SB Nation - Tiquan Underwood

Season Preview: Big East

Smooty — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:20:34 -0000

The third installment of our conference previews here at ADS is the BIg East. In football, the Big East is comprised of eight teams, unlike the super 16 team conference it boasts in basketball. The Big East has dropped significantly ever since the ACC pulled a little manifest destiny and lured Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Teach to drop the Big East and join the ACC, in 2003.

Of the "Power 6" conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10, and SEC), the Big East as of late has brought up the rear. West Virginia spent a few seasons in the national spotlight, when they were led by Pat White, and Steve Slaton. They are gone. Rutgers made a magical run the past couple years with Mike Teel, Ray Rice, and Tiquan Underwood. All gone.

Last year, Cincinnati surprised many by capturing the Big East title. West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers finished a game out. This year, in an incredibly close preseason media poll, Pittsburgh was selected to top the conference. That is more of a product of the lack of any elite team in the conference. The difference between first place Pitt and fifth place Rutgers was only 35 points, and the top four teams all received multiple first place votes. Third place Cincinnati received three more first place votes than second place West Virginia. If you like parity, check out the Big East this season.

Big East Football Preseason Media Poll

Pittsburgh (8)
West Virginia (5)
Cincinnati (8)
USF (3)
Rutgers
Connecticut
Louisville
Syracuse

Find a TV for these games:

West Virginia at Auburn - Sept. 19: The BIg East could earn some national cred if the Mountaineers travel to Auburn and steal a game from War Eagle. I said they could.
South Florida at Florida State - Sept. 26: Big non-conference game in Tallahassee.
South Florida vs. West Virginia - Oct. 30: It seems like everyone is sleeping on South Florida. And doesn't it seem like their quarterback Matt Grothe has been there for seven years? How many years of eligibility are they giving out in Tampa?
Rutgers vs. South Florida - Nov. 12: Big game on the road for USF. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano gets the Scarlet Knights ready to play in Jersey.
West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh - Nov. 27: The Backyard Brawl. If the preseason media poll holds true, this game will decide the Big East title.
Rutgers vs. West Virginia - Dec. 5: If West Virginia trips up this season (say, against South Florida?), this may have some huge conference implications.

The Big East has seven bowl tie ins, and up to six will choose a Big East team to participate. The Gator Bowl and the Sun Bowl both have the right to the second Big East team. The Gator Bowl, however, gets to select first between the Big East #2 and the Big 12 #4.

BCS
Gator Bowl
Sun Bowl
Meineke Car Care Bowl
International Bowl
PapaJohns.com Bowl
St. Petersburg Bowl

The Big East is down. Anyone who follows college football knows this. They desperately need a big year, from one of their teams, any of their teams. Pitt was #1 in the preseason, but they have to replace LaSean McCoy. West Virginia has Noel Devine, but no Pat White. Cincinnati won last year, but they have to replace 10 starters on defense. Thanks for playing, Cincinnati. Look for South Florida to climb the Big East this year, especially with defensive end George Selvie returning, as well as quarterback Matt Grothe (seriously, that guy is still there?).

Come back tomorrow for the Big Ten preview.

Game Day: Louisville at Rutgers

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:05:17 -0000

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (5-6, 1-5) At RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS (6-5, 4-2)

Game Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Rutgers Stadium: Piscataway, N.J.

Television: ESPN

Announcers: Chris Fowler/Craig James/Jesse Palmer/Erin Andrews

Favorite: Rutgers by 11

All-Time Series: Rutgers leads 5-2

Last Meeting: Louisville won 41-38 in 2007

Excitement Level (1-10): 2.9

There's a very solid chance I may have to miss the first 15 or so minutes of this game, and I informed the involved parties that I was OK with this. Not a statement I've been able to make many times over the last 24 years.

Game Attire: Black "The Ville" shirt

Hasn't been worn since the New Year's Day loss to Cincinnati almost a year ago, so why not throw him out there tonight.

Predicted Star of the Game: Victor Anderson

Why the hell not?

Obscure and Bold Prediction(s): Either Kenny Britt or Tiquan Underwood goes for more than 200 yards receiving.

Notable and Quotable

--Rutgers is riding a five-game win streak, and has outscored its opponents 114-36 in the month of November.

--Kenny Britt leads the nation in receiving yards per game and ranks sixth in total receptions.

--Rutgers leads the Big East in conference play in scoring offense (29.5), pass efficiency (144.5), third-down conversions (44.8%). red zone offense (17-of-19, 89.5%) and fewest penalty yardage per game (41.8).

