What’s that smell in the air? You guessed it. It’s football.

The 2015 college season begins this weekend. While that might not be particularly exhilarating news for Kansas fans, the intrigue of a new head coach — David Beaty — should at least give them some hope for something new. And maybe eventually something better.

Each week the KUsports.com staff will predict the outcome of the Jayhawks’ game, as well as five other college football games. And we’ll find out a little about our pickers with a Question of the Week.

Let’s get this party started.

— And don’t forget to check out our college and pro pick ’em contests to win weekly and season-long prizes. —

WEEK 1 MATCHUPS

South Dakota State at Kansas

Michigan at Utah

Washington at Boise State

Arizona State vs. Texas A&M

Wisconsin vs. Alabama

Texas at Notre Dame

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

It’s Labor Day weekend. What’s the worst job or worst part of a former job you’ve had in your life?

During my senior year at Marquette I
had a job that included eight toilets
and four urinals. To say it was a
crappy job would be putting it mildly.

I didn’t have a ton of jobs growing up
but one of the best and worst I can
remember was being a roadie for my
dad’s band in Colorado and the Rocky
Mountain region. I never really got
paid for it — unless you count
quarters for video games and
never-ending glasses of Coca-Cola —
but if I had received a wage I might
have been rich. I learned how to load
in and load out heavy music equipment
and, perhaps more importantly, how to
pack a band van in a way that helped
me become a wizard at the game Tetris.
Good times and great memories with
some awesome guys in some amazing
cities and places.

Shoveling horse manure with my
grandfather.

I worked for a couple of summers as an
“operator standing by” to take orders
for all sorts of but-wait-there’s-more
worthless geegaws and gizmos — think,
Kinsu knives, only not as classy — on
the late-night and overnight shifts. I
talked to A LOT of
drunk/angry/homicidal/lonely folks
that summer. But at least I was paid
poorly and treated shabbily.

Worst job I’ve had: In high school I
was a telephone salesperson for Jet
Dry Waterproofing. The bosses tore
pages out of the phone book and made
us call people and check them off
after we called to see if they wanted
a free waterproofing estimate for
their basement. My friends and myself
lasted about a week. I think they
fired the whole crew as I recall.

A cook.

Did you know if you bag groceries
sometimes you also for some reason
have to clean public restrooms? Yeah,
I found that out too late as a high
schooler. But at least I could buy
sneakers and jerseys.

I worked at a windshield repair plant
for a month during college. You worked
on your own to make hundreds of repair
kits each week. I couldn’t stand the
repetition each day … which is why I
only lasted a month.

Being a footwear associate at a major
sporting goods store around
back-to-school time wasn’t exactly
fun.

Kurt Gaston

(We’ll get a photo and graphic for you soon. Rookie picker has to pay his dues.)

Selling cars on Labor Day (or any
other day, for that matter).