It begins next week — that annual ritual of splendor and pageantry known as college football.

The season actually kicks off Thursday night with a slate of conference and non-conference games that will be dutifully broadcast or streamed on one of the ESPN networks or its video site, WatchESPN.

There is even a Southeastern Conference game between Vanderbilt and South Carolina that will be shown nationwide over ESPN. It will be an interesting game with Vanderbilt’s coach on the proverbial “hot seat” and former Florida head coach and former Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp seeking redemption and a successful start of his tenure as South Carolina’s head coach, replacing a legend in Steve Spurrier.

Like the players who have worked all summer and then gathered at their respective campuses earlier this month to get ready for the season, I’ve been preparing for next week in my own way, lining up my “special shirts” and my LSU music, and watching Canadian football to get myself in the spirit as the season approaches.

I’ve also been watching as much of the preseason television college football shows as I can, and have come away with several impressions.

One, Alabama and the Big 10 (make that big 10 plus 4) are still the darlings of the so-called experts at ESPN. Two, the sports pundits are for some reason fascinated by the Big 12’s (that’s Big 12 minus 3) attempt at expansion and which teams are predicted to join the conference, which at one time was known as the “Big 8.” Three, with the season still about a week away, they commentators are already determining who will be in the college football playoffs at the end of the year.

With the online sports blogs and websites, the articles are centered on teams’ quarterback problems, what teams have to do to be better than last year or why they won’t be last year, and which coaches are on the hot seat.

The hot seat. That’s an interesting term. In the parlance of the sportswriter, the term means a coach who is in the position of he had better win or be unemployed. Such speculation is ridiculous. In this age of win at all costs, boosters willing to shell out big bucks to get a “name” coach, and the enormous pressure to win, all coaches are on the “hot seat,” even those with winning records. LSU coach Les Miles briefly faced job uncertainty in 2015 despite a winning record. Ole Miss fired David Cutcliff despite having a winning record and a winning season.

But the time for speculation is over. It’s time to strap on the pads and get down to it. My favorite time of the sports year is here, and I’m not going to let analysts ruin it.

Bring on the bands, the cheerleaders, the team and color that makes college football the spectacle it is.

I’m ready, my recliner’s ready, and the root beer is in the refrigerator.