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College Football Coverage: The Last Hurrah Of The Old Big East

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This is the last hurrah for the old Big East football conference. Actually it’s the postscript to the last hurrah, since the conference has been re-named the American Athletic Conference, following the departure of the basketball-only schools to rebuild the Big East brand on the hardwood.

But this coming college football season is still a last hurrah in a different sense—even as four new members arrive, this is thThis e last season in the league for Louisville and Rutgers, and those two teams—particularly Louisville—along with Cincinnati, are clearly the tone-setters in the race for what’s still an automatic BCS bowl berth in 2013.

ALL ROADS GO THROUGH LOUISVILLE



The University of Louisville is on a tremendous athletic run any way you slice it. They won the NCAA Tournament in basketball. They made the College World Series in baseball. The football team won the Sugar Bowl in the 2012 college football season, and is primed for more.

Teddy Bridgewater is the junior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate. Bridgewater is indeed “all that”, with 27 touchdowns against just eight interceptions. He completed over 68 percent of his passes and racked up over 3,700 yards in the air.

Don’t think, though, the ‘Ville is all about the quarterback. Bridgewater was seriously limited at the end of last season due to a wrist injury and Louisville still won a big road game at Rutgers to secure the conference championship.

This is an offense with a solid receiving duo in DeVante Parker and Damian Copeland. They welcome back Senorise Perry, the running back who was having an excellent season until he got hurt after ten games. It speaks volumes to the program head coach Charlie Strong has built that he won his biggest game (Rutgers was the finale) with his star quarterback limited and his star running back out.

That’s what happens when you’re tough in the line, and Louisville brings back three starters on the offensive front. The defensive front seven returns four starters, all of whom are seniors. The secondary is experienced. Oh, and Strong’s specialty is coaching defense.

Thus, we have a team with star talent offensively, and is deep and well-coached on defense. A team that’s proven it can survive if its stars are banged up. If there’s any reason not to pick Louisville to win this conference championship I can’t fathom what it might be.

HOPING FOR A BREAK

Rutgers and Cincinnati just have to plug along, have nice seasons and hope something goes awry in Louisville, and in fairness, this is a league that’s become known for unpredictability over the course of its existence.

The Scarlet Knights though, have a serious rebuilding project on their defensive back seven. While the line will be solid on both sides of the ball, defense was this program’s calling card in 2012, and they won’t be able to c carry the load this time around.

Nor will the offense pick it up. Even with the vet O-Line, they lose the conference’s best running back in Jawan Jamison, and quarterback Gary Nova is a perpetual disappointment. If you don’t believe TheSportsNotebook’s college football coverage, tune in to my Monday podcast over at Prime Sports Network, where host Greg DePalma is a Rutgers fan and will likely spend our Mondays this fall aggravated at Nova.

Finally, what does it say about the Rutgers program that they couldn’t close out Louisville last year when the Scarlet Knights had the game at home, Bridgewater banged up, got an early lead and still lost. The subhead here is titled “hoping for a break”, but I’m not sure how Rutgers would think they could ever get more breaks than happened last year, and it still wasn’t enough.

Cincinnati has a more realistic chance at upending Louisville. The Bearcats hired Tommy Tuberville to come after Butch Jones left for Tennessee. Tuberville has both quarterbacks from last year back, with percentage passer Brendan Kay and versatile-but-erratic Munchie Legeaux. All five offensive linemen are in the fold, and the left side of that line has two All-Conference blockers. Cincy is going to score points.

It’s whether Tuberville can piece together a defense that will define this team’s ultimate success. There’s only one starter back on the line, but two of the newbies are seniors, so perhaps the transition can be made quickly. Middle linebacker Greg Blair is all-conference and the secondary should at least be decent.

Most important is that Tuberville has all year to put this together—they don’t play Louisville until December 5 and that came will be in Cincy. I wouldn’t pick the Bearcats to do it, but it will be fun watching them try.

BRINGING UP THE REAR

UConn, South Florida and Temple are all in various stages of transition and just biding their time for this league to take on yet another new look in 2014…


South Florida: I like the new hire of head coach Willie Taggart, who turned Western Kentucky into a winner. The cautionary note is that Skip Holtz won at East Carolina, but couldn’t sustain it at a higher level of play. We’ll see what happens with Taggart, but with an offense in need of complete rebuilding, don’t expect much this year.

