Random thoughts about the season openers for several schools, in no particular order:

• The jury is still out on Wisconsin’s QB situation. Allan Evridge seemed confident out there, and he completed 70% of his passes with a TD! Oh wait, he only threw 10 passes all game. Handing off to P.J. Hill continuously without fumbling was perhaps Evridge’s greatest achievement.
• What Kellen Lewis situation? The QB performed brilliantly against a decent Western Kentucky team, running for near 200 yards and passing for 2 scores. I am sure that Crimson and Cream fans are grinning this morning.
• Michigan State is the model for “close but no cigar”. The seven point loss to Cal marked the sixth straight game in which the Spartans lost the game by a TD or less. It also marked the 10th straight loss MSU has had to a Pac 10 team. Ouch.
• Minnesota’s defense is still suspect. I know Illinois gave up monster yardage to Missouri and MSU didn’t fare much better against Cal, but the Golden Gophers gave up nearly 400 yards to Northern Illinois? Minnesota wasn’t supposed to make a huge turnaround defensively, but coach Tim Brewster has to be concerned.
• Penn State’s running game seems downright scary. Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin came in with the pub, but Penn State came out with the stats–334 yards on the ground, with 5 guys getting 60 yards or more. Evan Royster only got 8 touches, but 3 TDs–now that’s a good day.
• Yes, I know it was supposed to be a blowout, but you have to give some recognition to the Iowa defense, who limited the Maine offense to 220 total yards, a field goal, 2 picks, and only 83 yards in the air. The Hawkeye defense is young but definitely looks pretty solid.
• Michigan’s running game looks pathetic. Going into the game, many were questioning the QB situation, and while Rich Rodriguez used a platoon situation, they still didn’t do terrible, but when you consider that Brandon Minor led the team with 21 yards on the ground and his longest gain was 21 yards…ummm…yeah….you get the picture.
• Did Northwestern throw more than they needed to? C.J. Bacher tossed the pigskin 35 times, but his running game was blowing up huge numbers behind him, with almost 270 yards on the day total. I don’t get it…but me suspects some stat-padding.
• As far as the biggest dissapointments from Week 1, Javon Ringer is up there, but he also faced a great defense–but people won’t look at Arrelious Benn’s numbers (7 catches for 92 yards) and think that he had a bad game–but believe me, he could have done so much more for the Illini versus an exposed Missouri secondary. He seemed like he was just going through the motions out there and dropped several passes. He better get his act together if the Illini are to bounce back in big games.
• I would not be surprised to see Utah get a bunch of votes for the Top 25. Not that they don’t deserve it, but the “aura” that Michigan carries with them everywhere will now have bandwagoners jumping on the Utes for simply going into Ann Arbor and winning. This isn’t your father’s Wolverine team.

Well, that’s enough for now. I could go on for several more bullet points, but….I digress….