Not a great slate of upcoming games this week, but still some intriguing story lines to sift through. Here's what I find the most compelling:
- BCS Bustermania! Think Georgia's Sugar Bowl thumping of Hawaii short-circuited the BCS hopes of the supposed mid-majors? Guess again.
Suddenly, there is no shortage of party crashers stepping forward. Utah won at the Big House. Fresno whupped Rutgers and will really get a chance to make a statement when Wisconsin visits, however the team on center stage this week is East Carolina. The Pirates are fresh off a victory over Va. Tech and now get to host West Virginia.
"It's not learning how to win that concerns me as much as it is learning how to handle winning," ECU coach Skip Holtz told reporters. "Human nature wants you to kind of beat your chest and pump your ego and listen to everybody tell you how good you are, and it makes it hard to focus on what you have to do, and I think part of learning how to handle winning is learning how to stay humble and learn to stay hungry for what you have to do, with all the media activity around you and all the attention that you may be getting."
Even though this is a home game for ECU, it'll be a much bigger challenge since the Mountaineer offense is a lot more dangerous, especially in the backfield. Worth noting: Pat White was really shaky in his last visit to East Carolina's Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, throwing three picks and rushing 11 times and having a long career of just 11 yards. In 2007, he really bounced back going 18-of-20 with two touchdowns against the Pirates in a 48-7 romp.
- Beanie Watch: This could just as well be "Injury Watch" since Mizzou will be holding its breath on the recovery of the great Jeremy Maclin and his sprained ankle, but the Tigers do have some time before their next serious challenge (at Nebraska, Oct. 4). The real intrigue comes in Columbus, where Beanie Wells' ailing right foot is the hot topic as the Buckeyes prepare for the visit to USC next week. Here's hoping Wells recovers fast. I was talking to a buddy after last night's Tennessee-UCLA game about a scenario where Ohio State plays USC without Wells anywhere near full strength and the Buckeyes lose a tight game.
But then by midseason, Wells is back full go and OSU crushes everyone and goes 11-1 and then there are no other 1-loss teams from BCS conferences, would that give pollsters pause?
- Shootout in the Sunshine State: Florida hasn't beaten Miami in a generation, but the odds heavily favor the host Gators this time around.
Miami is a 21-point underdog. The Canes come into this game very young.
QB Robert Marve will be playing in his first college game. UF unveiled a ton of speedy new weapons last week against Hawaii and now they get back their biggest gamebreaker Percy Harvin and their best defender MLB Brandon Spikes. My hunch is that Urban Meyer would relish the chance to show how big of a gap there is between his program and the Canes. It might be a victory of some sort for Miami to stay within two TDs of UF.
Can't recall the last time UM was ever in a position to seek out moral victories.
- Georgia gets the Fever: The top-ranked Bulldogs face the MAC's version of Tim Tebow in Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour, a guy who had five 100-yard rushing games and four 300-yard passing games in 2007. Trouble is, LeFevour's squad has really struggled when they've stepped up in weight class. Last season CMU lost 52-7 to Kansas, 45-22 to Purdue and
70-14 to Clemson. CMU also lost 44-14 to N. Dakota State. Their D is supposed to be much better this year though. Still, a 31-12 win over E.
Illinois didn't prove much. The Dawgs are more than three TD favorites as the schedule begins to get much deeper now.
UGA took another big injury hit last week when standout DT Jeff Owens was lost for the year. The Dawgs were pretty deep up front, but that hasn't stopped D-line coach Rodney Garner from taking the opportunity to challenge blue-chip freshman DeAngelo Tyson, who apparently needs to play with some of the passion that Owens brought to the game.
"DeAngelo has ability," Garner said. "He's got to decide he wants to play. He's got to change his body language. You've gotta get some energy, some excitement. The guy's just there. It's like, 'Do you like football? At least act like you like it.' "But I think he's gonna be a good player. He's a guy with some ability. Hopefully he'll step up and rev up his game and get his motor going and take off the governor."
RANDOM STUFF
•Great effort by UCLA last night. I think it was a testament to the great coaching staff the Bruins have assembled. Not only did Norm Chow and Rick Neuheisel rally Kevin Craft in the second half but D-coordinator DeWayne Walker did a terrific job giving Tenn QB Jonathan Crompton so many looks to keep him out of a rhythm.
The post-game scene in Rose Bowl was surreal. Neuheisel turned it into his own pep rally and he probably couldn't have scripted it any better.
•Alabama needs to get LT Andre Smith healthy fast. The 6-4, 320-pound sophomore might not play in the Tide's home opener this weekend against Tulane, Christopher Walsh writes. Smith sustained a sprained knee Saturday night while blocking a Clemson linebacker during true freshman Mark Ingram's 3-yard carry in the third quarter, during which the running back and his tackler appeared to hit the back of Smith's legs as they descended.
Mike Johnson, the O-lineman who shifts over from guard to fill in for Smith, has been very versatile in his career, although he was the guy some rival defenses targeted when game-planning for the Bama defense last year.
The Tide plays at Arkansas Sept. 20.
•Detroit News writer Jerry Green just moved up to Hero status in West Virginia.
•Former blue-chip DT prospect D'Angelo McCray who had a TFL in his debut at Eastern Illinois last week, gets to face his old school Illinois this weekend. I guess I'm curious about this because I'd interviewed McCray a few times for Meat Market and he was a great interview. Coaches were always high on his athleticism but it'll be interesting to see what kind of player he becomes at Eastern.
•After an awful first week, Dave Wannstedt got the dreaded vote of confidence from his bosses:
"In these situations, nobody's more disappointed than Dave and our team at the results of the game," athletic director Steve Pederson said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "But I also know there isn't any group that's going to work harder to get us back on track than Dave and his coaches and the team. For Dave, this isn't really a job, this is a passion. He's dedicated to building a winning program here and he has all of our support as he works at that."
•You just can't keep Howard Schnellenberger down: "Our kids always bounce back. That has never been a problem. They will focus and they will play well [this] week," the FAU coach told Ted Hutton.
•I saw "Little Children" the other night on cable. It is a strange, but entertaining movie in the same spirit as American Beauty. It certainly showed Kelly Leak of Bad News Bears fame in a new light.
Bruce Feldman
