Big East Roundup - Week Five Standings & More

Big East conference roundup, standings, player and game of the week

Click on each team for game recaps, thoughts, schedules and more and scroll down for the games, results, players of the week and the conference roundup.
 
Cincinnati | Connecticut | Louisville | Pittsburgh | Rutgers
South Florida | Syracuse | West Virginia 
- Week 1  | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Big East Game of the Week

Connecticut 26 ... Louisville 21
UConn capped a run of 17 unanswered points with a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown from Lawrence Wilson with 2:45 to play. The Cardinals' final drive ended with an interception to cap off a the loss. UL gained over 500 yards of total offense, including 261 on the ground, with Victor Anderson running for a two-yard score, Bilal Powell running for a five-yard score, and Hunter Cantwell with an ankle injury, who got dinged up but was able to continue, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Anderson as part of a 21-0 run. UConn QB Tyler Lorenzen got knocked out with a foot injury, but Zach Frazer was productive throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Darius Butler and leading a long drive for a 29-yard field goal with 5:32 to play to pull within one.

Big East Player of the Week
Connecticut RB Donald Brown ran 33 times for 192 yards and a touchdown in the win over Louisville

Standings	Conference			Overall
	W-L	PF	PA	W-L	PF	PA	STK
Conn	1-0	26	21	5-0	149	71	W5
Pitt	1-0	34	24	3-1	99	87	W3
So Florida	0-0	0	0	5-0	182	84	W5
Cincinnati	0-0	0	0	3-1	128	94	W2
West Va	0-0	0	0	2-2	92	65	W1
Rutgers	0-0	0	0	1-3	78	91	W1
Louisville	0-1	21	26	2-2	112	92	L1
Syracuse	0-1	24	34	1-4	105	182	L1

Friday, September 26

Connecticut 26 ... at Louisville 21
CFN Prediction: UL 27-20  UL -3.5

Saturday, September 27

Pittsburgh 34 ... at Syracuse 24
CFN Prediction: Pitt 31-13  Pitt -15.5

at West Virginia 27 ... Marshall 3
CFN Prediction: WVU 34-20  WVU -15.5

at Rutgers 38 ... Morgan State 0
CFN Prediction: Rutgers 38-7

Cincinnati 17 ... at Akron 15
CFN Prediction: UC 44-17  UC -10

South Florida 41 ... at NC State 10
CFN Prediction: USF 28-16 USF -8

Games of the Week
Aug. 30 - BGSU 27 - Pitt 17
Sep. 6 - USF 34 ... UCF 24 OT
Sep 13 - USF 37 - Kansas 34
Sep 20 - Col 17 - WVU 14 OT
Sep 27 - Con 26 - UL 21

Players of the Week
Aug. 30 - Pat White, WVU
Sep. 6 - Matt Grothe, USF
Sep 13 - Matt Grothe, USF
Sep 20 - Victor Anderson, UL
Sep. 27 - Donald Brown, Conn.

Conference
Roundup

Cincinnati … Now the Cincinnati offensive system and head coach Brian Kelly will be put to the test. With Dustin Grutza already out with a broken leg, and Tony Pike suffering a broken arm, it’ll now be up to freshman Zach Collaros to run the offense. He only completed 1-of-4 passes for two yards, but he ran four times for 18 yards. The running backs are going to have to do more, and the defense is going to have to be even stouter after a great start to the year.
Connecticut … The UConn defense got ripped up by the Louisville running game, and the passing game was inconsistent, it wasn't working even with Tyler Lorenzen in the game, but a road win is a road win. The Huskies might not have come up with a big statement on a national scale, especially considering most people were probably watching the presidential debates, but it showed the team is for real. Zach Frazer was great in relief, and while he didn't push anything deep, he led the way to the win with 80 passing yards and a touchdown. For now, the offense is all about Donald Brown. Louisville knew he was coming, and it couldn't stop him. With road trips coming up against North Carolina and Rutgers, this should be a confidence-boosting performance
Louisville … Does Louisville have to learn how to win? It dominated Connecticut for long stretches, ran wild on the strong Husky defense, and finished with a 508 yards to 279 advantage. Everything was working, but the team collapsed late capped off by the awful pick six for the game-winning UConn points. Hunter Cantwell tried to gut it out through an ankle injury, but struggled late. However, if Bilal Powell and Victor Anderson keep running well, and the balance is still there, the wins will start to come.
Pitt … Pitt finally got the running game going for the first time this year, and it took a game against Syracuse to do it. The offense moved the ball, and was strong on third downs, holding the ball for 38:20, but it’s took too long to take control of the game. Dave Wannstedt went for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter, and converted on a sneak, and the team never looked back, but it should’ve never come to that. The Panthers have to be far sharper on offense in the first half to have any chance against South Florida next week.
Rutgers … It wasn’t exactly a big win beating Morgan State, but after the disaster of the first three games of the year, it was a needed blowout before going to West Virginia. Mike Teel came up with several big plays to set up short scoring runs, but the ground game was mediocre coming up with just 93 yards. The offensive line had another mediocre game, but the defense never let the game get interesting. Even in a blowout, 297 yards against Morgan State isn’t a plus.
South Florida … South Florida might be 5-0, but it wasn’t until this week against NC State that the team finally looked truly dominant. Even without George Selvie and a few other defensive playmakers, USF crushed everything NC State trued to do offensively allowing just 26 yards rushing while picking off three passes. The offense was balanced and crisp with Matt Grothe getting ten days to throw. Now the spotlight is on, and now the Big East slate kicks in with Pitt coming to Tampa.
Syracuse … Syracuse has to learn how to handle in-game success. It had Pitt in big trouble midway through the third quarter. Cameron Dantley was throwing effectively, the running game was coming up with a few good yards, and the team was up by 11. The defense couldn’t get Pitt off the field, couldn’t come up with a third or fourth down stop, and the offense couldn’t get the momentum back on its side. SU has to control a game on both sides to have any shot of winning, and holding the ball for 21:40 isn’t going to do it. No there’s a week off, but the Orange has to deal with road games at West Virginia and South Florida after.
West Virginia… The Mountaineers came up with a nice bounceback performance after two straight losses. The defense stuffed Marshall and never let it be a game, while the offense did enough to keep the game well out of reach. The ground game finally started to work with 319 yards on the ground, and although Pat White left with an injured hand, Jarrett Brown proved he was more than capable of moving the offense. Brown might be able to run, but he’s not the passer that White, who completed 17-of-21 passes, is. If the defense plays against Rutgers and Syracuse like it did against Marshall, WVU will be 4-2 before dealing with Auburn.