There were only two games on Thursday night, and neither wasconsidered to be a key match-up.  Of course both were over-shadowed by the NFL opener between the Colts and Saints.  Still, both games were very reavealing about the teams involved so lets get to it.

 Louisville vs. Middle Tennessee State:  This should have been all Cardinals.  The offense held up its end of the bargain racking up a whopping 729 total yards and 58 points.   It didn't matter if it was on the ground (Anthony Allen, 275 yds. rushing) or through the air (Brian Brohm, 401yds. passing) for the 'Ville.  As good as the offense was though, the defense was equally as bad.  Middle Tennessee St. had 555 yards of total offense of its own, and scored touchdowns of 78, 23, 24, 39, and 79 yards. Running backs Phillip Tanner and DeMarco McNair looked like mini-versions of LT running the ball.  The duo had 216 yds on only 16 carries and added 4 scores combined. 

 Who the heck is Middle Tennessee State???  For reference sake the school's nickname is the Blue Raiders, plays in the powerhouse Sun Belt conference, and is located in the beautiful burg of Murfreesboro, TN.  This team did win its conference last season with a 6-1 mark, but the Sun Belt isn't exactly the SEC.  Plus, the Raiders lost last week to Florida Atlantic and mustered only 18 yards rushing on 32 carries, but the offense looked positively explosive against the hapless Cardinals defense.

So does it matter that Louisville perhaps didn't focus too much on this game and underestimated its competition?  Well, it has to worry coach Steve Kragthorpe since half his team looked good enough to win a national title while the other made a team from the Sun Belt look like the 1999 St.Louis Rams.  If the Cardinals' defense doesn't get better, imagine what will happen when they face Big East foes Rutgers or West Virginia.  Brian Brohm might have to score 100 points just to keep his team in games.

Oregon State vs. Cincinnatti:  This game was exactly the opposite of how I had it pegged.  AccuScore had the Beavers tabbed as a very slight favorite, and I tended to agree.  I thought it would be very close, with Oregon St. pulling it out in the end.  This was with the added caveat of course that quarterbacks Sean Canfield and Lyle Moevao didn't throw the ball away.  Both apparently haven't learned the meaning of ball security as each three picks on the night.  RB Yvenson Bernard couldn't find any room to run and finished with only 30 yards on 16 carries.  It was just a horrible day all around for the visitors for OSU.  The one bright spot for the visitors was that star receiver Sammie Stroughter returned from a personal leave of absence, but he didn't catch any passes and muffed a punt deep in his own territory showing definite signs of rust.  The Beavers will have to solidify their quarterback position and compete much better if they expect to make a bowl game out of the improved Pac-10.

The Bearcats on the other hand look like they might be able to make some noise in the Big East, or at least upset one of the teams in the upper echelon.  New coach Brian Kelley installed a new no-huddle spread offense and it appears to be paying dividends already.  New transfer quarterback Ben Mauck has looked pretty good calling signals at the line throwing for four touchdowns against just one pick so far on the seson.  The Bearcats have won their first two games by a combined score of 93-6.