Big East Recap: UConn, WVU set for title bout

When West Virginia quarterback Pat White took a knee to finally finish off Cincinnati 28-23 Saturday night in the Queen City, Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez exhaled.

White had a spectacular night – until the end, when he fumbled twice, giving the host Bearcats a shot at victory.

“So you wanna be a football coach, huh?” said Rodriguez.

After exhaling, though, the coach might have had to catch his breath on Sunday. The reason: his Mountaineers are now No. 3 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, one step from playing in the national championship game.

At then-No. 22 Cincinnati, WVU, now 9-1, got 155 rushing yards and 140 passing yards from White and 103 rushing yards from a rejuvenated Steve Slaton. The Mountaineers gave up 323 passing yards to UC’s Ben Mauk and a whopping 210 receiving yards to Bearcat receiver Marcus Barnett.

But West Virginia featured a merciless ground game for most of the contest en route to a 28-10 lead that withstood Cincy’s late charge.

“Pat was a warrior,” Rodriguez said of his quarterback. “He’s one of the best football players in America and he proves it every time he goes out there.”

White, a junior, moved past Vince Young into 11th place all-time among NCAA quarterbacks in the rushing category (3,129). No Big East quarterback, Michael Vick included, has ever reached the 3,000-yard plateau.

The loss dashed Cincinnati’s dream of winning a Big East title and playing in a BCS bowl. The Bearcats are now 8-3 overall and 3-3 in league play.

While WVU disposed of UC, though, the Mountaineers still must defeat another ranked league opponent in order to claim the Big East crown.

Connecticut set up the biggest game in its program’s history by downing Syracuse by 30-7 before 40,000 at Rentschler Field on Saturday. The Huskies will visit Morgantown on Saturday to determine the conference’s champion.

“Who would have ever thought that after 11 games this team would be playing for the Big East championship?” said UConn coach Randy Edsall. “Probably nobody in America ever thought that except for the guys in our locker room. I’m just glad they allowed me to be a small part of it.”

Connecticut moved to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in Big East play when quarterback Tyler Lorenzen had one of his best days of the season, completing 16-of-24 passes for 213 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown pass to Terence Jeffers.

The Huskies also got scoring help from its defense. Senior linebacker Danny Lansanah returned an interception 49 yards for a score in his last home game.

Syracuse, meanwhile, dropped to 2-9 and fueled speculation that the end is near for coach Greg Robinson. SU’s Daryl Gross continued to say he’ll wait until the end of the season to evaluate the coach.

“I don’t worry about that,” Robinson said. “I know what I’m signed on for and I know what I’m planning on doing. I’m going to coach the heck out of these kids.”

Orange quarterback Andrew Robinson returned from a cracked rib, but completed just 8-of-21 passes for 59 yards.

South Florida, meanwhile, has seen the light – and that may result in a Sun Bowl berth. The Bulls, for the second game in a row, rolled up the points in a 55-17 win over Louisville. Last week, USF destroyed Syracuse by 41-10.

“It was a great win,” said Bulls coach Jim Leavitt. “We won in all three phases.”

Leavitt’s team performed so well he ended up pulling his starters after three quarters. Matt Grothe completed 17-of-23 passes for 194 yards and two scores with one interception. Freshman Mike Ford had a career-high 140 yards on 24 carries.

South Florida scored 41 first-half points, one shy of the school record set against Liberty in 2001.

But what may have been even more impressive was USF’s performance against Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm. The Bulls held the Cardinal standout to 213 passing yards – his lowest output of the season – and picked off three of his passes. Brohm hit on just 18-of-37 passes, 48.6 percent, another season low.

“The defense came alive,” said USF nose tackle Richard Clebert.

Louisville’s defense, meanwhile, appears dead. It gave up 230 rushing yards, leading to the Cardinals’ worst loss in 20 years, dating back to a 65-6 humbling by Southern Miss in 1987.

“Everything that could go wrong, went wrong,” Brohm said.

