Nothing major

It appears that next season’s Kansas-South Florida game in Tampa, Fla., will not be moved to the opening week of the season for television.

ESPN had approached USF about the possibility of moving the game to Aug. 29, a Friday, for primetime television purposes. But USF athletic director Doug Woolard told the Tampa Tribune that “my latest conversation with ESPN is that the game will remain as scheduled.”

That, for now, is Sept. 13.

Both Woolard and KU associate athletic director Larry Keating did mention the possibility of the game being moved to Friday night, Sept. 12, but no serious conversations have taken place.

For now, KU’s 2008 nonconference schedule is: Florida International on Aug. 30, Louisiana Tech on Sept. 6, at South Florida on Sept. 13 and Sam Houston State on Sept. 20.

Mangino nabs another

That makes eight.

KU coach Mark Mangino was named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association on Wednesday, giving him eight national coach-of-the-year awards this season.

The others: Associated Press, Bear Bryant, Eddie Robinson, Home Depot (ESPN), The Sporting News, Walter Camp and Woody Hayes.

Assembly planned

Lawrence High will hold an assembly today to honor two of its own – KU seniors Brandon McAnderson and Brian Seymour.

The two, 2003 LHS grads, were contributors on the 12-1 Kansas team which won the Orange Bowl last week. McAnderson rushed for 1,125 yards and 16 touchdowns as the primary ball-carrier this season, while Seymour had five tackles on special teams.

2008 rankings

A couple of national publications have released a preseason Top 25 ranking for 2008.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach puts Kansas at No. 15, behind four Big 12 Conference teams: Oklahoma (No. 2), Missouri (4), Texas (7) and Texas Tech (12).

Rivals.com, meanwhile, put Kansas at No. 11, saying “The Jayhawks could be even stronger than they were this season” but also noting an increase in schedule strength.