Ready or not, football season has arrived Bishop

By Staff
Aug. 22, 2002
Talking about this and that on a Thursday while wondering whatever became of Walter Packer …
Guess what folks? There is college football this weekend.
Guess what else folks? There is college football tonight.
And you thought there were tons of bowl games at the end of the season. It is getting to where the preseason classics', which usually don't count against a team's limit of games, are hard to keep up with.
Tonight we have the Jim Thorpe Classic, which features the University of Virginia playing host to Colorado State.
On Friday there will be the John Thompson Foundation Classic (Fresno State at Wisconsin) followed by Saturday's action which includes the Pigskin Classic (Texas Tech at Ohio State), Black Coaches Association Bowl (New Mexico at N.C. State), Eddie Robinson Classic (Florida State vs. Iowa State), and the Black Coaches Association Classic (Arizona State at Nebraska).
Then comes the finale on Sunday when Virginia Tech hosts Arkansas State in the Hispanic College Fund Classic.
Two of those games stand out as the most interesting.
One is the 6:45 p.m. Saturday matchup between Nebraska and Arizona State. The Sun Devils are coming off a 4-7 record while No. 10 Nebraska certainly wants to get off on the right foot.
The other is the 1:30 p.m. Saturday battle between Texas Tech and No. 13 Ohio State.
Ole Miss fans will likely tune in to see what the Red Raiders of Texas Tech will have in store for opponents this season. Ole Miss travels to Lubbock to take on Tech on Sept. 14. at 2:30 p.m. on ABC-TV
It should be a showdown between the Rebels' Eli Manning and Kliff Kingsbury of Texas Tech. Kingsbury tossed for a school-record 3,811 yards and also threw 26 touchdown passes last season, while hitting on 68.2 percent of his passes.
In 2001 Manning passed for an Ole Miss school-record 2,948 yards, while hitting on 31 touchdown passes and posting a 63.4 percent completion rate.
It should be worth seeing for sure.
This winning streak is not just Bull
The longest current home winning streak in the NCAA belongs to the University of Nebraska with 21. That really is no surprise.
Second is Miami (Fla.) at 16. Again no surprise.
Tied for fifth is the University at Texas at 13 straight. Again, not a whopping surprise. But the team Texas is tied with is a bit of a shock.
Here are a couple of hints?
The team plays one of Mississippi's NCAA Division I teams.
Not enough?
Here's another one. The game will be played in Florida.
Still not enough?
Okay then, the team plays the University of Southern Mississippi.
Still need help?
The team plays in an NFL city and wears green and gold uniforms?
Most likely, all but the most diehard USM fans have already given up.
The team is the Golden Bulls of the University of South Florida. USF has won 13 straight home games and that streak could be at 15 by the time the Golden Eagles pay a visit to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Oct. 12.
USF opens its season at home on Aug. 29 against Florida Atlantic, before hosting Northern Illinois on Sept. 7.
Admittedly, the teams the fledgling Golden Bulls have beaten at home don't exactly look like a who's who list of NCAA powers, but it does include wins over Troy State (which beat Mississippi State last season) and the University of Houston.
By the way, the two teams tied for the third-longest streak at 14 games are Washington and Toledo.