Gameday Notes-Early Games  

Just a couple of thoughts while perusing the early college football offerings, mostly USF-UNC, Syracuse-Louisville, WVU-ECU.

- West Virginia showed up in the first half. Absolutely frightening.

- The future is bright at WVU, Devine, Jarrett Brown and a group of athletic receivers look like they might be able to continue this run. I'm very impressed.

- Absolutely embarrassing performance by Louisville. They should be ashamed. That defense is terrible and has absolutely no heart.

- Gregg Robinson is an awful coach, but even he understands that you should throw against the Cardinals whenever possible. He just needs to not get conservative to secure the win.

- Credit to the Syracuse defense through three quarters. If Louisville had their heart, they would be considerably less terrible.

- Of the 118 players on S. Florida's roster, 112 are from Florida. That is incredible. But also explains their emergence. It's a pretty fertile state for football talent.

- VERY impressed by S. Florida. Grothe has a ton of guts, and that defense is downright scary. Jenkins and Williams are a remarkable CB tandem.

- There will be better days for UNC. There might not be a better recruiter in the country than Butch Davis. He has 42 freshman on this team, so it's a squad playing for the future.

- George Selvie is the most underrated defensive lineman in the country. He leads the nation in sacks at 8.5, and had 13.5 tackles for loss in fewer than three games. He isn't just a speed rusher either, lining up inside on some downs and stuffing the run. He's on record saying he prefers to defense the run than the pass. Oh, and he's a sophomore.

- Speaking of underrated, what Jim Leavitt has accomplished in the last decade at S. Florida is amazing. He started the program, and now they're a top 25 team, and they have some excellent young talent. He started the program, but reached his 50th 1-A win in only 75 games. That is absolutely incredible. Also, he's said he hasn't put an emphasis on getting an on-campus stadium. Partially because the school needs new soccer and softball facilities. He's a guy who gets it. Not only does he want to raise the football profile, but the overall profile of his school as an athletics powerhouse.

- The S. Florida - WVU matchup should be very, very entertaining.

- I was a tad concerned about Oklahoma's defense on Friday. Paul Smith is a very good quarterback, but anytime you surrender 300 passing yards in the first half, that's not very impressive.

- I will never understand Gus Malzahn. I know he was disappointed with his role at Arkansas, but I have ZERO sympathy for an offensive coordinator that wants to install a spread, pass-first offense, when he has the best running back duo in the country. Talk about putting your own ego over what's best for the team...

- Brian Brohm can kiss any Heisman hopes goodbye. Frankly, his personal goal needs to be preventing his draft stock from dropping any further. Louisville as a spoiler? Get used to it.

- Mario Urrutia isn't good enough to hold Harry Douglas' jock. If the Douglas injury is serious, well, that would be devestating.

- Update. Credit to Robinson for not blowing the opportunity. His team out-played Louisville in all facets of the game, and he deserves a little recognition. The Syracuse defense in particular deserves a lot of credit. They created turnovers and stayed disciplined. Although they practically tried to give the game away late.

- What's going on with Nebraska? A friend gave me shit for not being as big a Nebraska fan as I used to be. Well, my fading loyalties may have been directly related to the fading of the Blackshirts.

- Did Florida read too many headlines this week? Guys, it's the SEC. Every game matters. I stated that the difference between my top four and everyone else was that those were the teams that didn't need to be perfect to win. There's a difference between not being perfect, and stinking out the joint.