11 more weeks until the college football season begins. Summer workouts are set to be begin for players at Notre Dame as they prepare mentally and physically for fall camp.
While the Irish prepare, let us anticipate some of the top games for the 2012 season. Check the archives for previous installments.
Week seven's top games after the jump.
Iowa at Michigan State
A sneaky good game that could have big ramifications for the winner of the Legends division in the Big Ten, especially if Iowa takes a small step forward in 2012.
These teams have split the last four games since 2008 with the Spartans winning last year in Iowa City by 16 points. The last two games between the Spartans and Hawkeyes in East Lansing have been very close.
Southern Miss at UCF
These teams have represented the Conference USA East division in the league title game 5 out of the last 7 seasons, with each school winning an overall conference title the past two years.
This series has been all Southern Miss since they started playing in 2005. The Golden Eagles have a strong 6-1 record against the Black Knights and this game could very well decide the overall league champion.
Oklahoma vs. Texas (Dallas)
The Red River Shootout and the battle for the Golden Hat. This one hasn't been too kind to Texas this century with only 4 wins for the Longhorns since 2000.
This rivalry tends to be really close or a big comfortable win for one of the teams. The Sooners won last year by a whopping 38 points, but by just 8 points in 2010. Pretty decent odds that Oklahoma comes into this game undefeated as well, so there's more pressure.
Alabama at Missouri
One of the new cross-division games for the SEC this year, these teams haven't met since 1978. That day Alabama won 38-20 but lost the only other two games to Missouri before that.
This won't be an easy game for Alabama on the road but they will come in well rested after home games against Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss.
Louisville at Pittsburgh
Not many are expecting Pitt to compete for a Big East title this year but you never know what could happen with the level of competition in that league. Some expect Louisville to take the league title and in order to do so they'll probably have to win this game at Heinz Field.
This series has been one of long streaks with the Cardinals have lost the last 4 games to the Panthers, but winning the last 7 matchups before that. Pitt would also win the first four games in series history.
South Carolina at LSU
South Carolina won the first ever meeting between these schools back in 1930, but has only come away victorious over the Tigers once since then. LSU has taken the last four meetings and 16 of the last 18---with a tie in there as well.
The history woud suggest that the Gamecocks are not winning this game at Death Valley. The Tigers will have just come back from the Swamp, so they could be beat up a little bit. South Carolina hosts Georgia in a huge divisional game the week prior.
TCU at Baylor
One of the most played rivalry games in the country took a break from 1996 until 2005, but the teams have signed a pair of two-game series since then with TCU winning 3 of them. Heading into 2012 they will be back in the same conference again a year after Baylor won a wild game 50-48 in Waco.
The Bears will have faced their first big test (@ West Virginia) in the post-RG3 era the week before this game. TCU has a pretty soft schedule and likely won't have faced a team anywhere near the Top 25 prior to this rivalry game.
USC at Washington
Husky head coach Steve Sarkisian is 2-1 against USC where he was once an assistant and offensive coordinator. Washington nipped the Trojans in both 2009 and 2010 but USC came back with a 40-17 beat down last year in the Coliseum.
USC does have a pretty challenging three game stretch to deal with before this game so they might be a little beat up heading up to Seattle. However, UW might be in pieces after facing LSU, Stanford, and Oregon in the month prior to facing the Trojans.
Which games are you looking forward to?