Big East Blitz

Cincinnati: The bandwagon is back baby. Gotta love being a winner.

Louisville: The coaching situation conversation was inevitable, but Steve Kragthorpe says he isn’t going anywhere.

Syracuse: Skip Holtz will meet with Syracuse, but says reports of an agreement already in place are inaccurate. The Orange plan on interviewing a few more name before a decision.

West Virginia: A disappointing season to say the least, but the defense continues to gain respect. The stingy D finished the season number one in red zone defense. Now only if the offense knew what to do in the red zone.

Rutgers: Well, there is no doubt Greg Schiano has changed his tune about the Knights. The coach put his five-loss team number 25th in the final Coach’s Poll of the season. Who could blame him? Rutgers finished the season on a six-game winning streak, tearing apart the competition.

UConn: The Huskies will go north of the border to take on emerging Buffalo. The biggest storyline forming in this game will be if Buffalo’s Turner Gill will be the next coach of Syracuse.

Pitt: Hey, this Dave Wannstedt guy may actually be able to coach. He did get his Panthers to a New Year’s Eve game.

South Florida: A disappointing season? Oh well. USF has already sold over 4,000 tickets for their bowl game. It does help that the game is basically a home game.

Big East Preview, Week 15

After a very long and wide open season, the Big East has a champion. Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bearcats on representing the conference in the BCS. However, the drama is not gone yet. There are plenty of bowl bids to be had, and this is the final week for teams to make a statement. For the final time in the regular season, here are the picks…

Last Week: 1-1

Overall: 44-21

Cincinnati at Hawaii: The Bearcats are off to the BCS, and a trip to the Islands will seem like a good reward for that. Brian Kelly says his team will not overlook this game though. Hawaii has won three straight games, but did have some struggles against Washington State last week. The Bearcats should own both lines, especially on the defensive front. Hawaii is allowing more than three sacks per-game. The Bearcats should be able to own the special teams game as well. This has been one of their major advantages all year. Hawaii will hang for a while, but the ‘Cats should be too much.

Prediction: 31-17 Cincinnati

South Florida at West Virginia: Pat White’s final home game as a Mountaineer will be the highlight in this one. Neither team has played to potential, with the loser heading into the bowls with five losses. South Florida has had great success in stopping the WVU run over the last two years, so expect White to go to the air. The Bulls will look to keep the offense in balance…with Grothe attacking the young(though improving) Mountaineer secondary. When first scheduled, many thought this game would be for the conference title, now it’s a bit of an afterthought. The players won’t feel that way though, so expect an exciting, cold atmosphere in Morgantown, with a very heroic night from Pat White.

Prediction: 35-31 WVU

Pitt at UConn: The Panthers are looking for a nine win season. This is quite an accomplishment, considering the season began with a loss at home to Bowling Green. Dave Wannstedt has finally had the season he has been dreaming of, and credit his stingy defense. They 23rd against the rush, with the secondary rapidly improving. This doesn’t bode well for UConn, who relies on running the ball with Donald Brown. This game will be Brown’s final chance to convince the media that he should be the Big East Offensive Player of the Year, so he will leave it all out there. The Husky defense have had a nice year, but don’t expect them to contain LeSean McCoy. UConn will have to rely on Pitt mistakes to take this one. That just won’t happen.

Prediction: 24-20 Pitt

Game of the Week. Louisville at Rutgers: Nothing like a Thursday night in Jersey. This is a game of two teams heading in opposite directions. The Cards have lost four straight, while Rutgers is looking for six straight W’s. If the Knights win, they will be a lock for a bowl at 7-5…which is pretty remarkable considering they began the season 1-5. It has been the Mike Teel show for Rutgers. He has thrown for 13 touchdowns over the last four game. Expect a few more this week when the Knight’s offensive line completely dominates play. The Cards will have to rely on Victor Anderson. The young rusher is averaging nearly 100 yards a game…and has been more reliable than QB Hunter Cantwell. They should have some success moving the ball, but Rutgers is very good in keeping teams out of the endzone. Too much is going right for the Knights, and with a rowdy Thursday night crowd expect Louisville to slowly fade away.

Prediction: 40-23 Rutgers

Big East Blitz

West Virginia: Nobody likes a blackout…but what about a White-out? Hey, it works for Penn State.

Louisville: Steve Kragthorpe continues to look for quick-fixes for the Cards. Juco-DB, Preston Pace has committed.

Syracuse: The coaching search begins. Oregon Offensive Coordinator, Chip Kelly could be a serious contender.

Pitt: There has been a Panther resurgence this season, as Pitt will be heading to a 2nd tier bowl game. The offense gets all the talk, but the emerging defense should be getting the spoils.

South Florida: It has been a very disappointing year in Tampa, but a win in Morgantown could lift some heads. The Bulls have had the blueprint to beat the Mountaineers as of late.

Rutgers: They have one five straight games…and have also covered five straight games. One of the hottest teams on the strip!

UConn: The Huskies have a big game with Pitt to close out the regular season. They will do it without Andre Dixon, who was suspended for violating team rules. They should be okay with Donald Brown.

Cincinnati: They may have already booked a trip to the BCS, but Brian Kelly won’t let them fold. One more game in Hawaii this weekend.

Big East Blitz

Rutgers: The Knights do have six wins, and now are bowl eligible. However, Greg Schiano doesn’t want to hear about it. Schiano told the teleconference listeners “I’m not overly concerned about that right now.” Rutgers still has Louisville to play.

