Big East: Week Twelve

With every bowl contract expiring next year, expect to see many stories about potential bid reshuffling in the next few months. After securing a better deal for the Gator Bowl (or an equivalent, like the Outback Bowl), the Big East’s next priority needs to be to find a better #3 bid. The Liberty Bowl reportedly fell through at the eleventh hour in 2005, which left the Big East with the Texas Bowl as a mediocre replacement. Tire Bowl (I refuse to use the name of whatever they’re calling it these days) organizers are reportedly interested in upgrading the bowl’s prestige, which would include a higher payment. It’s not a total pipe dream, ala the Gator Bowl’s goal of usurping other New Year’s Day games, but would involve leapfrogging the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando and the Music City Bowl in Orlando. The ACC may favor those matchups with the Big Ten and SEC respectively.

ESPN’s Brian Bennett looks at why Big East football scheduling is so tricky. The conference is in a very difficult position with ESPN right now, even though it’s a little better than it was immediately following the ACC raid. Scarlet Scuttlebutt’s Keith Sargeant argues that improving the television arrangement is at the forefront of new BE commissioner John Marinatto’s agenda.

It’s just not acceptable for viewers at home to miss games due to a game of chicken between Disney and Comcast/Cablevision/Time Warner. If ESPN wants to buy the rights to every Big East football game, fine. Either air them on one of their networks with wide coverage, or release them to local cable TV stations like SNY that have paid for the rights to broadcast games. Buying games with the intent of airing them exclusively on ESPN U or ESPN 360 generates a lot of ill will, and I doubt it has increased their bargaining position much. Personally, I think ESPN U is a pox on the world, while 360 is a fairly cool service as long as it’s complementary and not exclusive. I was actually happy when Comcast moved the NFL Network to a pay tier last year, because they tried to pull the same stunt (before ultimately backing down). Another thing that both networks share in common is that the majority of their programming has little, if any, appeal. Cable operators would be much more likely to add them if they had more substantive content to offer.

Cincinnati is playing the best football in the conference right now, and one reason is their emphasis on special teams.

Tyler Lorenzen will start at quarterback for UConn when he returns from injury, but it won’t be this weekend.

Louisville saw its game against Pitt spiral out of control due to turnovers, which won’t cut it either against Cincinnati tomorrow.

Syracuse may play multiple quarterbacks against UConn this weekend.

FireGregGregory.com exists? Actually, I had been confused by some of USF’s playcalling on offense, but that seems rash. It gets weirder, as USF is pinning its hopes on a player nicknamed the “Dancing Bear“.

West Virginia’s recruiting class has recovered by adding quarterback Eugene Smith and receiver Stedman Bailey on the heels of Tajh Boyd’s decommitment

Taming the Bulls

I haven’t done much in the way of game previews this season (for several reasons), but the coming contest with USF is rather important. Rutgers has won three straight against USF (largely on the back of Ray Rice). Spotting 14 points to Syracuse in a rather-embarrassing fashion has hopefully quelled any premature thoughts of running the table to get to 7-5; but finishing with a winning record after RU’s poor start would be a profound achievement, and it’s only possible with a win on Saturday.

With the obligatory Rice mention out of the way, let’s think about what his absence means to this game for a minute. I can recall many games during the past few seasons where the offensive line opened up so many holes that anyone could have ran through them. Not that it wasn’t the case vs. USF as well, but I always thought that they were an especially good matchup for Rice. Jim Leavitt and USF DC Wally Burnham don’t place the same emphasis on a relentless pass rush in their defensive scheme as Greg Schiano does, but they are kindred spirits in their love of speed and athleticism on that side of the ball (USF does like a little more size up the middle however).

Jourdan Brooks is really the only back on the roster with the power to match up well with USF’s defense; however, he hasn’t been seeing many snaps lately, and he clearly lacks Rice’s burst and otherworldly vision. USF may have lost the heart and soul of their defense in Ben Moffitt, but they still have the athletic Tyrone McKenzie to deal with in their linebacking corps. USF ranks fifth in the nation in run defense this year, surrendering only 85 yards a game. LeSean McCoy (who else) is the only back that has really made a dent against them, even though they haven’t seen Donald Brown or Noel Devine to this point.

