College Football Notebook: Week 1 Review

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Here are a few takeaways from the first weekend of college football:

+ Don't get me wrong; I absolutely adore the Mark Herzlich story. So great to see the Boston College linebacker suited up and flying around on Saturday. But do you think his story would get as much attention if he was, say, a Miami wideout?

+ East Carolina won on a Hail Mary Sunday, and something about it is worth talking about. You know how in basketball, coaches tell you to arc the ball when you shoot free throws? Well, that's what ECU quarterback Dominique Davis did on his 33-yard touchdown pass. Sure it helped that the guy who caught it, Justin Jones, is 6-foot-8, but I think the Hail Mary too often falls incomplete because quarterbacks put less loft on the ball and it comes in too horizontally, reducing the chance of a lucky bounce. Obviously, it's harder to do if you're throwing from your own 30, for example, but when you're in a little closer, as Davis was, it makes sense to go vertical.

+ Senior linebacker Tyler Moeller earned Ohio State's Jack Tatum Big Hit Of The Week Award. I haven't read the rule book in a while, but even on a return, can you blast someone in the back? Check the video here on Brian Rolle's interception return for a touchdown, during which Moeller drills an unsuspecting Marshall player (at the 40-second mark in the lower left corner).

+ You often hear how when you're a road underdog, play for the win late, and not the tie. But you don't often see it happen. That's exactly what Jacksonville State did, however, in a thrilling win at Mississippi Saturday. Not much is expected from the Rebels this year, even with Jeremiah Masoli, but it's always nice to see the SEC catch the upset bug that plagues every league at least once this time of year. I don't dislike the SEC, just the "SEC" chant that its fans love to toss around at every ridiculous drop of a hat.

+ Remember when Michigan found its way into the early season top 25 and we thought the Wolverines were back last year? Instead of piling on the maize-and-blue bandwagon after a defeat of Connecticut, why don't we take a breath and give it a couple more weeks before we crown their ass? I know we love to cling on to our emotional stories, and last year's death of Jasper Howard certainly was a tragedy and the Huskies should be proud of how they overcame it, but should those in the Michigan camp be pounding their chests for beating a UConn team that's been playing at the FBS level for 10 years?

+ Glad to see TCU earn some of the non-AQ spotlight with a nice win over a good Oregon State team Saturday. All offseason it's been Boise State this and Kellen Moore that, but the Horned Frogs are quite deserving of all the hype they'll get. Look for them to make a healthy jump when the first OGS in-season poll is released Tuesday.

+ Leave it to Les Miles to piss away a chance to slaughter a decimated North Carolina team on national television, thereby easing talk of a hot seat in Baton Rouge. Wasn't finishing games a challenge for LSU last year? Is 12 months too short a period to get that problem fixed? The Tigers turned their 30-10 halftime lead into a 30-24 we-don't-want-it-you-take-it victory over the suspension-plagued Tar Heels, who had a chance to win on a late drive that barely came up short.