5 THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1. Is silence golden under the golden dome? Notre Dame opens Saturday at home against Texas A&M; after one of the most tranquil summer camps in memory. There were not even significant injuries to report. Sure, there are questions about Arnaz Battle at quarterback and Coach Bob Davie’s future, but gone is the cloud of scandal that has hovered over the program. Of course, one loss changes everything.

2. Someone hand the Mid-American Conference a blindfold and cigarette. The mighty MAC faces one of the most daunting first weekends we can remember: Western Michigan at Wisconsin, Akron at Virginia Tech, Ball State at Florida, Bowling Green at Michigan, Buffalo at Syracuse, Central Michigan at Purdue.

Do the players get combat pay?

3. The misery may soon end for South Carolina quarterback Phil Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Gamecocks have lost 21 consecutive games, the last 11 on Lou Holtz’s watch, but have been installed as eight-point favorites against New Mexico State in Columbia.

Hey, isn’t this the same New Mexico State bunch that beat Arizona State last year?

Wow, the Pac-10 was worse than we thought.

4. Our pick for upset of the week is Southern Mississippi over Tennessee. Why? Southern Miss has a solid history against major powers, starting with its shocking 1989 upset of Florida State. The Golden Eagles also played Nebraska to its husk last year in Lincoln before losing, 20-13, and, in 1997, lost to Florida, 21-6 and to Alabama, 21-7.

5. We’re guessing the reason ESPN’s “GameDay” crew is staying home this week is because no rental car company would hand over keys to analyst Lee Corso, whose rental was torched by lightning last week in Blacksburg during the storm that wiped out Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech.

The bolt zapped Corso’s car minutes after the pencil-pushing talking head was booed on the jumbo screen for picking Kansas State-Florida State to meet in the national title game. Corso has changed his tune and tabbed Virginia Tech to win it all.