Buckle your seatbelts and hold on tight, because the best ride in sports is finally back.
That ride would be college football, which got underway Thursday night and gets in full swing on Saturday with a full slate of games.
From the pageantry to the traditions, the rivalries to the upsets, every Fall Saturday feels like a carnival mixed with reality TV — except actually real.
And as a sports fan, it really doesn’t get any better.
Unlike other sports, every game in college football is essentially an elimination game.
Just ask Baylor and TCU, who both finished last season at 11-1 with a share of the Big 12 championship and were still left out of the playoff because of one loss.
No other sport can say that.
March Madness is great, but everyone forgets about the four months prior of meaningless regular season games.
And an NFL team can lose a quarter of its games and still be considered a favorite for the championship.
But college football is an edge-of-your-seat roller coaster from the opening week to the final snap, and nobody can afford to have a bad day.
And even if your team is out of title contention by mid-October, it still feels just as important to make sure your rivals have a bad day — sometimes it feels even better.
Also, there is nothing more unpredictable than a team of 18- to 22-year-old football players.
Look at Florida last season, which went from getting embarrassed on homecoming by Missouri 42-13 to embarrassing then-No. 11 Georgia 38-20 two weeks later.
Or go back to the 2013 season, when six teams in the preseason AP top 10 didn’t finish in the top 10 at season’s end, while two weren’t even ranked in the final poll.
And at the same time, four teams that began that season unranked finished in the top 10, including Auburn, who lost to Florida State in the championship game, and two more who finished in the top five.
And heck, college football even does pregame better.
Whether you love tailgating hours before kickoff, welcoming the team on to the field with any number of iconic chants or waking up to College Gameday, it’s difficult to not get excited long before the first touchdown.
So kick back on Saturday and bask in it’s glory. College football is back, and for the next four months, all is right with the world.
Follow Graham Hack on Twitter @graham_hack24
Baylor coach Art Briles walks the sideline during his team's NCAA college football game against Buffalo in Amherst, New York, on Sept. 12, 2014.
