Big East Notebook
September 16, 2006 09:01 PM | General
September 16, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – This just in … No. 12-ranked LOUISVILLE is a pretty good football team. Without its best running back and now without one of the country’s top quarterbacks who injured his thumb in the third quarter of today’s game against Miami, the Cardinals still throttled the No. 17-rated Hurricanes 31-7 at Papa John’s Stadium.
Louisville’s impressive victory now potentially sets up a blockbuster game against No. 5 West Virginia on Nov. 2.
Brian Brohm threw for 181 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game; it was reported during the telecast that his thumb injury may be more serious than a sprain but that won’t be determined until an MRI is done tomorrow. In his place, backup quarterback Hunter Cantwell threw for 113 yards and a touchdown to help the Cardinals defeat a ranked opponent from a Bowl Championship Series Conference for the first time since 2002.
Miami, once a Big East kingpin, tried to show its swagger by stomping on the Cardinal logo at midfield during pre-game warmups, but wound up with its worst road loss in three years; Miami has lost four of its last five games against I-A opponents since last year.
The Louisville defense held Miami to just 73 yards rushing on 30 carries.
Elsewhere around the Big East on Saturday, SYRACUSE snapped its 11-game losing streak with a 31-21 victory over hapless Illinois in Champaign.
Orange wide receiver Taj Smith made his first career start a memorable one by returning a fumble 41 yards for a touchdown and also catching a 65-yard TD pass from Perry Patterson, who completed 9 of 17 passes for 167 yards with three touchdowns. Syracuse had its best offensive performance of the season with 369 total yards against Illinois.
SOUTH FLORIDA won an important Sunshine State battle against Central Florida, topping the Golden Knights 24-17 on a fourth-quarter TD pass from Matt Grothe. A redshirt freshman, Grothe won the starting job in USF’s season opener when Pat Julmiste got hurt and completed 21 of 31 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday.
USF is now 3-0 for the first time since 1998, making it just the second time in the 10-year history of the Bulls program that they’ve managed to do that.
South Florida has non-conference games coming up at Kansas next week and at North Carolina on Oct. 14. The UNC game could very well determine whether or not the Big East finishes the regular season with a winning record against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Big East is presently 4-2 against the ACC but has a pair of games remaining; Cincinnati traveling to Virginia Tech and USF going to North Carolina.
RUTGERS is off to its best start since 1981 with a 24-7 win over Ohio to boost its record to 3-0. After spotting the Bobcats a quick seven, the Scarlet Knights scored 24 unanswered points behind the legs of sophomore Ray Rice, who ran for 191 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns. Rice was one of the few bright spots for a struggling Scarlet Knight offense which had three turnovers and was only four of 11 in third-down conversions.
Rice has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in each of his last five games and has 500 yards on 83 carries for a 6.0 yards-per-carry average, trailing West Virginia’s Steve Slaton by three yards in the Big East rushing race. Slaton has run for 503 yards and scored six touchdowns with a phenomenal 8.1 yards-per-carry average.
Rutgers should go to 4-0 next week facing I-AA Howard and could be bowl eligible by the middle of October if it takes care of business against South Florida and Navy. The Knights are looking for back-to-back bowl appearances for the first time in school history.
PITT, a program looking to get back to a bowl game this year in Coach Dave Wannstedt’s second season, jumped out to an early 10-0 lead against Michigan State but the Panther defense couldn’t stop a powerful Spartan rushing attack that rolled up 334 yards in a 38-23 victory at Heinz Field. Pitt, which gave up 525 yards of offense to Michigan State, tacked on 13 late points to make the final score more respectable.
CONNECTICUT lost its first game of the year at home to Wake Forest. The Huskies had several opportunities on the Demon Deacons’ side of the field, but the Wake defense clamped down by shutting out UConn in the second half.
CINCINNATI took an early 7-0 lead at No. 1-ranked Ohio State before the Buckeyes finally woke up after last weekend’s win at Texas. Ohio State scored 37 unanswered points in the runaway victory. Ohio State held Cincinnati to minus-4 yards rushing on 22 tries.
With losses by No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 6 LSU earlier today -- coupled with the impressive performance put forth by Louisville -- the Cardinals could sneak into the Top 10 in next week’s poll giving the Big East a pair of Top 10 teams.
On Thursday night, No. 5 WEST VIRGINIA jumped out to a 28-0 first-quarter lead and cruised to a 45-24 triumph over Maryland at Milan Puskar Stadium. West Virginia is tied with Ohio State for having the second longest winning streak in the country with 10 straight victories.
West Virginia’s Darius Reynaud returned a kick 96 yards for a touchdown during the Maryland win, giving WVU its eighth special teams touchdown under Coach Rich Rodriguez in his five plus-seasons in Morgantown. West Virginia (3-0) has scored at least one special teams TD in each of the last four years under Rodriguez and five of his six years total.
The Mountaineers will also spend its fifth straight week in the AP Top 10 dating back to last year, making it the third-longest Top 10 streak in school history. West Virginia spent 12 weeks in the Top 10 in 1988 and six weeks in the Top 10 in 1993.
Rodriguez’s 2004 team also spent five weeks in the Top 10 before losing at Virginia Tech 19-13, and Art Lewis' 1953 team was in the Top 10 for five consecutive weeks before losing at South Carolina 20-14.
