College Football Notebook: OSU, Miami Shine In Tune-Ups

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

The first night of college football games is in the books, and here are my thoughts:

+ Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor helped his Heisman bid with a splendid performance in a blowout win over Marshall. But his passing mechanics still looked a tad gimpy on a couple of plays, and I'll be surprised if he enjoys similar success next week against Miami if he doesn't adjust. He threw one of his three touchdown passes from his back foot and heaved up some unusual third-and-long prayer that was nearly picked. Overall, though, he was close to excellent and it was nice to see Jim Tressel open things up slightly and call 25 passing plays for Pryor in barely more than three quarters' work. If it's true that players and teams make their largest improvements between Week 1 and Week 2, then Pryor and the Buckeyes should look pretty solid against Miami on Sept. 11.

+ Speaking of Miami, the Hurricanes opened their season on Thursday night as well. Quarterback Jacory Harris launched his own Heisman campaign by directing a 45-0 rout of Florida A&M. Like the Buckeyes, the 'Canes were dominant in all phases of the game, and Harris was rarely bothered, completing 12-of-15 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns. Leonard Hankerson, one of Miami's many talented wideouts, caught six passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns. How well Ohio State's defensive backs cover Hankerson and his speedy colleagues will be a key to the game and could determine next week's winner.

+ As I counted down the top 25 teams throughout August, I noticed that about half the squads would be introducing new quarterbacks in 2010. And inexperience at the position may have been what cost Pittsburgh in its game at Utah Thursday night. Tino Sunseri played adequate football in his first career start, even leading the Panthers to a 10-point comeback to send the game into overtime. But that's where he promptly threw an interception, allowing the home team to take over possession and get its game-winning field goal, sending the Big East favorites back home with a big fat "1" in the loss column.

+ The PAC 10 has long been known for its offense, but in recent years, at least USC has been able to stop some people. And under new defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, the Trojans were supposed to be pretty solid on that side of the ball in 2010. The Trojans scored 49 points and got some great individual performances at Hawaii Thursday, but they gave up 36 points and nearly 600 yards of total offense. Once the conference schedule heats up, there will definitely be some serious shootouts in the PAC 10.

+ I was really disappointed to see Minnesota's sport information department send out a note on Twitter late Thursday night: "Gophers just landed at MSP after tonite's big win! It's good to be home!" A Big Ten team should never consider a come-from-behind, 24-17 win over Middle Tennessee a "big win." Never.