Upon Further Review (Week 1)

I'll get it right this time...

Yeah, But Who's in the Trenches?

At the beginning of every season, as they evaluate each team in college football, the alleged experts always overvalue the return of skill players, and undervalue the return of the guys in the trenches. Always, always, always.

In retrospect, it should be no surprise that BYU knocked Sam Bradford out of Saturday's game. Oklahoma lost 4 starters from last year's offensive line, then lost their superstar tight end, Jermaine Gresham, to injury before the start of the season. That's one reason I predicted BYU would give the Sooners a scare. As it turned out, they gave them more than that.

Meanwhile, Colorado State, with college football's most experienced offensive line (125 combined games among the returning starters heading into this season) pushed Colorado's defense all around the field in a surprisingly easy upset in Boulder.

The least experienced offensive lines this year belong to Ball State (with 16 combined starts) and Memphis (18 combined starts). It is interesting to note that the team next in line in terms of inexperience is Oregon, with just 20 combined starts among the returning linemen. Is it any wonder that they were manhandled by Boise State's defense on Thursday?

Oddly enough, the Wall Street Journal has remarkably useful information on the subject of offensive line experience HERE.

A quarterback with great skills becomes very average when running for his life on every play. And a running back with great speed goes nowhere if there are no holes to run through. Before you pick a winner in a college football game, especially early in the season, you have to ask yourself, "Who's in the trenches?"

Where's the D?

After watching Miami beat Florida State in Tallahassee Monday night, the alleged experts would tell us that both teams are back. On ESPN.com, Heather Dinich says:

Miami took the early lead in the conference race, and officially has the slight edge in the race between the two former powerhouses in their quest to return to national supremacy. This game also showed that Florida State and Miami, unlike many of their counterparts in the conference, came prepared to play on Week 1.

I'll tell you what I saw: a game in which both defenses were lousy. The only thing more surprising than the fact that Miami's defense gave up 294 yards passing is the fact that Florida State's gave up 386 yards. The two teams combined for 880 yards of total offense.

ACC fans are clinging to this game as a sign of hope for the league, but let's not forget that Virginia lost at home to William and Mary, Duke lost at home to Richmond, Wake Forest lost at home to Baylor, NC State lost at home to South Carolina, Maryland got pummeled at Cal, and Virginia Tech was slowly overpowered by Alabama in Atlanta.

Miami and Florida State may be carrying the torch for the league, but the torch isn't burning all that brightly at the moment.