Big East Roundup - Week 10 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 | Week 9

Big East Game of the Week

Pitt 36 … Notre Dame 33 4OT
In a battle of overtime field goals, Pitt’s Conor Lee hit his fifth of the game, and the fourth in the extra time, on a 22-yarder after Notre Dame’s Brandon Walker, who hit three from 22, 26 and 48 in the OTs and four in the game, just missed his kick. The crazy ending overshadowed a huge day from Pitt RB LeSean McCoy, who had a big second half, finishing with 269 yards, and ran for a one-yard score to tie it at 17. The Notre Dame passing game got hot in the first half with Michael Floyd touchdown grabs from 18 and four yards out just 1:23 apart. Jimmy Clausen threw his third touchdown pass of the game on a six-yarder to Golden Tate late in the fourth, but Pitt answered with a 10-yard Jonathan Baldwin catch that ended up forcing overtime. Pitt ended up turning it over three times, while Notre Dame didn’t turn it over.

Big East Player of the Week
Curtis Brinkley ran the ball 33 times for 166 yards and a touchdown in the 28-21 win over Louisville.

	Conference			Overall
	W-L	PF	PA	W-L	PF	PA	STK
West Via	3-0	76	36	6-2	202	118	W5
Pittsburgh	2-1	94	99	6-2	237	216	W1
Cincinnati	2-1	53	60	6-2	214	164	W1
Conn.	2-2	89	84	6-3	224	172	L1
Rutgers	2-2	93	81	3-5	171	172	W2
Louisville	1-2	66	74	5-3	234	191	L1
So Florida	1-3	96	87	6-3	278	171	L2
Syracuse	1-3	71	117	2-6	152	265	W1

Thursday, October 30

at Cincinnati 24 ... South Florida 10
CFN Prediction: USF 26-17  USF -3
- Grothe struggles for USF | UC & Pike shine

Saturday, November 1

West Virginia 35 ... at Connecticut 13
CFN Prediction: WVU 24-17 WVU -3
- West Virginia | Connecticut

Pittsburgh 36 ... at Notre Dame 33 4OT
CFN Prediction: ND 31-21 ND -5.5
- Pittsburgh

at Syracuse 28 ... Louisville 21
CFN Prediction: UL 28-17  UL -14
- Louisville | Syracuse

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
Nov. 1 - Pitt 36 - ND 33 4OT

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.
Nov. 1 - Curtis Brinkley, SU

Conference
Roundup

Cincinnati … For having a broken arm, Tony Pike was more than solid against South Florida. He wasn't able to take snaps from under center and he had to limit his mobility so he didn't take too many shots, but he got the ball out of his hands quickly and the receiving corps did its part with some fantastic catches. The team just needs to get through the quarterback injury issues to get Dustin Grutza back while hoping for Pike to heal up. Still in the Big East title chase, now comes the big test at West Virginia. If the defense plays like it did against the Bulls, a nice winning streak could start up.
Connecticut … Donald Brown got hot early, and then was shut down by the West Virginia defense. Meanwhile, the linebackers didn’t seem to have an answer for Pat White in the second half. QB Cody Endres isn’t at the point where he can carry the offense if Brown isn’t working well, and it showed with three interceptions which basically turned the game completely in WVU’s favor. There’s a week off, and after losing three of the last four games, there can’t be a let up with a trip to Syracuse before closing out against South Florida and Pitt.
Louisville … Just when Louisville appeared to be turning things around with a great win over South Florida, the clunker came against Syracuse to put the season in jeopardy. There isn’t a sure win in the bunch the rest of the way, and the Cardinals only have five wins. Victor Anderson ran well and Hunter Cantwell wasn’t bad, but the yards didn’t translate into points until late. The run defense really struggled, and now comes a bigger problem with Pitt’s LeSean McCoy up next.
Pitt … Exhale. Bowl eligibility. It has been a rocky road with the loss to Bowling Green to start out and the clunker to Rutgers last week, but with quarterback issues, overall inconsistency, and plenty of naysayers, Pitt is bowl eligible needing just one more win to give Dave Wannstedt a winning season. After holding tough to beat Notre Dame, it’s time to focus on big things in the Big East. The key will be limiting turnovers, keeping LeSean McCoy going, and securing up a secondary that’s struggling. After getting picked apart by Rutgers’ Mike Teel and Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen, holding up against Louisville’s Hunter Cantwell will be job one..
Rutgers … Didn’t Play This Week
South Florida … After committing 14 penalties last week in a loss to Louisville, South Florida suffered eight this week against Cincinnati, there were three interceptions, and not nearly enough production from the secondary. George Selvie and the defensive front got decent pressure on UC QB Tony Pike, but they didn't force any mistakes and the secondary couldn't handle the Bearcat receivers. Last week, the pass defense had a problem with Hunter Cantwell and the Cardinal passing game. After a week off, the Bulls get a suddenly hot Rutgers passing game, and they need a win in big way to pull up out of the current nosedive.
Syracuse … Syracuse didn’t make a slew of major mistakes against Louisville, although there were a few, and the offense took advantage whenever the Cardinals screwed up to get the first win over a FBS team this season. Curtis Brinkley is carrying the offense while Cameron Dantley still tries to find his way. There weren’t a slew of penalties, the passing game came up with a few big plays, and the team looked better than it had in weeks. Next week’s game against Rutgers is winnable if the team keeps playing like this.
West Virginia… It’s almost as if the team figured out that it’s still really good after the win over Auburn. Yeah, the Tigers might stink, and really, that win wasn’t that big a deal, but it might have been the confidence boost needed to roll through the rest of the Big East schedule. Against Connecticut, Pat White was Pat White again, and the team did the thing it used to do under Rich Rodriguez and made the key adjustments at halftime and then let the running game wear down the D. There aren’t any breaks over the final four games, but if the team plays like it did against the Huskies, there shouldn’t be many problems to get back to yet another BCS game.