It's still very early and much is left to prove, but through the first two weeks of the season, Penn State's Daryll Clark and West Virginia's Jarrett Brown both have shown intriguing promise and are garnering more interest from NFL evaluators. Clark, after losing a strong cast of smurf receivers, was forced to beat Akron and Syracuse with his arm after both opponents stacked the box to take away a strong running game. As a result, the Nittany Lions have been airing out the ball more frequently and Clark has responded, throwing for a career-high 353 yards in the season opener against Akron and consistently converting on the most important down in football. Through two games, his 17-of-29 third-down conversation rate (58.6 percent) has been outstanding, as he has kept drives alive, showing great stature in the pocket and improved poise with good accuracy and placement.

Brown, after being stuck behind all-everything QB Pat White on the Mountaineers' depth chart the past three years, was named Big East Conference Player of the Week after a game-changing performance against East Carolina, when he was equally dangerous on the ground as he was through the air. He is playing years beyond his experience, making good decisions, and showing great athletic ability on designed runs in a spread-option offense. He will face his greatest test of the season at Auburn this week, and if he responds, the arrow will continue to point up.

• Cincinnati senior QB Tony Pike still needs to get stronger and add some bulk, but he has also looked more comfortable in his second year as a starter, catching the eye of evaluators in a season-opening 47-15 win over Rutgers. His top target, senior Mardy Gilyard, returned a punt for a TD against Southeast Missouri State last week, scored on a rush from one yard out and caught two TD passes — all in the first half. He finished with 197 all-purpose yards and is proving to be a dynamic playmaker. His competitiveness clearly shows up on the field. Gilyard could wind up warranting late first-round interest.

• Iowa junior OLT Bryan Bulaga did not dress against Iowa State last week, sitting out after having to check into the hospital on Tuesday during the week with illness. His status remains day-to-day and it's possible he will not play against Arizona this week. The athletic left tackle is regarded as the top junior offensive linemen in the country despite still being very raw. He is expected to depart for the NFL early.

• Vanderbilt senior S Ryan Hamilton considered declaring early for the NFL draft a year ago, but decided to return for his senior season. After tearing a pectoral muscle against LSU Saturday, he will miss the rest of the season.

• Ole Miss junior QB Jevan Snead was battling the flu in the Rebels' season-opening win over Memphis, when he tossed two interceptions in the second quarter as the Rebels struggled to a 17-7 lead at halftime, making some ill-advised decisions and forcing the ball into coverage. He responded in the fourth quarter, however, when the Rebels rallied with 28 unanswered points. The H1N1 flu virus reportedly has hit the program hard, with 22 players being affected, including senior RB-WR Dexter McCluster.

• The absence of Oklahoma State junior RB Kendall Hunter, who left the game in the second quarter against Houston with a right ankle injury, did not have as big of an effect as some bad bounces in a fourth-quarter collapse for the Cowboys in a 45-35 loss and he is expected to miss this week's contest with Rice. The inability to stay healthy could affect the draft status of the strong, compactly built, instinctive runner.

• When Miami squares off against Georgia Tech Thursday night, the big matchup to watch will be how Georgia Tech junior DE Derrick Morgan fares against Miami senior OLT Jason Fox. Morgan, who has notched five sacks in the first two games and is a more talented pass rusher than Bengals 2009 third-round pick and former teammate Michael Johnson, will command extra attention. With Hurricanes senior TE Richard Gordon expected to be out — his left arm was in a sling this week — senior TE Jimmy Graham could play more extensively. Graham, a 6-8, 256-pounder who played power forward for four seasons with the Hurricanes' basketball squad, is loaded with upside.

• Georgia Tech junior RB Jonathan Dwyer, after bulking up in the offseason, has not looked as quick to the hole or shown as much burst as he did a season ago.

• Connecticut senior DE Lindsey Witten, after working in a rotation with Arizona Cardinals 2009 second-round pick Cody Brown and Julius Williams, who earned a roster spot with the Jacksonville Jaguars despite being undrafted, has really emerged the first two weeks of the season, breaking out with an NCAA-leading seven sacks, including four last week against North Carolina. The half-brother of Buffalo Bills' standout safety Donte Whitner, Witten has elite NFL bloodlines and outstanding initial quickness to beat blockers off the ball at the snap. At his current 3½-sacks-per-game pace, he would shatter Derrick Thomas' single-season sack record (27) set in 1988 at Alabama and would finish with 42. Witten was slowed by a stomach virus and did not practice early in the week, but he might not need a lot of practice time to turn the corner against a struggling Baylor offensive line that lost both of its offensive tackles to the NFL a year ago, although it might not be as easy to track down the Bears' athletic QB Robert Griffin. With very long arms and natural bend, Witten has not been easy to block and he has been playing with a new sense of urgency, perhaps in part in tribute to his close grandmother, who passed away last March.

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