team this season.

Look for some more opining from our Boiled Sports staff, specifically from our one writer who attends all Purdue home games, as the weekend draws closer.

My initial feeling is 35-31, Boilers.