1. The CFP sleeper

We’re going to make this quick and easy, Virginia Tech. Want to prove it’s all for real?

Show up Saturday against ECU. TRACK IT LIVE

That might be a little more difficult than you think. While the Hokies’ victory at Ohio State last week was impressive, ECU is a completely different team. And by different, we mean, a team that can actually score points.

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The last thing I want to do is take away from what VT defensive coordinator Bud Foster did last week to control the Buckeyes. The double eagle defense — five down lineman with three covering the middle three on the offensive line — was brilliant.

It took away Ohio State’s run game and forced the Buckeyes to throw the ball with unproven QB JT Barrett. Needless to say, they won’t be forcing ECU QB Shane Carden — one of the nation’s best quarterbacks — to beat them.

“Ohio State had a lot of opportunities downfield,” Carden said. “You have to take advantage of that.”

The problem for Carden: Foster is one of the game’s best at mixing up coverage’s and maximizing strategy and personnel. You won’t see many zero blitzes — a staple last week vs. Ohio State — against ECU, because Carden will recognize them and has weapons ( see: WR Justin Hardy ) that can win individual matchups in man coverages.

If the Hokies truly are a sleeper team for the College Football Playoff race, they must do what many VT teams of the past have struggled to accomplish: stay focused after a big win. In the last decade, the Hokies are 13-7 in games after beating a ranked team, including some galling losses.

Among those: last year’s home loss to Maryland after beating Miami a week earlier.

“The only way this win over Ohio State means something,” says VT coach Frank Beamer, “is if we follow it up (against ECU) by playing well again.”

2. Big Dawg, little bite

So here we are in another South Carolina-Georgia game, these early season SEC clashes that, for the last few years, have decided who plays in the SEC Championship Game.

But please, don’t let Georgia’s 45 points in the season opener against Clemson cloud what you think will happen in Columbia, SC. KICKOFF: 3:30 p.m. ET

It’s more than just Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier’s personal success against Georgia as a head coach (15-6 at Florida and South Carolina). It’s Georgia’s stagnant offense against the Gamecocks in Columbia since before Spurrier’s arrival in 2005.

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In Georgia’s last nine trips to South Carolina, the Bulldogs have scored a total of 119 points (13.2 ppg.), and haven’t scored more than 20 points in Columbia since 1994. Anyone who watched that South Carolina defense against Texas A&M knows that Georgia might hit that number in the first quarter.

But know this: as bad as South Carolina was against the Aggies, much of that can be traced to poor coverage and the lack of a pass rush. Expect the Gamecocks to focus on stopping Georgia’s stout run game, and again leave that secondary in man situations.

Georgia, with a couple of key injuries to WRs Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott-Wesley, needs QB Hutson Mason to take advantage of those opportunities and play well in his first big SEC road game.

Brett Hundley has been grounded too often this season. (Getty Images)

3. Protecting the investment

In the collective bad of offensive line play this early season, none has been worse than what Texas and UCLA have delivered.

And wouldn’t you know it, we get both on the same field Saturday in Austin. KICKOFF: 8 p.m. ET

Clearly this game is much more important for UCLA, which began the season with national championship hopes — and has since watch its line give up nine sacks (and countless pressures and knockdowns) of star quarterback Brett Hundley .

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It’s fairly simple for the Bruins: figure out how to protect Hundley before something bad happens. By bad, I mean any (or all) of the following:

— Hundley gets hurt (the most serious).

— UCLA loses a game it shouldn’t (a gut punch, but not devastating).

— UCLA loses. Then loses again and again.

Bruins coach Jim Mora arrived in Westwood promising a tougher team, and he has delivered — for the most part — across the board. One area that hasn’t quite lived up to it: the offensive line, which has been a problem (especially in pass protection) since Season 1.

In 29 games since Mora was hired, UCLA has given up 97 sacks. Needless to say, that can’t keep happening.

4. High Jersey drama

There’s a seemingly meaningless Big Ten opener this week in Piscataway, N.J.. One that includes the following:

— Rutgers’ first game in the Big Ten. KICKOFF: 8 p.m. ET

— Penn State’s first game since receiving its NCAA get-of-jail card.

— Penn State coach James Franklin’s first Big Ten game, and first true road game.

— Rutgers’ first game since Scarlet Knights AD Julie Hermann gave seemingly embattled coach Kyle Flood a two-year contract extension.

— Rutgers’ first game since it announced that pre-game video highlights of former star Ray Rice have been edited out because of Rice’s off-field problems in the NFL.

BENDER: Five reasons Penn State return good for football | INFANTE: NCAA did as well as could be expected

All of that, and this little nugget: new Rutgers offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen — who has already done wonders with enigmatic QB Gary Nova (6 TDs, 1 INT, 208.9 QB rating) — was Franklin’s boss at Maryland on two different occasions. During the second stint, Franklin was named coach in waiting.

For those who still think the coach in waiting philosophy works (it rarely does), consider this: when asked earlier this week by BTN.com if he had a relationship with Franklin, Friedgen said, “Not that much, no.”

Enjoy, everyone.

5. Orange crushed

Don’t get discouraged, Vols fans. Don’t roll into Norman and get beat badly by Oklahoma and think Butch Jones isn’t the answer.

Because he most certainly is. KICKOFF: 8 p.m. ET

It’s going to get ugly when the Tennessee offensive line can’t protect Justin Worley from the Sooners’ pass rush, and the strides he has made in the first two weeks of this season will seem like two years ago. It’s going to get worse when the OU offense takes advantage of turnovers from a young team (more than 40 players had never played in a game prior to this season) and rolls to a huge victory.

But remember this day and look to September of 2015, when the Sooners return the game in Knoxville. That game will be much more competitive.

That game just might be the moment when Tennessee, under Jones, becomes a factor on the national scene once again. If that means taking a few more lumps this fall, suck it up and move forward.