Big East football schedules: Week 8

Week eight was specifically designed for you, the Big East football fan. There are four Big East games all between Big East foes. The stakes don’t get much higher than that.

Here’s the all-important week eight showdown list.

Week 8 Big East Schedule
Fri., Oct 22-Cincinnati vs USF
Sat., Oct 23-Pittsburgh vs Rutgers
Oct 23-Louisville vs Connecticut
Oct 23-West Virginia vs Syracuse

AN: I’ll bat leadoff again with another Friday night party for UC fans. The last time USF visited the Queen City, ESPN’s Thursday Night crew was in the house on the night before Halloween. USF got “blacked out” by the rambunctious Nippert Stadium crowd and lost 24-10. Skip Holtz has brought a new energy to the USF program that Jim Leavitt did not have, but his offensive system may not suit his best player.

But B.J. Daniels is the USF X-factor. The sophomore quarterback, who came in to replace the injured Matt Groethe last year, is a tougher person to tackle than any college player I’ve seen in the past three seasons. His athletic ability and slippery moves made the defensive line of any opponent gasp for air.

That being said, Daniels hasn’t been set as free as he was in the previous regime’s offensive set to make plays with his feet. But if Daniels is free to make plays with his feet it could spell out a long night for the UC defense this evening.

Jake’s Pitt Panthers welcome in another heralded sophomore quarterback the day after UC sees B.J. Daniels in Rutgers’s Tom Savage. But he has been upstaged by true freshman Chas Dodd

Jake is busy this week, so I get to give what little insight I can into the Rutgers/Pitt matchup. Rutgers will come into this game with a little emotional edge after losing Eric LeGrand last week to what could be a lifetime of paralysis.

The entire Big East, as well as most college football programs have shown support for LeGrand in the way that we all did last season after the tragic death of UConn DB Jasper Howard. But, will the message of “Believe” that Rutgers now has stuck to the front of their helmets be enough to carry them past the preseason Big East favorites?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say the inspired Scarlet Knights will put up a fight, but will ultimately fall to the Pitt that all Panthers fans thought would run through the Big East and into a BCS game. Tino Sunseri is finally clicking and Dion Lewis will tear the normally stout Rutgers defense to shreds.

That one could blow up in my face, but that’s how I feel this game will turn out.

The most interesting game to me this week might be Notre Dame’s matchup with a team they’ve only defeated once in the past three seasons: Navy. It’s no secret I’m a big supporter of the Academy’s triple option offense and I might be the President of the “Ricky Dobbs for Heisman” fan club, so my eyes will be firmly glued to a television set on Saturday afternoon with Brian Kelly’s boys on it.

Ken Niumatalolo is 1-1 against the Catholics from South Bend, and he has an opportunity to go above .500 with a win against the Fighting Irish. But, I think the “Coast to Coast” offense that Kelly employs will over power the Middies.

Admittedly, I don’t watch Naval Academy football for their defense, which is normally not great. However, the offense has an opportunity to put up major numbers against the Notre Dame defense, and I fully expect Dobbs to have a fantastic game against Bob Diaco’s 3-4 scheme.

And to be honest once again, no other game on the Big East slate is that interesting besides the Pitt/Rutgers matchup.

So, next week Jake should be back in action, and I’ll be glad to talk Big East football again with him. Until then, tune your TV’s to ESPN2 this evening to watch UC/USF. Have a great weekend.