What better place for lists than sports. What is a lineup or a depth chart if not a list? Polls and rankings and standings. Someone is always climbing an all-time list for yards or tackles or touchdowns. Drafts are lists, often in the wrong order. Rosters are the ultimate list — organized by class or position or number or last name.

For our annual college football preview, the one that’s in your hands or on your screen, we wanted to explore the idea of lists — to-do lists, rankings, goals, rules. You name it.

Turns out coach Chris Petersen and the Boise State football coaches are big fans of lists as well.

“It’s the structure,” Petersen said.

College football’s very essence is built around lists. They are released each Sunday, compiled by sports writers and coaches and computers around the nation.

As much as we hate polls — why can’t they just settle it on the field? — they give the sport its backbone.

Its starting point.

Its debate parameters.

Now, finally, it’s time to scramble those lists. To find the next Robert Griffin III, who comes from nowhere to the top of everyone’s Heisman list. To find the team to break the Southeastern Conference’s string of six consecutive BCS titles, if possible.

Here’s my list for the fall, a mix of to-dos, must-sees and things to avoid:

• To do: East Lansing at night. Boise State ventures into Big Ten territory for another prime-time season opener. Will the game answer lingering questions about the Broncos or expose more weaknesses?

• Must see: Exiled coaches return and the Pac-12 gets more interesting. Rich Rodriguez and Mike Leach, two of the game’s most creative offensive minds, are back at Arizona and Washington State, respectively. Hope the Pac-12 invested some of its TV money in scoreboard light bulbs.

• To avoid: Another year of BCS nonsense. Yes, a playoff is coming. But not soon enough. We’ve still got two years of BCS blather.

• To do: Albuquerque. It’s the only city on Boise State’s schedule that I haven’t been to. There’s got to be some great Mexican food there, right?

• Must see: ESPN’s College GameDay. It should be even better with Scott Van Pelt.

• To avoid: Another season of hearing how great the SEC is. The league is fantastic, no doubt. Its fans are the most passionate in college football. Its teams are great and its coaches are awesome. We get it.

• Must see: Watching a new quarterback start for Boise State. No long-term contracts in college football means someone new is always getting a chance.

• To avoid: Watching a new quarterback start for Boise State. After Kellen Moore’s excellence, watching the Broncos play offense won’t be quite the same.

• To do: Stay out of trouble. I’m talking to you Penn State, Ohio State, North Carolina, Honey Badger, Isaiah Crowell and everyone else.

Brian Murphy: 377-6444Twitter: @murphsturph