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The college football season is once again upon us, accompanied by the welcoming background noise of marching bands playing “Seven Nation Army,” stadium singalongs to Tom Petty classics and nonstop arguments about the Big Ten versus the SEC.

Before the opening horn sample of “Jump Around” gets things jump-started, here are eight things to know to get you through the opening of the 2025 season.

Illinois, your close-up is ready. This is as exciting as it gets for Illini football, the much-ignored stepbrother to Illini basketball. Bret Bielema’s team starts the season ranked No. 12 in both the AP and coaches polls, the first time Illinois has been ranked in the top 15 to start a season since 1990, when grunge was a new fad.

It would be nice to see Memorial Stadium filled for every home game, a staple of most college powers. But as of Wednesday, only Friday’s opener against Western Illinois and the Oct. 11 game against Ohio State were sold out. If Illini Nation wants to be taken seriously in college football, it needs to sell out the other five home games. This is a real playoff contender and not a Citrus Bowl invitee — until proven otherwise.

Michigan’s first “home” game at Wrigley Field should be a wild one. OK, maybe not the game itself. The Wolverines take on Northwestern on Nov. 15 at Wrigley in what technically is a Northwestern home game but will be filled with maize-and-blue jerseys. (The Wildcats also play Minnesota at Wrigley the following week.) With so many Chicago-based Michigan alumni, the Cubs should probably just give the Wolverines a home game at Wrigley every season instead of NU, which moves into its new stadium in Evanston in 2026.

Despite their numbers, Wolverines fans will be hard-pressed to top Ohio State fans’ takeover of Wrigleyville last year. Several local bar and restaurant owners compared it to a Cubs home playoff game when it came to atmosphere, overall spending and, most important, a strong tipping game by Buckeyes fans.

Bill & Jordon’s Excellent Adventure begins. Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is making a comeback at 73 and taking his act to Chapel Hill, N.C., as North Carolina’s new coach. His famous-for-being-much-younger-than-her-geriatric-boyfriend girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, already has inserted herself into the storyline with the “Hard Knocks” cancellation and other controversies too numerous to mention.

This could be a train wreck for rubbernecking fans of college football and TMZ-style gossip. Stay tuned for the latest updates because the miniseries might last only one season. Hudson can’t help Belichick win games, but her presence can only help increase his TikTok numbers — and that’s what love is all about.

The Heisman Watch could end early. If No. 1 Texas beats No. 3 Ohio State in Saturday’s opener, the Heisman race might begin and end with Longhorns QB Arch Manning, the legacy of the Manning Family Quarterback and Endorsements Factory. Even if the Longhorns lose again to the Buckeyes in the rematch of last year’s Cotton Bowl but Manning plays well, he still might be the favorite if Texas gets through the SEC with one or no conference losses and heads back to the playoffs.

Either way it should be an interesting race with Manning, Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik and others who no one is even talking about yet. Though he’s a long shot, Miami quarterback Carson Beck is a smart dark-horse pick with big-game experience at Georgia, a top offensive coordinator in Shannon Dawson and a national game against Notre Dame on Sunday night to kick-start his candidacy.

Miami wouldn’t play Clemson until the ACC title game, and Florida and SMU are the only other obstacles to a playoff bid for the Hurricanes, who blew a postseason shot last year with Heisman finalist Cam Ward at the helm.

Fox Sports is fighting the Pat McAfee battle with its own Saturday morning pregame show loudmouth on “Big Noon Kickoff.” Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, a giant of “sports bro” journalism but not even the most popular “Stoolie,” will be the new face of the Fox pregame show that has yet to persuade viewers to tune out ESPN’s “College GameDay.”

As the bar continues to be lowered in the “hot take” industry, expect some manufactured controversies and made-to-go-viral spewing, probably revolving around Portnoy’s avowed hatred of Ohio State. As a Michigan alumnus, he’s obligated to rip all things Buckeye. Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer would be spinning in his grave — if he weren’t still alive and part of the “Big Noon Kickoff” panel. Portnoy also will be expected to pump up the Big Ten in the “Big Ten vs. SEC” debate because Fox has the Big Ten games and ESPN now carries the SEC torch.

The so-called college sports “salary cap” is $20.5 million in revenue sharing per athletic department, thanks to the settlement in June of three antitrust cases that have changed the sports landscape. LSU coach Brian Kelly said the school spent about $18 million on its 2025 football roster — including NIL deals through the school’s booster collective as well as revenue sharing — after reportedly spending $5.5 million last year, when the Tigers finished 9-4 and out of the playoff picture.

“Look, the NFL is $280 million a year in salary cap,” Kelly said. “There’s a big difference between $280 million and $18 million. So if you can’t see the difference between the two, then you’re not really understanding that what you want to develop your son to be is the best version of himself, so he can get the big money in three years.”

I’m not sure what Kelly considers “big money” since he signed a 10-year, $95 million deal to coach the Tigers. But Nussmeier has a $3.8 million NIL valuation, according to On3.com, which is nice for a night out in Baton Rouge. Back in the day when I attended Mizzou, my grandfather sent me $10 in the mail for “pizza and a Coke,” which lasted for hours on Quarter Beer nights at the Stein Club.

The best player in the nation is Ohio State’s Smith, who not only figures to be a Heisman candidate, but also could lead the Buckeyes to back-to-back championships if quarterback Julian Sayin is the real deal. Smith was asked on Meyer’s “The Triple Option” podcast what he thinks of when he thinks about the “team up north.”

“Hate,” Smith replied. “With everything in me, I hate ’em.”

Asked how he learned that hate, Smith said he was wearing dark blue during an Ohio State recruiting trip and was told not to wear that color because of that team from you know where. Maybe Portnoy can get an exclusive interview with Smith and discuss that hate before “The Game” on Nov. 29 at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich. Viewer discretion advised.

After a stunning 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois in its second game last season, Notre Dame bounced back to get to the national championship game, which the Irish lost to Ohio State. Fortunately there’s no NIU clone on the schedule this year, but with No. 10 Miami and No. 19 Texas A&M in the first two games and No. 25 Boise State in Game 5, the sixth-ranked Irish could be out of the playoff picture early if they don’t come to play with intensity from the jump.

New starting quarterback CJ Carr will be under the gun from the outset, so the offense needs its talented backfield tandem of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to start fast and relieve some of the pressure. New defensive coordinator Chris Ash replaces Al Golden and gets a big test right off the bat in Miami’s Beck. Can a three-loss Notre Dame team make the playoff?