Does Kennesaw State University need a football team? We'll soon find out. And we suspect we know what the answer will be when a 33-member exploratory committee finishes its work and reports back to President Dr. Dan Papp.

That answer, of course, is "yes."

After all, Dr. Papp has said that the first question he typically is asked after making a presentation is, "When is KSU going to get a football team?"

Another signal that KSU is deadly serious about jump-starting a football program is the identity of the person that Papp tapped to chair the committee: none other than legendary former University of Georgia Bulldogs coach and athletic director Vince Dooley.

Dooley and his group, consisting of students, faculty, staff, alumni, business leaders and friends and benefactors of the school, are to report back in nine months with a recommendation on what the next step should be. Among the questions it will look at, according to Papp, are:

* What advantages and disadvantages would football bring to KSU?

* How much would football cost at Kennesaw State?

* How much student, faculty, staff and alumni support exists for football?

* How much public and corporate support exists for KSU football?

* What additional facilities would we need here on campus?

* What would be needed to maintain Title IX compliance?

* What impact would football have on the other KSU athletic teams?

* At what level would KSU begin to play football?

* And in what league would KSU begin to play football?

Assuming the prognosis is good, the Owls could field a team for the fall 2013 season. If that is the case, home field is already staked out. KSU this month announced a partnership with the Atlanta Beat, the Women's Professional Soccer expansion league team, for a $16.5 million, 8,300-seat stadium. And that facility would be expandable to 22,000 for football.

The key point, Papp concedes, will be whether KSU can finance such a program. We suspect that the Cobb and northwest Georgia area served by the school is both deep-pocketed and football-mad enough to make that a moot point.

From its earliest days what is now KSU has been in a constant state of flux, growing ever larger and ever more diverse in terms of its offerings. As Dooley put it at last week's press conference announcing the committee, "This is a university on the move."

So don't be surprised - not even a little - to read that after Dooley's committee's nine-month gestation period is complete that it recommends that KSU give birth to a pigskin program.