2009 CFN Big East Week 4 Roundup

Big East 2009 Week Four Game of the Week, Player of the Week, Roundup & Standings

  

2009 Big East ... Week 4

- Cincinnati | Connecticut | Louisville | Pittsburgh | Rutgers | South Florida | Syracuse | West Virginia

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Big East Standings
	Conf.		Overall
Cincinnati	1	0	34	0
USF	0	0	4	0
Pitt	0	0	3	1
Conn.	0	0	3	1
W. Virginia	0	0	2	1
Louisville	0	0	1	2
Syracuse	0	0	2	2
Rutgers	0	1	3	1
Players of the Week 9/26 B.J. Daniels, QB USF 9/19 Tony Pike, QB Cin 9/13 Jarrett Brown, QB WV 9/5 Tony Pike, QB Cin. Games of the Week 9/26 NC St 38, Pitt 31 9/19 SU 37, NWest 34 9/13 UNC 12, Conn 10 9/5 Minn. 23, SU 20 OT Scoreboard at Cincinnati 28 Fresno State 20 Cincinnati strikes quickly in win over FSU  CFN Prediction: Cincinnati 38-20 ... Line: Cin. -16.5 at Connecticut 52 Rhode Island 10 Connecticut & Endres roll past Rhode Island  CFN Prediction: Connecticut 45-3 ... Line: No Line at Utah 30 Louisville 14 Louisville gets run over by Utah  CFN Prediction: Utah 31-21 ... Line: Utah -14 at North Carolina State 38 Pitt 31 Pitt can't hold on in tough loss to the Pack  CFN Prediction: Pitt 20-17 ... Line: NC State -1 Rutgers 34 at Maryland 13 Rutgers gets win, but passing game is awful  CFN Prediction: Rutgers 28-24... Line: Rutgers -2.5 South Florida 17 ... at Florida State 7 South Florida pulls off stunner over FSU  CFN Prediction: Florida State 30-16 ... Line: FSU -14.5 at Syracuse 41 Maine 24 Syracuse gets four scores from Carter in win  CFN Prediction: Syracuse 41-10 ... Line: No Line

GAME OF THE WEEK

at NC State 38 … Pitt 31
Down 31-17, NC State roared back with 21 unanswered points as Russell Wilson threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Williams and a seven-yard scoring pass to George Bryan to tie it, and Toney Baker ran for a two-yard touchdown in what would be the game-winner. Pitt marched deep into NC State territory with a chance to tie, but an errant snap ended the final chance. Bill Stull threw two third quarter touchdown passes for the Panthers, highlighted by a79-yarder to Jonathan Baldwin, but Wilson was too much throwing four touchdown passes and running for 91 yards. The two teams combined for 20 penalties with NC State committing 12 of them.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
USF QB B.J. Daniels completed 8-of-21 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions, and he ran 23 times for 126 yards in the win over Florida State.. 

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Cincinnati … at Cincinnati 28 ... Fresno State 20 ... Cincinnati had better secure the run defense in a big hurry. Ryan Mathews is one of the elite backs in college football, but he was able to pound away while the short-to-midrange Fresno State passing attack kept the chains moving all game long. Cincinnati was more quick strike than ball-control, and while that’s not a bad thing, the defense has to do a better job of getting off the field. The Bearcats get two weeks off, playing Miami University next week before a bye week, and then comes the showdown against USF.

Connecticut … at Connecticut 52 ... Rhode Island 10 ... It wasn’t a perfect performance from UConn, there were three turnovers all on fumbles, but at least the quarterback situation became more secure with Cody Endres showing he can be a playmaker whether or not injured starter Zach Frazer is ready to go. As always, the running game dominated, but this game was about tuning up the passing game a bit before getting a week off. Now the team gets two weeks to focus on Pitt.

