Never Too Young To Excel

True freshmen are supposed to be scout teamers not first teamers.

Somebody forgot to pass that little tidbit along to a few 18-year-olds in this year’s crop of freshmen.

North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers, Tennessee right tackle Michael Munoz and Colorado running back Marcus Houston are all paying huge dividends in their first year of college ball.

Munoz was the first freshman to start on the Vols offensive line since 1981. The son of former NFL great Anthony Munoz is a big reason Tennessee has averaged 174 rushing yards per game. In addition, many of Travis Henry’s 155 yards per game have come over the right side of the line.

While Colorado is having problems at quarterback, Houston has been carrying the load. The running back is averaging 22 carries per game and 110 yards, that’s 21st in the nation. Many of those yards came against No. 9 USC, the No. 16 rush defense, and No. 8 Washington, the 43rd rush defense.

But Rivers is clearly the class of this class.

“For a true freshman, he is very poised and you can see him getting better each game,” said Georgia Tech coach George O’Leary.

O’Leary should know. He watched Rivers engineer a come-from-behind win - his third of the season - against the Yellow Jackets Thursday night.

Rivers, the son of a high school football coach, enrolled in the spring, much like Casey Clausen at Tennessee. But unlike the much higher-rated Clausen, Rivers has been able to pick up the offense and his team. The Pack is now 4-0, 11th in the country in scoring offense (40 points per game), first in passing offense (376.3 yards per game) and seventh in total offense (481 yards per game). Rivers has passed for more than 1,300 yards in four games and is No. 2 nationally in total offense with 355.3 yards per game. He has been named the ACC rookie of the week all three weeks this season. All this behind a makeshift line that keeps Rivers on the run. He was sacked seven times against the Yellow Jackets.

“He’s got a lot of heart,” Tech linebacker Recardo Wimbush told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’ve never seen a guy get up and get up and get up like that after a lot of sacks.”

“This kid does things that normal freshmen don’t do,” said NC State coach Chuck Amato.

Scouting Texas

The one positive to come out of Austin this week is that the Boy Scouts will be getting their seats back. You see, for 57 years, Texas has invited the Boy Scouts to work as backup ushers. After fans were seated the Boy Scouts were allowed to take any empty seat in Memorial Stadium. This year, because of a high ticket demand to see the preseason top-10 Longhorns, the Boy Scouts were told they would have to buy tickets. Thanks to a second-week loss at Stanford, that overwhelming demand is no longer there. And the Boy Scouts should soon be back in action.

Playing the heavy

Kentucky coach Hal Mumme benched proven quarterback Dusty Bonner, who led the Wildcats to six wins last year, for a redshirt freshman. A 6-foot-4, 275-pound redshirt freshman. And Mumme looks like a genius for doing it. Jared Lorenzen has passed for 1,043 yards in his first three games. That’s more than any other freshman in SEC history. Lorenzen, who weighs more than any quarterback on any NFL roster - ever - is also leading the nation in all-purpose yards with 362 per game.

By the numbers

63 - percentage of games the Big Ten has won against non-conference opponents. It is the first time since 1993 the conference winning percentage has been below .700.

87.5 - percent of field goals missed by Utah this season. The Utes are 1 of 8.

108 - point swing by Rutgers in a two-week span. The Scarlet Knights beat Buffalo 59-0 one week and lost to Virginia Tech 49-0 the next.

263 - rushing yards allowed by TCU in the last seven games. That’s an average of 37.6 yards per game.

305 - passing yards for Army’s Joe Gerena in a 31-30 loss to Houston. He’s the first Army quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in 23 years.