--Louisville needs a victory to avoid its first losing season in ten years.

--“We’re frustrated with productivity in terms of points.” --Steve Kragthorpe

--"It's real important for us to finish this season at least at .500. It will get everyone's confidence back so we can go into next year with our heads up." --Jon Dempsey

--"I think it's dangerous for players to start reflecting when you have a game to play. You take your eyes off the prize. Sometimes I've seen guys get too emotional for their final game, and then the only emotion they'll have for the rest of their lives is regret because they didn't play well in their final game." --Greg Schiano

“If you look at what’s gone on over the course of the year, you’d probably say we do (have an advantage). But I don’t think so, because the guys that are playing are extremely talented. They might not be as experienced as they’d like but No. 19 is one of the best we’ll see all season and No. 7 (Karldell Dunning) is learning as he plays but he’s a talent.” --Mike Teel

Big East terror alert level hits orange

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:30:05 -0000

If the current state of Big East football were a movie character, it would be that poor first Germanian barbarian set on fire in the opening scene of Gladiator: certainly rendered incapable of ever living up to his full potential, but still existing in a condition too ambiguous to be irrefutably pronounced dead.

On the eve of the third weekend of the 2008 college football season, the conference lays claim to a 3-8 mark against FBS schools, and an 0-4 record against other teams from BCS conferences. In the latter category, the Big East has been outscored 153-50.

The latest blow came Thursday night when Rutgers, considered one of the hottest programs in the country as recently as a year ago, was stomped at home by a North Carolina squad picked to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack of the perhaps equally scorned Atlantic Coast Conference. Mike Teel looked like the same cluelessly talented freshman who tossed ten interceptions to just two touchdowns in 2005. The running back duo of Mason Robinson and Jourdan Brooks didn't look ready to start for Rice, let alone supplant Ray Rice. And a vaunted Scarlet Knight secondary led by two-time All-Big East performer Courtney Greene made Tar Heel signal caller TJ Yates look like Sammy Baugh.

The final score was 44-12, immediately joining the ranks of 30-10, 52-26 and, of course, 27-2.

The saddest thing about all of this is that it - ag least in their minds - validates the Big East detractors who haven't altered a line of their arguments since Utah shellacked Pitt in the '05 Fiesta Bowl. Never mind that the league had the best non-conference record in 2006, that it swept its five bowl games that postseason, or that it's the only conference to go undefeated in BCS games over the past three seasons. To many people, this young season is just another example of how the Big East sucks, has always sucked and will always suck.

It's hard to admit, but if you take out "always" and add "in the foreseeable future" to the end of that last claim, you might actually be making a point difficult to refute. This postseason's all-conference squads are on track to be disturbingly senior-laden. It's the collegiate swan song for quarterbacks Pat White, Hunter Cantwell, Teel, Dustin Grutza (a loss whose severity will be determined shortly) and Tyler Lorenzen. This is also the final year of eligibility for standouts like Scott McKillop, Mike Mickens, Tiquan Underwood, Eric Wood, Terrill Byrd and possibly for talented underclassmen like George Selvie and Kenny Britt.

The team appearing poised to best withstand the unavoidable graduation hit is South Florida, which also holds the distinction of being the Big East's lone representative in the current pair of top 25 polls. The Bulls are one of just two squads in the league who remain unscathed, a label in jeopardy of being falsified with No. 13 Kansas headed to Tampa for a clash this evening. If USF goes down, the torch is passed to Connecticut, who needed a second half comeback and an overtime period to beat Temple last weekend.

South Florida helped establish the reputation of their program and conference a year ago by going on the road and beating Auburn, and now a year later they'll be looking to protect both on their home field against the reigning Orange Bowl champions. For a Friday night non-conference game in mid-September, there's a great deal on the line.

Should the Bulls slip up, West Virginia will be looked upon to re-assume the role of redeemer. The Mountaineers have high-profile games remaining with Colorado and Auburn, a pair of victories which, coupled with a strong conference and postseason showing, would likely make outsiders forget about the giant egg they laid last weekend at East Carolina.

If USF goes down, WVU's Cardinal-esque fall from grace continues and the rest of the league stays true to their early form, then October through December becomes a bunch of teams who couldn't beat anyone else beating up on each other for the right to be beaten up by someone else in early January.

This is where the league gets recast as the page whose head was cut off and returned as a denial of peace.