* Saturday’s USF-FSU game at RayJay is huge for USF, a program in resurgence, and would have been even bigger had not FSU embarrassed itself at Louisville last Saturday. Regardless, it’s a statement game for the Bulls, and a win puts USF back in the national rankings.
Needless to say, it helps to be playing at home. Too bad, however, it’s a noon game. A night game would be a bigger home-field advantage. The crowd, fueled on more than gridiron excitement and in-state rivalry, would be larger and a lot louder.
* Rice University has apologized to Baylor University over the Rice band’s half time performance. Among other things, the marching band formed an “IX” on the field. This referred to “Title IX” and the lawsuits filed against Baylor over its mishandling of sexual-assault allegations–most notably against football players. It’s an ongoing issue on too many football-factory campuses–and Baylor disgraced itself.
The wrong school apologized.
* An unsolicited suggestion for the Rays on how to handle the ceremonial farewell of David Ortiz when he comes in with the Red Sox this weekend. He’s a Hall of Fame hitter, but was never a class act like Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera. So, what would be an appropriate going-away gift? How about a cardboard cut-out of a self-satisfied “Big Papi” watching one of his 30-some Trop home runs after a bat flip that shows up a pitcher? Or one of him slowing down the game further by ritually adjusting his batting gloves after every pitch? There’s a lot of material here.