BERNHARDT TO DIRECT KICKOFF CLASSIC SHOW

Barry Bernhardt, director of Southeast Missouri State University's marching band, will direct the halftime show of Sunday's Kickoff Classic football game.

The televised game between West Virginia University and the University of Nebraska will mark the start of the college football season. The game will be played in Giant Stadium in Newark, N.J., airing at 1 p.m. CST on ABC.

Bernhardt will direct a massed band comprised of more than 1,000 musicians, including about six high-school bands from New Jersey and the West Virginia University marching band. The six- to eight-minute program also will feature several hundred dancers.

Over the years Bernhardt has directed halftime shows for a number of bowl games.