COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NATION : Cooper, Henning Welcome Early Game

Ohio State Coach John Cooper welcomed the extra opportunity to practice that accompanies playing a preseason bowl game, such as the Kickoff Classic, in which the Buckeyes will play Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., against Boston College.

His counterpart, the Eagles’ Dan Henning, has an even greater reason to relish playing the game.

“When you’re Boston College and you’re the only team east of the Hudson River that plays I-A football, and the Meadowlands happens to be almost in the dead middle of our main recruiting area,” Henning said, “I don’t think we could ever in good conscience turn down a game of that magnitude. It fits all the criteria of what we’re doing here.”