Note to ESPN's College GameDay crew: It's U ... S ... F.
During a conference call Tuesday, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler referred to the Bulls as South Florida, never once calling the team USF. It's a forgivable offense, but something Fowler said should serve as a good explanation why the school probably prefers USF (other than, of course, it's not in south Florida).
Speaking about the troubles at Alabama, Fowler said USF was "a program that's a lot tougher than it sounds."
Exactly. So stop calling it South Florida and start calling it by its meaner, nastier, more imposing: U ... S ... F.
Okay, so that still won't send chills up the spine of opponents ... yet. But Fowler and Corso both said, wimpy name or not, "South Florida" could pull off the upset at 3 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.
"I think Alabama better watch out for that first game," Corso said, "because nobody's ever heard of South Florida in Alabama. I was in Mobile making a speech and they didn't even know who they were playing in the opener. All they talked about was Oklahoma and GameDay. And South Florida can play. They got some guys, and that Leavitt can coach. I'm telling you, that's going to be a very, very exciting game."
After Herbstreit said he disagreed with the rest of the country and thought Alabama would bounce back and have a solid seven- or eight-win season, Corso took up South Fl ... er, USF's cause. He praised the program, stopping just short of making a bold prediction.
"I'm not saying South Florida is going to beat them, but I tell you what, that's going to be a close, close game," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if South Florida didn't beat Alabama in the opener."
By the way, 1989 Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware will make his ESPN debut as an analyst, working with Jeff Hullinger and Jimmy Dykes.
FIRST IN 10: College GameDay will kick off its 10th season from Columbus, Ohio, site of the weekend's big game: No. 17 Washington at No. 2 Ohio State.
Bay area fans, however, won't see that game unless they subscribe to ESPN's college football package. In this area, Florida State-North Carolina will be on Ch. 28 at 8 p.m.
TRIVIA QUESTION: From what campus did GameDay draw its highest ratings: Florida State (vs. Florida, 2000), Penn (vs. Harvard, 2002), Ohio State (vs. Michigan, 2002) or Michigan (vs. Ohio State, 1997)?
PIGSKIN BUFFET: The USF and FSU games will be among 17 available to most cable subscribers this week as the college season shifts into high gear. Gator fans will have to do pay-per-view route if they want to catch the game against San Jose State.
The weekend slate even includes three Sunday games: Central Florida at No. 9 Virginia Tech, Louisville at Kentucky and New Mexico State at No. 5 Texas.
LOCAL LOVING: Sunshine Network unveils a new lineup of college football programming Saturday, with pre and postgame shows for the state's biggest games.
The Bubba Burger College Kickoff begins at 9:30 a.m. with hosts Frank Frangie, Brady Ackerman and Terry Norvelle previewing the day's games.
Immediately following the Gators game, new studio host Whit Watson - hired this week from ESPN - and Ackerman will do a postgame show with James Bates reporting live from the Florida locker room.
Tailgate Saturday Football Wrap comes on at 10 p.m. with local and national highlights, and immediately following the FSU-North Carolina game, Tom Block will report live from the Seminole locker room.
REACHING A PINNACLE?: WFLA-Ch. 8's coverage of Saturday's Bucs-Jacksonville game posted a 26.6 rating. That's an improvement over the previous game (25.6), but still a touch away from WTOG-Ch. 44's single-game high of 26.9 for the Bucs-Redskins last year.
The ill-fated pregame show, which was besieged by problems and quite possibly the sloppiest in the history of pregame shows, did an 8.9 rating.
ALL-FLORIDA FINALE: Inside the NFL's Cris Carter is picking a Miami-Tampa Bay Super Bowl. Bob Costas likes Miami-Green Bay, and Cris Collinsworth declined to make a pick.
TRIVIA ANSWER: College GameDay's first visit to a I-AA site for Harvard-Penn yielded 1.524-million households, the best rating ever for the show.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE FOOTBALL: NASCAR returns to NBC Sunday for the Mountain Dew Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway at 12:30 p.m. (prerace). NBC's Bill Weber has invited slugger Jimmy Spencer to stop by the NBC Wagon for a prerace interview, though he has yet to accept. ... Beach volleyball players Misty May and Kerri Walsh, 31-0 in 2003 and winners of six straight tournaments, may be going for No. 7 at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC. The men's final is at 4:30 Sunday. ... Sunday's 11 p.m. SportsCenter will feature Green Bay Packers lineman Chad Clifton's return to the NFL. Clifton was blindsided by Buc Warren Sapp, and says about his recovery: "For a month, month and a half, I was totally dependent. I was like an infant. It was tough, it was definitely the darkest period of it all."
