The NFL schedule makers look like geniuses, don’t they? Titans vs. Bucs, season opener, Sept. 13, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa.

Be there. Aloha.

Now, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota just have to do their part and win the starting quarterback jobs for the teams that picked them first and second in the NFL Draft on Thursday.

How sweet would that be, a rematch of last year’s Rose Bowl, aka the College Football Playoff Semifinal, to kick off their NFL careers?

It’s got kind of a Magic-and-Bird feel to it, or at least the potential for it.

Bucs and Titans isn’t quite what Lakers and Celtics was in the 1980s, but the paths and destinies of Mariota and Winston seem cosmically linked.

Hopefully the results are like that of the NBA icons who had squared off in the NCAA title game before battling for pro championships, and were frenemies way before that term even existed.

Hopefully they don’t end up like most Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks: great college players whose success did not translate to the highest level.

For every Andrew Luck there seems to be a dozen Tim Tebows who were done soon after they were drafted.

Wait … Luck never won the Heisman. See what I mean? But Tebow did. So did Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III.

Runner-up twice for college football’s highest honor seems to have provided good fortune for Luck.

The careers of the others mentioned are all in various states of disrepair, despite winning the Heisman. Despite all being first-round picks.

Logic dictates that rookie quarterbacks won’t immediately turn around franchises that earned their early draft picks the hard way, by losing lots of games the previous year.

Tennessee went 2-14 in 2014, and coach Ken Whisenhunt said Thursday he expects Mariota to start immediately and has revised the Titans playbook to fit his skill set.

Winston is considered by most observers east of Hilo and south of Eugene to be more NFL-ready.

When Mariota and the Ducks walloped Winston and the Seminoles 59-20 in the Rose Bowl, it was Oregon’s defense that made Florida State look bad as much as or even more than Mariota did.

But, with his speed and superior judgment on and off the field, Mariota could be better in the long term.

As is his style, Mariota insisted it didn’t matter where he was drafted, he just wanted to get to work. We know that’s true, because every step of the way he’s lived up to his image of humility.

Thursday’s draft gathering was classic Mariota. He’s an honorary member of Waialae Country Club and could have had his event there … or anywhere, actually. But he chose the Saint Louis Alumni Clubhouse, where his high school teammates and coaches and his family and close friends would be most comfortable.

He was excited and relieved and happy to be home — and ready to get on a midnight plane to Nashville, Tenn., and get busy. He said thank you and quietly slipped out a side door while hundreds remained at his party.

The last thing on his mind was Jameis Winston, the guy he beat on the field but who was drafted ahead of him. Might it slip into his thoughts on the long plane ride? Fuel for the fire?

"The only fire he needs comes from his family and his supporters," said Bronson Yim, who counts Mariota as his best friend and was his teammate at Saint Louis and Oregon. "There’s no such thing as a rivalry to him."

Perhaps. But those schedule makers, they know what they’re doing.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.