Big East: Week Four Overview

Week three was one of the more disappointing performances, as a whole, for the Big East in several seasons. West Virginia opened the slate on Thursday night, with an impressive road-win at Maryland. Cincinnati and Rutgers also continued to play well, easily defeating inferior opponents. UConn also continues to be undefeated, but they look unimpressive, at best, against Temple. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Syracuse each lost to BCS conference teams. Syracuse was expected to lose and obliged. Pitt and Michigan State was largely considered a toss-up and both teams showed off horrendous quarterback play and, overall, lackluster offenses--so, while the game was close, neither team looked good and Pitt took the loss. Finally, Louisville and Kentucky went toe-to-toe for four exciting, offense-packed quarters, with the favored Cardinals suffering the loss due to a horrendous lapse in the defensive backfield. Right now, West Virginia still looks like a national title contender, while USF, Cincy, and Rutgers remain undefeated, but have some questionmarks. The rest of the field (aside from Syracuse, who is doomed) has a number of question marks and a lot to prove down the stretch. This week is pretty quiet, out of conference-wise, and we have the first two conference matchups as well: North Carolina at South Florida (Sat. 12:00 PM EST - ESPN) -- USF was fortunate to get a week off after their big victory over Auburn two weeks ago. They will, almost certainly, be recovered and not suffer a hangover against the Tarheels. This is a good opportunity to pick up another victory over a BCS conference team and an absolute must-win for the Bulls. Jim Leavitt presumably used the off-week to help tune-up the Bulls' inconsistent offense, so hopefully the results will show. USF 28, UNC 13 Syracuse at Louisville (Sat. 12:00 PM EST - ESPN Gameplan) -- Syracuse is abyssmal. It will be a struggle for them to win more than one-game this season (and that is only because they have Buffalo on the schedule) and the most interesting thing to watch down the stretch may be whether or not Coach Robinson makes it through the season without being fired. Louisville is nearly impossible to defeat at home and will be looking to take out their frustrations on the Orange this week. Louisville 57, Syracuse 24 East Carolina at West Virginia (12:00 PM EST - ESPN 2) -- East Carolina has played West Virginia tough over the past two seasons, nearly knocking them off at home in 2005. The Pirates play a similar offense to the Mountaineers, so their defense seems a little more accustomed to the spread and play well against it. Still, West Virginia's offense has been impressive during the first three games and it has still not hit its stride, while the defense is showing signs of improvement, particularly on the defensive line. I think WVU comes out firing this week. West Virginia 46, East Carolina 17 Connecticut at Pittsburgh (7:00 PM EST - ESPNU) -- This is a game that may not be very impressive to watch, but it is very important to both of the teams' bowl prospects. Pittsburgh needs a quarterback to step up soon or LeSean McCoy is going to see 9 or 10 in the box--and Pitt's line is not strong enough to adjust to that. Pitt fans seem enamored by the "Wildcat" offense they saw last week, but its novelty will quickly wear off if a quarterback does not emerge this week. If Uconn can manage to win this game, they could be 6-0 (they host Akron, have an off-week, and play at UVA in the next three weeks) when they host Louisville on October 19th. I suspect it will be a low-scoring with a lot of turnovers. Pittsburgh 24, UConn 20 Marshall at Cincinnati (7:30 PM EST - ESPN Gameplan) -- Marshall lost to (formerly named) D1-AA New Hampshire last week. Cincy seems to be on a roll and on the cusp of cracking into the rankings. The defense has been creating turnovers left and right and the offense has been taking advantage. Look for the Bearcats to roll. Cincinnati 34, Marshall 10 Last Week Record (6-1), Overall Record (21-2)