UConn: With the loss last night to South Florida, UConn has no chance of winning the conference. A good season no question though. The Hartford Courant points out a certain fumble that really turn the tides last night.

Syracuse: They fire Greg Robinson, then beat Notre Dame. Was this a program-changing week for the Orange?

Cincinnati: One win and they are in. After beating Pitt, the Bearcats have only Syracuse in their way of a BCS bid. The alumns are all coming out now. It helps to have a winner.

Pittsburgh: It’s Backyard Brawl week, so all the talk is WVU-Pitt. Dave Wannstedt is certainly never going to overlook this game. He had good praise for his rival during the teleconference. “I think West Virginia is playing the best football that they have all year. It should be a heck of a game,” Wanny remarked.

West Virginia: Meanwhile, Bill Stewart says his crew…even Pat White…is relatively healthy. He was also asked if the offense has gone back to more of a QB zone-read. Stewart said “If we have become more Pat White oriented, I guess that’s what we have done…but I don’t know that.”

South Florida: A big sigh of relief for South Florida, as they finally got back to the winning side of things this past weekend. They may not have been great, but they were good enough against UConn.

Louisville: It was an ugly loss to West Virginia, but Frosh Victor Anderson did become the 13th Cardinal to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. The Cards look for a .500 record in 10 days against the red-hot Knights.

Wednesday Morning Quick Hitters

The San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum takes home 2 prizes yesterday. MLB announced Lincecum as the 2008 NL Cy Young Award winner. Lincecum was 18 – 5, a 2.62 ERA and ML Leading 265 strikeouts. Lincecum became only the 2nd San Francisco Giant to take home the award. In Lincecum’s 2nd win yesterday, 2K Sports announced Lincecum would be the cover boy for the MLB 2K9 Baseball Video Game.

The Atlanta Hawks move to 6 – 0 beating the Chicago Bulls 113 – 108. Al Horford scored a career high 27 for the Hawks. Atlanta returns to the scene of their last game of last year, against the Boston Celtics.

The Utah Jazz Deron Williams returned from his ankle injury to help blast the Philadelphia 76ers 93 – 80.

The LA Lakers also move to 6 – 0 as they rally to beat the Dallas Mavericks 106 – 99.

Tom Brady was in the building yesterday…but not to learn the gameplan.

49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz blames refs for loss.

#14 Ball State handled Miami of Ohio 31 -16

Monday Morning Quick Hitters

Phillies Pheaver is at a…well, PHEAVER PITCH (Please no sequel) as the Philadelphia Phillies are 1 win away from taking home its 1st World Championship in 28 years. Joe Blanton pitched 6 strong innings and helped his own cause by hitting the 1st HR by a pitcher in 38 years. The Tampa Bay Rays could only muster 6 hits, including 2 HRs, 1 by Carl Crawford and the other by Eric Hinske, who replaced Cliff Floyd on the roster. The Phillies won 10 – 2. The Phillies lead the series 3 games to 1.

The New England Patriots continued the roller coaster season that is the post Tom Brady season, beating the St Louis Rams 23 – 17. Matt Cassell drove the team down the field on the 4th quarter, hitting Kevin “Not My Cigars” Faulk for a TD Pass with just over 3 minutes left. Deltha O’Neil, yep, that Deltha O’Neil intercepted a pass from the Rams QB Marc Bulger to seal the deal. The Pats are tied for the division lead with the Bills at 5 – 2.

A surprising display of defense from the Cowboys lead the Boys over the Tampa Bay Bucs 13 – 9.

The Washington Redskins used a stellar punt return TD by Santana Moss catch and finally beat the hapless Detroit Lions 25 – 17.

The Buffalo Bills, in a position to take control of the AFC East, floundered and turned over a victory to the Miami Dolphins, allowing the Dolphins to win 25 – 16.

The New Orleans Saints survived the trip to London and the lack of defense, and showed Londoners just how American Football is supposed to play, beating the San Diego Chargers 37 – 32. The win propels the Saints to 4 – 4 and drops the Chargers to 3 – 5.

Even after his 3rd interception, returned for a TD, Brett Favre proved he’s got a little left. Favre drove the team down for the game winning TD, hitting Laveranues Coles with less than 1 minute left to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28 – 24.

After a defensive 1st half, the offenses broke loose in the 3rd quarter as the Carolina Panthers outlasted the Arizona Cardinals 27 – 23.

The Baltimore Ravens keep floating that Wildcat Offense or as Ravens Coach John Harbaugh calls it “Suggs Package” (referring to Terrell Suggs statements that Troy Smith should be the starting QB) as Ohio State product QB Troy Smith hit QB Joe Flacco on a pretty 43 yrd pass that almost resulted in a TD. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Battle of the Ryan Brothers and the Oakland Raiders 29 – 10.

Wake me up when it’s over…oh it’s over?!? The Houston Texans beat the Cincinnati Bengals 35 – 6.

The Pittsburgh Steelers defense did all it could do, holding the NY Giants to 16% Red Zone Efficiency, but Big Ben Roethlisberger threw 4 picks to help the New York Giants to a 21 – 14 win over the Steelers.

Is there any way Mike Singletary can play for the 49ers? The 49ers lost to the Seattle Seahawks 34 – 13. This is all that needs to be said.

Here are the BCS Standings
1 – Texas 6 – Georgia
2 – Alabama 7 – Texas Tech
3 – Penn State 8 – Florida
4 – Oklahoma 9 – Oklahoma State
5 – USC 10 – Utah