OTHER PICKS
Arkansas 41, UTEP 10Florida 42, New Mexico St. 7Kentucky 34, UL-Lafayette 19LSU 49, McNeese State 6Ole Miss 56, UT-Martin 15Miss. State 38, Southern Miss 9Mizzou 45, S.E. Missouri St. 14Texas A&M 30, Arizona St. 23Duke 33, Tulane 22Clemson 47, Wofford 8UCLA 38, Virginia 13N.C. State 42, Troy 10FSU 62, Texas State 11Ohio State 33, Virginia Tech 24TCU 28, Minnesota 19Notre Dame 37, Texas 24MTSU 45, Jackson State 13
Here we are at the dawn of what could be the final chapter of Steve Spurrier’s coaching career.
The winningest coach in Florida and South Carolina football history will begin his 11th season with the Gamecocks tonight at 6, when they face North Carolina in Charlotte on ESPN. Spurrier will become the first 70-year-old head football coach in Southeastern Conference history – Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant retired at age 69 – but he still has the same opening-game uncertainties as a 42-year-old taking over Duke in 1987.
“I get the same nervousness, the same butterflies and the same concerns,” Spurrier said Wednesday on the SEC teleconference. “What’s going to happen when our quarterback runs with the ball? He hasn’t been tackled since he’s been here, because we don’t tackle or hit the quarterbacks in practices or scrimmages. There are a lot of unknowns that concern you, but when game time comes, you kick it off or receive it and just start playing. You call your ball plays and see what happens.
“That’s all, as coaches, that we can do, and hopefully we’ve got them trained up and ready to play, but I have the same feelings as always.”