2009 CFN Big East Week 5 Roundup

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

2009 Big East ... Week 5

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

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Big East Standings
	Conf.		Overall
Cincinnati	1	0	5	0
USF	1	0	5	0
Pitt	1	0	4	1
Conn.	0	0	3	1
W. Virginia	0	0	3	1
Rutgers	0	1	3	1
Syracuse	0	1	2	3
Louisville	0	1	1	3
Players of the Week 10/3 Noel Devine, RB WV 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 10/3 WVU 35, Col 24 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 Thursday, October 1 at West Virginia 35 Colorado 24 West Virginia & Devine fly past Colorado  CFN Prediction: West Virginia 37-17 Line: West Virginia -17 Friday, October 2 Pitt 35 at Louisville 10 - Pitt & Stull explode in the 2nd half for win - Louisville sputters in 2nd half loss to Pitt CFN Prediction: Pitt 28-24 Line: Pitt -6.5 Saturday, October 3 Cincinnati 37 at Miami Univ. 13 - Cincinnati sluggish in win over Miami  CFN Prediction: Cincinnati 48-14 Line: Cincinnati -29 USF 34 at Syracuse 20 - South Florida sloppy in win over Orange  - Syracuse turns it over seven times in loss  CFN Prediction: USF 27-16 Line: USF -6

GAME OF THE WEEK

at West Virginia 35 … Colorado 24
Noel Devine ripped off a 77-yard touchdown run and Jarrett Brown connected with Jock Sanders for a six-yard score and Brad Starks for a 48-yard touchdown as West Virginia won a sloppy game. Colorado stayed alive on a 36-yard Rodney Stewart touchdown run and got a 29-yard touchdown catch from Scotty McKnight, but three interceptions, three missed field goals from Aric Goodman, and two short touchdown runs from West Virginia’s Ryan Clarke were too much to overcome. The Mountaineers turned it over four times, all on fumbles.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
West Virginia RB Noel Devine ran 22 times for 220 yards and a touchdown in the win over Colorado.

CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Cincinnati … Cincinnati 37 ... at Miami Univ. 13 ... Cincinnati had better figure out how to win the time of possession battle in a big hurry. Fresno State held on to the ball seemingly all game long, and was able to stay alive because of it, two weeks ago. Against Miami, UC only had the ball for 19:09 and while it didn’t matter too much because it was Miami, this could be a problem for the defense down the road. Against South Florida next week in what might be the Big East game of the year, the Bearcats need to continue to use Jacob Ramsey and the pounding ground game to complement Tony Pike. Pike will come through when needed, but it would be nice if he didn’t always have to.

Connecticut … Didn’t Play This Week

Louisville … Pitt 35 ... at Louisville 10 ... Louisville moved the ball well, but couldn’t close with too many drives coming up empty. Too many penalties, too few third down conversions, and no production from the secondary in the second half all led to the blowout loss. The team needs to find something it can count on to produce on a regular basis, because at the moment, it’s RB Victor Anderson and a whole bunch of nothing.

Pitt … Pitt 35 ... at Louisville 10 ... It’s not like the much-maligned Pitt defense was a rock, but it held up in the second half and didn’t give up any points after melting down last week against NC State. Offensively, there weren’t any big mistakes to give the Cardinals a shot at getting back into the game, and Bill Stull and the passing game were explosive and effective. If the Panthers can put up points early next week against UConn, they should be able to hold up against a punchless Husky passing attack.

Rutgers … Didn’t Play This Week

South Florida … USF 34 ... at Syracuse 20 ... It wasn’t a perfect performance against Syracuse, but the defense came up with the big plays it needed to make it a blowout in the second half. Once again, B.J. Daniels had a very nice day in place of Matt Grothe, and while he didn’t run all that well, he didn’t throw any interceptions. Now at 5-0, the real work begins with Cincinnati, Pitt, and West Virginia up next. If the Bulls can at least win two of the three, they’ll be in the hunt for the Big East title up until the end.

Syracuse … USF 34 ... at Syracuse 20 ... Syracuse has to be nearly perfect to beat the better teams, and it wasn’t even close against USF. The seven turnovers and the struggles in pass protection broke open a tight game, but an unstoppable day from Mike Williams with 13 catches and a nice day from the run defense helped keep it close. And then came a pick six late in the third quarter and it was over. The turnover margin has to go the other way with a mistake-prone West Virginia coming up next   

West Virginia… at West Virginia 35 ... Colorado 24 ... The turnovers have to stop. They were a killer in the loss to Auburn, and they were a problem against Colorado with four fumbles setting back an offense that worked extremely well. With a winnable game against Syracuse coming up next, the only way WVU loses is by screwing up, and after the last two weeks, fumbles have to be a major concern. Defensively, Reed Williams had a whale of a game against the Buffs with a team-leading nine tackles with three broken up passes.

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