Kickoff game proposed

The National Football Foundation is interested in holding a major, annual fund-raising game to kick off the college football season. The idea is to generate revenue for the College Football Hall of Fame in Kings Mills, Ohio, much as the Tap-Off Classic benefits the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

The Tap-Off game matches two major college powers in Springfield, and the football foundation envisions a similar format, with a pair of perennially ranked squads battling at Giants Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Speaking to a breakfast gathering populated by bowl game officials, Jimmie McDowell, the foundation's executive director, pointed out that the fund-raiser wouldn't steal the bowls' thunder. The intent, he said, would not be to pit the top two ranked teams from the previous season in a postscript championship.