OPINION

By Matt Hayes

updated 4:17 a.m. ET Oct. 3, 2009

The Sporting News' Matt Hayes previews the five biggest story lines of the weekend in college football.

1. The new weapon
So I'm watching one of those college football shows the other day, and the host with the coifed 'do and the hey, super! shtick asked LSU coach Les Miles what the close win over Mississippi State "says" about his team.

The unspoken inference: LSU isn't worthy of its No. 4 ranking.

This is where it starts to get a little fuzzy. Apparently, this idea is floated about because the Tigers have two relatively easy/uninspiring victories over Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Lafayette, and two road wins against Mississippi State and Washington.

You know, the same Washington team that never was within striking distance of LSU — yet two weeks later beat big, bad USC. So LSU gets zero credit for that Washington win, and even less juice for wins over the two worst teams in the SEC.

The reason, everyone, is simple: This team is about as exciting as cat litter.

Two years ago, it was the thrill-a-minute ride with coach Les Miles' dangerous and daring play calls, and last year it was the fantastic meltdowns in big games. This team, this fall, is boring.

Until now. This is the week we'll see more of backup quarterback Russell Shepard, the dynamic freshman Miles has been slowly introducing to the power run-based offense.

Considering what's at stake the next two weeks with games at Georgia and against Florida, LSU has to let it all hang out.

"It's a piece," Miles says of Shepard, "we've got to get to."

More than likely, Shepard will see more time in Wildcat-based offensive sets, but LSU also has used him this fall in the same backfield with quarterback Jordan Jefferson. The goal over the first month of the season was to get Shepard ready without overwhelming him, and without giving away turnovers.

He has 11 carries out of the Wildcat offense, and has rushed for 74 yards — and hasn't been dropped for a loss. He's the perfect changeup for an offense that likes to pound away with big tailbacks Charles Scott and Keiland Williams, and throw off play-action.

Playing Shepard against heavyweights Georgia and Florida certainly is a risk. It's also, potentially, a huge reward.

2. Will he or won't he?
All this talk of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford returning this week was nonsense. Anything less than a completely healed AC joint in his throwing shoulder leaves OU with a multitude of problems:

• A quarterback who can't make all the throws, and who would be playing to protect his shoulder from further damage (it's only natural).

• A quarterback who, at some point in the game, would lose his mechanics and rhythm because of pain and/or limited range of motion. That would result in two things: inaccuracy and interceptions.

• The offense becomes predictable in the second half because Miami could game-plan around the throws Bradford couldn't make.

Meanwhile, while we've been debating Bradford's health and ability to play, backup Landry Jones is coming off a six-touchdown game against Tulsa. The talk this week should've been: Did OU wreck Jones' progression and practice rhythm—just as important as game rhythm—by sharing first-team snaps with Bradford if Bradford really didn't have much of a chance of playing, anyway?

3. Protection issues
Jimmy Clausen says his turf toe will be an issue all season, and that he has to play through the injury and the pain.

Special Feature Inside the Irish Keith Arnold brings you all of the latest news and insight on everything Notre Dame.

That means Notre Dame's passing philosophy of spreading the field and working in space has to be tweaked. When Clausen returned in the fourth quarter last week against Purdue, the Irish used maximum protection sets on the final drive to make sure Clausen had time to go through progressions and find a receiver.

The downside to that is there are fewer receivers in the play, and more pressure on receivers to win individual battles. That's not an issue with WR Golden Tate or TE Kyle Rudolph. But if defenses begin to bracket Tate with a safety over the top, ND's secondary receiver—be it Robby Parris, Duval Kamara or Shaquelle Evans—has to win consistently against man coverage.

More teams, including Washington this weekend, will double Tate and force Clausen to throw to the secondary receiver. Washington played cover 2 (rolling a safety over both receivers) against USC two weeks ago and made the Trojans' passing game virtually non-existent.

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