3 1/2 things I learned from week 1

1. The ACC might be as bad as advertised. Its tough to pass judgement on an entire conference based on one week of games, but the ACC's reputation has already taken a major blow. It started opening night, when South Carolina demoralized NC State despite playing sloppy, uninspired football for most of the game. But Saturday was where the pain truly began. Maryland barely "squeeked past" 1-AA Delaware, theoretically rising North Carolina "edged" I-AA McNeese State, and Virginia didn't just lose to USC (no shame in that) -- the Cavs flat out rolled over and played dead. But we haven't even gotten to the worst part. The favorites in the ACC's two divisions, Virginia Tech and Clemson, suffered upsets at the hands of East Carolina and Alabama, respectively. ECU, although considered by some to be a potential BCS-Buster, still plays in Conference USA, and Alabama is maybe the fifth or sixth best SEC team. Clemson was supposed to be the ACC's best and the Tide exposed them in short order.

2. The Pac-10 is wide open. After USC, of course. Stanford beating Oregon State got the party started, but nearly every team showed us something positive in game one (Washington schools excluded). UCLA grabbed the most headlines by shocking Tennessee. While I don't think the Bruins are ready for prime time, they might not be a cellar-dweller as many had forecasted. Cal earned a tough home win over Michigan State and has settled on Kevin Riley at quarterback, and Arizona State's Rudy Carpenter showed why he's the best passer in the conference by lighting up I-AA Northern Arizona for 388 yards. Oregon blasted Washington and even Arizona made a statement by pasting Idaho 70-0. Not that that's a great accomplishment, but I think the final margin indicates that there may be a different attitude in Tuscon this year. Long story short, there will be a lot of teams gunning for the No. 2 spot out West this season.

3. Two borderline top teams have a lot of work left to do on defense. No. 6 Missouri surrendered 538 yards to Illinois and No. 8 West Virginia allowed 399 yards to I-AA Villanova (Villanova!!!). Based on the murderous schedule awaiting nearly everyone in the SEC and the theoretical elimination game between USC and Ohio State, both those teams could be in a position to grab a top two spot when all is said and done. That is, of course, if their stop units can rise up in support of their very capable offenses.

A half-formulated opinion about: Tennessee. The sky is already falling in Knoxville after the Vols coughed up what should have been a relatively straightforward win over UCLA and its quasi-Division I offense. But a few things got in the way. First, UCLA's defense played an excellent game. And though the Bruin offense struggled -- through the air in the first half and on the ground the whole night -- the play-calling of Norm Chow down the stretch was predictably magnificent. The Vols failings lay mainly in missed opportunities and mistakes. Yes, Jonathan Crompton looked a bit uncomfortable or rushed at times, but the running game looked to be well in-gear. If anything, the "Clawfense" would have done well to grind things out on the ground and escape with an uninspiring 24-10 win, or thereabouts, that would have been long-forgotten halfway through SEC play.

But Tennessee made just enough mistakes to keep UCLA around long enough for Rick Neuheisel and Chow to spring their trap to perfection. The end result is we saw nothing out of the Vols that indicate they are ready to at least contend in the SEC East against behemoths like Florida and Georgia. But hold on -- we didn't see anything to say they aren't either. Remember, we saw this movie in last year's opener, and the Vols won their half of the league. Besides, it wasn't as if Tennessee showed no fire (they did in the fourth-quarter comeback) or had a deficiency of talent (certainly not). The play-calling and subsequent execution certainly need work, but those are correctabe issues. The Vols are probably not among the SEC's top tier this season, but don't write them off entirely just yet.