Big East Roundup - Week 14 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 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13

Big East Game of the Week

Pitt 19 … West Virginia 15
LeSean McCoy ran for a one-yard score with 52 seconds to play to cap a fourth quarter rally to win the Backyard Brawl and send Cincinnati to the BCS. McCoy’s five-yard touchdown run following an interception from Jovani Chappel that put the ball on the WVU 16. The Mountaineers got three Pat McAfee field goals and a brilliant reverse-field 54-yard touchdown dash from Pat White, but couldn’t get back on the board in the final 11 minutes. Pitt started the scoring with a 30-yard touchdown catch from Derek Kinder.

Big East Player of the Week
Pitt RB LeSean McCoy ran 33 times for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and caught two passes for 17 yards in the win over West Virginia.

Standings	Conference			Overall
		PF	PA		PF	PA	STK
Cin.	6-1	165	134	10-2	326	238	W5
Pitt	4-2	175	149	8-3	318	266	W1
West Va	4-2	149	102	7-4	275	184	L1
Rutgers	4-2	177	114	6-5	285	208	W5
Conn.	3-3	141	115	7-4	276	203	L1
S Florida	2-4	129	149	7-4	311	233	W1
Louisville	1-5	114	178	5-6	282	295	L4
Syracuse	1-6	112	221	3-9	217	392	L1

Friday, November 28

at Pitt 19 ... West Virginia 15
CFN Prediction: Pitt 26-23  WVU -3
- McCoy runs wild | WVU gets shut down

Saturday, November 29

Cincinnati 30 ... at Syracuse 10
CFN Prediction: UC 34-17  UC -22
- UC clinches Big East | SU sputters in loss

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
Nov. 8 - Cin 26 - WV 23 OT
Nov. 15 - Cin 28 - UL 20
Nov. 22 - UC 28 - Pitt 21
Nov. 29 - Pitt 19 - WV 15

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
Nov. 8 - Kordell Young, Rut
Nov. 15 - Mike Teel, Rut
Nov. 22 - Tony Pike, UC
Nov. 29 - LeSean McCoy, Pitt

Conference
Roundup

Cincinnati … Cincinnati is now a win away from going to the show. All the Bearcats need to do is beat lowly Syracuse and they’re playing in the BCS after winning four straight and eight of their last nine. Tony Pike was magnificent making big throw after big throw, hitting his receivers on short to midrange passes in places where they could do something with it. The defensive line was fantastic at getting into the backfield, and while it couldn’t stop star RB LeSean McCoy, it made the plays needed to get the huge, program-changing win.
Connecticut … The Connecticut defense did a fantastic job against South Florida, but Tyler Lorenzen and the passing game didn’t do enough to offset the rough day from Donald Brown and the ground attack. Brown was fine in the dead even game, but he didn’t dominate. Lorenzen needed to come through on either one of UConn’s two late drives, and couldn’t. Now the Huskies have one more game to shine with the home finale against Pitt, and if the defense plays as well as it did in Tampa, they have a shot at finishing the season strong.
Louisville … Louisville just can’t find any consistency. On a four-game losing streak, it was the run defense that didn’t show up this week against West Virginia after the pass defense struggled the week before against Cincinnati. Hunter Cantwell hasn’t been bad at helping the offense crank out yards, but he’s not doing enough to stop opposing scoring runs. This hasn’t been a disastrous season, the team hasn’t been horrendous, but it’ll be a losing season if it can’t get past a red hot Rutgers on the road. The rushing combination of Bilal Powell and Brock Bolen should be good enough to carry the offense, and they ran well against West Virginia, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Cantwell’s three interceptions.
Pitt … Just when it seems like Pitt is about to make a big run and take over the Big East, it couldn’t slow down the Cincinnati defensive front and it couldn’t stop the Bearcats’ quick passing game. Time after time, the Panthers just missed out on coming up with the play as they were picked clean on timing patterns. All is not completely lost, even if the Panthers need UC to lose to Syracuse to have a shot at going to the BCS. Pitt can still come up with a 10-win season by beating West Virginia and UConn, along with the bowl game. That would continue the progression and would be a huge help for Dave Wannstedt and the coaching staff..
Rutgers … Talk about playing with confidence, Rutgers has been a night-and-day different team over the last five games than it was at the beginning of the year. Mike Teel is getting time to work and he’s been on. Army didn’t have a prayer of slowing down the Rutgers offense early on, but there three field goals when touchdowns would’ve put the game away earlier. No matter; after the start Rutgers had, it’ll be happy to be going to a bowl somewhere. After a week off there’s the home finale against Louisville to assure a spot. With a win, Rutgers would finish tied for second in the Big East.  
South Florida … With the offense sputtering and Matt Grothe the only aspect working against Connecticut, the defense came up with a big game and the special teams proved to be a big key. The team needed to bounce back from its three game losing streak and a run of four losses in five game to turn the season back around. Reestablishing the home field advantage was a plus, but to take a big step forward in the Big East world, a win at West Virginia will be a must. Win there, and all of a sudden the season becomes a major success.
Syracuse … Give the team credit for continuing with the effort. It’s not right to say there’s nothing to play for; beating Notre Dame in South Bend is the type of thing that players will remember forever. Want-to hasn’t been a problem for Syracuse, it’s been the talent level, but for one game, the team showed the heart and the ability to pull off a nice win in the clutch. How bizarre that Notre Dame grad Adrian Dantley’s son ended up beating the Irish? Cameron Dantley came up big when he needed to, and now no matter what happens next week against Cincinnati to end up the Greg Robinson era, the program has had its wow moment.
West Virginia… Can Pat White get a lifetime achievement Heisman? He’s not going to be a finalist this year, but if the vote was taken after the bowls last season, he might’ve won it. He’s one of the great players in the history of the game, proven by his record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in his career, and he’s also been a tremendous leader and gamer. Help is needed to win the Big East title, Cincinnati has to lose to Syracuse and WVU has to win out against Pitt and South Florida, and while that might not happen (the Bearcats won’t lose to the Orange), a 10-win season is possible. No matter what, that’s a successful season.