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BIG EAST STOCK REPORT: WEEK TWO

By Anthony Jaskulski

*All stats, unless otherwise noted, are from each teams week one performance, and stock report grades the teams on that lone performance this season.

1) West Virginia 1-0, (0-0), Stock: FALLING

Last game: W 33-20 vs. Liberty

Next game: Sept. 12 vs. East Carolina

Strong Point: The Mountaineers looked like a completely different team from a year ago when converting on 3rd down opportunities. They went 6 of 12 on 3rd down vs. Liberty Saturday, with four of those conversions on the ground.

Area of Improvement: Despite throwing for 243 yards, quarterback Jarrett Brown still has plenty of kinks to work out with his offense. The miscommunication in the second half led to just one touchdown, a 24-yard run. Brown’s execution was nearly invisible throughout the final two quarters vs. Liberty.

Overall Analysis: If Saturday is any indication of how West Virginia is going to play football this year, then tears could be the heaviest precipitation in Morgantown over the next few weeks. Liberty, a Subdivision squad from the Big South Conference, tallied up 299 yards and had possession for over 30 minutes on the Mountaineers defense, despite tallying up 80 yards in penalty’s. Being cynical of a teams performance in week one is as silly as putting a slinky on an escalator. But in the same sense, the stress for improvement is still displayed, and WVU has plenty of work to do as their schedule gets closer and closer to Big East play.
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2) Pittsburgh 1-0, (0-0), Stock: RISING

Last game: W 38-3 vs. Youngstown State

Next game: Sept. 12 at Buffalo

Strong Point: “We miss Shady McCoy” was not something you would’ve heard uttered at Heinz Field Saturday, thanks to the first starting appearance for tailback Dion Lewis. The freshman tallied up 137 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. The strength of Lewis, who is said to bench 340 lbs, was witnessed in the 2nd quarter when he dragged two defenders and barreled over another one en route for the end zone.

Area of Improvement: Quarterback Bill Stull had a rugged performance, and the disappointment from the fans would not go silent, as boos filled Heinz Field after Stull’s third incompletion in a row to start the game. The senior threw for 123 yards, two touchdowns and an interception thrown right to a Youngstown State defender.

Overall Analysis: As stated before, you should never be too cynical of a team’s performance in week one, and to add to the rule, you should never be too impressed with a team’s performance when their opponent resides in the Subdivision football league. That being said, the Panthers had a very nice afternoon Saturday, getting great things from their ground game, offensive line and defense—perhaps building blocks to a successful season. A great highlight was linebacker Adam Gunn, who started at middle linebacker in his first game since being knocked out with a season-ending injury a year ago. Gunn tallied up a Panther best 8 tackles and two sacks.
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3) South Florida 1-0, (0-0), Stock: LEVEL

Last game: W 40-7 vs. Wofford

Next game: Sept. 12 at Western Kentucky

Strong Point: The Bulls’ defense held Wofford to just 109 yards in the second half and no points, as well as tacking on a safety. Nate Allen led the way, tallying up a team-high 10 tackles, while All Conference defensive end George Selvie posted seven tackles and a sack.

Area of Improvement: Fumbling four times and committing two turnovers, the Bulls had a mighty hard time keeping control of the ball, and a large reason why it was a 16-7 dogfight at halftime, with both turnovers coming in the first two quarters.

Overall Analysis: South Florida turned around a rickety performance in the first half, and took care of a far less superior opponent towards the end of the game. Senior quarterback Matt Grothe went 19 of 23 and threw for 155 yards, while senior tailback Moise Plancher tacked up 78 yards and two touchdowns. With the key players getting into rhythm and the defense flexing their muscles, it’s tough to find many things wrong in the Bulls week one performance.
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4) Cincinnati 1-0, (1-0), Stock: RISING

Last game: W 47-15 at Rutgers (Monday)

Next game: Sept. 12 vs. Southeast Missouri State

Strong Point: Tony Pike was called upon and he delivered…again, throwing for a career-high 362 yards and two touchdowns, terrorizing the Rutgers secondary from start to finish Monday.

Area of Improvement: While most of the game was “garbage time” with such an inflated score, the Bearcats defense still allowed Rutgers to a 4 for 4 day converting 4th down conversions and 6 of 16 on 3rd down conversions.

Overall Analysis: What Cincinnati did to Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey Monday afternoon could be deemed illegal in some states. While facing a newly renovated stadium with over 50,000 screaming fans, the Bearcats stayed composed and slapped around the Scarlet Knights defense from the beginning, quieting the crowd down real quick. Cincinnati tallied up a ridiculous 564 total yards on offense, went 5 of 8 on 3rd down and committed just one turnover, a Pike interception in the first half. And most importantly, the Bearcats get the sole rights to No.1 in the Big East standings for the entire month of September.
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5) Connecticut 1-0, (0-0), Stock: LEVEL

Last game W 23-16 at Ohio

Next game: Sept. 12 vs. North Carolina

Strong Point: The ground attack for Connecticut was as good as it gets Saturday night. Against a worthy opponent in Ohio, the running back core tallied up 259 yards on 49 carries. Jordan Todman led the way with 157 yards and a touchdown.

