Week 3 Big East Preview

The only Elder Panther to graduate with Jake and I in 2007 and gain a scholarship to play college football at the BCS level is Jeff Rieskamp (pronounced Rees-camp), who signed in February of 2007 to play his college ball at North Carolina State.

Jeff Rieskamp (Elder archive photo, Dave Sharp)

I asked him about his decision just after signing his National Letter of Intent in ’07 for an article in The Purple Quill—Elder’s student newspaper. I asked him if he considered choosing UC, and what it would mean playing them in 2010. Back then Jeff told me, “It wouldn’t make that much of a difference to me, because UC recruited me, but they weren’t high up on my list.” More on that a little further down.

Here’s the third week on the Big East schedule, and only five Big East teams are in action during the third week of September.

Week 3 Big East Schedule
Thurs., Sept 16- Cincinnati at North Carolina State
Sat., Sept 18-Louisville at Oregon State
Sept 18-Syracuse vs Maine
Sept 18-Connecticut at Temple
Sept 18-West Virginia vs Maryland

AN: Brian Kelly was a perfect 3-0 on Thursday nights on ESPN, and Butch Jones gets his first test with a road trip to Raleigh, N.C. This game worries me because of what happened to Pitt last season on their visit to NC State. Remember that one?

JM: Yeah, don’t bring that one up.

AN: N.C. State has quarterback Russell Wilson back, and the redshirt junior is a bit of a problem for defenses. He’s a dual threat, and I don’t mean in the typical football fashion. Wilson’s prowess on the baseball diamond may remind Bearcats fans of their own dual threat quarterback, Zach Collaros.

Collaros was a baseball star a few years ago, moonlighting on the UC baseball squad (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

It will also be fun to see Jeff Rieskamp live in action for the first time since 2006. I have followed his career with a close eye, partially because we went to school together, and partially because we share a relative. However, we aren’t related. I love pointing that out, and there’s no doubt that I’ll be watching number 99 in red on that Thursday night.

I’ve also heard from my video counterparts at Pittsburgh that the atmosphere at N.C. State is interesting to say the least. I look forward to visiting, and while I believe it’s too early to predict, I don’t see how N.C. State won’t be favored going into this game. But the “homer” in me says that U.C. should be competitive in Raleigh. We’ll see.

Jake, a few interesting games on the docket this week, and with Pitt off, you’ll be sitting in front of a TV watching a lot of college football.

JM: I’m looking forward to West Virginia hosting Maryland. The Mountaineers play a pretty tough non-conference schedule and that continues in week three as the Terrapins come to Morgantown. Don’t let Maryland’s 2-10 record last year fool you, they’ve got some speed and talent on both sides of the ball. The Terps have gotten the ball rolling in 2010 with a nice week one win over Navy, despite being outplayed by the Midshipmen for most of the game.

Also, this is a make-or-break type year for Ralph Friedgen at Maryland as he’s feeling some definite heat after last season’s debacle. I still like WVU at home, but this should be a challenge for the Mountaneers.

AN: The most interesting game of this week, beyond the UC/NC State matchup and the West Virginia/Maryland game is Louisville and Oregon State. The Beavers have been beaten twice in three seasons by Cincinnati, including a 28-18 defeat last season in Corvallis.

UC defeated Oregon State 28-18 last season in Corvallis

While Charlie Strong and the Cardinals should be competitive in this game, I just don’t think they can come out on top, especially since this is their first road test of the season. The Rodgers brothers should be too much for the Cardinals to stop, and the Louisville offense can’t keep up with the Beavers, if you ask me.

That being said, I’d love to see Louisville beat Oregon State and the Beavers take out their frustration on Boise State next week. That would knock Boise out of the national title talk (thank God!) and make the Big East look a whole lot better—and we could use some positive PR about now.

In 24 or so hours the UC Bearcats board the buses to head to the airport and fly out to North Carolina. Thanks Jake for joining in, and to everyone else, enjoy week three of college football.