Three teams, Pittsburgh (4-0, 7-1), Cincinnati (3-0, 7-0) and West Virginia (2-0, 6-1), have separated themselves from the pack in the Big East and with those squads playing each other in almost a mini tournament beginning November 13 when the Mountaineers travel to Cincinnati for a Friday night clash, the title race should be very exciting. All three of them now reside in the Top 20 of the most recent USA Today poll.
West Virginia has the toughest conference road to hoe with additional road tests at South Florida this Friday and against Rutgers at the end of the regular season. At the moment they seem to be the third of the three teams in terms of team strength. They were outgained 501-387y by Connecticut in Saturday’s emotional battle. Dynamic back Noel Devine bailed them out with 178y rushing, including the winning TD on a 56y scamper in the 4th Q. Devine now has 912y rushing on the season with 10 TDs.
Pittsburgh has been on a roll in October, winning four conference games by a 31-16 average margin. They have perhaps the best balance on offense of the contenders as QB Bill Stull has become a leader and frosh RB Dion Lewis continues his brilliant breakthrough. Last season Stull threw only 9 TD passes to 10 INTs while being sacked 25 times. In 2009, through 8 games, he has thrown 16 scoring passes to only 4 picks and has been sacked only 6 times. His passer rating is 161. Lewis has already rushed for 1,029y with 11 TDs and is a good bet to top the rushing total of LeSean McCoy from last season (308/1488y).
Cincinnati has earned the lion’s share of national attention for the Big East and currently sits in the no. 7 spot in the USA Today poll. The Bearcats average 40.7 pts per game on offense and allow an average of 13.7 pts per game on defense. You will win a lot of games with those numbers. QB Tony Pike’s recovery from a forearm injury is the headline, although the play of soph QB Zach Collaros (25-35/454y, 5 TDs, 1 INT) in relief has been a revelation. Collaros is already third on the team in rushing with 191y, gaining 75y on one brilliant scoring run versus South Florida. The Bearcats defense has surprised many, although there is a lot of senior leadership if not so starting experience. Sr LB Andre Revels leads the team with 61 total tackles, sr DT Alex Daniels leads the team in sacks with 5.5 and sr S Aaron Webster shares the team lead with 3 INTs.
West Virginia has the toughest conference road to hoe with additional road tests at South Florida this Friday and against Rutgers at the end of the regular season. At the moment they seem to be the third of the three teams in terms of team strength. They were outgained 501-387y by Connecticut in Saturday’s emotional battle. Dynamic back Noel Devine bailed them out with 178y rushing, including the winning TD on a 56y scamper in the 4th Q. Devine now has 912y rushing on the season with 10 TDs.
Pittsburgh has been on a roll in October, winning four conference games by a 31-16 average margin. They have perhaps the best balance on offense of the contenders as QB Bill Stull has become a leader and frosh RB Dion Lewis continues his brilliant breakthrough. Last season Stull threw only 9 TD passes to 10 INTs while being sacked 25 times. In 2009, through 8 games, he has thrown 16 scoring passes to only 4 picks and has been sacked only 6 times. His passer rating is 161. Lewis has already rushed for 1,029y with 11 TDs and is a good bet to top the rushing total of LeSean McCoy from last season (308/1488y).
Cincinnati has earned the lion’s share of national attention for the Big East and currently sits in the no. 7 spot in the USA Today poll. The Bearcats average 40.7 pts per game on offense and allow an average of 13.7 pts per game on defense. You will win a lot of games with those numbers. QB Tony Pike’s recovery from a forearm injury is the headline, although the play of soph QB Zach Collaros (25-35/454y, 5 TDs, 1 INT) in relief has been a revelation. Collaros is already third on the team in rushing with 191y, gaining 75y on one brilliant scoring run versus South Florida. The Bearcats defense has surprised many, although there is a lot of senior leadership if not so starting experience. Sr LB Andre Revels leads the team with 61 total tackles, sr DT Alex Daniels leads the team in sacks with 5.5 and sr S Aaron Webster shares the team lead with 3 INTs.
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