Bridgewater might be go for first start

It's increasingly looking like Teddy Bridgewater will get the starting nod on Saturday against Marshall.

All speculation about the rapid rise of Teddy aside, Charlie Strong's apparent mantra is that you don't practice, you don't play. And Stein has not practiced (in pads) at least as of Wednesday.

After the UK game, Strong said it would have been possible to bring Stein back in if he had felt the need. But since that game, in which Stein injured his right shoulder, he rehabbed all of last week and hasn't been able to don pads this week. Which makes me think that it's a good thing we didn't send him back into that game.

So the hotly anticipated, widely speculated "Bridgewater Era" may take a quantum leap forward this Saturday if Bridgewater gets his first start. I'll be watching to see how Teddy reacts against a defensive game plan drawn up specifically to counter his playing abilities, as opposed to Stein. 

To take nothing away from Bridgewater's terrific performance against Kentucky -- when you're threading the needle, you're threading the needle -- but I can't help but think that Kentucky looked and played "shell-shocked," having unexpectedly to cope with Bridgewater's game-expanding capacities so much, so fast. 

Say what you want about the quality of our next opponent, but they at least know what to expect. If Bridgewater comes out and can still pick apart the defense on select throws, well, we may have something here.

Video report below also available here.