Even outside of the game. When Rutgers downed Pittsburgh 20-16, Louisville was eliminated from Big East bowl contention. The Cardinals are 5-6 and, with a win over RU, would have to hope for an at-large bid.

Rutgers appears headed for the PapaJohns.com Bowl after securing one of the bowl spots. The Scarlet Knights, however, needed a little help from the officials against the Panthers.

With 19 ticks left, RU cornerback Devin McCourty and Pitt receiver Oderick Turner jumped for a lob pass in the end zone. A flag was thrown. But it went against the Panthers’ Turner, nullifying Pitt’s potential winning score.

It was an all-around escape act for Rutgers. Starting QB Mike Teel completed 3-of-9 passes for 98 yards with two interceptions before leaving with his nagging thumb injury. His replacement, Jabu Lovelace, was 2-of-8 for 10 yards with two lost fumbles.

RU did, however, play fine defense, recording five sacks and limiting Pitt freshman LeSean McCoy to 60 rushing yards on 22 carries.

“That was one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever been a part of,” said Rutgers defensive tackle Eric Foster.

Pitt freshman quarterback Pat Bostick finished 7-of-16 passing for 77 yards.

“We had opportunities,” said Panther coach Dave Wannstedt. “I didn’t see the last play. I’ll wait and hold judgment until I see that, but it shouldn’t come down to one play.”

Player of the Week: West Virginia QB Pat White
White had a rough ending to his team’s win over Cincinnati, but was the Mountaineers’ star for the third straight game. He ran for 155 yards and completed 13-of-19 passes for 140 more for a total of 295.

Game of the Week: West Virginia 28, Cincinnati 23
Once again, West Virginia gave an opponent an opportunity to stage a late-game comeback, but a punishing Mountaineer ground game was too much for Cincy to overcome.

Freshman Impact: Cincinnati WR Marcus Barnett
The redshirt freshman dropped the first two passes thrown his way, but then scored on a 70-yard reception and finished with 10 catches for 210 yards and two TDs in a loss to West Virginia.

Stats of the Week:
West Virginia, which used to be known for its quick-strike offense, held the ball for 36:22 against Cincinnati, which had possession for 22:59.

Cincinnati sophomore tailback Jacob Ramsey – who rushed for 109 yards in his first two starts – was held to 11 yards by WVU.

A week after Connecticut’s rushing attack had been held to 22 yards, Donald Brown had 99 yards on the ground and Andre Dixon 62 in the win over Syracuse.

Syracuse’s offense failed a score a touchdown for the sixth time this season.

South Florida had 481 yards of offense against Louisville and is averaging 496 in the past four games.

Louisville had seven turnovers in its loss to USF.

Rutgers won despite a season-low 219 yards of offense with four turnovers. The team also committed nine penalties.

Additional Notes:
ABC announced this week’s Connecticut-WVU game will begin at 3:30 p.m. The contest was being considered for the Saturday evening spot that will now be plugged by Kansas-Missouri.

With West Virginia backed up to its own 3-yard line, Mountaineer punter Pat McAfee uncorked a 71-yard bomb. After a Cincinnati personal foul, the Bearcats had to take over on their own 13.

WVU tailback Steve Slaton, a junior, became the Mountaineers’ all-time scoring leader on Saturday. His fourth-quarter 1-yard run gave him 318 points, breaking the mark of 313 set by Ira Errett Rogers almost 90 years ago.

Connecticut joined the 1993 West Virginia team as the only Big East squads to finish 7-0 at home.

Even though Louisville’s Brian Brohm had his worst game of the season, he still became the Big East’s all-time passing leader on a 9-yard completion to Harry Douglas. In three seasons since the U of L joined the Big East, Brohm has thrown for 9,719 yards, giving him 10,538 career yards.

USF and Under Armour signed a five-year deal worth more than $1 million, which includes $500,000 in apparel products. Bulls coach Jim Leavitt will receive $500,000 from the company.

Del.icio.us | Digg it | Athlon Sports RSS Feeds