College football notes and open thread - Sept. 16

  So last night was a pretty solid game for scouting, but not an incredibly point-filled affair.  Technically, it was a football game.  But had there been aliens over Starkville, I'm pretty sure they would have thought it was a second Civil War between the Starkville Maroon Battalion and the Lousiana Mustardmen (those are some giant mustardmen).  They also would have been rather confused by the fact that this war has spectators who have cowbells.  Seriously though, LSU's defense is large, fast and good at football.

  Tonight, there are two games on tap, neither of which made my as-yet-unfinished-and-it-never-is watchlist for week 3: Boise St.-Toledo and Iowa St.-Connecticut.  It looks like Boise St. WR Geraldo Boldewijn (formerly Geraldo Hiwat) and DT Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe are still going to be held out, although safety Cedric Febis will be back in action for the Broncos.

  If you haven't been paying attention, they haven't been suspended, but Boise had sidelined the three until cleared by the NCAA.  It is a weird situation to monitor.  All three are Dutch, and the Dutch student manager with ties to all three was fired this week, so there is that.  But hey, the NCAA is a totally fair and honest organization that aims only to promote the well being of the scholar-athlete!  Yay!

  Back in serious tones, Boldewijn is an interesting prospect.  He's big (6'4", 204 lbs.), fast and incredibly raw, having played only one year of high school ball in the states.  He needs to get back on the field and get to work at full speed against real, motivated defenses.  He has been practicing with the team, so he's not in a Robert Quinn-esque limbo, but there's no substitute for the real games.

  So if you flip on either of the games tonight, leave your impressions here.  And feel to turn the convo toward tomorrow with an eye on the 2012 draft.  Things could get a little crazy on Saturday; it will definitely shake up the rankings, but how will it affect prospects' draft stock?

  Holler.