I have been somewhat critical of George Selvie in the past, but I still think that he’s an incredible edge rusher. USF has been working to move him around a little more to combat double teams, but Anthony Davis will likely be tasked with matching up against Selvie for much of the game. Davis has been respectable this season, but did have a poor game against Cincinnati’s Connor Barwin. I was a little surprised to hear that USF’s athletic department said that teams have shied away from targeting Selvie 80% of the time while rushing the ball this season. It’s hard to shake the vision of Pedro Sosa, with a little help from chipping Tight Ends and Mike Fladell, running straight at Selvie during last year’s contest. Eureka! Want to run at George Selvie? Just have Pedro Sosa on your roster and you’re good. Generally though, football teams on all levels generally do want to run straight at a team’s best pass rusher on the weak side, both out of the belief that he’s probably weak against the run, and for purposes of tiring him out later in the game.

Due to the threat from Selvie, I’d like to see a similar gameplan to the one against Syracuse, with a lot of high-percentage throws to keep the defense on the edge. Corcoran is not going to be a big priority for opposing coverage, and Young and Robinson have the speed to be dangerous in space if they get a few catches. What’s important is to not go overboard with the deep ball. I think Kansas, UCF, Pitt and Cincinnati (the four USF games that I’ve seen this season) mostly carved them up by dinking and dunking to death.

Where USF is significantly worse than last season is in the secondary. With the awesome combo of Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams, both now in the NFL, USF could basically leave both corners on an island playing man (I’m still in awe of the job Jenkins did mugging #88 at the LOS in last year’s game). That freed up safeties Nate Allen and Jerome Murphy to crowd into the box and focus on Rice (which ironically, led to bigger runs if he got past them). During the past three seasons, USF ranked 16th, 11th, and 8th, respectively, in I-A pass efficiency defense. USF’s new starting corners have the size to try to out-physical RU’s receivers in this contest. Former safety Jerome Murphy has laid a few very big hits during the past few years. I saw Kansas especially pick on Murphy though, and USF’s P.E.D. has consequently fallen to 37th this season. That’s still good, but not as intimidating as it has been in recent memory. It might be worth trying to exploit the matchups on offense to try and get Timmy Brown and Dennis Campbell lined up against Murphy.

If Mike Teel is accurate, stays off his back, and keeps the turnovers to a minimum, then RU will be able to sustain long drives against this defense. However, I’m very worried that a couple of those things won’t happen, and that RU won’t be able to run the ball consistently, if at all.

No more Bull-related puns

Overlooked fact to watch for on Saturday: USF’s kickoff specialist is out for the rest of the season.

New BE commissioner John Marinatto was on a conference call with the media yesterday. At least he understands that the bowl lineup is unacceptable, and I understand the ND thing, but his stance on expansion and a potential split do not seem realistic. I don’t read much into a supposed 16-0 vote beyond the need to present a united front to the public.

Pro Football Weekly says some guy you may have heard of is the fourth-best underclassmen receiver prospect.

Was suspended for one game this season for violating team rules, is not a great practice player and comes from a high-maintenance, big-ego, emotional superstar mold. Will make some easy drops and needs to become a more consistent catcher, yet when Britt wants to turn it on like he did against West Virginia and when matched up against Connecticut CB ­Darius Butler, he has shown he can be dominant. A long-strider who eats ground quickly, Britt is big, exceptionally strong and physical and can power off the line and beat the jam. He is built to play a big man’s game and has a wide catching radius. Looks every bit the part and has been the one bright spot on an average offense. Has the physical skill set to be a better pro than college player.

I don’t have any information about what goes on in practice, but I don’t really think that he has pulled the diva act in games. The bits about drops and “inconsistency” are utter rubbish when you look at the context of the rest of the offense playing poorly, particularly one Mike Teel. He’s been utterly spectacular all season.

Talk about fortunate timing, as that random nobody says he is a changed man. I agree with Frank Coyle that the biggest question at this point would be regarding timed speed in the forty yard dash.

RU Women’s Basketball squad will be young but talented this year, counting on senior leadership while the rest of the team gels. Let’s hope CVS doesn’t have to lock them out of the RAC again.