Big East Notebook
November 04, 2008 04:40 PM | General
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| Steve Slaton |
GROUND ‘U’
Did you realize that four of the Big East’s top five all-time rushers are from West Virginia? CFL star Avon Cobourne is ranked No. 1 in Big East history with 5,039 career rushing yards, followed by Rutgers’ Ray Rice (4,926), Pat White (4,051), Steve Slaton (3,923) and Amos Zereoue (3,907).
If I were a high school running back or a quarterback with wheels, West Virginia to me looks like a pretty good place to play.
CONFERENCE OF RUNNING BACKS
This year the Big 12 is known as the conference of quarterbacks. In the Big East it’s the year of the tailback. Four of the nation’s top 15 ground gainers reside in the Big East.
Connecticut’s Donald Brown remains No. 1 in the country averaging 156.2 yards per game. Pitt’s LeSean McCoy is now ranked sixth averaging 125.5 yards per game, while West Virginia’s Noel Devine slipped to 14th this week with an average of 113.6 yards per game.
Syracuse’s Curtis Brinkley is ranked 15th with an average of 112.4 yards per game.
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| Mortty Ivy |
AWARD WINNERS
West Virginia linebacker Mortty Ivy was named Big East defensive player of the week for the second time this year. The Pittsburgh resident also earned player of the week honors in the opener against Villanova. Ivy has won the award three times for his career.
Pat White also got the weekly nod for the first time this year after his 230-yard, three-TD performance against Connecticut. White has been recognized by the Big East as its player of the week eight times for his career – the most of any active player. Right behind Pat White is WVU teammate Pat McAfee, who has been honored as the league’s special teams player of the week seven times.
HUSKY KILLER
Immediately after last Saturday’s 35-13 victory over Connecticut the television cameras caught Husky coach Randy Edsall walking over and giving West Virginia senior quarterback Pat White a pat on the helmet. It was a classy move by a classy coach.
There is also no doubting Edsall’s relief that his team no longer has to tackle him.
In four victories against Connecticut White has averaged 237.5 yards of total offense and accounted for 11 touchdowns. White reached the 100-yard mark in rushing in each of the last three meetings against UConn while completing 59 percent of his pass attempts for 490 yards and four scores.
West Virginia has won by scores of 45-13, 37-11, 66-21 and 35-13.
KEY LEAGUE GAMES
There are three Big East match ups this week and all three have implications in the conference race. West Virginia is a game up in the loss column on both Cincinnati and Pitt, and the Mountaineers face the 6-2 Bearcats at Milan Puskar Stadium at 7 pm Saturday night.
By that time, West Virginia and Cincinnati will know the results of the other two league games being played a noon. Louisville travels to Pitt to face the once-again-resurgent Panthers, while Rutgers plays host to rejuvenated Syracuse, coming off a 28-21 upset victory over Louisville.
Rutgers has recovered nicely from a dreadful 1-5 start with a pair of wins over Connecticut and Pittsburgh and has two weeks to prepare for Syracuse.
Louisville’s season is on the line Saturday at Pitt, which came back from a 54-34 loss to Rutgers by beating Notre Dame 36-33 in four overtimes in South Bend last Saturday. Louisville was stung once again by Syracuse and shows a 5-3 overall record.
South Florida and Connecticut are both off this week.
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| Pat White |
MOST SURPRISING STAT
Which quarterback has more total yards for his career: Pat White or Matt Grothe? The answer is actually Grothe, who heads into a bye week this Saturday with 9,153 yards. That is 10 yards more than White, who faces Cincinnati this weekend.
Next on the list of present Big East players is Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel with 7,503 total yards.
CAN’T SEE TV
Last year at this time the Big East’s key conference games were being televised on ESPN and/or ESPN2. This year those games are being relegated to ESPNU. Saturday’s Syracuse-Rutgers game at noon and the West Virginia-Cincinnati game at 7 will both be televised on ESPN’s sister network, which is seen in roughly 22 million homes.
Meanwhile, the Pitt-Louisville game on the Big East Network at noon will reach about 30 million homes, an 8-million difference from the two so-called national games.
UNDER THE LIGHTS
West Virginia is 14-1 in home night games since 2000. West Virginia’s only night loss: Pitt last year. West Virginia defeated Auburn 34-17 at home under the lights this year.
