A Casual Fan's Guide to the 2015 College Football Season

Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot is really good.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

College football gets going with the largest FBS kickoff showcase ever tonight. With 19 games on the schedule for this evening, eight more to come on Friday, and then the "true" kickoff on Saturday, the sheer number of teams, conferences, coaching personalities and players can be overwhelming.

Some people dive into every bit of that, and some people prefer a more casual approach. This article is for the latter. So, with that in mind, let's take a look around the country at what you should know about the upcoming college football season.

Week 15 College Football Primer (With Picks): Conference Championships

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has the chance to avenge an earlier loss to Arizona, send the Ducks to the College Football Playoff and take another step toward winning the Heisman Trophy this weekend in the Pac 12 Championship Game.

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10) with a cameo by Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Championship weekend has arrived, and seven teams still have a realistic chance to qualify for the College Football Playoff. They will all be in action this weekend, and six of them will face off against top-16 teams. Certainly, they will all need to work hard to stay in playoff position.

The Curious Case of the Big 12

The Big 12 is the only power conference in college football not to hold a conference championship game. Unlike the other power conferences, all 10 of the Big 12's teams play each other every year. The conference has “One True Champion” as its slogan, but Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has backed off from promoting that slogan in recent weeks.

Generally, the Big 12 uses head-to-head as a tiebreaker between conference co-champions to determine who will represent the conference in a bowl game.

But this year, the CFP committee has consistently favored TCU in its rankings, despite a head-to-head loss against Baylor. Conveniently, Bowlsby has stated that, in the event of a tie this year, the conference will simply name co-champions and leave the rest up to the committee.

Now on to picks!

NCAA Football Weekend Primer: Catch Your Breath This Weekend

Ty Montgomery and Stanford traveling to Washington is one of the week's few fascinating games.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The college football season has already delivered some big upsets (Indiana over Missouri), shocking finishes (Arizona over Cal) and embarrassing blowouts (everybody over Michigan), but this week you get a bit of a break.

The weekend only features one matchup of ranked teams, Thursday night's Pac 12 tilt between No. 11 UCLA and No. 15 Arizona State, and there are plenty of early-conference season mismatches to choose from.

Next week will bring critical games between Alabama and Ole Miss, Arizona State and USC, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, LSU and Auburn, Stanford and Notre Dame, Baylor and Texas and Nebraska and Michigan State, among others. This week…

Well, let's just  take a breezy look across the college football landscape.

Long and Suite Preview: The College Football Playoff and Heisman Race

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota will chase a national championship and Heisman Trophy in 2014.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe) with a cameo from Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

I've written enough introductions, so let's jump right into things. You can find all of my conference previews, along with my "Group of Five" and Independents preview, below.

Pac-12

Big XII

Big Ten

ACC and Notre Dame

SEC

Group of Five/Independents

Now, let's get to our national outlook.

Long and Suite Preview: The ACC/Notre Dame

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

When you think of the ACC this year, chances are the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles, led by reigning Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, are the first team to pop into your mind.

But the conference is far more than just the repeat-minded Noles, as Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Clemson and Louisville all bring back talented squads that hope to ruin FSU's run to the College Football Playoff.

Here's what to expect from the ACC in 2014. Oh yeah, and Notre Dame is annoyingly still not in a conference, but now playing a quasi-ACC schedule. We'll look at the Irish as well.

Your College Football Kickoff Primer

Jadeveon Clowney (leaping) and Aaron Murray (holding ball nervously) will each represent the SEC against stiff non-conference competition this weekend.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

You know, people love to hate on ESPN.

Fans and bloggers just love to beat up on the worldwide leader for its programming (TIM TEBOW HOUR) and its ability to control the sports landscape by acquiring the television rights to pretty much everything.

Well, ESPN is proving to be a benevolent dictator for college football (At least for fans watching at home), as the network is delivering one heck of an opening weekend. While there are certainly a lot of things wrong with college football, ESPN setting up marquee matchups to kick the season off isn't one of them. The network's pairing of Alabama and Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic is just one example of an ESPN ratings move that is beneficial to everyone involved.

Oh, and that night's late game between LSU and TCU in Dallas… Also an ESPN creation.

Anyways, here is what else you should be watching for on college football's opening weekend which, like every good college weekend, begins Thursday night.

Long and Suite Preview: The ACC

After showing tremendous potential as a freshman, much will be expected of Miami's Duke Johnson in 2013.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

The ACC enters a new era as it welcomes Syracuse and Pittsburgh, but don't count on either of those two teams making much noise in 2013.

The Panthers were a middle of the pack Big East team last year, and now have to replace three-year starting quarterback Tino Sunseri and star running back Ray Graham. Pitt's heir apparent at running back, stud recruit Rushel Shell, transferred to rival West Virginia, so questions abound for coach Paul Chryst's second season.

9-Game Conference Schedules: Potentially the Best (Or Worst) Thing for College Football

Could 9-game conference schedules lead to more games like LSU vs Oregon?

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

As I continue my long journey through sports purgatory into football season, news came down today that the Big Ten officially plans to switch to a 9-game football schedule, beginning in 2016.

As a fan of one of the Big Ten's lesser programs, Purdue, my first thought was "well, here come a bunch of 4 or 5 win seasons for us."

After all, programs like Purdue, Minnesota, Iowa State, Virginia, Vanderbilt and Washington State pretty much need to schedule themselves three or four wins every year to have a shot at a decent bowl game. It's gotten so bad at Purdue, that I pretty much consider Central Michigan and Northern Illinois to be our rivals. Damn you Chippewas!

But for the betterment of college football, this development could be a necessary step toward getting the whole national playoff thing right. Or, conversely, it could lead to another SEC circle jerk. Really, it depends on how teams and the eventual playoff committee value challenging non-conference schedules.