Louisville Coach Not Ready to Commit on a Quarterback
Walk-on quarterback Will Stein led Louisville to a 21-13 win over Arkansas State Saturday as he went 20-39 for 232 yards.
"We have a quarterback controversy now," Kragthorpe said on Monday. "We have three guys who have won games. We had (a controversy) with two, now we have three."
During a 41-10 loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 24, Louisville lost quarterback Adam Froman with an elbow injury and quarterback Justin Burke with a shoulder injury.
Kragthorpe says all three should be available to play the Mountaineers Saturday.
"We will see how the week of practice goes," Kragthorpe said. "We will see how much Adam and Justin can do (during practice.) Will did a great job and he is in the mix. We will have to make it a game time decision.
"To be honest with you, quarterback is probably one of my lesser concerns," Kragthorpe said. "We have guys who are capable of playing there. We have other areas where depth is a major concern."
Running back being one. Victor Anderson is slowed with shoulder and knee problems. Redshirt freshman Darius Ashley rushed for a career high 77 yards and two touchdowns in place of Anderson.
Safeties Richard Raglin and Daniel Covington have also missed time recently forcing Kragthorpe to turn to freshman Shernard Holton who was expected to redshirt this season.
Snake Bit Huskies Face No. 5 Cincinnati
One week after losing at West Virginia on Noel Devine’s late long touchdown, UConn gave up an 81-yard bomb to Tim Brown of Rutgers with just seconds to go to lose again.
Connecticut also lost a couple of players to season ending injuries including quarterback Cody Endres Endres suffered a shoulder injury early in the Rutgers game. He needed weekend surgery to correct that. Also, kick returner Robbie Frey suffered a torn labrum and is out for the year.
At quarterback, UConn coach Randy Edsall will turn to veteran Zach Frazer who began the season as the starter prior to being benched for Endres during a loss at North carolina.
Cincinnati got another win with backup quarterback Zach Collaros as the starter. Collaros completed 22 of 28 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He was working behind an offensive line that was shuffled a bit right before game time because right tackle Sam Griffin could not play because of the flu.
Will Collaros start again this week?
"This will be the first week (starter Tony Pike) will take some team reps and some 7-on-7 reps," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "I don’t know what to expect until I see him. But he is a lot closer to coming back. He has to be comfortable in his mind that he can do the things our offense demands."
Pitt to Host Syracuse Following a Bye Week
Pitt is up to No. 14 in both the coaches poll and the Associated Press poll this week as it prepares to face the Orange.
Syracuse has played Pitt down to the wire the last two years.
"It will not be a trap game," Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt says. "It is a conference game and our players know the type of effort it will take to win it. The facts are the facts: Last year, we were down by 11 and had to fight our way back in. The year before that, it was tied in the fourth quarter. We took the lead and then they threw the ball into the end zone trying to tie us up. There was also a time (recently) in the series when Syracuse won nine in a row.
"Our players know that Syracuse is a talented, well coached team," Wannstedt said. "We will have to crank it up to have a chance to win."
Last year, Pitt scored 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 34-24. In 2007 at Pitt, Pitt held on to win 20-17 but Syracuse had the ball late with a chance to win.
After the game with Syracuse, Pitt will host a ranked Notre Dame team and then play at West Virginia Thanksgiving week before closing the season Dec. 5 on the road at No. 5 Cincinnati.
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Syracuse hung in there last week losing to Cincinnati 28-7.
"They were able to make some plays on us early," Syracuses coach Doug Marrone said. "And we had two turnovers in the red zone. We never were able to finish the play.
"Now we get the team that was picked to win the league in Pittsburgh," Marrone continued. "They have a big, physical offensive line and and a physical style on defense.
"Playing this Big East schedule never gets easy," Marrone concluded. "We just keep playing Top 25 teams."
Rutgers Off After Stealing One at UConn
Rutgers may have saved the season as Tim Brown streaked 81-yards for a touchdown in the final seconds at Connecticut Saturday. The 28-24 victory improved Rutgers record to 6-2. It was the first Big East Conference win of the season for Rutgers. The Scarlett Knights are off this week. They will host South Florida next Thursday and then play Syracuse and Louisville back to back on the road prior to closing the regular season at home against the Mountaineers.
Freshman quarterback Tom Savage threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns for Rutgers in his first Big East road game.
"The thing that allows him to play so effectively at a young age is his emotional maturity," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said of Savage. "He doesn’t get too high and he doesn’t get too low. I think that has served him well so far."
Schiano says those qualities have endeared the freshman quickly to his veteran teammates .
"When they saw the type of ability Tom has, they quickly recognized it," Schiano said. "Then it was a matter of how he was going to handle the other parts. Staying cool and leading the team. As soon as they played with him a little bit they saw he had those ingredients. Then I think at that point you start to build up equity very quickly."