Monday’s morning quarterback: It’s a big week for South Florida football
High school football officially kicked off last week.
College football returns this week.
A long preseason is almost over for the Dolphins.
Yeah, it’s shaping up to be a pretty good week here in South Florida.
Our big week of football actually kicks off on Monday as a handful of high school teams get after it a few days late thanks to bad weather.
There are some fun matchups in Broward County on Monday including Cooper City-Cypress Bay, McArthur-Flanagan and West Broward-Plantation.
Thursday is going to be pretty busy not only with the Dolphins going to Minnesota for their final unofficial tune-up game, but Butch Davis makes his debut on the FIU sideline as the Panthers travel north to face UCF in Orlando.
Ohio State also visits Indiana in a pretty nice Thursday college football showdown on ESPN.
On the high school gridiron, South Florida powers Booker T. Washington and Central square off at Traz Powell while Flanagan heads to Palm Beach to visit Oxbridge Academy.
Friday’s prep lineup features Columbus-Northwestern (Traz) and Chaminade-Madonna at Miramar.
Saturday is a huge day for college football fans everywhere.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3 Days Until Kickoff! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PawsUp?src=hash">#PawsUp</a> <a href="https://t.co/yqqTOWCRWd">pic.twitter.com/yqqTOWCRWd</a></p>— FIU Football (@FIUFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIUFootball/status/902159942517448704">August 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While last weekend’s games served as a nice soft opening for college football, this Saturday is packed with great matchups.
Locally, Mark Richt and the Hurricanes kick off their 2017 season at Hard Rock Stadium against Bethune-Cookman — a nice appetizer for next week’s trip to Arkansas State with the Seminoles waiting in Tallahassee on Sept. 16.
Once the Canes and Wildcats are done, the Florida Gators and Michigan Wolverines battle it out at the Cowboys’ stadium near Dallas on ABC.
Following that is perhaps the biggest opening weekend game in college football history when the Seminoles battle Alabama in Atlanta.
While many are watching Jimbo Fisher square off with Nick Saban, former Alabama assistant Lane Kiffin kicks off his era in Boca Raton as Navy visits FAU on ESPNU.
George Richards: 305-376-4995, @GeorgeRichards
<style>.mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}</style><div class="mcclatchy-embed"><iframe src="http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/high-school/article169549577.html/video-embed" width="640" height="400" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div>
SOUTH FLORIDA’S FOOTBALL WEEK
MONDAY
▪ High school: Cooper City at Cypress Bay, 7; West Broward v Plantation (PAL), 7; McArthur at Flanagan, 7.
THURSDAY
▪ NFL: Miami Dolphins at Minnesota Vikings, 8 (CBS-4).
▪ College: FIU at UCF, 6 (CBSSN).
▪ High school: Miami High at Krop (Ives Estates), 4; Jackson at HML, 4; Booker T. vs. Central (Traz), 7; Westland Hialeah vs. Goleman (Milander), 7; Coral Reef vs. North Miami Beach (N. Miami), 7; Varela vs. Miami Beach (Memorial), 7; Hallandale vs. Hollywood Hills (Cooper City), 7; Flanagan at Oxbridge Academy, 7; ISB at Pines Charter, 7.
FRIDAY
▪ High school: Hialeah Gardens at Coral Park, 3:30; Edison at Coral Gables, 4; Gulliver at Belen Jesuit, 4; Keys Gate at Westminster Christian, 4; Somerset Canyons at Pinecrest Prep, 4; Chaminade-Madonna at Miramar, 7; Piper at St. Thomas Aquinas, 7; Blanche Ely vs. Plantation (PAL), 7; Delray American Heritage at Cardinal Gibbons, 7; Nova at South Plantation, 7; Douglas at South Broward, 7; Western at Dillard, 7; Fort Lauderdale at Northeast, 7; Monarch at Coconut Creek, 7; Boyd Anderson at Boynton Beach, 7; Pine Crest at Key West, 7; Cooper City at Lakeland, 7; Coral Springs Charter vs. Taravella (Coral Springs), 7; Coral Glades vs. West Broward (Flanagan), 7; Kings Academy at Westminster Academy, 7; Archbishop McCarthy at University School, 7; Benjamin at North Broward, 7; John Carroll at Pompano Beach, 7; Calvary Christian at La Salle, 7; Monsignor Pace at Clewiston, 7; South Miami at Doral, 7; Hialeah at Naples Gulf Coast, 7; Barringer (NJ) vs. Champagnat Catholic (Southridge), 7; Palmer Trinity at Ransom Everglades, 7; Columbus vs. Northwestern (Traz), 7:30; Southwest vs. South Dade (Harris), 7:30; Norland at Apopka, 7:30; Killian vs. American (Milander), 7:30; Miami Springs vs. Sunset (Tropical), 7:30; Southridge vs. North Miami (N. Miami), 7:30; Palmetto at Naples, 7:30; Coral Shores vs. Somerset Silver Palms, 7:30; Florida Christian at Miami Country Day, 7:30; Liberty (Nev.) at American Heritage, 7:30.
SATURDAY
▪ College football: Bethune-Cookman at Miami, 12:30 (FSFL); Florida v. Michigan at AT&T Stadium, 3:30 (ABC); Florida State v. Alabama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 8 (ABC); Navy at FAU, 8 (ESPNU).
▪ High school: Deerfield Beach at St. Joseph’s (NJ), 1; Mater Academy vs. Reagan (Milander), 7; Coral Springs at Cypress Bay, 7.
This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Monday’s morning quarterback: It’s a big week for South Florida football."