By J.P. Girouard
Welcome to the second edition of Best Big East Week Ever, voted best Big East blog on CFN. If you liked the first one, you’ll love this one. If you hated the first one, uh, why are you reading this?
The Biggest Thought: Redemption Is A Dish Best Served Lukewarm … If you had the misfortune of watching the Pitt Panthers slog their way through their season-opening loss to Bowling Green, you’d have expected the rest of the season to be one long Dave Wannstedt Firing Watch. Yet here we are near the midway point of the season and Pittsburgh is 4-1, back in the top 25 and arguably the favorite to win the Big East. While Wannstedt is getting lots of love right now, there are a couple of questions that have to be asked:
What took him so long? It’s not as if the Panthers have been bereft of talent the last few years, with the likes of Tyler Palko and Greg Lee on offense and Darrelle Revis and H.B. Blades on defense. Plus Pitt has been recruiting like crazy, snagging three top-25 classes in a row. If Butch Davis can get North Carolina back into the bowl picture in year two, why has it taken Wannstedt four years to achieve the same thing?
We’ve been down this road before. Remember 2006, everyone? The Panthers started 6-1 and were considered the likeliest team to break up the West Virginia-Louisville stranglehold at the top of the Big East. Five consecutive losses later and Pitt ended up not even getting to a bowl game. With five conference games plus road trips to Navy and Notre Dame left on the schedule, there’s still plenty of time for a similar meltdown.
That isn’t to say that the Panthers are doomed – in a year where there’s no clear-cut favorite in the Big East, Pitt’s just as good a choice as any. They run the ball fairly well, play strong defense and haven’t made the mistakes that have doomed past Dave Wannstedt teams. But let’s just wait a couple more weeks before we officially retire the hot seat, ok?
Another Big Thought: Brian Kelly Is A Crazy Hot Mess Of A Football Coach … It’s one thing for Cincinnati to do well despite not getting quarterback Ben Mauk back for a sixth year. Heck, even after Dustin Grutza went down, you still thought the Bearcats would be ok. But Tony Pike’s broken arm against Akron should’ve been the dagger, the knife in the heart that doomed the Cincinnati season.
While it’s still possible for things to go downhill, Kelly is seemingly figuring out ways to win no matter who plays quarterback. Last week it was redshirt freshman Chazz Anderson getting the start, and it didn’ t matter – Cincinnati thumped Marshall on the road. Kelly has started five different quarterbacks since he took over the program before the 2006 International Bowl. In those 19 games, the Bearcats are 15-4, tying West Virginia for the best record in the Big East during that span.
All of this would be amazing under normal circumstances, but it’s even more impressive that Kelly’s doing this at Cincinnati – a program with limited resources even by Big East standards. The question now isn’t whether Kelly’s the right fit for the Bearcats. It’s about how long Cincinnati can keep Kelly in the fold.
Big East Game Of The Week: Syracuse at West Virginia, Saturday noon … You know it’s a thin week for Big East football when this is your game of the week. The last two weeks have either signaled a turnaround for West Virginia or a mirage built on facing mediocre opposition. If it is a mirage, it will last at least one more week against a hapless Syracuse squad. West Virginia 35, Syracuse 10
Big East Game Of The Weak: Rutgers at Cincinnati, Saturday noon … The last thing struggling Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel wanted to see was the Cincinnati defense. The Bearcats have intercepted Teel seven times in back-to-back victories over the Scarlet Knights. Expect a couple more this week. Cincinnati 28, Rutgers 13
Underrated Storyline Of The Week: Louisville’s Swing Game … If the goal for the Cardinals is to get into a bowl, this week’s road game at Memphis may prove critical to achieving it. Of Louisville’s last eight games, they’d likely be favored in three of them - against Middle Tennessee State, Syracuse, and Rutgers. A loss to the Tigers would be put the Cardinals in the position of needing at least two upsets – and not tripping up in the games they should win – to get to 7-5.
J.P. Girouard blogs about the Big East for CollegeFootballNews.com. You can email him here.
Best Big East Week Ever Archives:
Best Big East Week Ever – 10/8/08
Best Big East Week Ever – 10/1/08
Other Articles By J.P. Girouard:
Nine Pivotal Days For The Big East
The Big East Expectations Game
Is This Going To Be Ben Mauk's Legacy?
WVU Runs Away In Big East Media Poll
Rutgers' Strange Stadium Bargain
The Coach Who Stayed
The Big East Manifesto