Week 1 Impressions

It was a 50/50 week as I was both impressed and concerned with many things involving the local college football teams of interest...

INDIANA 19, Eastern Kentucky 13 - After storming out of the gates, the IU offense stalled and was actually shutout by the Colonels for the entire second half. When you're a football program like Indiana, you have to take every win - no matter how they come. That being said, whatever slim delusions hopes Indiana has of competing for a bowl game berth certainly weren't backed up by this performance. IU ran for 73 yards on 31 carries (2.4 ypc). Sure, EKU was stacking the box, but if the Hoosiers can only generate 2.4 ypc against a I-AA school, what are they going to be able to do against even the middling Big Ten teams like Purdue and Illinois? One of the lone bright spots was the play of former Ben Davis star Tandon Doss, who caught 8 passes for 125 yards.

North Texas 20, BALL STATE 10 - To say this wasn't the start that Stan Parrish had envisioned would be the understatement of the century. The Mean Green, which won one game last season, dominated the Cardinals on both sides of the ball. In fact, Ball State's performance can be summed up by this:

PURDUE 52, Toledo 31: Sure the defense couldn't get stops and Toledo generally did whatever they wanted on offense (493 yards), but you have to be impressed with the play of the young offense, which was a big question mark entering 2009. Joey Elliot wasn't great, however he didn't need to be as Purdue ran all over the Rockets. Sophomore Ralph Bolden fulfilled some of the promise he showed in Camp running for 234 yards and junior WR Keith Smith looks like the new go-to-guy (8 rec, 117 yds, TD). I doubt you'll see the same offensive production next week at Oregon, but it was certainly an encouraging sign.

NOTRE DAME 35, Nevada 0: You may see Nevada and think "who the hell is that?" Yet the Wolf Pack - picked to finish 2nd to Boise State in the WAC - is no slouch even though Notre Dame may have made them look that way. This was a team that ranked 5th in total offense last season while averaging 30 points per game. Also, Colin Kaepernick (189 total yards, 2 INT) is probably the 2nd or 3rd best quarterback Notre Dame will face all season. On offense, Jimmy Clausen had more touchdowns (4) than incompletions (3), and Michael Floyd (4 rec, 189 yds, 3 TD) showed why he belongs on the short list (Dez White, Julio Jones) of the best wideouts in the entire country.

All in all, Notre Dame lived up to the hype (for one week), Purdue may be better than we thought, Ball State may be worse than we thought, and Indiana is still Indiana.