College Football Rundown: News and Notes

We are approaching the fourth week of the season in College Football and many teams are making headlines around the country. From Notre Dame's incognito offense to the addition to the sports lexicon the words Appalachian State, as fans we can only hope the rest of the year is as intriguing as the beginning. Here are some of the points of interest on the map of the College Football landscape.

DISAPPOINTING
Though Notre Dame and Michigan are the obvious choices, Virginia Tech and Louisville have also fallen early making them candidates for this distinction. Both teams were preseason Top 10 and VA Tech's 48-7 loss to LSU silenced any Hokie National Championship hopes and possibly shows that winning the ACC could be a tall task. Louisville had lofty aspirations with the return of Brian Brohm and an Orange Bowl victory a year ago, but last week's loss to rival Kentucky ended that and could have been foreshadowed by the wacky 58-42 game the week before they played vs. Middle Tennessee.

GATOR BAIT
Don't sleep on the reigning Champs from the Swamp. They are an absolute scoring machine behind Tebow's running and passing, and WR Percy Harvin's speed and versatility. They put a 59 spot on a good Tennessee Vols team last week in Gainesville. The schedule isn't bad with Auburn and Florida State at home, but the SEC will come down to the Oct. 6 game against LSU in Baton Rouge.

OVERLOOKED
Cal and Penn State. Cal impressed everyone with their nationally televised, primetime man-handling of Tennessee. The offense looks scary good with Longshore, Forsett, and maybe the early Heisman favorite receiver Desean Jackson. With the nation already placing USC in the national championship, I think Cal has a real shot at the Pac 10 title and even a title game appearance with those hopes resting completely on the Nov. 10^th game vs. USC, that is at home for the Bears. Penn State is another team in the "overlooked" category because of the expectations many have for Ohio State and Wisconsin in the Big 10. With QB Morelli playing well and the great crop of receivers they have, look for Penn State to be BCS bound if they can at least split the games vs. the Buckeyes and Badgers. And just like Cal, the key games are at home.