Big East recap: Mountaineers upset by ECU

After Saturday’s Big East action, we learned an undefeated season isn’t in the cards for formerly ranked No. 8 West Virginia.

Now the question is, are the Cards in the Mountaineers?

Louisville’s Cardinals suffered a severe dropoff when coach Bobby Petrino left the program. West Virginia is giving signals it may be headed that way since the departure of Rich Rodriguez to Michigan. In Greenville, N.C., on Saturday, East Carolina almost completely shut down an offense armed with quarterback Pat White and Noel Devine and bullied a rebuilding Mountaineer defense.

The result was a 24-3 ECU victory and a Big East Conference now looking to South Florida, which stumbled into overtime before winning 31-24 over Central Florida, as the season’s early flagship.

In sum, it’s been ugly for the Big East early. On Saturday, aside from West Virginia’s loss, Connecticut, last season’s league co-champion, barely beat Temple, a program booted out of the Big East for its poor performance and poorer attendance. Oklahoma crushed Cincinnati. Syracuse continued its losing ways, falling hard to Mid-American Conference member Akron. And Pittsburgh, which lost last week to MAC member Bowling Green, struggled with Buffalo before winning.

West Virginia failed to score a touchdown for the first time since a 45-3 home loss to Miami in 2001. White, who a week earlier threw for five touchdowns, completed just 11-of-18 passes for 72 yards. He ran for 97 more and Devine added 94, but the Mountaineer offense couldn’t stay on the field and that spelled doom. WVU’s retooled defense allowed East Carolina to both run the ball (143 yards and two scores) and pass the ball (243 yards and a TD). The Mountaineers’ tackling was, to be kind, inadequate.

"I don’t know if we can get as many tackle reps as we need before our next (game)," said WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who has a week and a half before his unit visits Colorado on a Thursday.

Scoreboard:

Connecticut 12, Temple 9, OT
Oklahoma 52, Cincinnati 26
Louisville 51, Tennessee Tech 10
Akron 42, Syracuse 28
East Carolina 24, West Virginia 3
Pittsburgh 27, Buffalo 16
South Florida 31, Central Florida 24, OT

Team of the Week: Louisville

Almost by default the Cardinals win the award. Yes, Tennessee Tech, an Ohio Valley Conference member, has been 4-7 in each of the last three seasons. But, hey, at least Louisville took care of business, winning big at home. Cards’ QB Hunter Cantwell rebounded from a poor first outing by completing 15-of-23 for 203 yards and two touchdowns. The Louisville defense held the Golden Eagles to 176 total yards and just 33 on the ground, its best such effort since holding Temple to 16 in 2006.

Disappointment of the Week: West Virginia’s offensive line

Touted by some in the preseason as the nation’s best, the Mountaineer offensive line has been anything but. After averaging 297 rushing yards last season, WVU had 179 against East Carolina on 36 carries and gave up three sacks. The Mountaineers had 149 yards rushing against Villanova.

Player of the Week: Matt Grothe, QB, South Florida

On Saturday, Grothe received hundreds of telephone calls and text messages after Central Florida fans got his cell numbers. His father, Matt Sr., reportedly got a threat that said, "We can’t get to your son, but we can get to you." It didn’t seem to faze the younger Grothe, who threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. He also led USF with 54 yards rushing.

Freshman of the Week: Victor Anderson, RB, Louisville

The redshirt freshman led a Cardinal rushing attack against Tennessee Tech with 114 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. He had just 53 yards in the U of L’s home opener against Kentucky.

Zipped up

Could the seat get any hotter for Syracuse coach Greg Robinson? On Saturday he called his defense’s showing "shabby" after Akron produced a whopping 478 yards in a 42-28 decision. Robinson did take the hit, saying it "comes right down to coaching. And it comes right to me." Robinson surprisingly lifted one of his few anchors from last season – quarterback Andrew Robinson – with junior Cameron Dantley, son of ex-NBA great Adrian. Dantley completed 13-of-20 passes for 135 yards.

UC’s Grutza injured

Not only did Cincinnati suffer a blowout at the hands of Oklahoma, its quarterback, Dustin Grutza, was carted off the field with a fractured fibula. The broken leg is likely to keep Grutza out for at least three to four weeks. And there were some hard feelings over the injury. "Grutza was kind of twisted up underneath a couple of guys and I saw a couple of guys just reaching and grabbing and doing a little twisting that they shouldn’t have been doing around his face and kind of rolling over his ankle," said UC receiver Mardy Gilyard, "just stuff that wasn’t good ball in my opinion."

Cautious Cardinals

Louisville didn’t have trouble with Tennessee Tech, but did have a bit in regard to injuries. Offensive linemen Eric Wood and George Bussey both sat out the second half. Wood sprained a knee, while Bussey sprained an ankle. They are expected to recover for the next game.

Looking a little better

Pittsburgh’s standout tailback LeSean McCoy once again didn’t put up big numbers. Against Buffalo, he rushed 20 times for 93 yards. He did, however, score three touchdowns. "I just wanted to come out and prove myself," McCoy said. "As a team, we wanted to prove ourselves." QB Bill Stull hit on 22-of-33 passes for 241 yards.

Curious about George

South Florida closed out its controversial series with Central Florida with a 31-24 overtime win. ("It feels good to win," said USF senior Danny Verpaele, "but it was too close.") The question, though, is where is junior defensive end George Selvie? The man who was second in the nation last year with 14.5 sacks has none through two games.

Defensive Huskies

Connecticut’s defense proved rigid for the second straight game. After the overtime win over Temple, the Huskies have yet to allow a touchdown and have allowed only four field goals, three by the Owls.

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