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There's a lot to see at a big college football game. Here are some things our writers in Arizona and our staff in Dayton observed Monday before and during the Ohio State-Florida game:

Saying hello to an old friend

Sitting here in University of Phoenix Stadium four hours before kick-off, I've been watching two things:

• The majestic bald eagle that keeps circling the inside of the stadium, practicing for his grand finale swoop at the end of the national anthem.

• Jimmy Johnson's hair — which couldn't move if it wanted to.

The coach-turned-broadcaster — a guy I've considered a friend for 20 years — is sitting some 60 feet directly below me on the FOX broadcast stage that's been set up above the players' tunnel in the end zone. I've got one of the end seats in the front row of the press box.

Before Johnson sat down, the FOX prep folks helped him with his jacket, his make-up and sprayed down his hair. Not that it would blow anyway — we're in a dome.

I've known Jimmy since he took over the Miami Hurricanes and I was writing columns on the team for The Miami News. I spent plenty of time in his office and on his sidelines. He went to some of the fights I covered in Las Vegas and when the Greater Miami Boys and Girls Club gave him a packed-house send-off before he left the Hurricanes for the Dallas Cowboys, he was the roastee and I was one of his prime roasters.

Once he settled in on the FOX set Monday, I went down to an open area and yelled down to him. He looked up, waved and then started laughing and shook his head.

"Don't worry," I yelled, "no jokes today."

As Johnson settled into his pregame work, the eagle and his handler kept honing their pregame swoop.

It brought to mind the New York Yankees, who quit the routine with eagles when one of them zeroed in on Derek Jeter's head.

If that happens here — if the eagle does the same to Jimmy — that big old bird will hit the hair and be stopped dead in his tracks.

Sorry Jimmy — one lame joke.

— Tom Archdeacon

Seats look good to Buckeye fans

With a few fans already filing in, one of the first things you notice about the inside of University of Phoenix Stadium — aside from the closed roof, which shut out a nearly perfect day in suburban Phoenix — is the colors of the so-far empty seats.

Red and gray.

I'm not big on omens, but if you were an Ohio State fan looking for a reason to feel positive three hours before the game, you found one, a present from the red-themed Arizona Cardinals.

— Kyle Nagel

Two cliches are better than one

Florida was efficiently moving toward the Ohio State end zone late in the first quarter when they pulled off a cool pitch reverse that gained good yardage. I said something to a fellow worker about the Buckeyes defense being "back on its heels." Not more than 2 seconds later, FOX commentator Barry Alvarez mentioned that OSU was "back on its heels." Spooky. Two great cliches, uttered nearly simultaneously, in two different time zones.

— Brian Kollars

Early gamble put Buckeyes in a hole

Crazy. Silly. Smacks of desperation.

That's what I was thinking in the first half when Ohio State coach Jim Tressel went for it on fourth down with a yard to get — from his own 29-yard line.

Surely the Buckeyes would try to draw the Gators offside with a long count. I wanted to believe this right up until the ball was snapped and the OSU line was shoved into the backfield, causing the running play to go nowhere.

Maybe it didn't matter in the long run, but the resulting Florida field goal seemed plenty huge at the time.

— Sean McClelland