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1. Former Vanderbilt coach James Franklin can’t stop smiling, and neither can Penn State fans.
First, he lands one of the biggest jobs in college football at Penn State. Not to mention the timing of that with Vanderbilt’s talent level falling off the shelf this season.
Granted, if Franklin stayed in Nashville in 2014, Vandy wouldn’t have fallen as hard or as fast. That’s not an indictment of Derek Mason; the transition just halted the program’s momentum. Everyone who interacts with Franklin comes away impressed, and he still would have gotten opportunities to become the head coach at a more prominent program (Michigan?).
Then, the NCAA decided to reinstate bowl eligibility immediately and restore all football scholarships starting next year. Either the NCAA is even more fickle than we thought, Franklin is an even better salesman than we imagined or both.
Franklin’s timing couldn’t have been better. One year ago, could you have imagined talking about Penn State competing for a Big Ten title in 2014, or Vanderbilt needing to play its best game of the season to beat Massachusetts at home?
2. Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville and Cincinnati finally kicks off the season Friday.
Due to multiple scheduling quirks, the Bearcats are the final FBS team to begin the season. Cincinnati is renovating Nippert Stadium for 2015, so the team will play home games at Paul Brown Stadium. Also, quarterback Gunner Kiel, the five-star recruit who has hopped, skipped and jumped from Indiana to Notre Dame to Cincinnati, finally will take the field in a collegiate uniform (vs. Toledo, 7 p.m. ET).
3. BYU is this year’s Boise State/Northern Illinois/TCU.
You’ll hear about the Cougars and quarterback Taysom Hill more and more often. BYU gave Charlie Strong’s first Texas team a major reality check Sept. 6, drubbing the Longhorns, 41-7. Then the Cougars took out Houston, the non-power conference favorite of many media members before the season, late Thursday night.
BYU hosts Virginia and then travels to UCF, Boise State and California. There’s a real chance the Cougars are undefeated and Hill is at least in the discussion to become a Heisman finalist. BYU’s schedule isn’t tough enough for the team to make a legitimate case as a College Football Playoff contender. But the team could play well enough to force “Around The Horn” and “PTI” segments titled “Should BYU make the playoff?”
4. Baylor QB Bryce Petty is expected to play Friday against Buffalo despite two cracked bones in his back.
The question posed by Matt Hayes of The Sporting News and others: why? Backup Seth Russell led the offense to a 70-point performance against an FCS opponent Saturday, and the Bears get a bye and a game at Iowa State before traveling to Texas on Oct. 4. Baylor needs Petty healthy to compete for a Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff bid.
5. Oklahoma State QB J.W. Walsh may be out for the season.
Walsh underwent surgery to repair a soft-tissue injury in his right foot. The Cowboys put a scare into Florida State in the second half to start the season and have been positioning themselves as a potential hazard for Oklahoma and Baylor. This news doesn’t help.
6. Rutgers coach Kyle Flood got a two-year contract extension.
After underperforming the last two seasons, Flood and the Scarlet Knights upset Washington State on the road to open the season and enter this week’s game against Penn State at 2-0. Flood will get an yet-to-be-reported pay raise after his salary ranked last by far among Big Ten head coaches entering the season.
The extension has to be classified as a surprise, right?
7. Speaking of Washington State, three of its players got arrested this weekend.
8. Iowa offensive tackle Brandon Scherff, a preseason All-American, had knee surgery.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
