Big East Power Rankings: Week 7

We finally started Big East play last week, and we jump right into the fire this week, as nearly everyone plays a Big East game. Out of the three games, two are on ESPN. South Florida at West Virginia tomorrow, and Cincinnati at Louisville Friday night. I’m pretty excited about conference play starting. There are no certain things in this league, and that could lead to wild times. As per what I said last week, I would rank the team that won by the most points this week top, and the team who lost by the most at the bottom. That’s how this happens.

1) Syracuse Orange: 4-1, 1-0
Syracuse bested South Florida (spoiler alert) 13-9 on Saturday. The Orange defense was vicious, holding the Bulls to 219 yards and forcing 2 interceptions. Only a special teams TD haunted them. Ryan Nassib was ok, 12-22-129-1 TD, but Delone Carter and Antwon Bailey rocked it. Carter had 26-109, and Bailey 9-81. Van Chew was the leading receiver with 4-59. Da’Mon Merkerson got his second INT in as many games, while Jeremi Wilkes got the first of his career.

2) Rutgers Scarlet Knights: 3-2, 1-0
The Scarlet Knights were 27-24 winners over Connecticut Friday night. The Knights actually trailed most of the game, before scoring 10 points in the last 4 minutes. The defense gave up 284 yards, but that was mostly in the first half. Chas Dodd (he’s Chase without the e, cut from the team) tore up the UConn secondary, going 18-29-322-2 TDs while starting for the injured Tom Savage. Jordan Thomas, a receiver, was the leading rusher with 29 yards. Mark Harrison made up for it with 5-112-1 TD receiving, the TD from 52 to tie the score. Jeremy Deering joined the 100 yard club, with 102 yards and a score from 46 yards. Deering also caught a 45 yarder to set up San San Te, who hit the game winner from 34 with 13 seconds left.

3) West Virginia Mountaineers: 4-1
West Virginia tore UNLV apart 49-10. They went up 35 at the half, fueled by 21 first quarter points. Brad Starks had a huge receiving day, 4-100-3 TDs, from 38-48-4. Geno Smith was 12-16-220 with the 3 TD passes. Noel Devine had TD runs of 28 and 48, but only had 3-89. Keith Tandy had 2 interceptions for the Mountaineers.

4) Cincinnati Bearcats: 2-3
You can read all about the UC win over Miami here.

5) Louisville Cardinals: 3-2
Louisville has not played great defenses, but they are killing kids. They are first in the Big East in offense. Their defense is tied for first in sacks. They are playing very well. They have played Memphis (108), Oregon State (113), and Arkansas State (115). Those numbers, their defensive rankings. Some part has to be the Cards, who put 574 on Memphis in a 56-0 win. Adam Froman looks like a new QB, 12-16-235-4 TDs. Most of those were to Josh Bellamy, 6-112-2 TDs. Bilal Powell has been the best running back in the Big East, yeah I said it, and he had another 18-204-2 TD game. Louisville is going to be tough stuff.

6) Pittsburgh Panthers: 2-3
Pittsburgh went down to Notre Dame 23-17 Saturday. They trailed one point 20-3, and it never really seemed they had a chance to win. They moved for 382 yards, but couldn’t get the ball in the end zone. Tino Sunseri recovered well from the Miami debacle, going 27-39-272-1 TD-1 INT. Jon Baldwin had a huge game finally, 9-111-1 TD. The TD was from 56 yards, and cut the score to the final. Dion Lewis was actually the leading rusher for the Panthers, getting 63 yards on 16 carries. Pitt was 5-15 on third down, and 1-4 on fourth downs.

7) Connecticut Huskies: 3-3, 0-1
UConn can place the loss firmly on the defense. They gave up 453 yards to the Knights, including the 2 deep balls to Deering mentioned up top. Cody Endres, 17-34-153-1 TD-1 INT, had the offense rolling for a while, but they couldn’t do anything the second half. Jordan Todman had 24-123-1 TD, the TD being from 66 yards out. Kashif Moore had 5-64-1 TD, the TD from 22 gave UConn a 21-17 lead. Nick Williams took a kick 100 yards to tie the score at 7. This has to be a disappointing loss for UConn, especially given the way they lost to Rutgers last season, and how they gave up 2 big passes to lose this one.

8) South Florida Bulls: 3-2, 0-1
The Bulls might have been ranked last no matter what. They have looked very unimpressive, and most of it has started from QB BJ Daniels. Daniels was just 9-23-124-2 INTs against Syracuse. He’s 50-95-648-4 TDs-7 INTs on the season. Not what they expected at all. Mo Plancher had 15-58 rushing, while Dontavia Bogan had 4-67 in the air. The star was Lindsey Lamar, who took at kick 94 yards for a TD to put the Bulls up 9-6. They missed the point after.

Thursday
South Florida at West Virginia 7:30

Friday
Cincinnati at Louisville 8

Saturday
Pittsburgh at Syracuse 12
Army at Rutgers 2