I was walking the dog early Wednesday and felt an unexpected chill. The temperature had dropped to 88 degrees. Football weather, it's called.

Although many high schools in the Carolinas opened their season almost three weeks ago, tonight feels like the sport's Grand Opening. Wake Forest, No.2 Ohio State, No.13 Miami and South Carolina will play, and the games won't stop until January in Glendale, Ariz., where the national champion will be determined by popular vote.

NFL exhibitions conclude tonight, and the games will finally become official next Thursday when Minnesota plays at New Orleans.

I'll be in Pittsburgh tonight to watch the Carolina Panthers play the Steelers, but if I weren't, I'd watch South Carolina-Southern Mississippi.

Do you have any idea how much more interesting college football in the Carolinas would be if Steve Spurrier won at South Carolina? He could be outrageous again.

Spurrier was once the best coach in college football. I don't know if everybody caught up or if even he can't overcome 118 years of South Carolina mediocrity. The Gamecocks lost the first game they ever played, to Furman in 1892, and have yet to recover. But this is, or possibly could be, perhaps, their year.

No.18 North Carolina will open on national TV Saturday against No.21 Louisiana State in Atlanta. The Tar Heels were expected to have one of the best defenses in school history. But because of a variety of scandals - agents and academic, the latter far more serious - several stars and starters might not make the trip to Atlanta.

North Carolina fans who have never stepped on campus probably want the players to play, but most North Carolina graduates don't want their degrees tainted by tutor-induced fraud. If a Tar Heel is suspect, he ought to stay in Chapel Hill and watch the game on TV.

The most intriguing of the openers will be Monday in Landover, Md., where Virginia Tech will play Boise State. Although the teams share an impressive ranking - Boise State is 3 and Virginia Tech 10 - they're like members of a different species. I salute the Hokies for taking the game.

I salute every school willing to open against a contender. But even if they open against Southern Conference bottom feeder Western Carolina, I don't care. I want games.

If you're not ready, drive to a high school field. Look at the grass, freshly cut, smelling great and standing as straight and tall as a drill instructor's hair. Tell me you don't want to go deep.

I haven't played football since my kids decided, correctly, that I couldn't stay with either of them and made me everlasting quarterback on a high school field in Park City, Utah. I hate to go out that way.

I was in the grocery store Wednesday, passing through the vegetable and fruit section on my way to the good stuff. I rarely stop. I stopped. The Keiit mango, the Juan Canary melon and the Golden Pineapple ($4.95) all looked so football like that I checked to see if Roger Goodell's name was inscribed on the side.

Man, would I love to have a receiver. This would be the play:

Run past the Jarlsberg reduced fat Swiss cheese and the Cold Melons Available Upon Request, make a hard left at the Krispy Kremes and, just before you hit the carrots, I'll hit you with a spiral.

On one.

It's time to play.