UConn: Paul Pasqualoni has been the coach here for two years and reminded us of why Syracuse lost patience and let him go. The Huskie program hasn’t gone to a bowl since Randy Edsall led them to the BCS and the Fiesta Bowl in 2010 and then left for Maryland. The defense and running game look like they should be okay, but Chandler Whitmer has to cut down on the interceptions if UConn is going to get six or seven wins playing that style.

Temple: The Owls had to rebuild last year and only won four games, but head coach Steve Addazio still had a good enough reputation to get the Boston College job. There’s still more rebuilding yet for new man Matt Ruhle, but with only six seniors in his entire starting lineup, Ruhle can build for better days in 2014.

American Athletic Conference Overview
Four New Arrivals From Conference USA

Louisville-Rutgers Leads Big East Football Finale

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The college parade of championship football starts tonight in Jersey when Rutgers hosts Louisville (7:30 PM ET, ESPN) in a battle for the Big East’s BCS bid. The matchup is somewhat ironic—given the realignment announcement of recent days, I’ve heard it joked that this game is really an extension of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge that’s been going on in basketball. But it’s the Big East football championship on the line tonight and that’s just the start of a big weekend in this league, with shares of the title and bowl bids on the line along with the BCS slot. So let’s begin with TheSportsNotebook’s preview of tonight’s Louisville-Rutgers game.

Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is as dynamic as they come and he’s been prolific all year long. In five of six Big East games, Bridgewater has cleared the 300-yard mark and twice gone over 400. He operates at high efficiency, completing 69 percent and his passes, while having only thrown six interceptions all year. He makes big plays, averaging nearly nine yards per attempt and tossing 23 touchdown passes. And if you think you’ll stop him by taking away a favorite receiver, think again—while DeVante Parker might be his favorite target, Bridgewater shares the wealth with Damian Copeland, Andrell Smith and Eli Rogers.

The Cardinals’ running game took a hit when Senorise Perry was lost for the season with a knee injury, but Jeremy Wright already helped share the load in the backfield and is capable of keeping it going. But this area is still the problem with the Louisville offense. In the Cards’ recent losses to Syracuse and UConn, Louisville has been shut down on the ground. Furthermore, they are being beaten on the ground defensively, with backs like Syracuse’ Jerome Smith and UConn’s Lyle McCombs having big days. Even one of their best wins—a 34-31 overtime triumph over Cincinnati—saw them give up big yardage on the ground.

Rutgers is an offense ideally suited to attack this defense, relying heavily on the ground game. For most of the year it was Jawan Jamison, who churned out 100-yard games with efficiency until an ankle injury slowed him up in recent weeks. Jamison is listed as probable for tonight, but even if he’s not, Savon Huggins took the ball and ran with it—literally—in going for 179 yards in a Rutgers win at Cincinnati two weeks ago.

There’s no reason to think the Scarlet Knights aren’t going to have success on the ground—the key will be whether it’s simply success—which Louisville might be able to live with—or complete and utter dominance, which they would not overcome. Let’s set 200 yards as a team as a benchmark to watch with Rutgers tonight.

Gary Nova is the Rutgers quarterback and while he won’t say he’s the exact opposite of Bridgewater, he’s at least opposite enough for Rutgers fans to be concerned. On my Monday podcast at Prime Sports Network, host Greg DePalma is a New Jersey native and Rutgers fan and has completely given up any hope for his team winning this game, based solely on Nova.

I see where the mindset comes from. In spite of playing on a run-oriented team that plays great defense, Nova has thrown 13 interceptions—not only is that more than twice as many as Bridgewater, but it comes in completely opposite systems. How many picks would Nova throw if his team had to rely on him the Louisville has to rely on Bridgewater? Rutgers fans fear the answer. Nova threw six interceptions in a loss to Kent State and he really hasn’t played a notable game since lighting up Arkansas back in September. With the Rutgers quarterback our benchmark number is two—if he throws fewer interceptions than that, his team’s going to win. More than that, they lose. If it’s two picks on the dot, we’re going to the wire.

