n honorary captain because the Wolverines are the first fo

After a summer full of hyperbole, promises, slogans, candidates and debate, we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.No, Im not talking about the U.S. presidential election, which wont end until Nov. 8.Thankfully, the start of the 2016 college football season is right around the corner. And if you havent heard, the opening weekend of the season is going to be so big. Its going to be yuuuge. Listen, its going to be so good that you wont be able to turn away from your TV for 72 straight hours. Its going to be so very, very, very big. Trust me.On the opening Saturday, Oklahoma will play Houston, UCLA will play Texas A&M, LSU will play Wisconsin (at Lambeau Field!), Georgia will play North Carolina, USC will play Alabama and Clemson will play Auburn. Then Notre Dame will play at Texas on Sunday night, and Ole Miss will play Florida State on Labor Day night.Were going to have so much fun. Its going to be like Super Bowl Sunday on steroids. The best part: everybody is going to win (even UCF and Kansas!). Theres going to be so much winning that no one will want to fire a coach after Week 1. Well, everyone but Auburn, which always seems to want to fire its coach.Hawaii and California officially kick off the season in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 26 (10 p.m. ET, ESPN). After college football goes worldwide, heres what to watch this coming season:1. Alabama will win the national championship. Again.Alabamas season will look a lot like the last one -- the Crimson Tide will struggle at quarterback early, might even lose to Ole Miss again, and then theyll figure it out and start rolling. By the end of the regular season, Alabamas running game will be punishing people and its defense will be stuffing everyone.Alabama coach Nick Saban will win his fifth national title in 10 years in Tuscaloosa and his sixth overall (he won one at LSU), which will tie him with legendary Tide coach Paul Bear Bryant for the most in major college football history. Afterward, Alabama will unveil a statue of Sabans wife, Terry, at Bryant-Denny Stadium at next years spring game.2. Alabama will be joined in the College Football Playoff by Clemson, Michigan and Oklahoma.Year 3 of the College Football Playoff includes semifinal games at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl on New Years Eve. Then the championship game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 9.Its the last time the CFP semifinals games will be played on New Years Eve until after the 2021 season. After this season, future semifinals games will fall on either Saturday or New Years Day until 2022. So this year, youll have to split time between college football and Ryan Seacrest once more.Im picking Alabama, Clemson, Michigan and Oklahoma to make the playoffs. Alabama will play Michigan in the national championship game, which will be preceded by an eight-day Twitter war between Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh and Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. Sadly, the Twitter war will be more entertaining than the actual game.3. Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson will win one of the closest Heisman Trophy races in history.Miamis Mark Richt recently said that when he was Georgias coach, he told an assistant that Watson would win somebody a national championship when the Bulldogs were recruiting him four years ago. Watson will get close to winning a national championship for the second season in a row, but the Tigers will fall in the CFP semifinals.However, Watson will win the Heisman Trophy in a very close race over Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and three tailbacks -- LSUs Leonard Fournette, FSUs Dalvin Cook and Stanfords Christian McCaffrey.4. McCaffrey will kick an extra point, return a fumble for a touchdown and score a touchdown off an onside kick this coming season.What didnt McCaffrey do last season? Hell be the best player in the country for the second season in a row in 2016, but not enough Heisman Trophy voters on the East Coast will stay up late enough to watch him play.Pac-12 After Dark sounds cool, but its killing the league. Please dont make East Coast fans stay up until 11 p.m. ET every week to see McCaffrey play. Hes too fun to watch.5. The Pac-12 will be left out of the College Football Playoff again.The Pac-12 was the only Power 5 league left out of the playoff last season, and it might be in the same boat in December. There doesnt seem to be a dominant team out West, especially with Stanford and Oregon having to break in new quarterbacks.Plus, the Pac-12 is at a disadvantage playing nine conference games (compared to eight in the ACC and SEC). The Big 12 also plays nine conference games, but one of them is against Kansas. The Big Ten is starting to play nine this season, but one of them is against Purdue. The Pac-12 will devour itself, and Washington will win the league with three losses.6. Michigan will beat Ohio State and win the Big Ten.I dont get why people dont like Harbaugh. He loves Twitter. He appears in rap videos. He likes Judge Judy. He likes taking his shirt off in public. He takes his entire team to Florida for spring break and holds satellite camps around the world. Whats not to love?College football people in the South dont like Harbaugh because he doesnt fear the SEC. SEC coaches dont like Harbaugh because he makes them work too hard. SEC coaches dont like spending their summers at satellite camps. They want to spend their summers with their families at the beach, and I dont blame them.The Wolverines went 10-3 in Harbaughs first season and throttled SEC East champion Florida 41-7 in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl. But there was also an ugly 42-13 loss to Ohio State in the Big House. Harbaugh despises the Buckeyes. The Wolverines wont lose to OSU this season. They will beat the Buckeyes at the Horseshoe to win the Big Ten.7. A Power 5 school will scoop up Houstons Tom Herman by Dec. 1.After guiding Houston to a 13-1 record and 38-24 upset of Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl last