College Notebook: Are you ready for some football?

Published 7:31 pm Monday, August 19, 2019

Can you believe there will be regular season college football games this weekend?

And there will be one right here in East Texas as old rivals Tyler Junior College and Kilgore College will meet in a non-conference game in Kilgore.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

It will seem surreal as former TJC football coach Danny Palmer and former KC football coach J.J. Eckert will not be on the sidelines. Palmer stepped down after 11 years as Apache Chief and is now an ambassador for the school, while Eckert returned to his alma mater, Northeastern State in Oklahoma, to be head coach.

So two first-year head coaches — TJC’s Thomas Rocco and KC’s Willie Gooden — will be on the sidelines.

No pressure at all opening with each school’s most bitter rival.

Other SWJCFC games this weekend include: Navarro at Georgia Military, 5 p.m. Thursday; Texas A&T at Blinn, 7 p.m. Saturday; Rezolution Prep at Cisco, 7 p.m. Saturday; and New Mexico Military vs. Maricopa Mustangs in Glendale, Arizona, 8 p.m. Saturday.

NJCAA FOOTBALL RANKINGS

Kilgore, the defending Southwest Junior College Football Conference champion, opens the season tied for sixth in the NJCAA preseason poll.

Defending national champion East Mississippi State is No. 1, followed by Iowa Western, Garden City (Kansas), Jones (Mississippi) and Hutchinson (Kansas).

Kilgore is tied with Snow (Utah). Rounding out the top 10 are Lackawanna (Pennsylvania), Northwest Mississippi and Butler (Kansas).

Other SWJCFC schools ranked include No. 11 Blinn, No. 13 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, No. 18 Navarro and No. 20 Navarro.

If the NJCAA ranked 25 teams, the Apaches would be tied for No. 24 with Coffeyville (Kansas) and East Central Mississippi.

SOONERS STARTING QB

In a surprise to no one, No. 4 Oklahoma has named Jalen Hurts its starting quarterback, head coach Lincoln Riley announced on Monday.

Hurts, the transfer from Alabama and graduate of Channelview High School, will become the third straight transfer to start for the Sooners, following consecutive Heisman Trophy winners and No. 1 draft choices Baker Mayfield (Texas Tech) and Kyler Murray (Texas A&M).

Oklahoma opens its season on Sunday, Sept. 1 against Houston in Norman, Oklahoma. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (TV: ABC).

Hurts, a former finalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award (also won by Mayfield and Murray) played in three national championship games for Alabama and helped the Crimson Tide win the 2017 national title. He transferred to Oklahoma in January and has won the job over redshirt freshman Tanner Mordecai (from Waco Midway) and true freshman Spencer Rattler (from Phoenix).

Hurts started the 2016 and 2017 seasons and led Alabama to a 26-2 record. He lost the starting job to Tua Tagovailoa in 2018 but still played in 13 games. He replaced the injured Tagovailoa in the fourth quarter of the 2018 SEC championship game and rallied the Crimson Tide to a 35-28 win over Georgia.

OPENING GAMES

ESPN’s GameDay will be in the Magic Kingdom on Saturday.

The GameDay crew will set up shop at Walt Disney World in Lake Bunea Vista, Florida. Perfect location for the Disney-owned ESPN.

They are at the Happiest Place on Earth to highlight the Camping World Kickoff game between bitter rivals Miami and Florida. The contest is scheduled for 6 p.m. (TV: ESPN) just down the road at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

The only other D-I game on the opening weekend should be a high-scoring affair as Arizona plays Hawaii at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. (TV: CBSSN).