2009 CFN Big East Week 7 Roundup

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

2009 Big East ... Week 7

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

Conference Pages, Picks, Standings & More
- ACC | Big East | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind & ND
- MAC | Mountain West | Pac 10 | SEC | Sun Belt | WAC
-  Free Expert Football Predictions

- Big East Roundups & Picks Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

Big East Standings
	Conf.		Overall
Pitt	3	0	6	1
Cincinnati	2	0	6	0
W. Virginia	1	0	5	1
USF	1	1	5	1
Conn.	1	1	4	2
Rutgers	0	2	4	2
Louisville	0	2	2	4
Syracuse	0	2	2	4
Players of the Week 10/17 Dion Lewis, RB Pitt 10/10 Bill Stull, QB Pitt 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 10/17 UC 34, USF 17 10/10 Pitt 24, Conn 21 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 15 Cincinnati 34 at USF 17 - Cincinnati loses Pike but beats Bulls  - South Florida makes mistakes in loss to UC  CFN Prediction: Cincinnati 26-21 USF -3 Friday, October 16 Pitt 24 at Rutgers 17 - Pitt & Lewis rumble over the Scarlet Knights  - Rutgers can't get ground game going vs. Pitt  CFN Prediction: Pitt 24-17 Line: Pitt -3 Saturday, October 17 at Connecticut 38 Louisville 25 - Connecticut gets big day from Dixon vs. UofL  - Louisville turnovers prove costly in loss  CFN Prediction: Connecticut 26-13 Line Connecticut -11 Marshall 24 . at West Virginia 7 West Virginia's Brown hurt in win over Herd  CFN Prediction: West Virginia 35-17 Line: West Virginia -19

GAME OF THE WEEK

Cincinnati 34 … at South Florida 17
Cincinnati overcame the loss of QB Tony Pike by getting a 75-yard touchdown run from backup Zach Collaros in the third quarter and a three-yard scoring run in the fourth. Pike connected with Armon Binns for two short touchdown passes in the second quarter for a 17-7 UC lead, but the Bulls battled back with a one-yard B.J. Daniels touchdown run and a 50-yard Eric Schwartz field goal. USF suffered from misfires, dropped passes and penalties, and wasn't able to come back in the fourth quarter. 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Pitt RB Dion Lewis ran 31 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Rutgers.
 
CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Cincinnati … Cincinnati 34 ... at South Florida 17 ... Talk about picking up the slack, Cincinnati lost Tony Pike to a wrist injury and played even better. Zach Collaros showed what a gamer he was with several nice runs and a few clutch throws, and even though he showed his inexperience at times, he did a good job of moving the offense while the defense stepped up in the second half. Pike will be out for a while, so it'll be important to be sharp. The nine penalties were too many and the defense will have to control the game against Louisville.

Connecticut … at Connecticut 38 ... Louisville 25 ... The UConn defense had a rocky day, having major problems on third downs while allowing 457 yards of Louisville offense, but it came up with the four turnovers needed to help make it a blowout going into the fourth quarter. Cody Endres came up with a nice day throwing the ball with Andre Dixon and the running game controlling the offense for long stretches, and the balance will be a must at West Virginia next week.

Louisville … at Connecticut 38 ... Louisville 25 ... The Cardinals didn't play all that poorly, the offense was moving the ball, but the turnovers against Connecticut killed most of the good things done by the offense. He threw two interceptions, but Adam Froman was good on third downs and he had an effective overall day. On the flip side, the defense struggled to hold down the Husky running game. With Cincinnati up next, the offense will have to be perfect and the linebackers have to be stronger at making plays at the point of attack.

Pitt … Pitt 24 .. at Rutgers 17 ... While it was a while before Pitt put the game away, it was one of the team’s most effective offensive efforts of the season. Dion Lewis showed once again why he’s a special back to revolve the offense around, while Bill Stull didn’ t make any mistakes and was terrific on third downs. The defense was a brick wall vs. the Rutgers running game, allowing just 38 yards while coming up with three sacks. The D will have to be even more physical next week against an athletic South Florida offense. Keeping mistakes to a minimum will be the key. USF will do its part to screw up, and Pitt has to take advantage.

Rutgers … Pitt 24 ... at Rutgers 17 ... Tom Savage had a nice day against the Pitt D, but the offensive line struggled to get anything going for the running game. The Scarlet Knights have relied on the ground game for most of the year, but it didn’t go anywhere against the Panthers running for just 38 yards. Pass protection continues to be a major problem, giving up three sacks, and it killed the team’s offensive consistency. After giving up 223 rushing yards to the Panthers, there has to be a concern that Army’s offense could have a big day next week.

South Florida … Cincinnati 34 .... at South Florida 17 ... After a sloppy performance against Syracuse, the Bulls needed to be razor-sharp against the Bearcats, and they weren't. The 12 penalties were killers, the dropped passes were demoralizing, the B.J. Daniels misfires hurt, and the inability to handle Zach Collaros running the ball proved costly. The key will be to not go into the tank. Usually, USF suffers a big loss and then struggles, and with a road trip to Pitt up next followed up by a date with West Virginia, the chance is there to go on an ugly run..

Syracuse … Didn’t Play This Week

West Virginia… at West Virginia 24 .. Marshall 7 ... The loss of Jarrett Brown, who suffered a blow to the head, hurt the offense, but Geno Smith stepped up and produced when needed, and Noel Devine showed once again why he’s one of the nation’s top backs. The problem, going forward, will be the third down conversions. The offense didn’t keep the chains moving on a regular basis with Smith under center, but the defense picked up the slack against a middling MU offense. Lost in the Big East shuffle with Cincinnati getting so much attention, WVU is 1-0 and now gets to show what it can do. This will be a fun second half of the season, but Brown has to be healthy.

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