Sun Belt rises; top QBs stumble in Sunday morning college notes … Its not exactly like the call has gone out across the college football world to ‘Break up the Sun Belt’ but the conference certainly did create a little buzz yesterday with three major upsets. The biggest had Appalachian State stunning SEC power Texas A&M 17-14, while Marshall handed Notre Dame a third-straight loss (26-21) and Georgia Southern turned Nebraska head coach Scott Frost’s hot seat into literally a boiling cauldron with a 45-42 win in Lincoln in which the Eagles piled up almost 650 yards of total offense. And while the Sun Belt upsets were fun – at least for the Sun Belt – the bigger story in college football, at least from a draft perspective centers on the struggles of several of the top-rated QBs for the 2023 draft. Last night’s SEC opener between Kentucky and Florida, for example, was supposed to be showcase for QBs Will Levis of UK and the Gators’ Anthony Richardson to maybe put some pressure on Bryce Young of Alabama and Ohio State’s C J Stroud for the top grade at the position for the upcoming draft. However, both underwhelmed. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that to call Richardson’s outing ‘underwhelming’ is being kind. He was awful completing just 14 of 35 passes for 143 yards with two picks, including one returned for a TD that ultimately gave the Wildcats an upset 26-16 win. And it wasn’t that Richardson was inaccurate as multiple passes, especially down the stretch, didn’t appear to even be in the same area code as his receivers. On the other hand, Levis did at least look the part of a big-time college football QB; he’s got a quick release and threw darts, but wasn’t anywhere near as precise as NFL scouts would like to see in a top ten prospect; there are also going to be some questions about his decision-making in the pocket, as more that one of Levis’ throws were late and into coverage. For the record, it also wasn’t a particularly great day for Alabama’s Young, who did lead the #1 ranked Tide to a last-minute game winning FG to avoid the upset in Texas with his Houdini-like escape for a would-be sack and 20-yard scamper the key play. Young was also 27 of 39 passing against the Longhorns, but for barely 200 yards and just one score as he threw a lot of dump offs and looked pretty average. Stay tuned!!
