Saturday, September 1st, marks the beginning of a mad-dash four month sprint to the Iowa caucuses. It's the beginning of the real campaign season, when airline miles will rack up as fast as ad buys, leaflets and volunteers hit doorsteps, and Iowa and New Hampshire make more tourism money than they will in the next three years combined. In short: It's game time. Put on a jersey.

Appropriately, Saturday marks the somewhat official start of the college football season (though LSU and Rutgers kick off games tonight), and this year's outlook provides convenient parallels to the presidential race.

For Senator Hillary Clinton, who's kicking off the campaign season with a two-day swing through Iowa and New Hampshire that is so hyped she's got her own press plane to go along with it, September finds her leading every national poll, running ahead in New Hampshire and Iowa, a good starting point, and leaving her worthy of the number one ranking.

Some have compared her style of campaigning -- slow and methodical, no turnovers and the best defense in the country -- to Ohio State. This year, though, others have predicted that USC is winning the national championship, or at least the PAC-10, not for their amazing West Coast offense but for their solid defense. Solid play and good defense is what makes Clinton the odds-on favorite to take the title. The campaign swing with a press plane is just like playing Idaho in week one: A guaranteed win. Oh, and Bill Clinton kind of looks like Pete Carroll (Not at all, but just go with it.).

USC's biggest challenges come late in the season, as Clinton's are likely to. On the first of December, competing for what they hope will be a perfect season, the Trojans welcome cross-town rival UCLA, a team likely to stick it out for the long haul and make Carroll sweat. Senator Barack Obama, with the money to compete in the long run, will be the candidate giving Clinton her biggest scare. If both are undefeated going into the last game of the season, the winner is going to the championship in New Orleans. Whether UCLA can survive home games against Notre Dame and Cal will be key to determining if they've got a shot at USC. Whether Obama can survive second- or third-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire will determine if he gets a shot at Clinton.

Cal comes into the season ranked higher than UCLA, at number 12, and perhaps too many have written off the prospect that John Edwards could get off to a start faster than Obama. Edwards is putting all his eggs in Iowa's basket, leaving him the possibility of a big win right away (he's narrowly trailing in the latest RCP Iowa Average) or a disappointing 0-1 start that could knock him straight out of contention. Last year, Tennessee ran up a 35-0 lead on the Golden Bears en route to a 35-18 win on national TV in the first week. If Clinton or Obama rack up a number of delegates in Iowa, leaving Edwards in the dust, his campaign for the championship could be finished.

The rest of the field looks like the rest of the PAC-10: Mostly speed bumps for the top three teams (the only teams ranked pre-season) to roll over. Danger lurks in Beaverton, where after a surprise 10-win season that included upsets over USC and offensive powerhouse Hawaii, Oregon State will play all three leaders during a five-week stretch. Message: Watch out for Bill Richardson, polling a respectable fourth in Iowa. Comparing Mike Gravel to Stanford seems appropriate, as first-year coach Jim Harbaugh will struggle to win more than two games, while Washington State and Dennis Kucinich each have a decent offense, but little chance of ending the season with a winning record.

The Republican side remains a more wide-open race. With four teams in the top ten, all legitimate picks to head at least to the Rose Bowl, the Big Ten conference is virtually identical. Michigan's high-powered offense (Does it seem to anyone else like Chad Henne's been in college for about 7 years?) lands it the top spot, at number 5 nationally. That offense is the same we see in former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign -- he's got a new ad going up today and has been aggressively organizing in early states.

But Romney comes with question marks. How will evangelical Christians see his Mormonism? Will Republicans ever really vote for a guy from Massachusetts? And will his early lead in Iowa and New Hampshire hold once other candidates start spending money? Michigan's defense is suspect, as well, not a good beginning in a conference known for its defensive powerhouses.

