Big East Roundup - Week 8 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.

Conference Roundups
- ACC | Big East | Big 12 | Big Ten | C-USA | Ind.
- MAC | M-West | Pac 10 | SEC | Sun Belt | WAC
 
Cincinnati | Connecticut | Louisville | Pittsburgh | Rutgers
South Florida | Syracuse | West Virginia 
- Week 1  | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7

Big East Game of the Week

Rutgers 12 … Connecticut 10
Connecticut had a chance to pull off the win with just over a minute to play, but Tony Ciaravino’s 42-yard kick hit the upright. Rutgers took advantage of good field position to get a six-yard Kordell Young touchdown run and a safety in the third quarter on the way to a 12-3 lead, but Connecticut came back with a 47-yard Kashif Moore touchdown catch in the fourth to pull within two. That was as close as the Huskies would get.

Big East Player of the Week
South Florida QB Matt Grothe completed 19-of-26 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns and ran ten times for 72 yards and a score in the 45-13 win over Syracuse.

Standings	Conference			Overall
	W-L	PF	PA	W-L	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh	2-0	60	45	5-1	167	129	W5
West Virginia	2-0	41	23	4-2	133	88	W3
Cincinnati	1-0	13	10	5-1	174	114	W4
South Florida	1-1	66	39	6-1	248	123	W1
Connecticut	1-1	36	33	5-2	171	121	L2
Rutgers	1-2	39	47	2-5	117	138	W1
Louisville	0-1	21	26	4-2	189	143	W2
Syracuse	0-3	43	96	1-6	124	244	L3

Saturday, October 18

at South Florida 45 ... Syracuse 13
CFN Prediction: USF 44-10  USF -24
- Grothe rolls for USF | SU O gets stuffed

at Rutgers 12 ... Connecticut 10
CFN Prediction: UConn 23-16  PICK
- RU beats an FBS team | UConn kick hits upright

at Louisville 42 ... Middle Tennessee 23
CFN Prediction: UL 34-14  UL -14.5
- Louisville running game is unstoppable

Pittsburgh 42 ... at Navy 21
CFN Prediction: Pitt 31-20  Pitt -3
- LeSean McCoy and running game rumble

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
Oct 4 - Pitt 26 - USF 21
0ct 11 -  UL 35 - Mem 28
Oct 18 - Rut 12 - Conn 10

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.
Oct 4 - LeSean McCoy, Pitt
0ct 11 - Chazz Anderson, Cin
Oct 18 - Matt Grothe, USF

Conference
Roundup

Cincinnati … Didn’t Play This Week
Connecticut … Zach Frazer did a decent job at quarterback against Rutgers, but the offense, outside of one long touchdown catch from Kashif Moore, didn’t have much pop. Donald Brown ran well in the first half and was held in check in the second, but there were still chances to get scores that the team wasn’t able to take advantage of. On a two-game losing streak with Cincinnati and West Virginia up next, the Huskies need to get hot in a big hurry.
Louisville … It wasn’t the smoothest blowout win Louisville will ever have, but it came up with the win over Middle Tennessee thanks to 247 rushing yards and now it can move on to the meat of the Big East season. Hunter Cantwell and the passing game failed to click with a pick six and too many misfires, but the running game picked up the slack highlighted by the 88-yard Victor Anderson touchdown dash. While it was a 19-point win that was really better than it looked, Middle Tennessee scored in garbage time, the team will have to be far sharper against South Florida next week.
Pitt … Pitt is humming. Not only did the defense keep the dangerous Navy offense in check, allowing just 194 yards, but the offense was clicking with a near-perfect balance with 255 yards passing and 244 on the ground. LeSean McCoy got a little room to move, and when he got into space he was cranking out big plays. Now on a good roll with a five-game winning streak, the momentum has to continue against Rutgers next week to keep pecking away at the Big East schedule.
Rutgers … Finally, Rutgers pulls off its first win of the year over an FBS team, and it did it with the defense. The Scarlet Knights all but shut down Connecticut RB Donald Brown in the second half and time and again halted drives. The Rutgers offense didn’t do much, but there weren’t any major mistakes and it took advantage of the opportunities it had. This was a nice win, but beating Pitt next week would be truly big.
South Florida … Matt Grothe had a fantastic game against Syracuse doing exactly what he was supposed to do against an inferior team. Grothe might have led the team in rushing, but the Bulls were able to spread the wealth around with nine different players getting carries for 239 yards and three scores. Defensively, star DE George Selvie was back and effective making a sack with two tackles.
Syracuse … Syracuse hung around for a while with South Florida, and Curtis Brinkley and the running game had its moments, but the offense was too off in the second half and the defense couldn’t get Matt Grothe and the Bull attack off the field. SU has an inability to make big plays to stop scoring runs, and the defense wears down up front way too quickly.
West Virginia… Didn’t Play This Week