BIG EAST Football Report Week 3 • Sept. 7, 2008 222 Richmond Street, Suite 110 Providence, RI 02910 BigEast.org Contact: Chuck Sullivan, Director of Communications ([email protected] • 401.453.0660); John Paquette, Associate Commissioner ([email protected]) 2008 STANDINGS BIG EAST OVERALL SCHOOL (AP/USA TODAY) W-L PCT PF PA H A W-L PCT PF PA H A N STREAK Connecticut (rv/rv) 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 2-0 1.000 47 9 1-0 1-0 0-0 Won 2 USF (17/18) 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 2-0 1.000 87 31 1-0 1-0 0-0 Won 2 Cincinnati (rv/rv) 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 1-1 .500 66 59 1-0 0-1 0-0 Lost 1 Louisville 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 1-1 .500 53 37 1-1 0-0 0-0 Won 1 Pittsburgh 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 1-1 .500 44 43 1-1 0-0 0-0 Won 1 West Virginia (8/8) 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 1-1 .500 51 45 1-0 0-1 0-0 Lost 1 Rutgers (rv/-) 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-1 .000 7 24 0-1 0-0 0-0 Lost 1 Syracuse 0-0 — 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-2 .000 38 72 0-1 0-1 0-0 Lost 6 Sept. 2 Associated Press Top 25: 8 - West Virginia, 17 - USF, rv - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers. Sept. 2 USA Today Top 25: 8 - West Virginia, 18 - USF, rv - Cincinnati, Connecticut. THIS WEEK WEEK 2 ROUNDUP Thursday, September 11 Four BIG EAST teams came away with wins on a busy Saturday, with two teams scoring overtime North Carolina at Rutgers ...........7:30 p.m. decisions to remain unbeaten. Television: ESPN Series: Rutgers leads, 3-0 Connecticut and USF pulled out overtime wins on the road under dramatically different conditions to Last Meeting: Sept. 2, 2006 — Rutgers, 21-16 stand at 2-0 thus far. Pittsburgh and Louisville, meanwhile, both defended their home stadiums Saturday to pick up their first wins of the season. Friday, September 12 Connecticut, which held off upset-minded Temple last year at Rentschler Field, found itself battling Kansas at USF ...................................8 p.m. harsh weather in Philadelphia and an Owl team driven by the previous result. The Huskies used a pair Television: ESPN2 Series: Kansas leads, 1-0 of Tony Ciaravino field goals in the fourth quarter to force overtime, however, before Donald Brown Last Meeting: Sept. 23, 2006 — Kansas, 13-7 capped his career day with a 7-yard touchdown run in the extra period to give Connecticut a 12-9 win. It marked the second straight game in which the Huskies held their opponent without a touchdown. Saturday, September 13 USF, meanwhile, dominated just about every statistical category against Central Florida, but saw the Penn State at Syracuse ...............3:30 p.m. Knights score twice in the last 2:14 of regulation to tie the score at 24-24. Bull quarterback Matt Grothe Television: ABC took over from there as he found Taurus Johnson for a 25-yard touchdown on USF’s first possession Series: Penn State leads, 40-23-5 of OT, and the Bull defense denied the Knights on fourth-and-5 to clinch the 31-24 win. Grothe gained Last Meeting: Oct. 13, 1990 — Penn State, 27-21 400 yards of offense (346 passing, 54 rushing) and threw three touchdown passes. Virginia at Connecticut ................7:30 p.m. Television: ESPNU Pittsburgh held a one-point halftime lead against upset-minded Buffalo at Heinz Field before the Series: Virginia leads, 1-0 Panthers pulled away in the second half of a 27-16 victory. All of Pitt’s scoring came from the tandem Last Meeting: Oct. 13, 2007 — Virginia, 17-16 of running back LeSean McCoy, who ran for three touchdowns, and kicker Conor Lee, who added two field goals and three PATs. Louisville had little drama in its 51-10 win against Tennessee Tech as the Cardinals gained 451 offensive Bye Weeks yards while adding touchdowns on defense and special teams. The Louisville defense remained stout Cincinnati Next Game: Sept. 20 vs. Miami (Ohio) through two games as the Cardinals held the visitors to 13 plays that went for negative yardage and allowed just 176 yards of offense. Louisville Next Game: Sept. 17 vs. Kansas State (ESPN2) Cincinnati and West Virginia saw their records level at 1-1 with tough road losses. The Bearcats fell at No. 4 Oklahoma 52-26 despite 365 all-purpose yards from Mardy Gilyard, who had 119 receiving Pittsburgh yards and a BIG EAST-record 246 yards on kickoff returns, including a 95-yard touchdown. The