The Big East Conference kicks off its 21st season Thursday, Sept. 1, with four teams hosting nonconference opponents (Cincinnati vs. Austin Peay, Connecticut vs. Fordham, Louisville vs. Murray State and Rutgers vs. North Carolina Central). Saturday games are in store for the other four teams. Pittsburgh hosts Buffalo, Syracuse hosts Wake Forest and West Virginia plays in-state rival Marshall. The high-profile game is Skip Holtz and USF traveling to Notre Dame.
The USF head coach played for his father, head coach Lou Holtz, at Notre Dame in 1986 during his senior year at the university. The Holtz’s offered their insights and expected outcome of the game earlier this week at the USF kickoff dinner, and the Bulls have had some creative preparation for the contest. The Irish are giving 10 in this game. The Big East Conference could really benefit from a USF win … or even a close game.
The Big East has not earned its stripes when compared to the other AQ conferences, but it continues to improve. Forever existing as a “basketball-first” athletic conference, the football program seemed in perilous trouble a year ago, when Big 10 expansion threatened to cherry-pick teams from its ranks. Not only did the conference remain intact though, but added TCU. With the Big 12 teetering on dissolution, and the SEC rumored to be eyeing expansion, the buzz is that the Big East may snare a few more teams to solidify itself as a football conference. Talk is cheap, however.
What’s not cheap, beginning in 2012, is the Big East Conference championship. That trophy would appear to have Texas Christian’s name inscribed on it, along with the automatic BCS bid, for the foreseeable future.
To that end, the conference, which has historically put up little in the way of offensive production, has seen many recent changes in coaching ranks. The Big East has attracted some coaches of promise. Dana Holgorsen and Todd Graham, both with reputations for productive offenses were added this year at West Virginia and Pittsburgh, respectively. They join Charlie Strong (Louisville), Butch Jones (Cincinnati) and USF’s Holtz, who all joined the league last year. UConn hired Connecticut native Paul Pasqualoni this year. The former Syracuse head coach has experience as a defensive position in the NFL and served a portion of last season as defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Doug Marrone’s first season a Syracuse was 2009. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, by far the longest-tenured in the Big East, is entering his 11th season.
My esteemed colleagues here at CFBZ have already weighed in the conference and offered their preseason projections and have given West Virginia the highest pre-season ranking I’ve seen to date. In coming days I’ll look at some important matchups over the course of the schedule and offer some thoughts on some of the league’s key players.
As a UConn fan, I’ll also regularly chime in with some news and developments on the hometown Huskies.
Husky Notes (Aug. 26):
DE Jesse Joseph has an apparent injury to his right knee. UConn beat reporters reported he was wearing a brace and on the sidelines during today’s practice and quoted head coach Paul Pasqualoni as saying Joseph was “a little nicked up,” but was expected back at some point. Pasqualoni had early advised members of the media that details on injuries would be provided only in the case of a season-ending condition. Joseph had tweeted yesterday about soreness in his knee, and the brace suggests the injury is not one that is short-term. Time will tell….
The decision on a quarterback has evidently been made, but will not be announced until game day next Thursday. Competing for the starting job have been Sophomore Mike Box, Redshirt Freshman Scott McCummings, Junior walk-on Johnny McEntee and true freshman Michael Nebrich. The coaching staff has given little indication of their ultimate selection, but beat reporters more or less expect Nebrich to receive the nod. Box was placed on the Scout team earlier in the week and yesterday opted to transfer to a 1-AA program. He had been recruited by the ‘Ole Ball Coach at South Carolina, and was the only one of the four contenders with in-game experience.
Malik Golden (6’0”, 185 lbs.) a WR/DB out of Cheshire Academy in Connecticut declared for Penn State tonight. He also had offers from UConn, Boston College and Iowa, among others. The announcement came as no surprise to observers, but there was some keen anticipation of the announcement in Connecticut. Two weeks ago, Casey Cochran (6’0”, 205 lbs.), a two-time state champion QB from Masuk H.S. in Monroe, Conn., committed to UConn amid speculation he was headed for BC. Since the two players are acquainted and have admitted to speaking to each other about their respective selections processes, there was some hope that Golden may he hauling in passes from Cochran at Rentschler Field. The Huskies did land Rennick Bryan, a 6’3′, 305 lb. lineman from Hillhouse H.S. in New Haven, Conn. He has played on both sides of the ball in high school but is projected to be a center on guard at UConn.
CFBZ EDITOR NOTE: I’d like to formally welcome Pete to our blog. If you’ve followed our site for a while you have probably noticed that we have a southern slant. Pete will be joining us to try and educate us on some of the football played in other parts of the country. It’s exciting to have another addition to the site and more diverse content here on our site.
Pete was born and raised in Southern New England. He began his college studies at UConn (in its DII era), but ultimately graduated from CUA (DIII) in Washington. He lived and worked in the DC area for many years but has returned to Connecticut where he cheers on the Huskies and Red Sox (I will try not to hold that against him). Please leave him a welcome or some feedback here on the site, or on Twitter @PSPRGuy.
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