College Football Corner: East Carolina Finer

Now look what you did, Ohio State, you let all the air out of the hype for our September Rose Bowl.

The oddsmakers wasted no time slapping the Buckeyes with a 10½-point dog spread for Saturday's big game with No. 1 USC in Los Angeles after their who-cares performance against in-state, uh, "rival" Ohio University last week. Ohio State also slipped to No. 5 in the polls.

So instead of a potential regular-season game of the century (8 p.m. EDT, ABC), we're stuck with more talk of an overrated Big Ten and Trojan greatness. But not so fast, the Buckeyes still have running back Chris "Beanie" Wells (returning from a foot injury) and the world's greatest freshman, quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Oh, and did anybody notice that the Big 10 went 11-0 last week in interconference clashes?

And who would have thought that a subplot for the Michigan-Notre Dame game this weekend would be which coach's seat could get hotter only three weeks into the season? Coach Rich Rodriguez's Wolverines eked out his first victory at Michigan, over Miami of Ohio, while Charlie Weis' Fighting Irish fought off the San Diego State Aztecs in South Bend, Ind.

East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney

Another big story that has burst onto the scene this season is that of undefeated East Carolina University. The Pirates, coached by Skip Holtz, son of ESPN commentator and former Notre Dame Coach Lou, are 2-0, having dispatched the best teams traditionally in the ACC -- Virginia Tech -- and in the Big East -- West Virginia -- in their first two games. The university's police also are in the news for allegedly getting a little chippy with some of the students who took to the field to celebrate. Anyway, we look at ECU as this season's South Florida, more on which below.