ShareThisSure, it's crazy to make any assumptions after one week of college football. But as Christopher Lloyd said in "Back to the Future,'' "What the heck?''
-- It only took one hit to assure that Ohio State's Archie Griffin will remain the only player to ever win consecutive Heisman Trophies. No Heisman winner has ever missed more than one game in a season. And after suffering a sprained shoulder in Saturday night's upset loss to BYU, Sam Bradford will likely miss at least Oklahoma's next two games (Idaho State, Tulsa) and will be highly questionable for a tough test at Miami Oct. 3.
In any event, how could Bradford, who basically won last year thanks to awe-inspiring stats, make up that much ground on Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy and the other contenders who play an entire season? No chance.
-- Can a team that finished ranked in the top five three of the past four years really be facing a do-or-die non-conference game in Week 2? If you're Ohio State, the answer is yes when the Buckeyes No. 8 Buckeyes host No. 3 USC Saturday night.
The fact is that the court of public opinion doesn't really care about the OSU's 34 wins since the start of the 2006 season. All that really matters is those six losses, five coming to top-5 teams by a combined score of 151-68, including the Trojans' 35-3 mugging last year of the not-ready-for-prime-time Buckeyes in Los Angeles.
Ominous history Buckeyes fans: OSU has never beaten a top-5 non-conference foe in Columbus (0-3-1). And giving up 20 points in the second half to Navy in Saturday's harrowing 31-27 win is hardly a confidence builder.
One glimmer of hope for Buckeye Nation is sophomore QB Terrelle Pryor, who has thrown 7 TD passes with only two interceptions while adding 244 yards rushing in his last five games dating back to last year. Though no Vince Young, the promising sophomore has the same skill set as the former Texas QB who tortured USC in the 2005 BCS national title game.
And perhaps the Buckeyes defense can rattle Trojans freshman QB Matt Barkley, much as USC's defense hounded Pryor who came in relief last year, completing 7-of-9 passes for 52 yards and rushing for another 40.
-- Can basketball season start soon enough for the Atlantic Coast Conference? Thank goodness for Miami's entertaining win at Florida State Monday night because the opening weekend saw the rest of the league tank worse than a Michael Moore movie at GOP fundraiser.
The 4-6 record non-conference mark sounds bad, but is actually a lot worse, as in a 2-2 mark against I-AA teams (Virginia lost to William and Mary while Richmond bested Duke). Then there was Maryland's 52-13 clunker at Cal (the Terps' worst season-opening loss in 117 years). And how about N.C. State compiling all of 133 total yards in a 7-3 loss to South Carolina (that makes 271 total yards for the Wolfpack the last two years in losses to the Gamecocks).
Just chalk it up to lingering bad karma from the ACC's clumsy raid on the Big East to add Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College five years ago. Never tempt the college football fates.
-- And a final thought on the "punch heard 'round the world'' when Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount decked Boise State DE Byron Hout with a right hand that evoked memories of Mike Tyson in his prime following the Broncos' 19-8 win over the Ducks Thursday night. Kudos to Ducks coach Chip Kelly and the school's administration for suspending Blount, a senior who led the Pac-10 with 17 rushing TDs last year, for the rest of the season. A strong message of accountability had to be sent. But this one leaves the Ducks' spread attack dangerously thin at running back, especially after managing a whole 31 yards rushing at Boise.
Yet don't shed any tears for Blount. Come next spring, all the NFL will see is a 6-2, 240-pound potential game-changer, not a somewhat troubled junior college transfer who had had previous disciplinary problems at Oregon. Just keep him away from dogs, and all's forgiven in the pro game.
UPSET PICK: Georgia and its anemic offense dropped us to 0-1. But after all that extra practice over the summer, you just know Michigan will knock off 3-point favorite No. 18 Notre Dame Saturday in Ann Arbor.
HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT: Overall, I-AA teams went 2-30 vs. D-I teams for the weekend including such gems as Air Force 72, Nicholls State 0, Arkansas State 61, Mississippi Valley State 0 and Boston College 54, Northeastern, 0.
Can't we just cut the little guys a check out of the billions of revenue a D-I playoff would create? But that would take real initiative from BCS defenders, something as rare as a I-AA win over a top-10 team.
(John Lindsay is sports editor for Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com. E-mail him at lindsayj(at)shns.com)
column
