Joshua Shene sweeps his right leg and accelerates through the football, fighting the urge to look toward the uprights. This is the cruel conflict that emerges every time he attempts a field goal or an extra point.

ESPN has 12 platforms to telecast events, apparently one platform for each Southeastern Conference member. The network and the league made official on Monday a 15-year agreement worth $2.25 billion that starts next football season. The contract calls for more than 5,500 SEC events, including football, men's and women's basketball, Olympic sports and SEC championship events, to be telecast on various ESPN outlets.

College football is on the clock ... again.

Considering LSU beat Mississippi State, 45-0, in last season's opener in Starkville, the following theory may not make sense. The Bulldogs are having a harder time preparing for Saturday's season opener at Louisiana Tech than they did for the eventual BCS national champions a year ago.

It's rare that two college football coaches who have spent all of this decade in neighboring states have never met.

Stacy Jones doesn't feel like the same football player he was before he underwent treatment for cancer.

Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville was intrigued by my idea.

MTSU football will be sponsoring a Coaches Scouting Report the day before each home game, beginning Wednesday in anticipation of Thursday's season-opener versus Troy.

Thursday night, MTSU football kicks off its third season during the head coach Rick Stockstill era with a home game against Sun Belt Conference rival Troy.

NASHVILLE — It's been a month since All Pro kicker Rob Bironas has kicked a football in public, at least in the view of someone outside of the Tennessee Titans. He might not kick Thursday night in their preseason finale in Green Bay.

WOODBURY — When football kicks off in Woodbury Friday night, Chad Barger will be back on the sidelines — the visitors' sidelines.

Last Saturday night Cheryl and I watched the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and we both observed that the time has come for UT and Virginia Tech to get serious about playing a football game at NASCAR's most famous short track.

If one word can describe the Tennessee-UCLA 2008 football opener, it is "uncertainty."

NASHVILLE — The football calendar in the South has a basic flow: high schools on Friday nights, colleges on Saturday and the NFL on Sunday and Monday nights.

La Vergne's homecoming football game against McGavock, scheduled for Sept. 26, has been moved to Thursday Sept. 25.

After three preseason scrimmages, a jamboree and August practices, Game Week has arrived for McMinn County High School football. And it\'s a short week at that.

An opening-night win doesn't guarantee a successful season but it can set the tone for what\'s to follow. And in McMinn County\'s case, setting the tone early is especially vital with what lies ahead on the 2008 high school football schedule.

The youth football season kicked off this past Saturday with games played in both the Sequoyah Conference and the SouthEast Tennessee Athletic Conference.

It says something about Region 2-AAAAA high school football that a 7-3 season wasn\'t good enough to earn a state playoff berth.

McMinn County shook off the effects of three turnovers Thursday night and defeated Walker Valley in the opening game of the high school football season, 17-7.

HENDERSON - South Side High's annual play date scrimmage at Freed-Hardeman is volleyball's equivalent to football's jamborees, and Lady Hawks head coach Tommy Dean got a good chance to see his team in a game-like situation along with a number of other West Tennessee coaches over the weekend.

It is officially football time in Tennessee as No. 6 Bethel played the first college game in the state Saturday night.

NASHVILLE - It's been a month since All Pro kicker Rob Bironas has kicked a football in public, at least in the view of someone outside of the Tennessee Titans. He might not kick Thursday night in their preseason finale in Green Bay.

Old Fearless, The Jackson Sun's reluctant football prognosticator, is back and more belligerent than ever.

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer still gets the jitters at the start of football season, even though he's been through 16 of them already.

It's certainly the biggest game Austin Peay has played since its return to scholarship football.

NASHVILLE — It's been a month since All Pro kicker Rob Bironas has kicked a football in public, at least in the view of someone outside of the Tennessee Titans. He might not kick Thursday night in their preseason finale in Green Bay.

The Southeastern Conference has signed a 15-year deal with ESPN reportedly worth more than $2 billion to televise sporting events, including football and men's and women's basketball.

Four Austin Peay football players were suspended for three games Wednesday afternoon for a violation of team policy.

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer still gets the jitters at the start of football season, even though he's been through 16 of them already.

Evidence is in the fresh tags, shiny numbers and lack of holes. Problem is, there's an awful lot of them. When football players graduate from Cascade, coach Kenny Parker allows them to take their...