College Football Notes: Week 1

Some observations after the opening week of the 2006 college football season:

The Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles have awesome, lightning quick defenses. It was obvious from the get-go that the game would be decided as most of their meetings have been in the past - by a field goal.

How good was the FSU defense? They limited Miami to just five yards total offense and one first down in the second half! Look out ACC.

We also discovered that Notre Dame's defense will be the weak link that keeps the Irish from winning a national championship. Georgia Tech was hot on the heels of Notre Dame and proved that its a team to watch in 2006.

USC can still move the ball pretty good even without Leinart and Bush. John David Booty has Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith to throw to all season and the young man's very happy about it. Just ask the Razorbacks, who have given up 121 points to the Trojans in two games.

Texas can play real well even with a freshman quarterback at the helm. West Virginia, Ohio State and Auburn are legit national championship contenders, while the Big 12 North is the weakest its ever been. Just as Colorado after losing to I-AA Montana State.

Tennessee returned in big way with a huge upset victory over ninth-ranked California and UCLA served notice to the Pac-10 that they may still be good even without Drew Olsen, Maurice Drew and Marcedes Lewis. The Bruins man-handled a good Utah team and the defense, which was ranked 107th in the country last season, surrendered only 287 yards and 10 points to the Utes spread option attack.

Bruin QB Ben Olsen had the best debut of the week. The former high school player of the year who had not played in a game since 2001, led UCLA to the win by going 25-for-33 for 318 yards and three touchdowns.

Louisville suffered a major blow to its season when star running back Michael Bush, who had ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns against Kentucky, broke his leg and will be out for the season. The Cardinals, the main challengers to the Mountaineers in the Big East, will be hard pressed to keep up with Bush out.

Clemson suffered a big loss as well when star linebacker Anthony Waters tore his ACL and will be lost for the season. The Tigers, who's strength is on the defensive side of the ball with Waters and Gaines Adams, will have to replace their leading tackler the past two seasons.

Highlights for week two include Ohio State at Texas; Penn State at Notre Dame; and Clemson at Boston College.


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