Area of Improvement: Zac Frazer never really impressed anybody last year, and it was much of the same to start this season. Frazer went just 11 of 24 for 127 yards and threw interceptions; including one in the 4th quarter that could’ve put Ohio directly back in the game had the Bobcats scored a touchdown.

Overall Analysis: The Huskies had a great night out of their defense, which held Ohio to just 11 first downs and 61 rushing yards. With the defensive unit on a high note and the ground attack as good as it can be, the pieces still aren’t in the right places for Connecticut, and it all points to their quarterback troubles. If Frazer can get his act together on the field, whose to say the Huskies can’t be a Big East title contender at the end of the year?
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6) Syracuse 0-1, (0-0), Stock: LEVEL

Last game (2008): L 20-23 vs. Minnesota F/OT

Next game: Sept. 12 at Penn State

Strong Point: Give the man his due. As hard as a job it is to be a quarterback for a team like Syracuse, Greg Paulus did a fine job with all the prayers and weight of the Orange leaning on him. The former Duke Basketball star went 19 of 31 with 167 yards and one touchdown. He also threw one interception.

Area of Improvement: Getting better from last year’s disaster is just not happening when you go 0 for 8 on 3rd down conversions and scoring zero points in the second half on your home turf, especially when the other team only scores nine points, including three of those points from a field goal in overtime.

Overall Analysis: Syracuse moves to the No.6 position, slightly because of their gritty performance in the first half of Saturday’s contest vs. Minnesota, but mainly because of Rutgers humiliating first week. You have to give the Orange the credit it deserves. This is a very bad football team, and they played surgical football in the first half. They made the right plays, they made smart decisions and they got on the board and answered a quick scoring barrage from Minnesota when they needed too. Unfortunately, the second half came and blew a gust of the 2008 Syracuse season right back in all of our faces. It’s tough to say what will come of this loss.
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7) Rutgers 0-1, (0-1), Stock: FALLING

Last game (2008): L 47-15 vs. Cincinnati (Monday)

Next game: Sept. 12 vs. Howard

Strong Point: Perhaps the only silver lining for the disaster that was Monday afternoon for Rutgers was highly-touted freshman quarterback Tom Savage. The gunslinger went 15 of 23 for 135 yards and a touchdown, coming off the bench in the second half.

Area of Improvement: Where do you start? The hyped offensive line, which was said to have been better than the line that led the 2006 Scarlet Knights to a 9-0 start to the season collapsed. Domenic Natale fell apart, and would’ve gone 11 of 12 passing today, but three of those tosses went into Cincinnati’s hands. The ground game had 33 carries and just 50 yards to show for. It doesn’t end there, but I feel you’re getting the point.

Overall Analysis: The Scarlet Knights loss Monday was their worst loss since Nov. 20, 2004 when losing 54-21 to Navy. It’s in no way, shape or form a record to be proud of either. For as big of a celebration as Monday was for the history of the program and the sold out crowd, Rutgers did seem to soak it in, as a 7-7 score in the 1st quarter turned into a 40-0 Cincinnati run all the way to the 4th quarter, until the Knights finally tacked on their second and final touchdown. Hopefully, for Rutgers fans, Natale saw his first and last start Monday, and one of the best recruits in Rutgers history, Tom Savage, gets the chance to lead this team into something better than this.
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8. Louisville 1-0, (0-0), Stock: FALLING

Last game: W 30-10 vs. Indiana State

Next game: Sept. 19 at Kentucky

Strong Point: Tailback Victor Anderson had a solid game, rushing for 93 yards and a touchdown, anchoring a Louisville ground game that tallied up 176 yards as a team.

Area of Improvement: The Cardinals offense converted just once on 3rd down and saw a rather rugged game from new starting quarterback Justin Burke, who did have 223 yards, but two awful interceptions.

Overall Analysis: How could a win make your stock fall you ask? Easy, when one of the worst teams from the Football Championship Subdivision, the Indiana State Sycamores and their current 1-54 record over the past five years, comes into your stadium and leads you all the way to the halfway mark of the second half. The Cardinals did, however, hold ISU to 101 total yards, but their lack of execution on the offensive end and ongoing problems with penalty’s—14 for 128 yards on Saturday—continues to make me believe that this will be Louisville’s one and only win this season. So please, bask in it and marinate on it while you have a bye week coming up Cardinal fans, it won’t last.