The deal isn't official yet, but apparently there's something in the works to pit one of Florida's top high school football teams against a Mississippi school that has the nation's longest winning streak and (surprise, surprise) television is involved.

Apopka (Fla.) is on the verge of accepting an offer to play South Panola, which has won five straight Mississippi titles, in mid-September in a game that South Panola coach Lance Pogue has said has been set up by ESPNU. Apopka coach Rick Darlington told our sister newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, that his team might get "beat half to death, but it can't hurt us." Those are great words going into the battle, huh?

Just wondering: Does Apopka really have to leave the state of Florida to find a team that could beat them half to death? Where is the school's athletic director or the area's superintendent to tell the coach that leaving Florida to play in a television game is counter-productive to the school's educational mission? No doubt, they'll be off somewhere cashing ESPN's check and counting the money.