Rudy Giuliani has a strong team around him. He's so far been able to deflect negatives that would otherwise knock him out of contention in any other GOP field (gay rights, a pro-choice past, gun control, et cetera), meaning he's got the defense to stop any mud thrown his way. And recent forays into Iowa and New Hampshire have gone well. Finally, after what may be difficult times in early states, Giuliani gets the home game against Romney, or any other leader, in Florida, which local campaign staffers call his firewall. Wisconsin, the pre-season number 7, welcomes Michigan to Camp Randall Stadium late in the season for what will definitely be a must-win for both teams.

Wisconsin's defense, while not terribly sexy, puts the team in top shape for a tough season, as Giuliani's strategy of keeping his powder for February 5th states seeks to head to the championship.

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, probably (though I haven't confirmed this) a huge Volunteers fan, would hate to be compared to a Big 10 team, but he resembles Ohio State awfully closely. Thompson's team has already seen a number of departures, while the Buckeyes lost some key offensive weapons, including Troy Smith, Antonio Pittman, Teddy Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez. That means a lot of pressure on a relatively untested offense, and a lot of pressure on a relatively untested candidate (who last faced voters in 1996).

Wisconsin heads to the Horseshoe this year (foreshadowing a Giuliani-Thompson battle in South Carolina?), but Ohio State has a tough road schedule, including trips to Penn State and Michigan, and less difficult but still challenging matchups at Minnesota and Purdue.

And what about the crotchety old man? The guy who's been around forever? We could be talking about John McCain, or we could be talking about Penn State's Joe Paterno. Both, it seems, just won't leave the stage. And they don't have to: Both are still good enough to cause major headaches for a few front-runners.

To draw another parallel, few teams will be as dependent on one player as Penn State will be on their quarterback, Anthony Morelli. Few campaigns will be as dependent on the candidate as McCain's. When he's on the trail, engaging voters, he's one of the best there is, and it's virtually the only time anyone is reminded why he did so well in 2000. Penn State is unlikely to win the Big 10, especially after a trip to Michigan's Big House, but many wouldn't be surprised if they, like McCain, stuck around longer than most expected.

The rest of the GOP field is probably stronger than the rest of the Democratic field, given a year in which the mood of the country isn't so biased against Republicans. And, in a normal year, the Big Ten is usually better than the PAC-10. Iowa can be trouble for leading contenders, just as Mike Huckabee could be for leading Republicans: Both have decent teams with strong weapons, though both are certainly the underdog. Huckabee is shy to attack, preferring to use lofty and hopeful rhetoric. The Hawkeyes are, luckily for them, skipping games with Michigan and Ohio State (though Huckabee has gone after Romney and Thompson, so the metaphor's not perfect).

Michigan, while the favorite, cannot overlook Michigan State, which, with new coach Mark Dantonio, is said to be back to the traditional Big Ten style of football: Run it up the gut, again and again. Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who has long tested Romney's defense, will continue to pound it up the middle, and while Brownback likely won't be smelling roses in January, he could have a chance to hurt a top team, as the Spartans will when Michigan comes to East Lansing.

Longer shots, like Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, are on a mission to advance their goals, rather than to win the nomination. Both could score some points and earn a few delegates, but, like Indiana, a six-win, bowl-eligible season is far from a lock. What to make of Ron Paul? The Texas Congressman is the surprise team that will score a huge upset sometime during the season, though we're not going to predict who it might be. He's not going to the Rose Bowl, but he could find himself declared the surprise of the season.

The Spring games are over. Kickoff is less than ten hours away. Big games are scheduled for the very first weekend. No team, no candidate, can be shy. Now's the time to put on a helmet and wait for your bowl of choice: The Rose Bowl, when the Big Ten champ meets the PAC-10 champ, or the Iowa caucuses. There's even a good chance they'll both happen the same day.

A final thought: We know that many conferences got left out, and that Southern schools dominate the top 15. Yes, the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and others are great, Boise State could be undefeated again, Hawaii's Colt Brennan (overserved yet?) could win the Heisman, et cetera. Please don't hate-mail us. The metaphor just worked so well with the Big Ten/PAC-10 rivalry.