2009 CFN Big East Week 13 Roundup

2009 CFN Big East Week 13 Staff Picks, Roundup, & More

2009 Big East ... Week 13

- 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
Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12   

Big East Standings
	Conf.		Overall
Cincinnati	6	0	11	0
Pitt	5	1	9	2
W. Virginia	4	2	8	3
Rutgers	3	3	8	3
USF	3	3	7	4
Conn.	2	4	6	5
Louisville	1	6	4	8
Syracuse	1	6	4	8
Players of the Week 11/28 Tony Pike, QB Cin 11/21 B.J. Daniels, QB USF 11/14 Isaiah Pead, RB UC 11/7 Zach Collaros, QB UC 10/31 Tim Brown, WR Rut 10/24 Noel Devine, RB WV 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 11/28 WVU 19, Pitt 16 11/21 Con 33, ND 30 OT 11/14 Cin 24, WVU 21 11/7 Cin 47, Conn. 45 10/31 Rut 28, Conn 24 10/24 WV 28, Conn 24 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 Friday, November 27 at West Virginia 19 Pitt 16 - West Virginia wins The Brawl on a late FG  - Pitt loses late to the Mountaineers  CFN Prediction: Pitt 23-19 . Line: Pitt -1 Saturday, November 28 at Connecticut 56 Syracuse 21 - Connecticut gets bowl eligible with win  - Syracuse's Paulus fantastic in loss to UConn  CFN Prediction: UConn 27-13 . Line: Connecticut -12 Rutgers 34 at Louisville 14 - Rutgers runs over Louisville in easy win  - Louisville's Kragthorpe out after loss  CFN Prediction: Rutgers 26-16 . Line: Rutgers -4 at Cincinnati 49 Illinois 36 Cincinnati's Pike throws 6 TDs in win over UI  CFN Prediction: Cincinnati 35-16 . Line: Cincinnati -18 Miami 31 at USF 10 South Florida gets blown away by the Canes  CFN Prediction: South Florida 27-24 . Line: Miami -7

GAME OF THE WEEK

at West Virginia 19 … Pitt 16
West Virginia got four field goals from Tyler Bitancurt, including the game-winner from 43 yards away with no time left on the clock to win the Backyard Brawl. The Mountaineer offense gained 369 yards with 88 of them coming on an 88-yard Noel Devine touchdown run for a 13-6 lead. Pitt came back and tied it with 2:54 to play on a 50-yard Jonathan Baldwin touchdown grab, but WVU went 42 yards in ten plays to get Bitancurt in a position for the win.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cincinnati QB Tony Pike completed 32-of-46 passes for 399 yards and six scores in the win over Illinois.
 
CONFERENCE ROUNDUP

Cincinnati … at Cincinnati 49 ... Illinois 36 ... Tony Pike looked like he never left. Zach Collaros might be a more dangerous quarterback because of his mobility, but Pike, who’s back after injuring his arm, is deadly accurate and was throwing some beautiful passes and making excellent decisions against the struggling Illinois offense. The defense was a problem against an Illini offense that got a big game out of Juice Williams and the passing game, and it could have more problems against Pitt if there’s too much effort put on stopping Dion Lewis. If the defense is struggling, the offense is humming at the perfect time and it’s not going to be slowed down by the Panthers.

Connecticut … at Connecticut 56 ... Syracuse 21 ...

Louisville … Rutgers 34 ... at Louisville 14 ... And thus ends the Steve Kragthorpe era. A stunning failure, the offense never produced like it was expected to and the defense didn’t pick up the slack. This year, the line play has been the biggest problem with problems protecting the passer and getting anything going for the ground game, while the defensive front was pushed around way too often. The Cardinals beat Southern Miss, Arkansas State, and Syracuse this year among the FBSers on the slate. It was time to make a change.

Pitt … at West Virginia 16 ... Pitt 13 ... At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter. Pitt wasn’t going to get an at-large BCS bid if it finished 10-2 with a loss to Cincinnati, and it can still get to one of the big money games by beating the Bearcats. The concern, though, has to be that the D line was held in check for long stretches while the offense struggled way too much on third downs. However, Dion Lewis ran well, and he should be in for a decent game against UC, and the defense came up with eight tackles for loss; don’t assume Pitt is going to lose next week.

Rutgers … Rutgers 34 ... at Louisville 14 ... Rutgers bounced back nicely from the Syracuse debacle with one of its most physical games of the season. The offensive line blasted away on the Cardinals early and the game was never in question. Back on track, a ten-win season is still possible with a win over West Virginia next week leading into the bowl game. The offense might not be explosive, but it doesn’t make mistakes, the defense is solid, and the team keeps on winning. A win over the Mountaineers could make the Scarlet Knights third in the Big East bowl pecking order.

South Florida … Miami 31 ... at South Florida 10 ... All fired up to make a big statement that the program was on the same level as a few of the big-time Florida schools, it fell flat. The offense wasn’t even close, but B.J. Daniels is going to have his down moments. The defense was the problem as it failed to come up with a big stop and struggled to bother the Canes from getting ahead and staying there. The big test of the team’s mental toughness will be at Connecticut coming up. UConn will be jacked up, it’ll be cold, and USF will be coming off the Miami loss and will almost certainly be a lock for the St. Petersburg Bowl no matter what.

Syracuse … at Connecticut 56 ... Syracuse 21 ...

West Virginia… at West Virginia 16 ...  Pitt 13 ... Is this Bill Stewart’s biggest win? Yeah, there was the Fiesta Bowl over Oklahoma, but that was Rich Rodriguez’s team. This is Stewart’s team, and while he wasn’t on a hot seat of any sort, he needed to get a big win in a big game like this just to show that his program is doing just fine. The offense wasn’t consistent, and settled for too many field goals, but the playmakers, Noel Devine and Jarrett Brown, did what they needed to do in the second half to lead the way to the win. The key now will be to avoid a letdown at Rutgers. This was a big win, and it can become even bigger with a win over the Scarlet Knights for a 9-3 record.