Jonathan Baldwin vs. Brandon Burton

National Football League
Draft King Analysis

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Enough with the speculation and prognostication -- the 2010 NCAA football season has begun. Starting with play last night, the first weekend doesn't have as many superpower clashes as we'll see later in the year. But there is enough action to please almost everyone, culminating with a highly anticipated showdown between Virginia Tech and Boise State at FedEx Field on Monday night. If the Broncos can contain Ryan Williams, I will be impressed. To point, in last year's season opener, Williams ran for two touchdowns. The opponent then? Eventual SEC and BCS champion Alabama.

Last night offered plenty of options for college football fans, including a double-header on ESPN that ran well into the early morning for east coast viewers with USC playing at Hawaii (or Hawai'i if you want to put the apostrophe in there). The best game of the night ended up being Pittsburgh's overtime loss at Utah. The top matchup of the evening took place in that game, with Pitt WR Jonathan Baldwin facing off with Utah CB Brandon Burton, a specialist at man-to-man defense.

Baldwin had four receptions for 71 yards, scored a touchdown, and also pulled down a pass for a 2-point conversion. In addition, Baldwin had another TD called back due to an illegal shift; Pitt struggled with mistakes in a loud environment. Burton held his own on defense, and I saw at least one play where Burton, who is 6'1" compared with Baldwin at 6'5", perfectly timed a jump in man coverage and deflected a pass that Baldwin likely would have caught otherwise.

Baldwin has potential first-round level talent, with a knack for getting open and a large enough frame at 6'5" (or 6'6" depending on the source) and 225 pounds to cause problems for opposing defenses. Burton is listed as 6'1" (though some have him at an even 6'0") and 185 pounds, but the way he performed in key situations gave me confidence in his ability to be a successful NFL corner.

With many of the games being lopsided, it didn't provide an opportunity to accurately judge how some players have progressed in the off-season. For example, Terrell Pryor and Ohio State crushed Marshall, which was painful for me as a casual Thundering Herd fan. It's hard to spend much time in Huntington, WV and not like Marshall; I was there for 16 months during my time working as a news producer at WSAZ, and I grew fond of Marshall during that stretch of time. But, all own personal biases aside, the reality is that it will require a stronger opponent than Marshall to truly see how Pryor has progressed as a quarterback.

Many of the headlines going into this weekend have involved player eligibility. Ole Miss got a huge break this afternoon when an NCAA subcommittee reversed an earlier decision by the NCAA that would have forced Masoli to sit out in 2010. Masoli has one year of college eligibility left and also an available redshirt season from his time at Oregon. He was kicked off the team for rule violations but not booted from the school, and he obtained his undergraduate degree. He decided to transfer to Ole Miss purportedly so he could pursue a post-graduate degree that is not offered at Oregon.

Those in favor of Masoli having to sit out were not happy about the news, particularly with the detractors believing that Masoli's move violated the spirit of the rule. Urban Meyer famously brought cornerback Ryan Smith along with him from Utah to Florida in 2006, under a new rule for that season which allowed a player with an undergrad degree and remaining eligibility to play immediately for a new school where they would be taking graduate school classes. Since then the requirement of a waiver from the NCAA to make such a move was put into place.

While Masoli got good news today, it has been bad news for Alabama, which found out yesterday that defensive end Marcell Dareus will be suspended for two games for "receiving improper benefits from sports agents" according to the NCAA. Remember when Nick Saban compared agents to pimps earlier this summer? This case is what inspired that infamous comparison. Barring appeal, Dareus will miss home games against San Jose State and Penn State.

	UNC will be without Marvin Austin (#9) and Robert Quinn (#42) in tomorrow's LSU game. (Icon SMI)

It's even worse for North Carolina. First came word of the indefinite suspension of defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who as of this writing is projected to go #2 in the 2011 NFL Draft. Then it was announced that six Tar Heels are ineligible for tomorrow's game in Atlanta against LSU, with six more being held out of the game by the school as a precaution and three more who didn't make the trip but who could be last-minute additions depending on how circumstances dictate.

North Carolina defensive end Robert Quinn is among the players who won't be in action on Saturday. Quinn is a 6'5" 260 pound powerhouse who plays the DE position about as well as anyone in college football. There were major questions for LSU on how they would handle those two with their offensive line, not to mention standout OLB Bruce Carter. Now the LSU offense can concentrate on minimizing Carter's impact. On offense, North Carolina will be without senior wide receiver Greg Little and running backs Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston. Little was the top receiver for North Carolina in 2009, while Draughn and Houston split time at running back in 2009.

The implications for the draft could be severe. If Dareus, Quinn, and Austin all miss this season, it could shake up draft boards considerably. Dareus isn't expected to miss more than the two games he has been hit with, but for North Carolina there are some serious question marks and plenty of concerns for a team that looked at one point to easily have its best defense in decades coming into the season.

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