So the college football season is actually here with 14 games tonight (No idea why, but Wake Forest v. Baylor intrigues me; Hoffstra will give UConn more than an opponent; Stanford and Oregon State play in a rare intraconference opener). All of the preseason coverage is now done and everythingeveryone has written, read and fretted is about to be played out with all the appropriate pomp and circumstance of the college game. The only thing we know about what happens next as that we really don’t know what happens next.

Which brings me to today’s topic: What’s got you worried about this season? Depth at running back? Finishing at Pitt and against South Florida? The fact the offensive coordinator has never called plays? The altitude of Boulder, Colo.? That I keep stringing questions together in a narrative series?

Go a step beyond the simple prediction — not that there’s anything wrong with that — and share your concerns for 2008.  I’ll begin.

Prediction? Pain. There’s going to be a fight among the media this season. Tuesday’s player/coach interviews had 42 people in attendance. No one could remember a number quite as large and, in truth, it’s the lure of the season opener that drew so many people for that one night. It won’t be the same every week and I’m equal parts hopeful and confident the sports information department can handle this.

As it is, though, the media sessions are over-saturated with three and four and sometimes five people from one outlet. There are cameras and microphones and enormous tape recorders in players’ faces, stretched over shoulders, slipped under arms, obstructing vision, so on and so forth. You could be standing right next to Jock Sanders when he sits down for his interview and the next thing you know, the swarm of reporters has pushed you out of the way and you find yourself one-on-one with Greg Pugnetti … and Greg’s eating dinner in the next room over. It’s insane.

Then there’s the part of actually needing to do work, which is complicated when the people are asking the same questions to every player or jus taking up space. They talk, you wait your turn and when you’re done, you go through the same process with another player. If you’re lucky, a player you needed to talk to is still around when you’e done with a player you really needed to talk to.

Two things really drive people crazy. The best is when you’re in the middle of something good with a player and someone slides in to ask the obligatory interrogatory, then backs away and says, “Who’s that?” The next best is when a reporter is taking all the quotes, but asking no questions, then pulls a person aside for an exclusive he doesn’t want to share with anyone else. Sometimes it’s for news and it’s a necessity — I’m guilty of this — but many times it’s needless.

There’s probably no changing the fact WVU is popular and, as a result, well-covered. And it’s not all bad and unbearable. There are a lot of people who get it and don’t contribute to the nuisance. Of course, there are others. There is a way to change the protocol, to respect one’s space and ability to do his or her work.

The frustrations will mount. Heck, the frustrations are mounting. We’ve already had two near-fights this season and the results would have been epic. But whether it’s after a game or on a Tuesday night, someone is going to do or say something to flip the meter past the point of no return.

Your turn.