Around the Nation: Quick Takes Sep 3

Five straight days of college football?  If only every weekend were so glorious. 

#25 Louisville 32 Kentucky 14
After the all-day football buffet Saturday, my wife wouldn't let me sit and watch much of the Kentucky-Louisville game.  After the lawn was mowed and the baby put to bed I manged to catch a few minutes and I have to say, coach Charlie Strong has built quite a team.  Sophomore QB Teddy Bridgewater hit 19/21 passes for 232 yards and the Cardinals had two backs go over 100 yards en route to a dominant offensive performance.  Obviously Kentucky isn't a very good team, but the Wildcats are an SEC team and Louisville ripped them to shreds giving some much needed positive press to the lowly Big East.  With West Virginia moving to the Big 12, the Big East is wide open and Louisville is easily the best looking team in week one.  If Louisville can navigate a sneaky-tough schedule that includes a trip to Southern Miss and big home games against North Carolina, Cincinnati and South Florida, then maybe the Big East can have a BCS team to feel good about for once.

Baylor 59 SMU 24
I'll admit I'm a sucker for a little team emerging from years of futility into a previously unthinkable era of football success. I'm also a sucker for a hot young coach sticking with a team once he's brought them out of the mire of irrelevancy.  That's why I've liked Baylor a lot.  Art Briles always has a fun offense and he's recruited well enough to have prolonged success in the Big 12 without RGIII.  A beatdown of an 8-5 SMU team is a great way to start off the post-RGIII era and ensure that Baylor doesn't fade back into obscurity.  The Bears rolled up 613 yards of offense behind senior Nick Florence's 341 yd 4 TD performance and an opportunistic, bend-don't-break defense forced 3 turnovers including a 66 yard fumble return for a TD by Mike Hicks to start the second half.  SMU moved the ball pretty well racking up 507 total yards, but they couldn't score points and it was a 45-3 game late in the 3rd quarter when the Mustangs scored their first TD.  Great start for Baylor, they'll get a bye week and two more easy games before a big one against #11 West Virginia on September 29.

I'll try and watch the Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech game tonight and then I'll be back tomorrow with my take on that match-up, plus a rundown of what to expect in week 2.  Thanks for reading!