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.

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ACC Preview: Miami Regains Elite Status

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

This might be the year the Atlantic Coast Conference finally makes its case as the second-best league in college football.

Remember, it was only two seasons ago that the ACC sent 10 teams to bowl games, but it's still a league that those fair-minded SEC fans like to ridicule.

Its stacked Coastal Division will be just as impressive and difficult as the SEC West this year, and almost as wide open as the PAC 10.

Florida State should have its way in the Atlantic Division, as Clemson has a huge hole to fill after the departure of C.J. Spiller. Boston College, with the return of Mark Herzlich — whenever that might be — will have a fine season, but the Seminoles, with Christian Ponder and without Bobby Bowden, are the pick here.

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No. 8: Miami Hurricanes

The One Great Season College Football Countdown continues Wednesday. We'll be counting down the preseason Top 25 teams in 2010. Today's No. 8 is Miami.

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Miami has found its way into just about everybody's top 10 this preseason, having somehow done it very quietly. And it's been quite a while since a highly ranked Hurricanes squad did anything under the radar.

But fourth-year coach Randy Shannon has steadily revived a Miami program that finished 7-6 in 2006. His first two teams were an unimpressive 12-13, but Shannon and the new-identity Canes made some waves last year with early season defeats of ranked Florida State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma teams. Miami finished 9-4 in 2009 and left plenty of reason for optimism with its cast of players returning for 2010.

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