Kickoff for Vols vs. UAB might be at 12:30

Jefferson Pilot executive producer Jimmy Rayburn said on Wednesday that there's a good chance that JP will open this season on Sept. 3 with the 12:30 p.m. telecast of Alabama-Birmingham at Tennessee.

"It's Alabama vs. Tennessee, except that it's not Tuscaloosa," Rayburn said. "Alabama-Birmingham was a bowl team last year and (UAB coach) Watson Brown is a name well-known in the SEC since he coached at Vanderbilt. We normally don't get Tennessee this early in the year."

Usually, because CBS and ESPN have first shot at the perenially nationally ranked Vols, Jefferson Pilot doesn't have a chance to pick Tennessee until later in the season, usually when the Vols are matched against South Carolina, Kentucky or Vanderbilt.

Except for two years ago when Tennessee faced Fresno State in an ESPN televised season opener that began at 3:30, the Vols have had a long string of nighttime openers. UT coach Phillip Fulmer and sports information director Bud Ford couldn't recall a season-opening kickoff as early as 12:30.

The JP offer for the Vols-UAB telecast came after Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton turned down a request from ESPN to move the Vols' opener for the second consecutive year to a Sunday night.

Last year, the Vols moved their season opener from Saturday to Sunday night, and a national TV audience saw Tennessee pound Nevada-Las Vegas, 42-17, in the sensational debut of the then-two true freshmen quarterbacks Erik Ainge* and Brent Schaeffer.

But when approached a second time this year by ESPN to make the same move, Hamilton declined.

"We may do something like that down the road," Hamilton said, "but I didn't want to move season openers in back-to-back years. It's an inconvenience to our fans."

Fulmer said playing this year's season opener in the heat of September would certainly test his team right off the bat.

"I wouldn't like to have this (season opener) in Gainesville or Tuscaloosa, but it will certainly make us have a well-conditioned football team," said Fulmer, referring to the expected early September sweltering temperatures.