Saturday Night Notes

Some quick thoughts on some of today's action:

ECU 24 WVU 3: Many Mountaineer fans will be questioning Bill Stewart after this game. These will be the same fans who anointed him the savior following last year's Fiesta Bowl. Stewart was given the head coaching job in a knee-jerk reaction after the Mountaineers crushed Oklahoma, even though he was not seriously in the running for the job prior to the game. Now, he is faced with a team that lost two of its best offensive play makers in Steve Slaton and Darius Reynaud. Slaton had a down year by his standards last year, but that was in large part because opposing defenses focused their schemes around him. Reynaud was Pat White's favorite target, and a guy who would catch most of what was thrown his way (unlike this crop of receivers). Combine that with the fact that the defense is terrible, and it could be a long season in Morgantown.

-On a similar note, the Big East is bad this season, possibly really bad. After a couple of seasons where it looked as though the conference was on the upswing, it appears that the conference may be taking a few steps back this year. Rutgers was beat bad last week at home by Fresno State. Pittsburgh lost at home to Bowling Green. Cincinnati was rolled this week in Norman (which will happen to many teams this year). UConn squeaked out an overtime win against Temple this week, and Louisville was crushed by Kentucky last week. This all means that the Big East will be up for grabs this year, filled with mediocre football.

Ohio St. 26 Ohio U. 14: The Buckeyes survived a scare from the OU Bobcats in which Ohio was ahead 14-12 going into the fourth quarter. OU had an athletic quarterback that gave Ohio St. all kinds of problems, much the way Juice Williams did last season. This could mean trouble yet again for the Buckeyes when they play Illinois later in the season. First, they will have to get past #1 USC next week. They hope to have Beanie Wells back at running back, but even if he plays, they will have to find a way to slow down the stable of running backs Pete Carroll will throw at them.

Michigan 16 Miami (OH) 6: I did not get to watch much of this game, but after watching the Wolverines last week, it will be a long year filled with many growing pains. Michigan's defense is not bad, but their offense is struggling to adjust to new coach Rich Rodriguez's system. The major problem is that their quarterbacks are not the perfect fit for the system because they are not athletic enough to make the necessary plays with their legs. Rodriguez has a proven track record, however, and he should have the maize and blue back near the top sooner rather than later.

Notre Dame 21 San Diego St. 13: The Irish looked very similar to last season for much of this game, but Jimmy Claussen stepped up down the stretch and led his team to the win. Notre Dame was the beneficiary of a close call where it looked as though the Aztecs had scored a touchdown to make it 19-7, but the ball came loose as it was crossing the plane of the goal line. The call on the field was a fumble which Notre Dame recovered, and video evidence was not conclusive enough to overturn the call. It will likely be an up and down year for the Irish, but they should be better than last season, even if they are still a ways away from being a top program again.