The other night while in Bristol I was able to catch some of the Tulsa-UTEP game. It was quite a show by Golden Hurricane QB David Johnson, who is having a spectacular first season as a starter. I realize the competition Tulsa has faced isn't very impressive. New Mexico, which is 53rd in total defense, is the best team Johnson has gone against. Still, the way he and the Tulsa offense have executed deserves a lot of praise.
In a season where a bunch of QBs are putting up staggering numbers, Johnson's are on a different level. His QB rating of 212.8 is more than 20 points higher than anyone else. (Sam Bradford is #2 at 192.2.) The two other stats that jump off the page for Johnson include his TD percentage (15.50). Only three other QBs are even in double digits: Mark Sanchez at 11.45, Bradford at 10.92 and Zac Robinson at 10.45. The other crazy stat is his yards per attempt which is 11.99, almost a yard more than Robinson.
This weekend, Tulsa faces possibly its toughest test when UCF comes to town for a Sunday night nationally televised game. Last year, UCF defeated Tulsa twice, including the Conference USA championship game. The Knights also picked off Paul Smith, Tulsa's terrific QB, seven times in those games. Worth noting: Brennan Marion -- one of college football's premier big-play receivers and a guy who averaged over 30 yards a catch last season and 27 yards per this year -- was contained by UCF for just 12 yards a grab on 10 catches.
Marion, as I wrote a few weeks back, is a very interesting story. As a junior college player, he actually lived in the locker room at De Anza (Calif.) Junior College:
"I did it for about two months," he told the Tulsa World. "It wasn't that bad. I was always at the school anyway. I had six classes and football. I slept some nights in the press box and some nights in the locker room, just different places around school. I ended up living with my coach (former De Anza offensive coordinator Darrell Williams). He had a big house in the hills, so that was good."
Anyhow, back to the UCF-Tulsa game. Tulsa coach Todd Graham says UCF has the best defense they've faced all year. "Their secondary is definitely the best in (Conference USA) and maybe the best in the country," Graham said of a defense that is fourth nationally with 13 interceptions in six games.
I don't think UCF will win this time out, but I do think this is a matchup college fans should tune in for to get a better sense of one of the more intriguing systems in the country, and its hurry-up, spread, no-huddle offense.
"I'd compare what we're doing to the wishbone," explained Graham earlier this week. "A lot of people will play us and say it's just smoke and mirrors. I can remember people saying that about the wishbone. It just tricks you and you don't know where the ball is going. We're in the infant stages of what we do offensively. The reason why it's like that is that every reporter calls it the spread offense. It's like saying the 4-3 defense -- there's a multitude of different things. I don't know of any other offense which is like exactly what we do."
RANDOM STUFF
•Will Georgia be able to dent a very experienced LSU O-line? If so, maybe some of the credit can go to former Tigers O-line coach Stacy Searels, who is now the UGA line coach and has given some tips to some of the Dawgs defenders, reports Marc Weiszer:
Three of LSU's starting offensive linemen -- center Brett Helms, left guard Herman "The House" Johnson and left tackle Ciron Black -- started under Searels. "I asked Coach Searels and he gave me the rundown on them, their strengths and their weaknesses," DT Corvey Irvin said. "I won't say what it is, but I'm doing my job as a player because I want to win. I'm doing my homework. This is just like the classroom."
•Young Morgan Burnett is already one of the best DBs in the country, and that's a surprise to no one at Georgia Tech, reports Larry Hartstein:
Coach Paul Johnson knew Burnett was a special player before he took the job. "I remembered him in high school when he was a quarterback, he was a great player, and I was joking with him when we came in that we were going to make him a quarterback," Johnson said. "I kind of think he thought I was serious for a while. It probably might not have been a bad idea, you could see he was a good athlete. The thing that impresses me about Morgan is that he loves to play the game. If you called up a bunch of guys and said, 'O.K., bring your pads and we're going to play at 2 o'clock,' he'd be the first guy there."
•Minnesota's O-line, which has been shuffled around a lot, is finally settling in, writes Kent Youngblood.
•How did Randy Moss help Oklahoma State land Dez Bryant? Scott Wright has the story:
"He was a big fan of Randy Moss, which was a big advantage for me recruiting him," said OSU co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer, who coached Moss at Marshall. "I told him some stories about Randy Moss and we watched some tape of Randy when Dez came up here. Those things connected with Dez."
•Jim Leavitt really likes Pepsi, even if its not one of his school's sponsors, writes Greg Auman.
•Florida State's offensive line just got even younger, with starting right guard Will Furlong out 6-8 weeks following surgery on his left foot, reports Steve Ellis.
FSU will have three true freshmen -- David Spurlock, left tackle Andrew Datko and right tackle Zebrie Sanders -- in the starting lineup against Virginia Tech on Saturday. The Noles struggled last week -- especially in the first half with a bunch of holding penalties -- against NC State.
Bruce Feldman