Louisville … at Utah 30 ... Louisville 14 ... Louisville is still trying to find something it does well on a regular basis. The special teams aren’t bad, and the pass defense is decent, even though it got picked apart by Utah’s Terrance Cain, but the offense simply can’t rely on anyone or anything from one week to the next. Now is when Justin Burke has to get hot with the struggling Pitt defense up next and with a certain shootout against Southern Miss to follow. The season isn’t slipping away at 1-2, but a win over a BCS conference team would be a plus … and fast.

Pitt … at North Carolina State 38 ... Pitt 31 ... Pitt’s defense has all of a sudden gone into the tank. After looking so good early on, the Panthers couldn’t handle Navy’s running game two weeks ago and got ripped apart by Russell Wilson and NC State. This is a better team than it’s been showing, but the running game sputtered and stumbled, gaining just 94 yards, and the passing game didn’t keep the chains moving converting just 2-of-10 third down conversions and holding on to the ball for 22:53. As bad as this collapse was, it wasn’t in Big East play. The Panthers have to regroup to be ready for a trip to Louisville.

Rutgers … Rutgers 34 ... at Maryland 13 ... Is Tom Savage really that good? Forget that Rutgers came up with the win, Maryland miscues had a lot to do with that, the real problem is how the Scarlet Knights were so awful on offense without its top quarterback. It’s not like Domenic Natale hasn’t played before, he was suppose to be the starter, but he was a nightmare throwing the ball completing just 4-of-12 passes. The defense saved the day, but the offense desperately needs next week’s game against Texas Southern to be ready to deal with Pitt. The Scarlet Knights are 3-1, but it’s a soft 3-1.

South Florida … South Florida 17 ... at Florida State 7 ... What do you do when you lose your all-star starting quarterback? You get a great game out of your backup and you get a swarming, dominant day from you defense. The USF defensive front wouldn’t let the Seminole backfield breathe with 12 tackles for loss and five sacks. This was the game the program has been waiting for, and this was the performance that shows that USF really can play with the in-state big boys. Now it’s about consistency. Yeah, the Bulls played great this week, but will they show up against Syracuse?

Syracuse … at Syracuse 41 ... Maine 24 ... The pass defense has been struggling. Really struggling. It’s getting help from a good pass rush, but it’s not making enough stops. Maine was able to throw without any trouble, and while it needed a few trick plays to keep the game close, the SU defense didn’t do its part when pushed. But with two wins in a row, the Orange will take it going into the Big East opener against South Florida. The passing game has been fine, but the running game has to be better to have any shot against the Big East teams. With four more home games, after starting the season with three of the first four in the Dome, the chances will be there to turn the program with a few big breaks and a clunker of a performance or two from the conference foes.

West Virginia… Didn’t Play This Week

Thursday, October 1
Colorado at West Virginia (ESPN)

Friday, October 2
Pitt at Louisville

Saturday, October 3
Cincinnati at Miami Univ.
USF at Syracuse

Saturday, October 10
Connecticut at Pitt
West Virginia at Syracuse
Southern Miss at Louisville

Thursday, October 15
Cincinnati at USF

Friday, October 16
Pitt at Rutgers

Saturday, October 17
Louisville at Connecticut
Marshall at West Virginia

Friday, October 23
Rutgers at Army

Saturday, October 24
Louisville at Cincinnati
Connecticut at West Virginia
USF at Pitt
Akron at Syracuse

Friday, October 30
West Virginia at USF

Saturday, October 31
Cincinnati at Syracuse
Rutgers at Connecticut
Arkansas State at Louisville

Saturday, November 7
Connecticut at Cincinnati
Louisville at West Virginia
Syracuse at Pitt

Thursday, November 12
USF at Rutgers

Friday, November 13
West Virginia at Cincinnati (ESPN2)

Saturday, November 14
Syracuse at Louisville
Notre Dame at Pitt

Saturday, November 21
Louisville at USF
Rutgers at Syracuse
Connecticut at Notre Dame (NBC)

Friday, November 27
Pitt at West Virginia

Saturday, November 28
Syracuse at Connecticut
Rutgers at Louisville
Illinois at Cincinnati
Miami at USF

Saturday, December 5
Cincinnati at Pitt
USF at Connecticut
West Virginia at Rutgers