The final college football Saturday before the start of SEC play is in the books and while the slate of games wasn't too enticing there's plenty to break down.

Here are some thoughts on what we learned from another day in perhaps the sport's most unique season.

— Miami looks like a really good team. Louisville looks a lot like the team it was last season. Quarterback D'Eriq King is the best player behind center that the Hurricanes have had in quite some time and he looks like the real deal. He was not perfect but he's accurate, sees the field, and is a confident thrower. The ACC has some really good quarterbacks and King is probably towards the top of that list. Watching this game, I was struck by how many strong players Miami had across the board in almost every position unit. They look like a complete squad which is a testament to what Manny Diaz is doing. Of course last year the problem was totally quitting in the season's final three games with losses to Duke, FIU, and Louisiana Tech. But this team looks different. I would slide them up between Notre Dame and North Carolina, now probably my third favorite team in the ACC following Clemson and the Irish.

A lot of people (and certainly some Kentucky fans will be among them) will criticize Scott Satterfield after this game. That will happen after any showing like this. I think it's fair to say the team looks very similar to last year. To be fair I'm just not sure how much different things actually could be one year removed from last year. They still have pretty much the same personnel. This is a team that will boat race most bad to average defenses because of the skill talent and the way Satterfield utilizes his perimeter players, but they are still lacking in physicality on both sides of the ball. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the game for Louisville: The defensive lapses that weren't a lack of physicality, but simply blown assignments. That's what's got to be most troubling for Louisville fans. Satterfield couldn't have made Louisville much better, stronger, or better at the point of attack in an offseason, but the amount of breakdowns and blown coverages was unacceptable.

Here at Cats Illustrated I've been saying I'd fade Louisville as overrated and the Cardinals should absolutely have been behind Kentucky in the rankings. That's obvious. Saturday night was the latest reminder. Satterfield is ultimately going to be judged not based on how many yards and points the Cardinals rack up against middling ACC teams, but by how much he changes UofL at the line of scrimmage and on defense.

— Keeping it in the ACC, I'm a little surprised Pittsburgh didn't win by more than its 21-10 margin against Syracuse. The Orange is 0-2 on the year with two double digit losses but they have at least been competitive against North Carolina and Pitt, two of that division's better squads. The Panthers have one of the nation's best defenses and they held Syracuse under 200 yards of total offense. That defense should keep Pat Narduzzi's team in just about every game it plays this year and we know the program has been a giant killer in the past. They're an interesting team that I'll be watching this season.

— Watch out for Boston College under Jeff Hafley. I've mentioned recently that he's got a lot of similarities when compared to Mark Stoops. He comes in with great credentials coaching defensive backs and defensive units most recently at Ohio State where he turned the Buckeyes around on that side of the ball. BC's recruiting is trending up more than any point in the last 15 years.

Facilities and academics still make it an uphill climb in Chestnut Hill but the product they put on the field today at Duke, with a first-year head coach in his first job during COVID-19, was one of the most impressive things we've seen this year. They beat Duke 26-6 on the road. Mind you, BC had one of the nation's worst defenses a year ago. The cupboard is not bare. The offensive line is physical. David Bailey is a good runner. Zay Flowers and Kobay White are good receivers. Hunter Long is one of the ACC's best tight ends. Quarterback Phil Jurkovec just transferred in from Notre Dame and appears to have found himself again, passing for 300 yards against a solid Duke defense. They could be one of the nation's surprise teams. I'm not picking them to win seven or eight games but after the bottom fell out last year, including a loss to Kansas, Hafley appears to be doing an excellent job.

— Just how bad is Florida State? It's a fair question considering the team that beat the Seminoles last week, Georgia Tech, lost to Central Florida by a score of 49-21 in Atlanta today. UCF is a really good program and is either the second or third best team in the Sunshine State this year, but last week seems like it was more about FSU than Georgia Tech right now.

UCF's Dillon Gabriel passed for 417 yards and team racked up about 650 yards of total offense. They don't appear to be taking a step back. At least the Yellow Jackets appear to finally a pulse on offense, but they're still not even middle of the pack in the ACC, which is saying something.

— We can't take anything from Clemson's 49-0 win against The Citadel except it was 49-0 at halftime and Trevor Lawrence could have picked his score. I didn't watch this game but did see their opener against Wake Forest. He appears to be locked in for a monster season en route to the No. 1 pick in next year's draft.

— One week after struggling more than expected in a home game against Duke, Notre Dame got back on track to the tune of a 52-0 win over South Florida. This was a bad matchup for the Bulls, who aren't very good. They aren't stout up front and Notre Dame will run all over teams like that. The question for the Irish is not the defense or the run game, but whether there's enough of a dynamic passing game to beat a team like Clemson. I'm guessing no but they looked good and took care of business today.

— Oklahoma State's performance against Tulsa was the Big 12's latest in a long line of embarrassing early season performances. I used to think the Big 12 had a bunch of pretty good teams after Oklahoma. Maybe the deepest pool of pretty good teams in the country. Now I feel like I was way off base. It looks like a lot of mediocrity. Maybe this year is worse than usual, but it's been a brutal start for the league.

Coming into the season there was an unusual amount of hype and excitement about the Oklahoma State defense. They did their part. But going into the fourth quarter Tulsa was leading 7-3 in Stillwater. It's tough to believe an offense with players like Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace would be so quiet against an opponent like that.

In this case I'm actually going to withhold judgment on the team. Unlike the Big 12 teams that lost embarrassing games last week, or Texas Tech which barely survived Central Arkansas, this could be a case of Week 1 rust. The defense was not worse than advertised and I have to believe the offense is going to come around. They're still my pick for second or third in the Big 12.

Shane Illingworth looked fine at quarterback for the Pokes. It might have just been a bad game but Ethan Bullock does not appear to be the guy. He was 8/13 for 41 yards, a paltry 3.2 yards per pass attempt.

— At the Group of Five level one of the highlights of the day Louisiana's come from behind 34-31 overtime win against Georgia State. The Panthers had a lead on the Ragin' Cajuns for much of the game but in the extra session Louisiana's Elijah Mitchell ran it in from 12 yards out to best the Panthers' field goal when it had the ball. I said last week I was surprised Louisiana was placed in the Top-20 simply because they beat Iowa State, especially considering they were not clearly better than the Cyclones with the game hinging on just two or three big plays. They were fortunate to survive today and can have a special season but I'd continue to tap the brakes on them. Louisiana's receivers were impressive but they don't have Top-20 talent or depth and they would not be one of the upper echelon teams in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, or Pac-12.

— While non-Power Five teams like Cincinnati and UCF rolled as Louisiana survived, Appalachian State was shut down in a 17-7 loss at Marshall. They'll drop out of the Top-25. Those two programs have great fan bases that rally around their local schools.

— It's easy to feel good for Navy right now. The Midshipmen were wiped out by Brigham Young in their opener and Navy's head coach took responsibility for not having the team tackle dating back to last season as an added precaution. They were trailing Tulane 24-0 going into the locker room. Six brutal quarters. But they rallied for a 27-24 win in the program's biggest second half comeback ever. What a great story of not giving up. You know with those service academy student-athletes playing for pride is never going to be a problem and it paid off today.

— SMU did not look great in its season opener but they destroyed North Texas 65-35. The Mean Green has a serious Kentucky connection with several former UK staffers under Mark Stoops and now quarterback Amani Gilmore. I hope they can succeed.