OCALA, Fla. — How big is football in the deep South?

The University of Hawai'i football team got a reminder on its arrival in Florida from Atlanta yesterday afternoon with a full police escort on the 45-minute ride from Gainesville Regional Airport to the Warriors' hotel in nearby Ocala.

"It wasn't an escort, it was a motorcade," said Derek Inouchi, UH sports information director, upon arrival from Atlanta where the Warriors worked out for two days. "Six motorcycles, cars. I mean, they stopped cars like three lights ahead of us."

The Warriors will receive another one to and from the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, site of the season opener.

Warriors said the reception was far more impressive than the escort they had at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans in January or Alabama two years ago.

Florida officials say the motorcade is especially necessary on game days when crowds of 90,000 can choke roads for hours leading into Gainesville and the stadium.

HEAT WILL BE TURNED UP

Despite all the talk about tomorrow's expected high temperatures (90s) and humidity for the 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time) for the season opener, Florida coach Urban Meyer played down the Gators' advantage.

"It is football, they're used to that," Meyer said. "They have heat. It is just a matter of execution."

But Joe Colorio, a UF fan, said, "you have to feel it to believe it. There are no (ocean) breezes. The heat is bad, really bad. With a 12:30 p.m. game it is almost dangerous for the fans sitting there and the sun. I saw people fall out last year."

"You get a team from the North, you get a team from the Midwest, they're not used to the heat," Meyer said. "I saw (Hawai'i's) travel plans. I don't think there's (much) impact there than the fact I think the crowd will be really into it. Probably not as much as if it were a night game, so I think it will just be the execution of two teams on the field is all it is gonna be."

'WHITE-OUT' IN SWAMP

Meyer is encouraging UF fans to take part in a "white-out" for the game as part of a cancer awareness promotion.

Some 10,000 white "Gator shade" hats will be distributed before the game and free sunscreen will also be given out.

INJURY POLICY THE SAME

UH will not be amending its policy for injury announcements, Inouchi said.

For the past three years, UH has refused to officially disclose the nature of injuries for football players and some athletes in other sports without a full written release.

In football that has usually meant saying a player is either deemed able to return or is unlikely to return without disclosing what the injury is, even if the player leaves holding, say, a right knee.

Athletic director Jim Donovan had said the policy would be reviewed and Inouchi said a committee has met several times but will not amend it.