ESPN Independents and Others Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

Welcome to game week.

Now we can all stop speculating and actually watch some football. I'll be in Charlotte for East Carolina/Virginia Tech and Piscataway for Rutgers/Fresno State. I'm looking for some tailgating invitations. I'm going to try and add a tailgating experience to the blog.

Anway, there's a lot to catch up on from the weekend, so like Charlie Weis says, let's "Dive Right In."

• We open with a good article from Lya Wodraska of the Salt Lake Tribune, who writes about Utah coach Kyle Whittingham's need for validation as he enters this season. Whittingham turned down the BYU job to stay at Utah in 2004. That same year, BYU hired Mendenhall. In just a few years, Mendenhall has made BYU a national player and Utah is still waiting to return to its 2004 prominence.

• The Ball State defense has spent the last month focusing on stopping the run because of some atrocious numbers the team put up last season, writes Thomas St. Meyer of the Star Press. The team even has the words "Stop the Run" written on the front of its playbooks.

• For all those eager for the Fresno State/Rutgers game, Rutgers has been preparing for the Bulldogs since Saturday and will run a mock situational game without helmets today, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. The article also notes that coach Greg Schiano will give his team a day off, which is much needed rest for an ailing offensive line.

• Eastern Michigan quarterback Andy Schmitt is finally healthy and ready to lead the Eagles for the second consecutive season, according to Bill McLeod of the Lansing State Journal. Schmitt said he played at about 75 percent last season while healing from shoulder surgery the summer before.

• And in an article that was recommended to me by Kirk Herbstreit... just kidding... The Bleacher Report contributor Jason Ellis said that BYU and Fresno State are the top candidates to make a BCS bowl. Not an outlandish pick considering both are ranked in the preseason polls, but a decent read.

• Boise State named freshman Aaron Tevis (6-foot-3, 214 pounds) the starting strongside linebacker over sophomore Derrell Acrey, who had been the starting middle linebacker after spring. With Acrey bumped from the lineup, senior Kyle Gingg (5-11, 203) will start at middle linebacker and senior Tim Brady (6-1, 204) will start at weak-side linebacker.

• More from the world of depth charts... UNLV made a few moves last night, Ryan Green of the Las Vegas Sun reports. The Rebels will play a couple true freshmen and such, but my favorite depth move is that junior Luke Plante is listed as the team's No. 2 tight end after moving to the position a week ago. That doesn't happen very often and speaks to the talent the Rebels had there before Plante.

• TCU and New Mexico have the honor of playing the first Mountain West game of the season -- for the season opener. New Mexico isn't happy about it, TCU sees an opportunity, and Mercedes Mayer of the Fort Worth Star Telegram writes that there's a lot riding on this game for both teams.

"If a season opener could be a more important game, then that definitely made it that," TCU offensive lineman Blake Schlueter said. "It's the most important game of the season. It's the first one, and the fact that it's a conference game I think adds a little more to it."

If you're a New Mexico fan, worry about this game. I thought TCU would win this game all along, but with all that's gone on around the New Mexico program -- Rocky Long's contract and NCAA violations -- there might be too many distraction to make this one close.

• Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune has a nice blog about the maturation of freshman quarterback Dayne Crist. Crist, who is third on the depth chart, probably won't play this year, but it's nice to see him get so animated about wanting to show well for the coaches.

• There's a lot of buzz surrounding Central Michigan football this season, so much so that the school has already sold 20,000 tickets for the season opener against Eastern Illinois, Central Michigan Life, the student newspaper, is reporting. Yeah, 20,000 doesn't sound like a lot, but Kelly/Shorts Stadium only holds 30,199. Oh, and it's Eastern Illinois.