There are two key Big East matchups for the week and neither will be played on Saturday. Cincinnati and South Florida, who are both 5-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play, meet up in Tampa. The Bearcats have won three straight in the series, all surprisingly as slight underdogs. South Florida opened as a favorite in this contest too, which bodes well for the high-flying visitors. This game pits the excellent D of the Bulls against Cincinnati QB Tony Pike and his favorite receiver, WR Mardy Gilyard. Pike has thrown for 1,493y and 13 TDs this season, with Gilyard catching 38 passes for 517y and 7 TDs. South Florida needs to get pressure on Pike and take advantage of something that has plagued the Bearcats this year because of their great success: the amount of time the Cincinnati D spends on the field thanks to some quick scoring drives by the O. If the Bulls can run the ball effectively and force Cincy into some quick 3-and-outs while surrendering a limited number of quick scoring drives, the South Florida O may be able to exploit a tired Bearcats D. Young QB B.J. Daniels does not have to match Pike pass for pass for the Bulls to win; his key is to keep the ground game humming. The stakes are high in this game for both the teams and the conference.
At this time last year Cincinnati, the eventual conference champion, was under the radar due to an unsettled QB position and an early season blowout loss to Oklahoma. They would lose their second Big East game of the year to Connecticut by the stunning score of 40-16. In other words, conference championships are won in November. That said, Rutgers (4-1, 0-1) can get back into the conference race with a home win over Pittsburgh (5-1, 2-0). The Scarlet Knights rightfully fell off the map after being trounced at home in week one by Cincinnati, 47-15. Frosh QB Tom Savage is the present and future for RU, while the D needs to prove that they can stop a legitimate O after last week’s shutout of Texas Southern. For the Panthers, the pressure is on to maintain pace with whichever team wins Thursday night. Pitt was in the same position last year when they met Rutgers, having won five of six games overall and sporting a 2-0 conference record. They lost 54-34 to drop their 4th straight in the series. Needless to say they will not be looking ahead to South Florida, their next opponent. QB Bill Stull is the key for the visitors as he was having a very good season until getting rattled a bit in the narrow win over UConn.
At this time last year Cincinnati, the eventual conference champion, was under the radar due to an unsettled QB position and an early season blowout loss to Oklahoma. They would lose their second Big East game of the year to Connecticut by the stunning score of 40-16. In other words, conference championships are won in November. That said, Rutgers (4-1, 0-1) can get back into the conference race with a home win over Pittsburgh (5-1, 2-0). The Scarlet Knights rightfully fell off the map after being trounced at home in week one by Cincinnati, 47-15. Frosh QB Tom Savage is the present and future for RU, while the D needs to prove that they can stop a legitimate O after last week’s shutout of Texas Southern. For the Panthers, the pressure is on to maintain pace with whichever team wins Thursday night. Pitt was in the same position last year when they met Rutgers, having won five of six games overall and sporting a 2-0 conference record. They lost 54-34 to drop their 4th straight in the series. Needless to say they will not be looking ahead to South Florida, their next opponent. QB Bill Stull is the key for the visitors as he was having a very good season until getting rattled a bit in the narrow win over UConn.
It will be interesting to see/hear how the ESPN announcers will present Thursdays matchup of undefeated Big East teams. I've already heard that the biggest matchup of the weekend is Texas/OU. Now I love watching that matchup every year but let's be real OU already has 2 losses. USC/ND looms larger and there are some other undefeated teams that have some tough matchups...Iowa @ 6-0/Wisc 5-1, Bama 6-0/S. Carolina 5-1, FLA 5-0/Arkansas 3-2 yet we're all supposed to focus on the matchup at the Texas State Fair. By the way how can the coaches vote OU ahead of BYU who not only beat them but they also have one less loss.
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