Hitting The Links: One Week More

(Note: It is recommended that you listen to this while reading. Also, there are games on Thursday of course, but for the purposes of this first part, we are going to say we are a week away from college football.)

"One week more!

Another year, another destiny.

This ne'er-ending road to Glendale, AZ.

These men who claim to know who's good

Would take their polls back if they could.

One week more!"

"They do not play until next week.

How can fans live 'til the season's started?"

"One week more."

"Next week the Horns go states away

McConnaughey's Lincoln has just departed!"

One more week baseball alone.

"Will this season ever start?"

One more week of dinging homers.

"Want to see a touchdown or two."

What a life I might have known.

"Kickers have to follow through!"

But there's football on the air!

"One more week before the storm!"

"Do we get the PAC-12 network?"

"At the barricades of football!"

"Can I stay awake past nine?"

"Committee rankings start to form."

"Drink some coffee or crush a brewdog?"

"Can Auburn win the SEC?"

"The time's next week, the day soon here!"

"One week more!"

"One week more to revolution,

We will keep them all in line!

We'll be ready for these schoolboys,

Dirty locker? That's a fine!"

"One week more!"

"Drop balls you should catch

Watch the top 25 fall,

They'll all meet their match

In football's free for all.

Conference champs go bust,

Underdogs will score,

Most of these teams won't

Make it to the final four!"

"One week to a new beginning"

"Raise the tailgating flag high!"

"Every team could be a king."

"Every team could be a king!"

"There's a new season for the winning."

"There's a trophy to be won!"

"Do you hear the people sing?"

"My place is here. I'll watch with you!"

"One week more!"

"Teams do not play until next week."

One more week baseball alone.

"How can we live 'til it's started?"

"We will call these players heroes.

We will follow where they go.

Make sure they have laptop chargers.

If they don't, we'll take their dough."

"One week more!"

"Next week - offseason worlds away!"

What a life I might have known!

"And yes next week the games have started!"

"One week more to revolution,

We will keep them all in line!

We'll be ready for these schoolboys

Messy dorm, yeah, that's a fine!"

"Drop balls you should catch.

Watch the champions fall.

They'll all meet their match

In football's free for all!"

"Next week offseason's far away.

Next week the teams will get to play!

Next week we'll discover

What our 2015 has in store!

A few more dawns.

One more week,

One week more!"

NATIONAL LINKS

Hopefully you are having a relaxing Saturday that you can use to dive into SBNation's big, beautiful college football preview. Yeah, I called a website beautiful and I am chill with that.

Matt Hinton uses the past ten years of college football champions to see what might be in store this year. First consideration for contenders - they have to be a college football team. You can never overlook the basics.

Upcoming opponent Texas has had some trouble solidifying the quarterback spot in recent years. Max Olson looks into the state of the position. I thought Vince Howard was going to solve all the Longhorns' problems, but then someone informed me that Vince Howard is a fictional character.

Under Armour has some big ideas for the University of Maryland. Could using actual turtle shells be one idea? Read the article and find out.

At Campus Rush (like The MMQB but for college football), Andy Staples writes about Laquon Treadwell's path back from the injury that ended his last season.

Tim Beckman has been fired a week before Illinois started its season for allegedly mistreating injured players. Brian Hamilton looks at what happened and what is next for Illinois.

Here is the story of Auburn's public administration major. Did the athletic department step in to save the major when the university wanted to cut it? The Wall Street Journal found some documents, and it seems that might be the case.

Bill Connelly hypothesizes what might have happened if the BCS era had a playoff. In 2012, Connelly thinks Notre Dame would have rematched against Stanford. That would be quite the game, but I still would have liked to see that Irish team against Kansas State in what I would dub the "Hey, These Teams Did Have Nice Seasons!" Bowl.

Jaylon Smith is great, but here's a profile of another linebacker who is also good. SI checks in with Arizona's Scooby Wright III.

Someone is impersonating South Carolina quarterback Connor Mitch. I bet it is Stephen Garcia trying to teach him an important life lesson.

USC has banned alcohol from their locker room in the wake of head coach Steve Sarkisian's comments at a football event. There won't be any champagne showers in the locker room once the Trojans clinch the NL West, that's for sure.

ICYMI ON OFD

We share our predictions for the 2015 football season. Here's another prediction - The Force Awakens is going to be a hit for both Lucasfilm and Disney.

Speaking of predictions, please join us in predicting games each week. What I mean is, did you sign up for the The Big E College Football Picks pool? Space is limited, so if you like competition and football, we have the pool for you. If you like having a giant tub that circulates water so you can swim in place, perhaps the pool for you is an endless pool. If you like swimming on a cliff, the pool for you is an infinity pool. Word to the wise as well - if you are researching pools and looking for images of pools, don't do it at work with your boss around. The search engine image results are, let us say, varied.

This week in big boards - Offense! Defense!

Here is the conclusion of a look back at the Rebuilding Notre Dame Football series. Part three focuses on the future of Brian Kelly, the direction of the athletic department, and considers what happens going forward with them.

Some very highly touted high school football recruits all confirmed official visits to Notre Dame during this season. Jamie's latest "Late Offer" takes a look at ND's recent history of five-star recruits and what these visits mean for the team.

Notre Dame Stadium is getting a video board among other changes. I for one am in favor of this development. Others, though, are not. The stadium will also undergo other changes including - but not limited to - vinyl benches replacing the wooden benches. That might mean

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The jig is up.

Now that a Jumbotron is a reality, what highlights should run on it? Here are five great suggestions. I would also like to nominate a screening of Louis Nix's landmark Chocolate News Sam's Club episode to be shown on a video board at some point.

I was in a position where I finished all my podcasts this week and had nothing to listen to. What was I to do?! Then the folks hit me with the latest OFD podcast. Download and listen right now for a run down of summer news and some fall camp moves.

Who is going to win this year's Heisman? I have no idea guys. Forward my mail  to the weapon that ended the Time War, because I live in the Moment. Just because I live my life based on too-involved referential platitudes does not mean that you have to. Look forward to the Heisman and see what the field can be pared down to based on the award's history since Y2K.

Lots of ACC chatter on the 'net this week. Pay no attention to that guff, and check out Eric's ACC preview here.

Notre Dame was ranked eleventh in this year's preseason AP poll. This guy knows what I'm talking about. This guy definitely knows what I'm talking about.

Jamie looks back at fall camp and gives some insights into what he saw. The post includes lots of reasons for excitement and also a few points of pause on the team. Regardless, this team should be fun.

Brian Kelly met with the media on Thursday. The big news is that the NCAA denied Ishaq Williams' appeal. I don't agree with the NCAA in doing that! But hey, whatever they have to do to make sure there aren't more college players autographing things, they have to do. Coach Kelly also gives some updates on things like linebacker two-deep, where Matthias Farley is playing, and what freshmen are pushing for playing time.

In better news, the 2015 football captains were announced. Congratulations to Jaylon, Joe, Matthias, Nick, and Sheldon! They will wear C's on their jersey, but it would be cool if they got vibranium/ adamantium shields like other captains.

Paint has a great picture of the captains that appeared in the latest installment of the Rakes Report.

IRISH LINKS OF NOTE

Jaylon and Ronnie Stanley make the cut as Sports Illustrated preseason All-Americans.

The Jacks Nolan and Collinsworth check in on Notre Dame Football Countdown and discuss the captains and Friday practices.

The Irish tight ends are talented and young, but there is still uncertainty at the position as noted by Bleacher Report's Mike Monaco.

On the other side of the ball, Keith Arnold takes a look at the linemen.