season, Herman will be a hot commodity this coming season. With quarterback Greg Ward Jr. leading Hermans offense, the Cougars are again favorites to win the AAC.If teams like Auburn, Texas or Texas A&M struggle early, dont be surprised to see an athletic director fire a coach sooner than usual. Everybody will line up to get a chance to hire Herman, especially schools in Texas.8. Tennessee will win the SEC East (but wont beat Florida).The Volunteers havent won an SEC championship since 1998 and havent won 10 games in a season since 2007. After limping through four seasons under Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley, the Vols have slowly showed progress under Butch Jones, who is 21-17 in three seasons.But Jones says he believes he might finally have an SEC contender, and the Volunteers look loaded on both lines of scrimmage. With quarterback Joshua Dobbs and tailbacks Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara coming back, the Vols might be the team to beat in the SEC East. Theyll win at Georgia and South Carolina, but theyll lose to Florida for the 12th season in a row. Even worse, Steve Spurrier will be there to watch it.9. Big 12 expansion will come quickly.The Big 12 has 10 teams. The Big Ten has 14. Whatever. The Big 12 recently announced that its looking to expand, possibly with two more teams and maybe even four. Everybody from BYU to Cincinnati to Houston to South Florida to Tulane is under consideration.The Big 12 will expand, probably even before the games kick off in September. I think itll add only two teams -- probably Houston and maybe Cincinnati. The Big 12 adding four teams of the caliber its considering for expansion would only water down its on-field product. It wont help it catch the SEC. After losing Cincinnati and Houston, the AAC wont replace them and will remain at 10 teams.10. San Diego State will finish the regular season undefeated.If the Aztecs can beat a rebuilding Cal team at home on Sept. 10, then win at Northern Illinois the next week, theyll have a great chance to finish 12-0. SDSU carries a 10-game winning streak -- second-longest in FBS behind only that of Alabama -- and doesnt play Boise State during the regular season.Aztecs tailback Donnel Pumphrey is one of the most underrated players in the country, after running for 1,653 yards with 17 touchdowns in 2015, and coach Rocky Longs defense is stingy. After going 12-0 in the regular season, the Aztecs will have to beat Boise State in the Mountain West championship game to land a spot in a New Years Six bowl. Detroit Tigers Shirts . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Fake Tigers Jerseys . 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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- If anyone makes jokes about Michigan aiming to win its first Big Ten title since 2004 and national championship since 1997, thats exactly the reaction Jim Harbaugh wants.If people arent making fun of you for what your dreams are and what your goals are, then you havent set those goals and dreams high enough, Harbaugh said.Michigan went 10-3 last season, doubling its wins from the previous year in coach Brady Hokes final season. The Wolverines surpassed modest expectations, but were humbled by losing to Ohio State for the 11th time in 12 years and heartbroken by a seventh setback in eight games to Michigan State.Here are some things to watch as Harbaugh begins his second season in Ann Arbor:THREE-WAY PLAYERSJabrill Peppers and Jourdan Lewis, both of whom are primarily used on defense, are expected to take some snaps on offense. And they will likely return some punts and kicks, too.While Peppers was used on offense to run, catch and throw the ball, Lewis has only been used as a kickoff returner outside of his role as a cornerback. Lewis is thankful his lobbying efforts with Harbaugh appear to have paid off.Ive been in his ear about playing on offense since he got here, Lewis said. Ive always wanted to do it here to help the team win, and Im glad it looks like Im going to get a chance to do it.NEW DCThe Wolverines relative success last season led to Maryland hiring their defensive coordinator, D.J. Durkin, to lead its program. Harbaugh hired Boston College defensive coordinator Don Brown, who helped the Eagles rank among the nations best defenses even though they won just three games last season.KEY GAMESThe Wolverines have a daunting road schedule that includes the Buckeyes, Spartans and Iowa. They do get to host five teams to open the season and play a total of eight games at the Big House.dddddddddddd Michigan might be 7-0 on Oct. 29 when it faces Michigan State in East Lansing, where the Wolverines havent won since 2007. Michigan will close the regular season Nov. 26 at Ohio State, where the Wolverines are winless since 2000.SEASON OPENERMichigan opens the season Sept. 3 against Hawaii with Michael Jordan scheduled to be on hand as an honorary captain because the Wolverines are the first football team to wear Jordan Brand apparel.After everyone gets done looking at Jordan and Harbaugh, they will shift to the player who ends up taking snaps for the maize and blue. Harbaugh appears to have up to four choices for quarterback, but appears to choosing between John OKorn and Wilton Speight. OKorn threw 34 touchdowns and started 16 games at Houston before transferring to Michigan and sitting out last year. The 6-foot-6 Speight threw a game-winning touchdown pass late in a game last year at Minnesota in relief of injured starter Jake Rudock.Harbaugh, who played quarterback at Michigan and in the NFL, has a track record of developing signal callers in college and with the San Francisco 49ers.Hes the best quarterbacks coach around, OKorn said. Its an opportunity of a lifetime.PREDICTIONMichigan will win 11 games, surpassing last seasons total. Loses on the road to rivals Ohio State and Michigan State, though, hold Harbaugh back from having a special season in his second year.---Online: AP College football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Larry Lage at www.twitter.com/larrylage and follow his work at www.bigstory.ap.org/content/larry-lage ' ' '