Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

It's finally here.

The first day of football, and I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see the Battle for the Palladium! Actually, I'll be watching UTEP and Buffalo. Barn burner.

So let's start this day off right with some sweet and creamy Morning Coffee.

Since there are a couple of MAC games Thursday night, I thought I would lead off with a MAC link. KentNewsNet.com writes that there is parity across the MAC this season. I totally agree if you're looking at all the teams except Central Michigan.

• Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle posed in his blog last night that freshman Justin Padron was walking on to SMU. Padron had originally committed to play for his former high school coach Todd Dodge at North Texas, but Dodge told the DRC that Padron quit football because of complications from diabetes. That's a heck of an excuse to get out of a LOI to play for June Jones.
• Lindsey Willhite of the Daily Herald reports that Northern Illinois is poised for a big turnaround after getting 20-plus players back healthy this season. I just want to point out that I called this.
• New Mexico State cornerback Chris Woods is academically ineligible, according to Felix Chavez of the Las Cruces Sun-News. He will transfer to a Division II school. Woods was expected to miss the start of the season anyway because of offseason shoulder surgery.
• Arkansas State is changing its fight song by taking out the word "Indians," the team's former mascot, and replacing it with Red Wolves, the team's new mascot.
• Fresno State quarterback Tom Brandstater and Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel are eerily similar, Keith Sergeant of the Courier News reports.
• And sticking with the quarterback theme... Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele is back from a broken leg and is ready to lead Temple to the Promised Land, the Philadelphia Daily News says. This team will be bowl eligible. Bank on it.
• I am not the only one who thinks East Carolina will beat Virginia Tech.
• The Florida International offensive line got in the weight room and did some team-bonding sessions in order to be a more cohesive unit than it was a season ago, the Miami Herald's Sarah Rothschild writes. But will that give the Golden Panthers two wins this season?
• The Nevada and Grambling bands will perform together after Saturday's game. If you've never seen the Grambling band perform, it's worth the trip.