If you want to rebuild a slumping football program, you don't play Fullerton State. You play Texas.
This week, Mississippi State, in its first season under Jackie Sherrill, goes that route. A 47-3 opening victory over Fullerton proved little. A win against No. 13 Texas would prove a lot."The good thing about playing Texas is that it will give us a measuring stick to really know how good we have to be," said Sherrill, who came to the Bulldogs after two years away from coaching. Before that, he was at Texas A&M, where his teams built a five-game winning string against the Longhorns. "It will help us when we talk about competing and getting to a point nationally where we can compete."
Sherrill isn't sure how the Bulldogs will handle such a difficult challenge.
"You prepare just like you would prepare for any other team in that you try to anticipate how they are going to play," Sherrill said. "Now whether we can actually do the things it takes to block them, that's another question.
"I'd rather be playing somebody else. I'd rather play Cal State Fullerton again."
Texas, coming off a 10-2 season that ended with a Cotton Bowl loss to Miami, has 13 starters back, eight on defense.
"We're starting out this year with more confidence. We have better depth at just about every spot and we know who the starters are at every position," coach David McWilliams said. "And, on both offense and defense, everybody knows the system."
They also know it doesn't pay to think about the coach on the other sideline.
"This game isn't about playing Jackie Sherrill," McWilliams said. "It's our first game of the season and we're just trying to get off to a good start."
Other games involving Top 25 teams making their debuts are No. 2 Michigan at Boston College; No. 4 Washington at Stanford; No. 6 Florida against San Jose State; No. 7 Notre Dame against Indiana; eighth-ranked Clemson vs. Appalachian State; 12th-rated Colorado vs. Wyoming; No. 14 Nebraska against Utah State; No, 15 Iowa vs. Hawaii; No. 20 Alabama vs. Temple; 22nd-ranked Ohio State vs. Arizona; No. 23 UCLA against No. 25 Brigham Young; and No. 24 Syracuse vs. Vanderbilt.
Other ranked teams who already have played and are in action Saturday include No. 1 Florida State, against Tulane; and No. 5 Penn State, against Cincinnati.
On Thursday, 11th-ranked Tennessee overcame five turnovers and used two long touchdowns by Carl Pickens for a 28-11 win against Louisville. Pickens had a 67-yard punt return touchdown and scored on a 75-yard pass play.
Fourth-ranked Washington limps into this season without starting quarterback Mark Brunnell and fullback Darius Turner, and tailback Beno Bryant is slowed by a bad knee.
"They're not less strong. They're a team like Florida State - so much depth, a ton of talent," Stanford QB Jason Palumbis said. "They can play ball, no matter who's out there. I don't care who the guys are or what number they have on."
Ohio State won't have No. 26 on the field. Star running back Robert Smith, who broke Archie Griffin's school rushing record for freshmen, quit the team in a dispute with the coaching staff over the balance between football and academics.
The Arizona game is the first of seven home games for the Buckeyes, who return six members of the front seven on defense and a bunch of quality running backs, even without Smith.
The coaches, OSU's John Cooper and Arizona's Dick Tomey, both served from 1967 to 1971 as assistant coaches at Kansas under Pepper Rodgers.
If passing attacks are your form of entertainment, the game at the Rose Bowl between UCLA and BYU is worth a look. Just don't look away because Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer of Brigham Young and the Bruins' Tommy Maddox might be throwing for a score when you're not paying attention.
Detmer needs to pass for 197 yards to break the NCAA record of 11,425 yards held by San Diego State's Todd Santos.
"I think BYU will have a very good season and Ty Detmer will have a very good season," UCLA coach Terry Donahue said.
BYU comes off a humbling 44-28 loss to Florida State in the Pigskin Classic. UCLA comes off an even more humbling two straight losing seasons.
"I think our team is improving daily," Donahue said. "I'm hoping we'll be a little bit better defensively this year. It's an age-old adage, but I think it's so true - to be a good football team, you have to play good defense."
Especially against pass-happy BYU.