Big East Roundup - Week 9 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
- Week 8

Big East Game of the Week

Louisville 24 … South Florida 20
Scott Long caught touchdown passes from 69 and 24 yards out, with the second one giving Louisville the lead for good midway through the fourth quarter, to overcome a huge day from Matt Grothe. The South Florida quarterback threw touchdown passes to Richard Kelly from three yards and to Ben Busbee from 15 yards away, but he couldn’t get the offense moving late. The Bulls outgained UofL 352 yards to 323, but 14 penalties and two turnovers proved costly.

Big East Player of the Week
Rutgers QB Mike Teel completed 14-of-21 passes for 361 yards and six touchdowns with an interception in the win over Pitt.

	Conference			Overall
	W-L	PF	PA	W-L	PF	PA	STK
West Va	2-0	41	23	5-2	167	105	W4
Connecticut	2-1	76	49	6-2	211	137	W1
Pittsburgh	2-1	94	99	5-2	201	183	L1
Rutgers	2-2	93	81	3-5	171	172	W2
Louisville	1-1	45	46	5-2	213	163	W3
Cincinnati	1-1	29	50	5-2	190	154	L1
So Florida	1-2	86	63	6-2	268	147	L1
Syracuse	0-3	43	96	1-6	124	244	L3

Thursday, October 23

Auburn 34 ... at West Virginia 17
CFN Prediction: Aub. 23-17  WVU -3.5
- WVU gets big 2nd half | Auburn O sputters

Saturday, October 25

at Connecticut 40 ... Cincinnati 16
CFN Prediction: Cin. 23-17  UConn -1
- UC loses 6 TOs | Brown sets UConn record

at Louisville 24 ... South Florida 20
CFN Prediction: USF 30-21  USF -5
- Grothe great in loss | Long shines for UofL

Rutgers 54 ... at Pitt 34
CFN Prediction: Pitt 28-13  Pitt -9.5
- Teel throws 6 TDs | Big McCoy day wasted

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
Oct 25 - UL 24 - USF 20

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
Oct 25 - Mike Teel, Rut.

Conference
Roundup

Cincinnati … UC played way too sloppy a game against Connecticut. It was extremely un-Bearcat with six fumbles, losing three, three interceptions, no accuracy in the passing game, nothing from the ground game, and a ridiculous 0-of-14 on third down chances. The return of Tony Pike didn’t matter much for the passing game, but it wasn’t his fault; the O line didn’t play well. This was a total team meltdown coming at the wrong time with South Florida up next.
Connecticut … Donald Brown and the Husky running game were excellent against Cincinnati, but it was the defense that pulled off the win. The entire D seemed to be all over the place making plays and forcing turnovers in what might have been the best performance of the year. The field goal kicking situation that was such a big problem and concern was solved with a big day from David Terrart, who hit all four of his field goal attempts.
Louisville … Scott Long has added another dimension to the Louisville offense. He came up big with long touchdown grabs against South Florida to change the game around. Hunter Cantwell hasn’t always been great, but he has been great at times over the three game winning streak. Now the team is in the hunt for the Big East title with Syracuse up next before dealing with a trip to Pitt. The run defense is playing well enough, holding USF to eight yards on the ground, to keep the run going.
Pitt … Everything went wrong for the Panthers against Rutgers. Along with the meltdown across the defense, a great day from RB LeSean McCoy was wasted and starting QB Bill Stull was hospitalized with a concussion and neck problem. The Big East title isn’t gone, but there’s no margin for error with Cincinnati, West Virginia, and Connecticut still to deal with. After what happened this week, winning at Notre Dame next week is a must.
Rutgers … Where was this Rutgers offense all year? The running game was fine against Pitt with Kordell Young doing a good job, but it was Mike Teel who had a bizarre, but productive day throwing six touchdown passes on just 14 completions. Is this really going to be the catalyst for a big second half? After beating Connecticut and now Pitt, two of the big boys are out of the way with a trip to South Florida the biggest remaining problem. There won’t be any Big East title talk, but bowl hopes are back on.
South Florida … South Florida has to be tighter. The 14 penalties against Louisville were ridiculous, the two turnovers hurt, the offensive line didn’t do anything for a running game that cranked out a mere eight yards. Stopping the Cardinal pass rush was a problem, but Matt Grothe made up for it with his mobility. The defense couldn’t come up with the big stop when needed late, while the offense didn’t help with a late interception. Now the Bulls get to go to Cincinnati in a must-win game to keep Big East title hopes alive.
Syracuse … Didn’t Play This Week
West Virginia… And now the Bill Stewart era really begins. Yeah, the Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma was big, but that was with Rich Rodriguez's team. Granted, this is also RichRod's team, but at this point in the year, Stewart needed to show something by after the early season losses to East Carolina and Colorado. Beating Marshall, Rutgers and Syracuse was no big deal. Beating Auburn is a big deal. This was the West Virginia everyone is used to, and now this needs to be the spark for the second half of the season with the Big East schedule kicking in full force.