{"id":88874,"date":"2026-07-05T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=88874"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:42:26","slug":"55-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/07\/05\/55-days-away-from-college-football-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"55 Days Away From College Football Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
We are 55 days away from college football kickoff. Another Sunday Funday. Hope you and your survived the 4th with all your fingers intact. Rest up before we kick off another week. \u00a0For your reading enjoyment today in our countdown<\/a> to kickoff. \u00a0Today, we have Junior Seau a legendary USC Trojan. As well as Bob Golic of the numerous Notre Dame Golics. <\/span>Be sure to check back tomorrow for #54 in our countdown<\/a> to kickoff.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

Junior Seau (55) Days Away From College Football Kickoff<\/h2>\n
Junior Seau<\/a> was one of the most exciting and dominant linebackers in the history of USC and professional football. During his two years as a letterman from 1988 to 1989, he earned first-team All-American honors and was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in 1989. While Seau played, USC had a 19-4-1 record and made two Rose Bowl appearances. He recorded 107 tackles as a Trojan, with 33 of those for a loss, including 27 in 1989 alone. <\/span>Seau helped make the No. 55 jersey famous, a number now often worn by USC\u2019s top linebacker. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In 2016, Seau was selected for the Pac-12 All-Century Team. After skipping his senior year at USC, he was chosen fifth overall in the 1990 NFL Draft and went on to play 20 seasons with the Chargers, Dolphins, and Patriots. Seau was selected for 12 Pro Bowls and played in Super Bowls XXIX and XLII. In 1994, he was named NFL Man of the Year. Seau was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015 and is also honored in the Chargers Hall of Fame and the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He started the Junior Seau Foundation to support youth, opened a restaurant, and launched a clothing line. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Seau passed away on May 2, 2012, at the age of 43. \u00a0<\/span><\/span>Officials determined that he died by suicide. \u00a0After he died, an autopsy and a study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed that the legendary linebacker had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease caused by repeated head injuries.<\/div>\n

Another Great #55 Bob Golic, Notre Dame<\/h3>\n
Bob Golic<\/a> was a unanimous All-American and team captain in 1978. In 1977, he made 146 tackles, ranking seventh in school history, broke up five passes, blocked a kick, made three interceptions, and returned a punt. He followed that with 152 tackles in 1978, which is fifth in school history.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Golic finished his college career with 479 tackles, the second-most in school history. He also broke up eight passes, made six interceptions for 22 return yards, recovered two fumbles, blocked a kick, and returned a punt for 16 yards. Golic was also a two time All-American.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Golic was also, one of the nation\u2019s top heavyweight wrestlers. Over three years, he had a record of 54-4-1. He finished third at the NCAA Championship in 1976 and fourth in 1977.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Golic was picked in the second round of the 1979 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. He played in the NFL from 1979 to 1992 with the Patriots, Cleveland Browns, and Los Angeles Raiders. He was selected for the Pro Bowl three times and was named All-Pro twice. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
After his playing career, Golic became an NFL analyst for NBC Sports and now works in sports radio and television in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\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.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

We are 55 days away from college football kickoff. Another Sunday Funday. Hope you and your survived the 4th with all your fingers intact. Rest up before we kick off another week. \u00a0For your reading enjoyment today in our countdown to kickoff. \u00a0Today, we have Junior Seau a legendary USC Trojan. As well as Bob […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1643,"featured_media":88875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[5,2,35603],"tags":[36114],"class_list":["post-88874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-usc-trojans","tag-countdown-to-kickoff"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88874","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=88874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88876,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88874\/revisions\/88876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}