Bold Prediction: We will win 12 games this year. Before Christmas.

I am excited about this season and our prospects for having a lot of fun. Winning is a lot more fun than losing, so winning is what we need.

I drove through the cheap liquor capital of the east coast (New Hampshire) this weekend and scored two bottles of Woodford reserve. It has been my experience that each bottle is good for six wins. So, the natural reaction has to be, "You are crazy old man. No one, not even Joey, thinks we will win 12 games!"

Looking at our schedule, which you can do below, shows a number of easy wins (I certainly hope they are easy). The rest will be tough, but here is the gauntlet we have to run:

09/03/12 at Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Va. 8:00 p.m. ET 09/08/12 vs. Presbyterian Atlanta, Ga. 7:00 p.m. ET 09/15/12 vs. Virginia Atlanta, Ga. 3:30 p.m. ET 09/22/12 vs. Miami Atlanta, Ga. TBA 09/29/12 vs. Middle Tennessee State Atlanta, Ga. 7:00 PM ET 10/06/12 at Clemson Clemson, S.C. TBA 10/20/12 vs. Boston College Atlanta, Ga. TBA 10/27/12 vs. BYU Atlanta, Ga. TBA 11/03/12 at Maryland College Park, Md. TBA 11/10/12 at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C. TBA 11/17/12 vs. Duke Atlanta, Ga. TBA 11/24/12 at Georgia Athens, Ga. TBA

My game-by-game predictions after the jump. Feel free to point out where I might have gotten in to the Wordford prematurely.

Virginia Tech - Win. This game will be close and could even be an overtime thriller. I think VT will continue their history of not being able to tackle ball carriers in the early season, but will embarrass our defense at times. I predict both teams will be in the high twenties, so my pick is GT winning, Our secret plan is to score in the thirties. 31-28.

Presbyterian - Win. By a lot. The Blue Hose have never scored against us. 56-0.

Virginia - Win. But closer than we would like. Don't expect to see many passes in this game. Do other people hate playing UVa as much as I do? This game always seems harder than it should. 35-24.

Miami - Win. Not as close as you might expect. I think the Canes season will quickly degrade into something very ugly by their standards. 35-10.

MTSU - Win. This team may be worse than last year. This may be the worst team in FBS. 63-12.

Clemson - Lose. I think Dabo, at home, will figure out that he has the best players in the ACC and let them win. If he actually does any coaching this game could go the other way. 40-31.

BC - Win. The worst team in the ACC. Yes, worse than Duke. 52-14

BYU - Win. This could be close, but not at the end. I always worry about these western teams. Plus, I am pulling against Mormons this fall. 35-21.

Maryland - Win. The ACC has three bad teams this year and we play them all. 49-0. Our first shutout of an ACC team in years.

UNC - Win. I am worried about this game because it's on the road. I will be there and have not seen us lose under CPJ. The Heels will be playing under a new coach with a new offense and defense. Their season will be a shambles by now or they will be a force. Who knows which, but I still think we prevail. 28-24.

Duke - Win. Nuff said. Saving something for Georgie. 42-21.

UGa - Win. They have so many 4- and 5-star athletes that we should never win this game, but I think this will be our year. A sweet drive back to Oriental. 41-35 in a nail-biter.

ACCCG - Probably against FSU, but maybe Clemson again. Win. Officially this will CPJ's first ACC Championship, but we know. Don't we? Not predicting the score.

Orange Bowl - Lose. But who the hell knows who it will be. Any guesses? We seem to be on a streak with bowl games and I am not sure we would beat App State in late December.

I think that's 12 wins, but I was not a math major. You count 'em and tell me if I need to go back and retake Math 99.

But none of these are my bold prediction. I think we will lead the nation in rushing yards per game and still average over 100 yards per game passing. My not so bold prediction is that we will be better on defense, but still not very good.

Hammer away guys...