Big East notes, Week 1: Bowling Green?

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

College Football
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The 2008 Big East football season came tumbling out like a boxful of chocolates last weekend -- two games on Thursday, four on Saturday, one each on Sunday and Monday. And when it was all over, we were definitely left with a mixed sampler.

First, the bad news (might as well get it over with):

1. Louisville and Syracuse, the predicted bottom feeders in the conference, played like it in their openers. The Cardinals, with every reason to be fired up for their home game with Kentucky, laid a 27-2 egg. The defense did look better under new coordinator Ron English (210 yards surrendered), but the offense committed five turnovers, two of them returned for touchdowns.

Syracuse appeared only marginally better than last year (a 2-10 season). True, Greg Robinson's three-headed running back (Curtis Brinkley, Delone Carter and Doug Hogue) rushed for over 100 yards, but most of that came on a couple of long carries. The O-line still seems incapable of opening a routine hole through which a back can run north and south for 3 or 4 yards. On defense, the tackling was shoddy at times -- Tyrell Sutton is good, but not as good as Syracuse made him look.

2. Although this is supposed to be a quarterback-rich conference, results there were mixed, as well. Louisville's highly touted Hunter Cantwell threw three interceptions, which is not an encouraging sign for a senior. Connecticut QB Tyler Lorenzen gained 223 yards through the air, but a trio of picks against him by 1-AA Hofstra does not bode well. Even Mike Teel of Rutgers, whom many consider the best pure passer in the league, didn't throw a touchdown pass and was intercepted twice against Fresno State.

Elsewhere, Andrew Robinson of Syracuse had a wretched day, often overshooting receivers by a matter of yards instead of inches. Pitt's Bill Stull had his moments, but couldn't move the Panther offense when it really mattered, late in a 27-17 loss to Bowling Green.

On the upside, Pat White and Matt Grothe did what they do, and did it well. The left-handed White looked more like Steve Young than Michael Vick in a 35-3 rout of Hofstra (five touchdown passes) and Grothe directed his team to TDs on its first four possessions. Meanwhile, Dustin Grutza was solid for Cincinnati, finishing 21-of-28 passing for 296 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

3. Bowling Green? OK, the MAC is always knocking off more highly rated teams. The discouraging thing about Pitt's loss at Heinz Field was that the Panthers just couldn't get it going when they had to. The longer the visiting Falcons hung around, the tighter Pitt seemed to get.

There was one shining glimpse into the future, when wunderkind freshman receiver Jonathan Baldwin left a Bowling Green defender in the dust and made a pretty catch of a long Stull toss. Problem was, he was out of bounds, and Baldwin didn't catch another pass.

And what's up with Scott McKillop, the tackling machine, only getting six stops? Even worse, BGU got its winning score on a quarterback draw by Tyler Sheehan right up the gut, where Pitt's linebackers were supposedly impregnable.

The good news starts with the fact that three of the four losers get a shot at redemption -- Pitt hosts Buffalo, Louisville is at home against Tennessee Tech and Syracuse gets Akron (which won't be easy) at the Carrier Dome. The fourth Big East team to go down, Rutgers, gets a break until Sept. 11, when it entertains North Carolina in a nationally televised (ESPN) Thursday night contest.

Unlike last week, seven of the eight games are on Saturday. The bar is raised somewhat for West Virginia -- which travels to Greenville, N.C., for a 4:30 meeting with East Carolina, opening week conqueror of Virginia Tech -- and a lot higher for Cincinnati, which travels to Oklahoma. (The latter could be an opportunity for a well-regarded Bearcat secondary to distinguish itself against Sooner gunslinger Sam Bradford. Or not.)

As was expected, West Virginia and South Florida proved the most impressive teams in Week 1. But the Bulls, who host Central Florida this Saturday, then have a short week before taking on an impressive Kansas squad.

Connecticut has Temple this week, and then Virginia.
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