It’s time.

No more golf columns. No more baseball columns. No more long days spent wondering what to do with my life. It’s time to get into full football mode.

From now until (hopefully) the second week of January, very few waking moments will be spent on anything else — there’s just not enough time for anything other than football.

So, to get things going, I want to talk about my one wish for this college football season: to learn whether or not the best of the Pac-12 can compete with — and maybe even beat — the Alabama Crimson Tide.

For the past few years, all we’ve ever heard about when it comes to college football is just how good the SEC is. Though I personally don’t believe in all of it, I have to admit that the SEC does deserve the praise it gets. No other conference has had a team win it all since Vince Young had the day of his life in Pasadena in 2006.

But after watching Stanford and Oregon play over the past few years — and especially after watching Stanford beat Oregon in Eugene last season — I’m starting to think that the Tide may not be as invincible as it looks.

Oregon’s speed on offense is extraordinary. A missed tackle or bad angle could turn a 5-yard run into a long touchdown at any moment. But in its one chance to top a beatable SEC opponent, Cam Newton’s 2010 Auburn Tigers, Oregon laid an egg on the biggest stage.

In the past few years, however, the Ducks have improved dramatically, especially on the defensive side of the ball. People don’t realize it, but matchups between Stanford and Oregon are notable for extreme physicality on the field, not unlike the wars between stereotypical SEC offenses and defenses.

And while Oregon improved its defense, Stanford saw its defense rise from a liability to perhaps the top spot in the nation. The physicality had always been there, but the newest edition of the Cardinal is bigger, faster, stronger and deeper — exactly what a defense needs to be if it wants to take on a team like Alabama.

With the exception of the 2010 season in which the Ducks reached the national championship game against Auburn, no season has seen a team in the Pac-12 go undefeated, making it almost impossible for a Pac-12 team to reach the national championship game. So while Oregon was one of the top teams in the nation in both 2011 and 2012 — and the Cardinal could play with anybody over the same stretch — neither got a chance to measure itself against the pinnacle of college football.

As a Stanford student and media member covering the Cardinal, I obviously hope that Stanford will be the team to take on Alabama or whoever wins the SEC in the 2014 national championship game.

I’m tired of having to argue with friends and colleagues around the country about this. I firmly believe that Stanford’s style of play — and perhaps more importantly, the talent of its current crop of players — matches up well against Alabama. Add in more than a month to prepare with what is certainly the most cerebral college football team in the BCS, and I think Stanford could shock the world and beat Alabama.

And while I’ll admit that I’d be very disappointed if Stanford lost to Oregon — or to any other team on its schedule, for that matter — I would be even more crushed if neither Stanford nor Oregon gets the chance to play the SEC champion. If Oregon beats Stanford at Stanford Stadium in November and can’t match up against the Tide, I think it will provide some closure for me. But if I have to sit through another SEC-vs.-SEC national championship — or even worse, an SEC-vs.-Ohio State national championship — while Stanford and Oregon finish with one loss apiece, I’ll be devastated.

The Pac-12 is ready for its shot. Here’s the first of many wishes that it finally gets a chance in the biggest spotlight of them all.

Sam Fisher is wondering if a national championship between two teams whose names are two different shades of red would turn quickly into a bloodbath. Tell Sam that he needs to think of some better puns at safisher ‘at’ Stanford.edu and follow him on Twitter @SamFisher908.