Both teams come into this game on a low note. Louisville lost to UConn in triple overtime last week, a game where Bridgewater fractured his non-throwing hand. He’s going to play tonight, but we’ll have to see if it has any negative impact. Rutgers no-showed at Pitt. In both cases, the Cardinals and Scarlet Knights were probably looking ahead to this game and in both cases they lost to an opponent who was fighting for their bowl eligibility, but in Louisville’s case their softness against the run was obvious and Rutgers’ play was so poor in all areas that it was simply alarming on its face.

The winner of this game secures the conference’s automatic bid to the BCS and it’s looking like that bid would be to the Orange Bowl to face the ACC champ (the Florida State-Georgia Tech winner on Saturday night). Rutgers is a three-point favorite on their homefield, an indication that oddsmakers see these teams as essentially even.

Normally I would pick Rutgers without hesitation—I like teams that run the ball and play defense over teams that overly reliant on a great quarterback and that’s what this matchup boils down to. The wild-card is Nova—most teams that run the ball and play great defense don’t have quarterbacks with interception issues. I’m still picking Rutgers, but with a little bit of trepidation—the kind of trepidation that means if I were in Las Vegas tonight, I wouldn’t actually go to the window on this one.

If Louisville wins it sets up a tie for the conference championship—though the Cardinals will be ranked higher in the BCS and get the major bowl spot. Rutgers has already assured itself of at least a share of the title. Syracuse, whose season is complete, would also get a piece of hardware should Louisville win. And in that event, Cincinnati could also play its in to the four-way tie of teams at 5-2.

Fans outside these schools might not care about anything beyond the BCS bid, but for the programs, getting a trophy still matters and that would add to the drama of Saturday’s Cincinnati-UConn game in Storrs (3:30 PM ET, ABC). UConn is playing to qualify for a bowl, and later on Saturday night, Pitt is doing the same thing when the Panthers visit South Florida (7 PM ET, ESPN2).

The Big East will not fill its bowl commitments unless both UConn and Pitt win, so it’s fair to say there are fans in the Sun Belt, WAC and MAC conferences, who have bowl-eligible teams , but no place to put them, will be rooting hard for Cincinnati and South Florida.

We’re in the midst of what boils down to a last hurrah for Big East football, at least in terms of competing for major bowl games. This weekend’s games, starting tonight with Louisville-Rutgers, will be a worthy conclusion.

Big East Football Race Heats Up Friday Night

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The Big East football race gets its first really big game on Friday night, as Cincinnati visits Louisville. The Bearcats and Cardinals join Rutgers as the three undefeated teams in conference play, and all the head-to-head games are ahead of them. This conference has played good football this year, better than the ACC or Big Ten top-to-bottom, and the league champ will likely end up in the Orange Bowl. Let’s break down each team, see how they’ve gotten to this point and what lies ahead…

Let’s begin by saying that not all undefeated seasons are created equal and nowhere is that more true than the Big East in October. The conference begins playing league games early in September, and since they don’t have a league championship game, the regular schedule stretches all the way to December 1. Then add in that the conference has just eight teams and seven league games and what you get is a race that’s uneven for long stretches of time in terms of games played. Rutgers is 4-0 and more than halfway home. Cincinnati is 1-0 and just starting the road. Louisville is at 2-0.

Louisville has the league’s most exciting offensive player in quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. The sophomore is capable of running a fast-break type offense and doing it with high-efficiency. The Cardinals also have a good two-pronged rushing attack led by Senorise Perry, with Jeremy Wright producing at a pace good enough to start in a lot of places.

The Cards have beaten Kentucky—a win not as impressive now as it looked at the time. But their narrow escape against North Carolina looks better now than it did in September, given how well the Tar Heels have played in ACC games. The ‘Ville also has narrow escapes against Southern Miss, a game played in a downpour and last week against South Florida.

What Louisville doesn’t do consistently is play defense. North Carolina and Pitt were both very effective throwing the ball and South Florida pounded them on the ground. The defensive issues not only create problems for the Cards in the championship-type games that await, but also leave them susceptible to eventually getting caught in a spot they shouldn’t. Temple and UConn won’t be easy outs, nor will a road game at Syracuse.

Louisville gets Friday’s game with Cincy at home, as well as the game with Rutgers to close the season. Their challenge is not to be the exciting team that wins high-profile games, but then gives it back in winnable spots.

Rutgers scored a road win at Arkansas in September—although the Razorbacks were in meltdown. The Scarlet Knights also won at South Florida and have just won three straight league games against UConn, Syracuse and Temple. These three games have shown their obvious strengths, as well as exposed some potential problems.

