• You can run, rookie, but you can't hide. Cody Hawkins was mostly sharp, hyped freshman Darrell Scott looked like he might take over the feature tailback role, after all, and the defense held Colorado State in check across the board -- all in all, not a bad debut for Colorado, which won by three touchdowns Sunday a game that hadn't been decided by more than seven points since 2001.

Scott led with 54 yards and a touchdown on eleven carries, a nice night for a kid who has no idea who he can trust, even on his own sideline:

"For a freshman, it felt great," Scott said. "I said a little prayer before the game and got the jitterbugs out. . . . I was sweating bullets — do good, don't fumble, watch out for coach Hawkins."
[Emphasis added]

Learn from the veterans, Darrell: you can avoid him for a while, but eventually, you'll have to get Hawk before he gets you. You can't look over your shoulder forever.

• Bumps, bruises, twists and faces turning blue. All eyes in Columbus -- and L.A., and Vegas, and Bristol/Manhattan/The Magical Kingdom, which has much riding on Ohio State's apocalypse game with USC on Sept. 13 -- are on the impending update on Beanie Wells' bum foot, which, while not broken, could be anywhere on the foot injury scale between "sore but fine" and "probably gangrenous," according to the Columbus Post-Dispatch:

A team insider said that after immediate X-rays showed showed no broken bones, further evaluation indicated it likely was a soft-tissue injury to the forefoot. Such an injury could cause him to miss anything from just a week to the rest of the season.

Jeremy Maclin, at least, appears likely to return to practice this week after his ankle injury -- a strained peroneal tendon (as if you had to ask) -- late in Missouri's win over Illinois. The Tigers have a series of tomato cans until opening Big 12 play against Nebraska on Oct. 4, though, so if there's so much as a twinge, expect Maclin to sit or have a quick hook against Southeast Missouri, and then Nevada and Buffalo, if necessary. It didn't look like the offense needed him too badly Saturday, anyway.

And Georgia, less than a month removed from losing their best offensive lineman for the year in practice, loses its best defensive lineman, Jeff Owens, to an ACL injury in the glorified scrimmage against Georgia Southern. The Dawgs are deep just about everywhere, including the middle of the line, but this hurts, anyway -- Kade Weston has eleven starts inside over the last two years, but he's not showing up on any All-SEC teams or projected as a first round draft pick.

Big Andre Smith, meanwhile, after shaking the Georgia Dome to the rafters by finally collapsing after limping around with a sprained knee in the second half of the Tide's win over Clemson, looks like he's going to be fine -- although when it's carrying 330 pounds, the knee is the one part of the body not to take for granted.

• You ain't got no alibi. Louisville's averaged at least 34 points every year for the last five, but the Cardinals have a long way to go to get there again after scoring more turnovers than points in a 27-2 loss to Kentucky. Alleged scout favorite Hunter Cantwell, stepping in for his second career start after a career behind Brian Brohm, completed less than half his passes (20 of 43) and was picked off three times, while UK's defense took two Cardinal fumbles back for touchdowns.

Not that the Wildcats have much to celebrate after being shut down their own selves by the usually mediocre-to-lame L'ville defense and scoring its only touchdown on a two-yard "drive" following one of Cantwell's interceptions -- in fact, these two offenses combined for just 415 yards, fewer than either of them averaged last year. Louisville gets dissed for its lack of the usual playmakers in this morning's Courier-Journal, but if Kentucky's nearly unbroken string of last-place defensive efforts in the SEC are any indication, it's going to be a long fall all the way around in the Bluegrass State.

Quickly . . .

Texas defensive tackle Lamarr Houston will miss next week's game at UTEP for causing an accident while drunk in downtown Austin after UT's blowout win over Florida Atlantic. . . . Kansas dominated Florida International overall, but couldn't find much room to run against the Panthers, and Mark Mangino was not a happy man. . . . Nebraska's Cody Glenn made a smooth transition from running back to linebacker, so far. . . . James Winchester lived his dream of walking on the field in an Oklahoma uniform, and proceeded to snap the ball over the punter's head. . . . Texas Tech set an ignominious record with 18 penalties in its win over Eastern Washington. . . . After a lackluster offensive debut, Tony Franklin wants a true starting quarterback to make himself known, pronto (The Auburn Beat has rather dull Franklin video). . . . Florida's Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes could be back in the lineup Saturday against Miami. . . . The quarterback derby at Cal is over, and Kevin Riley is the man. . . . Just one game in, Jordan Steffy may not hold on to the starting job under center for Maryland. . . . QB aspirant D'Vontrey Richardson stood out to Bobby Bowden in Florida State's last scrimmage. . . . And ex-Gamecock Syvelle Newton is selling his 11-song CD at South Carolina games. If anybody got a hold of one Thursday, please, please, pass a sampling this way.

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Photo of Dan Hawkins via Every Day Should Be Saturday; Photo of Jeremy Maclin via the Associated Press; Photo of Lamarr Houston via Getty Images.