Big East’s best from Week 1

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, September 05, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Nobody likes to be a copycat. Nevertheless, when it came time to choose the top Big East players from Week 1, it proved pretty much impossible to argue with the three primary choices of Big East.com -- Dustin Grutza of Cincinnati (offensive), Mortty Ivy of West Virginia (defensive) and fellow Mountaineer Pat McAfee (special teams).

The opening week is always difficult, of course, because a lot of the high-profile performers only put in a couple of quarters' work against an inferior opponent, thus deflating their stats. Moreover, in our "Newcomer of the Week" category, it often takes time for rookies to work their way onto the field.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK: ALRIC ARNETT, WEST VIRGINIA.

But not in Arnett's case. The first two passes the 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior college transfer snagged as a Mountaineer went for touchdowns of 24 and 34 yards in a 48-21 rout of Villanova. Maybe his ability to grab opportunities when they're presented comes from being one of seven children growing up in Belle Glade, Fla.

Arnett wound up with four catches for 70 yards and immediately drew comparisons to former WVU star Chris Henry (the stat sheet, not the rap sheet). He came to WVU from Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community college two years ago, but a broken thumb kept him on the sidelines last year.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati redshirt freshman Scott Johnson made up for an early fumble by rushing for 79 yards in Cincinnati's 40-7 victory over Eastern Kentucky, including a 50-yard burst.

It might be fair to call two other Bearcats newcomers, even though they don't technically qualify. Wide receiver Marshawn Gilyard, who hadn't played since 2005 (he was redshirted in '06 and academically ineligible in '07), caught two touchdown passes from Grutza. On the other side of the ball, Connor Barwin moved from tight end to defensive end and made his stop-unit debut with five tackles and a sack.

Rutgers linebacker Manny Abreu, a redshirt freshman, used his season on the bench to gain 30 pounds (to 6-3, 245), and employed that added leverage to post seven tackles and a sack in the Scarlet Knights' opening loss to Fresno State.

True freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels, a third-stringer, managed to get in a little "garbage time" work in South Florida's 56-7 destruction of Tennessee-Martin and made the most of it, hitting all four of his passes for 80 yards.

Junior college transfer Jon Dempsey had nine tackles, eight of them solo, for Louisville -- one of the few bright spots in a 27-2 loss to Kentucky.

Finally, Connecticut wideout Kashif Moore snagged four passes for 37 yards versus Hofstra.

SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: PAT McAFEE, WEST VIRGINIA

Again, it's hard to quibble with this Big East.com selection. McAfee nailed a couple of field goals against Villanova, including a career-long 52 yards, and punted for a 42.5-yard average.

Close behind was Cincinnati's All-America punter, Kevin Huber, who gave the football an average ride of 45.8 yards.

Junior college transfer Theo Wilson hauled a punt back 67 yards for a touchdown for South Florida.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: MORTTY IVY, WEST VIRGINIA

Pitt's Scott McKillop had an off game (or at least one far below his usual production), and South Florida's Tyrone McKenzie left early during a Bull rout. So much for the conference's two marquee linebackers.

Instead, it was Ivy who set the standard for his position in Week 1.

"Mortty just knows how to find the football," noted teammate J.T. Thomas.

That was certainly the case against Villanova, when the 6-2, 236-pound senior from Monroeville, Pa., scored on a 29-yard interception return, traveled 30 more yards with a recovered fumble and posted a sack.

The undersized (6-1, 215) but fierce Thomas wasn't too shabby, either -- he had five tackles, three tackles for loss (including a sack) and a blocked punt.

McKenzie made good use of his playing time for USF with five solo tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and an interception.

The Syracuse offense sputtered, as usual, in a 30-10 loss to Northwestern, but DE Vicente Giruzzi and safety A.J. Brown had their moments. Giruzzi contributed nine tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery; Brown added 11 tackles and an interception.

Fifth-year senior Austin Ransom (Pitt) stepped in for injured starting linebacker Shane Murray and had seven tackles, 1 1/2 tackles for loss and an interception in a devastating loss to Bowling Green.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: DUSTIN GRUTZA, CINCINNATI

It would have been easy to choose West Virginia quarterback Pat White, who showed off his retooled passing game by hurling five TD tosses in his team's opener. But that would have made a clean sweep for West Virginia -- and besides, White was helped along a bit by an outmanned Villanova secondary.

UConn back Donald Brown could have been a contender, as well, rushing for 150 yards and four touchdowns -- except that his effort came against Hofstra.

For versatility, it was tough to top Jock Sanders of West Virginia, who had 28 yards rushing, 54 in returns and 62 yards (and two touchdowns) receiving.

Rutgers wide receivers Kenny Britt and Tariq Underwood demonstrated again why they are the most dangerous duo in the league, combining for 169 yards in receptions from Mike Teel, who threw for 263 yards (two picks, no touchdown passes). Providing offensive balance was new running back starter Kordell Young, who piled up 94 yards on the ground.

The day's best receiver, though, was Cincinnati's Dominick Goodman, with 10 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns against Eastern Kentucky.

Like Big East.com, however, Goodman's batterymate, Grutza, gets our vote. Emerging from the shadow of the graduated (finally) Ben Mauk, Grutza riddled EKU for 296 yards on 21-of-28 passing. He also had two touchdown passes and no interceptions, a performance that Bearcats hard-to-dazzle coach Brian Kelly called "clean."
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