The running game is very solid, with Jawan Jamison leading the way, consistently being in the 100-yard neighborhood on a per-game basis. Gary Nova, the sophomore quarterback, has grown into a mature and consistent passer. In the last three games he’s completed nearly 64 percent of his passes, gotten an average of 11 yards per completion and has 6/1 TD-INT ratio. Defensively, the Scarlet Knights are tough.

So if they run the ball, throw it and play defense, doesn’t that cover everything? Well, just wait. While Rutgers plays very efficiently on offense, they aren’t explosive and the games against UConn and Syracuse were competitive. And while Rutgers pulled away from Temple, they did dig a 10-0 hole. Nova has played well in game management situations and this is an almost impossible team to handle with a lead, but if someone—Louisville & Cincinnati for instance—can force them into a more open style of play, Rutgers can have problems.

Cincinnati beat Virginia Tech in non-league play. We can say that the win over the Hokies doesn’t look as impressive given this is not a vintage VT team. Taken individually that’s fair enough. But let’s put it in the context of Rutgers winning at Arkansas and Louisville blowing out Kentucky. You can explain each one away, but taken as a package doesn’t it suggest that the Big East is much better? Certainly not SEC/Pac-12/Big 12 caliber, but the best of the lot after that.

Anyway, the Bearcats also have a nice win over a good MAC team in Miami-Ohio, but they suffered a loss last week against Toledo, making them the only team of the Big East’s Big Three to have a loss, even if won’t affect the league standings.

Cincinnati is at its best with George Winn running the ball and versatile quarterback Munchie Legaux making big plays. In the season’s four signature games (Pitt, Va Tech, Miami-OH, Toledo), Legaux has completed 61 passes and made those count for an eye-popping 864 yards.

The flip side is that Legaux is not consistent. He’s only completed 52 percent of his throws, a low number in today’s environment of high-efficiency passing games and he was a woeful 15/36 against Toledo. Defensively, the Bearcats are vulnerable to strong running backs—Pitt’s Ray Graham and Toledo’s David Fluellen each had big games against them. With Louisville and Rutgers both having tough running backs, this is obviously a problem.

Cincy, with just one league game under its belt, still has home dates with South Florida & Syracuse and road trips to Temple and UConn, to go along with their games against the other two heavyweights.

So who’s the favorite? Simple math says you have to say Rutgers in the lead and Cincinnati at the bottom of the group, just on games played. But I think that view would have merit even if everybody was at square one. Rutgers is a very consistent team and fundamentally sound. Cincy is the most inconsistent of the group.

Which then leaves Louisville is the big X-factor, as they remain the toughest team to read. If the Cards and Scarlet Knights can both hold form, we’ll get a season-ending showdown on a Thursday night, November 29 (one week after Thanksgiving). The possibility exists for an Orange Bowl bid and conference MVP between Jamison and Bridgewater to be hanging in the balance. A lot of excitement’s ahead and it starts Friday night in the Big East.

Notre Dame Football & Big East Conference Preview

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If there’s two entities that get more play than they should in the college football media it’s the University of Notre Dame and the Big East Conference. The two are connected in more ways than hype (in the case of Notre Dame) and a guaranteed major bowl slit (in the case of the Big East). ND not only plays basketball and other sports in the Big East, it’s a part of that conference’s chain of command when it comes to lining up postseason bowl slots. So TheSportsNotebook ties the two of them together as we continue our preview of the 2012 college football season.

Notre Dame has gone 8-5 two consecutive seasons, although last year saw all eight wins come in the regular season and the bowl loss was a good game against a solid Florida State team. If we didn’t have to have national championship or BCS conversations about the Irish every time they come up, we could quite easily take the optimistic view. Notre Dame returns it starting quarterback, Tommy Rees, though he’ll be suspended for the September 1 season opener in Ireland against Navy. ND has three senior starters on the offensive front and a quality running back in Cierre Wood to run behind them. While the team must replaced departed receiver Michael Floyd, I felt he was overrated to begin with and in either case the passing game is head coach Brian Kelly’s specialty. Notre Dame will move the ball through the air.

