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Bowden: USF Game Possible

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 19, 2008

TAMPA - There's no idea how long Bobby Bowden will remain at Florida State, but the Seminoles' coach said he thinks a game with the University of South Florida "eventually could happen."

"I think eventually that could happen," Bowden said Friday. "You usually try to find someone you have a chance to win, instead of getting your nose bloodied."

With the ACC already playing eight games and speculation about adding a ninth league game and FSU's annual game with Florida, that leaves the Seminoles with two or three nonconference opponents a year and could make it difficult to add USF. Bowden said his school has talked to Florida Atlantic about a game between Bowden and Howard Schnellenberger.

ACC BACK IN TAMPA: The ACC football championship will be held at Raymond James Stadium in 2008 and 2009. It's the second ACC championship held in Tampa in the past two years.

"The neatest thing about coming here now is, quite frankly, Tampa Bay is hot right now," ACC associate commissioner Michael Kelly said. "You can make a case it's one of the hottest sports destinations with everything that's coming here."

A former Tampa resident and associate AD at USF, Kelly said Tampa is an ideal site for several reasons, including the market size, stadium and the experience the league had with the men's basketball tournament in 2007.

This year's football title game is Dec. 6. Tickets are available at VisitTampaBay.com.

NEW JOE AT FAMU: Joe Taylor is three victories shy of 200 as a college football coach. The question is whether it will take his entire debut season at Florida A&M to reach the milestone.

Taylor has endured only two losing seasons in a quarter-century, the past 16 at Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Hampton University. His 136-49-1 record with the Pirates helped him earn eight MEAC championships and league coach of the year honors three times in the past four years.

FAMU is relying on Taylor, who was serving Friday on an NCAA committee in Indianapolis that conflicted with the Florida Sports Writers Association media conference at the Marriott Waterside, to restore a winning tradition in Tallahassee.

The Rattlers are coming off a 3-8 season and haven't won a conference title since 2001. Bethune-Cookman coach Alvin Wyatt figures it's only a matter of time.

"If he recruits the type of kids he was able to get at Hampton, he'll have the same thing at Florida A&M University," Wyatt said, "because they lived off those I-A transfers, and they had a lot of success with those kids."

Despite its recent struggles, FAMU was highly attractive to Taylor and his new staff.

"To be able to work with some of the top talent in the country right here in the state is tremendous," associate head coach George Small said, "and we're very optimistic in terms of what we can do with this program.

"If you take the reins of a stallion and have an opportunity to ride a stallion, you want to ride it well, and you want to showcase it well."

KERWIN BELL ON FAVRE: With all the drama about Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre and his retirement, Jacksonville University coach Kerwin Bell has proposed an alternate route.

"Instead of coming back to play, he should get a coaching job," said Bell, who played quarterback at Florida and in the NFL and CFL. "As soon as I got into coaching, it took away the playing but I could still go out and compete, day in and day out. Plus, every week you have something new, from recruitment to helping fill the stadium."

Favre, who announced his retirement in March, has been in the news for the past three weeks with speculation about returning to play.

QUICK HITS: Jacksonville will head to North Carolina to play Appalachian State on Sept. 6. "It's going to be great for our recruitment and excitement level," Bell said. ... Schnellenberger feels confident in his quarterback, redshirt junior Rusty Smith. "He'll be a No. 1 draft choice by the NFL. You can write that down in your book now and circle it." ... Wyatt said his team will win this season because it is stronger. "We lost most of our games last year in the second half. One main reason was because we didn't have a full-time strength trainer."

Brett McMurphy, Bob Bellone, Steven Hinton

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