The University of Redlands is busily preparing for its season opener on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Ted Runner Stadium against North Central (Ill.), ranked fourth nationally by D3Football.com. That’s one heck of an opener!

Would have liked to have seen this matchup last year when the Bulldogs had a veteran quarterback in Dan Selway. But it is what it is.

The Bulldogs will have junior Chad Hurst at quarterback. He was Selway’s backup last year. He played in four games and went 4 of 9 throwing but you can’t read much into that because his time was in mop-up duty and the Bulldogs weren’t going to be throwing and most of the time didn’t have their other first-teamers in the game either.

This one will be tough for the Bulldogs to pull off, not just because of the caliber of the foe and having a new quarterback but because they are opening the season a week earlier than usual.

Coach Mike Maynard had six quarterbacks in the mix but went with Hurst because he was the backup last year so he has a better grasp of the offense. He also executed it better on the practice field.

Other local college games this week:

– San Bernardino Valley College at Chaffey, 6 p.m.

The Wolverines also have a new QB and all-world running back Kristin James is gone. SBVC’s success will depend on the showing of the newbies. The defense also must perform better than it did last year because it will tough to have the same offensive production.

Chaffey lacked consistency on offense last year. Coach Carl Beach hopes to have remedied that problem. Charles King will be over center. But the Panthers will be without receiver Alex Jeffries.

– Victor Valley at Mt. SAC, 1 p.m.

You have to feel sorry for the Rams. This just isn’t a fair fight. Let’s hope the powers that be have a little mercy on the Rams when picking nonconference foes next year. Hopefully Dave Hoover’s team can keep their collective headds up and not get too down after the first game.

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