{"id":88066,"date":"2026-06-04T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88066"},"modified":"2026-06-04T07:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:59:59","slug":"86-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/06\/04\/86-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"86 Days Away From College Football Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are 86 days away from college football<\/a> kickoff. \u00a086 another great year for music, but we are discussing college football not the greatness of 80s music. \u00a0Today we have three fantastic football players. \u00a0Dave Casper of Notre Dame. Bob Westfall a Michigan Wolverine, and Zach Ertz the Stanford Cardinal. \u00a0We are working our way through the 80s. Hope you are enjoying the countdown<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n

Dave Casper Days Away From College Football Kickoff<\/h2>\n

A Scholar and Athlete\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
Dave Casper<\/a> earned All-America honors both on the field and in the classroom. \u00a0<\/span>In his senior year in 1973, Casper w<\/span>as Notre Dame\u2019s co-captain and offensive MVP. \u00a0<\/span>He helped lead the Fighting Irish to a national championship and earned consensus All-America honors. Casper<\/span> was also recognized as an National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete, a CoSIDA Academic All-American, and received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. As a tight end, he caught three passes for 75 yards in Notre Dame\u2019s 24-23 win over Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl. Throughout his career, he also played at split end, offensive tackle, and on the defensive line. <\/span>Ara Parseghian, a Hall of Fame coach, once called Dave Casper possibly the greatest athlete he ever coached. <\/span><\/div>\n
Casper was selected<\/span> in the second round of the 1974 NFL Draft and went on to play 11 seasons with the Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers, and Minnesota Vikings. He was named First Team All-Pro five times, played in four Pro Bowls, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.<\/span><\/div>\n
Casper has been a<\/span> longtime member of the National Football Foundation Chicago Metro Chapter and is also part of the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame. This Chicago group aims to inspire and transform culture through sports. He helps with fundraising for several Notre Dame alumni clubs. Casper works with the Cristo Rey Network, which supports about two dozen Catholic college-prep schools for urban students with limited educational opportunities.<\/span><\/div>\n

Another Great #86 Bob Westfall<\/h3>\n
Bob Westfall grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and went to the University of Michigan. He started as fullback in every Michigan game from 1939 to 1941. In Westfall’s first two years, he played alongside Tom Harmon, Forest Evashevski, and Paul Kromer in a well-known Michigan backfield. As a senior, Westfall was team captain and earned All-American honors. That year, he ranked sixth in the nation for rushing yards. Over three years, Westfall ran for 1,864 yards, setting a Michigan fullback record that stood for 30 years. He graduated with a literature degree. Westfall served in the Army for 18 months before being discharged due to bronchial asthma. He later played for the Detroit Lions and was named All-Pro in 1945. Westfall passed away at age 61 in 1980. He served as president of Adrian Steel Company and supported the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame for 20 years. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame after his death in 1987.<\/span><\/div>\n

One More Great #86 Zack Ertz<\/h3>\n
Zach Ertz<\/a> joined Stanford after being recruited by Jim Harbaugh. During his time there, he became a unanimous All-American First-Team pick and led both Stanford receivers and all FBS tight ends with 898 receiving yards and 69 catches.<\/span><\/div>\n
In his senior year, Ertz was a finalist for the John Mackey Award, which honors the top college tight end. He also made the All-Pac-12 First Team, earned Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention, and received Stanford’s Outstanding Senior Award.<\/span><\/div>\n
Ertz graduated from Stanford in 2013 and was picked 35th overall by the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL draft. One of his biggest moments came when he caught the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots.<\/span><\/div>\n

Editor’s Note: The countdown to college football kickoff has been a series on the Last Word on College Football social media platforms for the past 9 years. \u00a0They consisted of a photo and a small blurb for each player, with the jersey corresponding to the number of days until kickoff. \u00a0The rank of the players is sourced from articles by Bleacher Report, Fox Sports, and The Athletic. There are also some favorite players of the Last Word on College Football writers. \u00a0Their bios are sourced from multiple online sources, including but not limited to the College Football Hall of Fame, their Heisman profiles, and school websites.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Notre Dame Athletics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are 86 days away from college football kickoff. \u00a086 another great year for music, but we are discussing college football not the greatness of 80s music. \u00a0Today we have three fantastic football players. \u00a0Dave Casper of Notre Dame. Bob Westfall a Michigan Wolverine, and Zach Ertz the Stanford Cardinal. \u00a0We are working our way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1643,"featured_media":88101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2,35676],"tags":[36145,279,200],"class_list":["post-88066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-independents","category-featured","category-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-bob-westfall","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-stanford-cardinal"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88066"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88116,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88066\/revisions\/88116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}