I guess this will be kind of random commentary on what I observed last night in college football.

First, the slate of final scores-

Cincinnati 28, Eastern Michigan 26

Toledo 62, Western Illinois 14

Oregon 38, Houston 24

Marshall 36, William & Mary 24

Vanderbilt 24, Wake Forest 20

Connecticut 38, Buffalo 0

South Carolina 24, UCF 15

Northwestern State 27, Louisiana Monroe 23

Washington State 38, Idaho 26

Arizona State 63, Temple 16

Minnesota 41, Tulsa 10 

• Oregon/Houston
  

Houston ran out early, scoring 21 points.  I wasn't all that worried for Oregon though.  Houston's approach basically mimics what a lot of underdog teams do against bigger foes.  I don't have a name for it, perhaps "shock attack" or something like that.  Basically, a team dumps a lot of its scripted series out early, trying to run up a surprising early lead, shocking its opponent into submission or confusion (or in South Carolina's case, doing it as a favorite and then running out of gas just the same).

Sometimes this works, if a superior foe doesn't have the constitution to get back to its gameplan and win the game.  But generally it just makes people think the favorite isn't up to snuff.  The Ducks ended up scoring 38 points and looked pretty good doing it.  I'm not sold on them, but it looks like they're basically trying to be a poor man's Utah.  It was kind of funny to watch former pocket quarterback Kellen Clemens move around the field.  He's not the athlete Alex Smith is, but it worked.

I love Oregon's receivers. I call them robo-WRs, because they're all around six feet, skinny legged, agile and quick, but not blazers.  They have a chance to be pretty special, though, kind of like a fleet of upgraded possession receivers on an offense that can get them the ball quite a bit.

The game was also the debut for Jonathan Stewart, the much-hyped tailback recruit from Washington.  He looks pretty good, kind of a powerful workhorse with a low center of gravity.  He only had a few touches, but did rip off an impressive 33-yarder.

• South Carolina/UCF

I missed a good portion of this game, having been out having a nice dinner with family.  I caught a good deal of the replay though, and thought it was good to see Spurrier's offense still working in college football.  It's probably a shadow of its former self, but can still be potent.  South Carolina's young backs aren't all that good, though.  Spurrier's eventually going to have to over-rely on his passing offense as things get tougher later in the year.  That spells disaster.

George O'Leary had a nice debut, showing you what good coaching can do to a bad team.

• Minnesota/Tulsa

Tulsa's bad.  It didn't help their quarterback was knocked out early and didn't know what time zone he was in.

Lawrence Maroney made a big splace, getting over 160 yards in the first quarter alone, including two long touchdown runs.  His Heisman hopes are very much alive right now.  He did slow down quite a bit, although that may have been due to Minnesota's comfortable lead.  As noted yesterday, Minnesota was running its machine run offense, just pounding for yards behind a sometimes brilliant offensive line.  It didn't matter the back, either, the Gophers simply run one guy after another for over 4 YPC (Maroney 9.7, Russell 11.2, Pinnix 4.2, Valentine 4.0).

I will say that Gopher QB Bryan Cupito did not look all that impressive last night.  Not that he ever has, but he had a lot of opportunities to throw (25) and didn't really make great use of them.  Its not like he's terrible, but there are always guys open because that offense is so prolific at running the ball, and he fails to connect.

There's not much else to talk about with the other games, because I either didn't watch them or they're not all that nationally significant.  I did say earlier Wake's Chris Barclay would do well against Vandy.  Well, he was suspended (oops), but his backup Micah Andrews went nuts, with 254 yards on 34 carries.  The Deacons are starting to have that machine run offense feel, kind of like a Minnesota-lite.  Basically with those teams you just insert a back and he functions like any other back because the system is dictating the outcome more than the talent on the field.

Unfortunately that was all for naught, as Wake lost to Vandy 24-20.

Lastly, Arizona State trounced Temple 63-16.  This was never going to be a game, but it was nice to see an OOC intersectional matchup, they're just so rare in the modern game.  Sam Keller was a bit shaky, but Arizona State fans are now hopping about the emergence of freshman back Keegan Herring, who ran for 134 yards on 12 carries.  Ten ASU receivers caught passes and Keller had his 4 touchdowns.  Next up: LSU.

For more reaction, a lot of it that's particularly astute, visit HeismanPundit's entries:

• Oregon/Houston
  
• Lawrence Maroney
• Coaching, Coaching, Coaching
• Scheme, Scheme, Scheme