eighth- Next Game: Sept. 20 vs. Iowa ranked Mountaineers dropped a 24-3 decision at East Carolina, which registered its third straight win against a top-25 program. West Virginia Next Game: Sept. 18 at Colorado (ESPN) Syracuse fell to 0-2 despite a second-half comeback from a 14-point deficit against Akron at the Carrier Dome. The Zips had the final answer, however, as the visitors scored the last 14 points of the game in a 42-28 Akron win. The Orange got a career-high 143 rushing yards from Curtis Brinkley, while quarterback Cameron Dantley threw three touchdown passes in just his second career start. BIG EAST NOTEBOOK Better Than Ever Sharing The Wealth Pickoff Moves Under its current alignment, the BIG EAST was Connecticut is the seventh different team in the Cincinnati CB DeAngelo Smith and S Mike Mickens a combined 89-37 in nonleague games. (.706) last six years that has won at least a piece of the combined for 14 interceptions in 2007. Smith had through the end of the 2007 season. That stands BIG EAST title. eight picks to rank second nationally, while Mickens as the best three-year nonleague record in the had six and was 18th in the country. Connecticut history of the conference. Behind Center FS Robert Vaughn had seven picks and was fourth Six of the eight BIG EAST schools return their nationally. BIG EAST Nonconference Record starting quarterbacks from last season. Only Cin- Includes Bowl Games cinnati (Ben Mauk) and Louisville (Brian Brohm) Just Win Year Won Lost Tied Pct. are without their starting QBs from last year. A Connecticut and USF both matched their program 2007 32 13 0 .711 quick look at who’s back behind center: records with nine wins in 2007. Cincinnati tied its 2006 37 8 0 .822 Connecticut................Tyler Lorenzen program record by winning 10 games last season. 2005 20 16 0 .556 Pittsburgh .......... Bill Stull/Pat Bostick West Virginia reached 11 wins for the fifth time 2004 23 16 0 .590 Rutgers ............................ Mike Teel in program history and the third consecutive 2003 27 18 0 .600 USF ...............................Matt Grothe season. 2002 30 16 0 .652 Syracuse ................Andrew Robinson 2001 26 12 0 .684 West Virginia .....................Pat White Big Returns 2000 28 9 0 .757 Syracuse sophomore Max Suter set the NCAA 1999 19 18 0 .514 Depth Perception record for kickoff return yardage last season 1998 19 17 0 .528 Seven of the eight BIG EAST teams received (1,299 yards). Suter averaged 25.5 yards on 1997 13 24 0 .351 at least one vote in the preseason USA Today kickoff returns. 1996 20 17 0 .541 coaches poll. Six of the eight schools were 1995 15 20 0 .429 ranked or received votes in the Associated Press Long Distance Runaround 1994 22 15 0 .595 preseason poll. The two longest field goals in BIG EAST history 1993 23 12 1 .653 have been made by active kickers. USF’s Delbert 1992 27 21 2 .560 Poll Positions Alvarado hit a 56-yard attempt against Syracuse 1991 33 21 0 .611 Four of the eight BIG EAST teams were ranked Nov. 11, 2006, and Cincinnati’s Jake Rogers was Total 414 273 3 .602 among the national top 10 during the 2007 season. good from 55 yards against Oregon State Sept. Two different schools — West Virginia and USF — 6, 2007. were ranked No. 2 in the AP poll during the year, The Main Event while West Virginia was ranked No. 1 in the Nov. Good Company The BIG EAST representative to the Bowl Cham- 25 USA Today poll. USF QB Matt Grothe was one of just two players pionship Series has won its BCS bowl in each of nationally to rush for 850 yards and throw for more the last three seasons: The General Consensus than 3,500 yards last season. The other was Heis- USF DE George Selvie and Cincinnati P Kevin Huber man Trophy winner Tim Tebow of Florida. 2007-08 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl were NCAA consensus All-America selections last West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28 year. Selvie was the national leader in tackles for We’ll Take That loss, with a BIG EAST-record 32 in 2007, while USF and Cincinnati tied for the national lead in 2006-07 FedEx Orange Bowl Huber led the nation in punting average (46.9 takeaways (42) in 2007. Louisville 24, Wake Forest 13 yards). Any Way You Want It 2005-06 Nokia Sugar Bowl Top Of The List Rutgers became the first team in college football West Virginia 38, Georgia 35 Three BIG EAST players finished as national statis- history to have a 3,000-yard passer (QB Mike tical leaders in 2007.