IT'S HERE!!!!! Finally, after 230 days of waiting, we are down to our last four!!! The season opens up Thursday on Boise's Smurf turf, as they host Oregon. Then, just two days later, we get the rest of the Pac, as well as a host of high profile games around the country that'll make your head turn.

How's this for games on the first weekend of College football...

Bringham Young, with their senior-loaded team heads to Dallas, Texas for a date with Oklahoma.

Nick Saban's kids travel to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech, in a 5 vs 7 match up, that is likely to end the national championship hopes for one of the teams right out of the shoot. Finally, Georgia takes on Oklahoma State in a match up of top 15 teams.

Of course, those games are all fine and dandy, but what about the Pac 10? Shame on much of the Pac 10 for being wussies and scheduling the Idaho state's of the world to start the season... note to Arizona State... GROW A PAIR! Seriously, There is only two games worthy of being this weeks game of the week, and despite my personal loyalties, the game of this week has to be the first game of the season.

Oregon (16) at Boise State (14).

This game has all of the drama and interest of a late season game with high level bowl games at stake. Aside from the fact that you have the Nations strangest uniforms playing on the nations strangest field, you have a lot of great story lines to boot.

On one side of the ball, you have Chip Kelly, the mastermind of one of the most productive and unique offenses in the nation, who is now Oregon's head coach. Will he pick up where Belotti left off, or will he go the way of the majority of rookie head coaches who take over successful programs (which isn't very well, historically)?

Kelly will certainly have a lot to work with in his first season at the helm, at least on the defensive side of the ball. For starters, he's got the most accomplish quarterback in the conference returning. Jeremiah Masoli returns with his variation of the spread offense, and appears to be ready to make a big impact against opposing teams has he now has the ability, the maturity, and the options to do very well. Unfortunately, after losing several of his best options from a season ago, Masoli will need to carry more of the offense than ever. Will he be up to the challenge?

With Oregon theoretically losing some punch on offense, I believe they will be led by their defense, which should be rather loaded this year.

Boise State, on the other hand, has a sophomore super stud quarterback, Kellen Moore. Moore is coming off of an unbelievable freshman campaign where he amassed nearly 3500 yards passing, 25 touchdowns, against 10 picks, and a completion percentage of nearly 70%. Can it get better? In a word... Yes. Moore not only has two of his top receivers back, Coach Chris Peterson has recruited several Wide outs that are likely to make an impact this season. To add, Running back Jeremy Avery has 1000 yard rusher written all over him. The loss of Ian Johnson appears to have help Peterson's squad ad Avery will not need to share carries as much.

So the questions remain... Strength on strength (in my opinion)... Oregon's defense versus Boise State's offense. Who wins that battle? Maybe a more important question is whether or not Oregon will miss a beat on offense. If they do, who wins that battle... Boise's defense or Oregon's offense.

I have seen varying opinions all over the board, but for me? Sorry Duck fans, I've gotta go with the curse of the Smurf Turf.

(16) Oregon............28
(14) Boise State.....34

Have fun this week and be safe.

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