College Football Thoughts So Far

East Carolina. Not much else to say. First you Beamerball Frank Beamer and beat Virginia Tech at a semineutral site, then you simply own West Virginia and hold Pat White and Co. to 3 points. The Pirates are currently ranked 14th in the nation after those victories, which is - without doing any research whatsoever - probably the highest they've ever been ranked. They have no one left on their schedule that should take them down if they play their best, meaning there may be more than one BCS-busting possibility. Speaking of...

Ball State. Yes sir, the old alma mater is 2-0 for the first time since 1995 after beating Navy 35-23 on national TV (ESPN) last Friday night. There are two legitimately scary games left - @Indiana, because the Cards have never beaten a BCS conference opponent, and @Central Michigan, because Dan LeFevour owns us. Of course, between the aforementioned Pirates and the already-ranked BYU, it seems spectacularly unlikely that Ball State would get into the big prize even if they went 12-0, especially considering their schedule. But BSU is setting themselves up nicely.

Ohio State. Color me unimpressed. The Buckeyes handled I-AA Youngstown State well enough, but trailed after 3 quarters against MAC nonentity Ohio and needed the Bobcats to fumble a punt and then foul up coverage horribly defending another to get their 26-14 win. They'll go to top-ranked USC next week. Good luck with that.

Notre Dame. Had to be mentioned. The Irish also trailed an inferior opponent entering the final quarter, down 13-7 to San Diego State before scoring 14 straight and outgaining SDSU 146-5 the rest of the game. This one was nearly really embarrassing since the Aztecs fell at home to I-AA Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo the previous week, but ND escaped with their lives. They'll host equally unimpressive Michigan (lost to Utah then edged Miami of Ohio) on Saturday. As an ND fan, I feel obligated to tell you I'm not that worried unless the Irish struggle again this week. Until then they're just one of many teams that had first-week issues, albeit magnified because they're ND and because they're coming off 2007.

Not much uncertainty. Other than ECU, the thrilling UCLA/Tennessee upset and the odd Akron-over-Syracuse style game in the first two weeks, things are more or less going according to script. I have a feeling by the end of the week of 9/20 we'll have a really good idea of what's going on around the country, but for now, all we know is USC is looking much better than everybody else, the ACC still blows, and the SEC is still awesome.