Week 1: We're back!

By Kyle Magin

In exactly five days toe will meet pigskin to kick off the 2012 FBS College football season, and we'll be there every step of the way until someone (please God NOT Nick Saban) lifts the crystal football on a January night in Miami.

This year, you'll notice a few changes with TNG. Change is a good thing, but to avoid a situation like this, I'll explain:

“You know, you alright, sheriff. A straight-shooter. You hate what you fear, and you fear what you don’t understand. Hell, the way it oughta be!”—Early Cuyler

First, because you asked for it, we'll be compiling all of our Friday picks onto a spreadsheet which we'll post once the games wrap up that weekend. It'll be a good way to hold our pickers accountable to you, and for you to see if you can make money with us or just enjoy the pigskin banter.

Second, we're going to be much more immersed in social media this season. Follow us daily on Twitter at @thenittygriddy, where we'll be tweeting throughout the week and at any games we're attending or watching. Also, follow our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nitty-Griddy for all of our posting updates here as well as interactive polls.

Finally, and this isn't a change, but we're committed to bringing you the best betting analysis for the college football season. If you see anything you think we can improve on, let us know in the comments section here.

Since we've got a short week with kickoff coming Thursday, let's take a look at the lines on the games we're keeping an eye on this week:

South Carolina -7 @ Vanderbilt

Washington State @ BYU -13

Tennessee -3 @ NC St.

Boise St. @ Michigan State -6.5

Notre Dame -17 vs. Navy (Dublin, Ireland)

Western Michigan @ Illinois -10

Nevada @ Cal -10.5

Colorado -6 @ Colorado St.

Wyoming @ Texas -30

Hawaii @ USC -40

Michigan @ Alabama -12.5

SDSU @ Washington -14.5

Notes...Wazzou will be interesting to watch under new coach Mike Leach, should give that offense a boost with the weapons available (Jr. WR Marquess Wilson, 1st TM Pac-12)...Tennessee opened as a larger favorite before WR Da'Rick Rogers' suspension...Wow, Boise brings back so little up front on both sides of the ball (3/4 DL graduated), have to wonder how they'll contain Spartans' experienced line play...Now that ND has named So. Everett Golson starting QB, that line will probably move up...-40 looks gaudy for USC, but Hawaii returns just 2/7 along defensive front, and with Trojans' addition of Silas Redd, this could be painful for Warriors...'Bama's line opened at 11 and is widening, so Vegas is trying to push money toward UM. Might be a smart investment to take the Wolverines...SDSU brings an experienced set of DBs against UW's Keith Price, who went for 700+yards passing in his last two games last season. Hold onto your seats...