Brinkley and his band of merry men

OK, I have waxed rhapsodic about how fun and amazing this football season has been thus far ... and the scary part is that there are still SEVEN MORE GAMES LEFT!!!

The Bulldogs have taken us - well, at least me - on a fun ride. And one of the problems at the helm of this thrilling ride is quarterback Mike Brinkley.

As with any new season, there are a number of question marks facing a team. For the Bulldogs, one of the big one was how to fill the void left by Joey Waters. He only threw for more than 3,200 yards and had 27 passing TDs last season. Not easy numbers to replace.

Yet, Brinkley has stepped in nicely.

The 6-foot-1 quarterback has not been flashy, has not racked up huge yardage, but more importantly he has held his composure and guided the team with limited mistakes. Through the first four games, Mike has thrown for 814 yards and 9 TDs and completed just under 61 percent of his passes. Against Georgetown, Mike managed the game very well as he threw for a season-high 253 yards and completed 77.3 percent of his passes.

And Brinkley has spread the wealth as well, hitting eight different receivers this season with only three registering double-digit catches. Ben Kelly leads the team with 19, while Kyle Callahan has 16 and Chris Thomas 13.

Additionally, there's been a different leading receiver each week. Callahan and Thomas led the team in week one with 7, then Kelly led the way against Malone and Faulkner with 6 and 4, respectively. Against Georgetown, the show belonged to Rolando Dyer, who hauled in a 6 catches for 98 yards and 2 TDs. Heading into the game, Dyer only had 2 catches for 32 yards.

Chew on this thought: Brinkley is just a freshman. With the maturity and composure he's showing in the pocket now, it gets me kind of jazzed to think about what's to come.

Here are some other random football tidbits:

• The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 34-0 in the third quarter this season.


• In addition to being on a 6-game win streak, Union has won its last 3 in a row on road, its last 3 in a row at Burch/Nau Field and its last 3 in a row versus ranked opponents.


• Union is 4-0 for the first time in program history. Other first-time 4-0 teams this season include the Tennessee Titans, who've never reached that mark even during the franchise's heyday as the Houston Oilers.