It’s defending the pass that’s going to be the problem in South Bend. The Irish are breaking in a young secondary. They’ll be improved up front with a veteran front seven and against a softer schedule that might be enough. But if some teams go overboard scheduling patsies, Notre Dame, undoubtedly in deference to NBC, goes too far the other way. The Dublin opener against Navy is no picnic, and neither are games with Pitt, Boston College, Purdue, BYU, Miami and Stanford. Oh, and let’s not forget Michigan and Oklahoma, both teams who figure prominently in early national championship discussion. Notre Dame has a history of coaches winning a national title in their third year, with Ara Parseghian, Dan Devin and Lou Holtz all turning the trick. If Kelly continues his regular season improvement and wins nine against this schedule just get his bust ready and put it in the College Football Hall of Fame that also resides in South Bend.

In the Big East…

West Virginia is gone to the Big 12 after sharing the league title, earning the automatic BCS bid and then temporarily shutting up those of us who don’t believe the Big East merits such status, by hanging 70 points on Clemson in an Orange Bowl win. Where the Big East will fit into the new-look college football world that begins next year with the four-team playoff format is anybody’s guess, so the teams left need to take this opportunity to get a major bowl bid while the getting is good. And the race is anybody’s to take.

Louisville is one of the early preseason favorites and that’s fair. The Cardinals are well-coached under Charlie Strong, they have four starters back in the offensive line along with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and the entire secondary returns. The problem? A preponderance of youth everywhere else, and even in the areas where starters come back. Bridgewater is a sophomore, as are four starters on the offensive line and two more in the defensive backfield. Asking a team this young to close out a championship run is asking a lot.

Pitt & Rutgers welcome new coaches to the scene. Paul Chryst ran the high-powered Wisconsin offense that went to the Rose Bowl the last two seasons and now at Pitt he’s got a senior quarterback in Tino Sunseri and his entire complement of skill position players, including running back Ray Graham back in the fold. But with a rebuilt offensive line and defense, the Panthers don’t have the substance to go with the flash (though as a Wisconsin fan who loves Chryst and nine-year resident of the city of Pittsburgh, this team is my sentimental favorite). Rutgers saw Greg Schiano leave to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching job and Kyle Flood takes over an offense that’s underclassmen-heavy, and a defense that’s going to need some re-tooling but up front and in back.

UConn, South Florida and Syracuse all have the potential to make some noise and fill the leadership vacuum in this league. UConn has an 1100-yard rusher in Lyle McCombs back and three returning offensive lineman to pave his way. Tight end Ryan Griffin is a solid talent and can bail the offense out on third downs. Defensively the back seven all returns, so if head coach Paul Pasqualoni (who won this league at Syracuse with Donovan McNabb in the late 1990s) can find a quarterback and toughen up the defensive front the Huskies can take the BCS bid for the second time in three years.

South Florida had a disappointing year in 2011 under Skip Holtz, but the respected head coach is just putting his mark on the program and like UConn, the Bulls have a quality back seven on the defensive side, and a havoc-wreaking defensive end in Ryne Giddens. They’ve also got a veteran, albeit inconsistent quarterback in B.J. Daniels and a decent offensive line. Syracuse also had a losing year in ’11, a step backward after returning to bowl play in 2010. The Orange return senior quarterback Ryan Nassib, who will be protected by a pretty good offensive line led by tackle Justin Pugh. The skill positions need to be recast, but the defense is experienced.

Cincinnati & Temple have possibilities, but also problems. The Bearcats have a veteran secondary and a manageable front seven. They also return Munchie Legeaux at quarterback, not listed in the annuals as a returning starter, but who got substantial playing time last year. But Legeaux has to be consistent and top running back Isaiah Pead must be replaced. Temple has been welcomed back to the league after rebuilding their program in the MAC, but just about everybody except quarterback Chris Coyer has to be replaced.

PREDICTION: I lean Syracuse to win the conference championship because I respect Doug Marrone and think he has a little bit more than Holtz at South Florida, who would be my second choice. Louisville will be in the race to the final week of the season and continue their upward ascent. Strong’s a year away from a really big year. If Notre Dame football doesn’t quality for a BCS bowl game—which they won’t—they move into the Big East’s bowl process. The Champs & Belk Bowls are the next two on the ladder, each against ACC opponents. ND went to the Champs game last year, so that bowl will settle for South Florida, while the Irish go to Charlotte for the Belk.