Not only will the Mountaineers be carrying the flag for the conference at Auburn Saturday night, but Louisville will take on a rival from the Southeastern Conference as it visits Kentucky. Cincinnati will play at Oregon State. Connecticut faces Baylor out of the Big 12. And Syracuse will face a third consecutive Big 10 opponent as it plays at Northwestern.
Louisville will get things going for the league first as the Kentucky game will kick off at noon Saturday.
"It will be a great match up ," Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said. "It is always fun to play in rivalry games like this."
The key for Louisville will be the play of quarterback Justin Burke. The North Carolina State transfer is a Lexington native, who he will be returning to his hometown for this one.
"I think he will benefit from having started a game," Kragthorpe said. "This will be a little bit different because he is going home. But he had a lot of people here (for Louisville’s season opening game against Indiana State.) It is a new stadium and its on the road. We just have to get him into a rhythm early."
Only Ranked Big East Team on the Road at Oregon State
Cincinnati jumped into the rankings at #23 in the coaches poll after crushing Rutgers on Labor Day. Cincinnati moved up to #21 in that poll following a 70-3 win over Southeast Missouri State. Now it is a trip to Oregon State for Saturday’s 6:45 kickoff.
"This is why you sign up to play college football," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "It is a great stadium that has a great atmosphere that makes college football special. "
Oregon State has held steady at #24 in the coaches poll for two consecutive weeks. The Beavers beat UNLV on Saturday, 23-21, by kicking a 33-yard field goal with seven seconds left.
Cincinnati beat Oregon State back in 2007, but Kelly says there is one huge difference between this year’s Oregon State team and the one that visited Cincinnati a few seasons ago.
"Jacquizz Rodgers," Kelly said. "He is an explosive, explosive player. "They did not have the weapons they do now when we played them two years ago. Both Rogers brothers are outstanding players. You can’t give up the bid chunk plays."
Jacquizz Rodgers had 166 yards rushing in the UNLV win. James rogers accounted for 92 all purpose yards and he had a touchdown receiving.
Oregon has won 26 consecutive non-conference home games.
Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard, who scored a touchdown running, catching and returning a punt Saturday for the Bearcats, was named the Big East special teams Player of the Week.
Pitt Secondary Suffers Blow
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt learned early this week that starting safety Andrew Taglianetti will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
"Our entire team is very disappointed for Andrew," Wannstedt said in a statement released on Sunday . "He is an important performer on and off the field for us. The silver lining is he can receive a medical redshirt."
Redshirt junior Elijah Fields had been playing some at the position so he will take over full time.
The Pitt secondary had problems last week as Buffalo sophomore Zach Maynard threw for 400 yards and two touchdown passes. The Bulls also had two 100-yard receivers — something that has happened to the Panthers four times in the past nine games.
The Pitt secondary will be less of a focus this season as the Panthers take on Navy in Pittsburgh Saturday at 6 p.m. It is a Navy team that was a two point conversion away from upsetting Ohio State in Columbus during week one of the season.
"Our players have an awful lot of respect for Navy," Wannstedt said. "Our team will not face a team that plays harder than Navy all season long. They give great effort in every situation. Two years ago, they beat us at home. We beat them last year. This is a new game and new teams on both sides. We will have to play as a team better than we have the past two weeks."
The Pitt offense was solid for a second straight week as the Panthers won at Buffalo 54-27. Freshman running back Dion Lewis had over 100 yards for the second straight game as he went for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Bill Stull threw for 172 yards and three touchdowns. All three scoring passes went to tight end Dorin Dickerson. Dickerson finished with eight receptions.
Savage Shines in Rutgers Win
The Knights had just five days to recover from the bruising they took from Cincinnati on Labor Day. Freshman quarterback Tom Savage helped the fans forget about the season opening loss as he threw a pair of touchdown passes in his first career start. Savage was 8-13 on the day for 223 yards as Rutgers squared it’s record at 1-1 with a 45-3 win over Rutgers.
Rutgers, like Cincinnati , will be playing it’s third game in 13 days Saturday when it hosts Florida International for a 5 p.m. start.
U-Conn Falls to UNC; Loses QB
Connecticut suffered the first non-conference loss of any Big East team as it dropped a 12-10 decision to #19 North Carolina. The Huskies lost a 10-0 lead and lost the game on a safety when a holding call was made against U-Conn in the end zone.
U-Conn will play at Baylor Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The Huskies will start Cody Endres at quarterback. Endres, who entered the North Carolina game for an injured Zach Frazer, led the Huskies on a scoring drive in that game. Freshman Michael Box, from Suwanee, Ga., is the backup for the Baylor game.
U-Conn coach Randy Edsall has ruled Frazer out for this game with an undisclosed knee injury.
Endres has experience as he started two games last season. He was the quarterback for U-Conn’s 40-16 route of eventual league champion Cincinnati. He also started the next week against the Mountaineers, but he struggled in that one.
Tight end Ryan Griffin will also miss at least two weeks with a back injury sustained in the second quarter. … Linebacker Scott Lutrus (stinger) remains questionable for the Baylor game.
Grothe Passes White
South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe became the Big East’s career leader in total offense during a win at Western Kentucky last week. Grothe now has 10,702 career yards as he beat Patrick White’s previous record of 10,529. Grothe also moved into fourth place on the Big East’s career passing yardage list as his total is now 8,520.
South Florida is still awaiting it’s first test as it hosts Charleston Southern at 7 p.m. Saturday. Charleston Southern is a 1-AA team that has already lost to Florida 62-3 and to Wofford 42-14. South Florida beat Wofford 40-7 two weeks ago.
DomeStand Begins for the Orange
Syracuse played better than expected for the second consecutive week during a 28-7 loss at #5 Penn State. The Orange opened the season with a close loss at home to Minnesota. The Orange will now play their next six games at home starting with Saturday’s 7 p.m. kickoff against Northwestern. The Orange are looking for their first win for new head coach Doug Marrone. The Orange will host Maine next week. Another non conference game with Akron is mixed in. Syracuse will pay it’s first three Big East Conference games at home as South Florida, West Virginia and Cincinnati will all visit. The Orange won’t play on the road again until November 7th at Pitt.