Yes, Kansas University football fans, there really is a Florida Atlantic University.

Every time someone asks me about the Jayhawks’ football opener this fall and I tell them the game will be against Florida Atlantic, I receive the same sardonic look. They think I’m kidding.

“Florida Atlantic??? Who’s their archrival? Florida Pacific?”

Yuk, yuk. Actually, FAU’s natural geographic rival is Florida International.

“Not Florida National?”

No, not Florida National. Or Florida Intercontinental. Or Tallahassee Tech. Or Florida Western. Or Everglades A&M.

Nobody takes Florida Atlantic seriously because the school is only four years old, and I suspect that’s exactly what Owls’ coach Howard Schnellenberger is counting on as the suburban Miami university makes its NCAA Div. I-A debut this fall as a football-playing member of the Sun Belt Conference.

(Can you name all 10 of the Sun Belt Conference schools with football programs? Of course you can’t. You might be able to name nine, but you would never guess Utah State. That’s right. Utah State – a school about as close to the Sun Belt as Florida Atlantic is to the Asteroid Belt).

Kansas, it should be pointed out, is not the only major school participating in FAU’s initial sojourn into the college football firmament. The Owls also will meet Oklahoma State, Minnesota and Louisville this autumn. And, believe or not, the Oklahoma State game will not be in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys will be flying to Miami for a Thursday night ESPN2 game against the Owls in Dolphins Stadium.

That meeting, incidentally, will occur only five days after FAU plays the Jayhawks in Lawrence, so it would appear the Cowpokes are hoping the certain sauna-like September night in South Florida will sap the team with the shortest rest.

Then again, the OSU hierarchy has to be worried about a repeat of last season when Missouri went on the road to Troy and suffered a stunning defeat in a Thursday night game on ESPN2. Troy is a member of – you guessed it – the Sun Belt Conference.

Anyway, there is no turning back for Florida Atlantic.

“This is the beginning of a great journey into the I-A ranks,” FAU athletic director Craig Angelos said, sounding a little bit like a latter-day Lewis or Clark when the school’s football schedule was announced.

And how about the ageless Schnellenberger? The former head coach at Oklahoma, Miami and Louisville didn’t sound like a wise old Owl when he called the ability to schedule the four nonconference games “a stroke of God-sent luck.”

Still, I think it’s safe to say KU officials didn’t agree to play Florida Atlantic because of what they heard on a burning bush outside Parrott Complex. Kansas must have jumped at the opportunity. KU makes no apologies – and shouldn’t have to – for seeking potential puff pastries to balance its annual steak-and-lobster Big 12 Conference schedule.

Florida Atlantic fashioned an impressive 9-3 record in 2004 against mostly low-rent competition. But Schnellenberger lost the bulk of his starters among 26 departed seniors, and few coaches relish opening on the road with an inexperienced team. That’s what Schnellenberger will have to do on Labor Day Weekend right here in River City.

What else do we know about Florida Atlantic? You probably know that former KU aide Matt Doherty has been hired as the Owls’ head basketball coach and that former KU guard Rex Walters will be one of his assistants. FAU will compete for the Atlantic Sun Conference basketball title next winter before joining the Sun Belt for the first time in 2006-2007.

Another FAU coach with a Kansas tie is Courtney Hawkins, a talented hurdler in the late ’80s on Mount Oread who is now a track aide at the fledgling university.

So now you know there really is a Florida Atlantic. No more sardonic looks, please.