Sunday, September 27, 2009

Week 4 in the Big East

The Big East is still playing outside the conference. (The only in-conference game to date was the RU/Cincinnati.) That happens when you play 12 games and have only 8 teams in the conference.

#14 Cincinnati was at home for Fresno State. Fresno State had the ball for 43:42 while Cincinnati possessed the pigskin for just 16:18. Fresno State ran 84 plays for a total of 443 yards while Cincinnati ran only 42 plays for 357 yards. So, of course, Cincinnati managed to win 28-20.

Connecticut hosted Rhode Island. Not much of a contest as UConn won 52-10.

Louisville was in Utah. The Utes were up 20-0 at half time and never looked back as they beat the Cardinals 30-14.

Pittsburgh traveled to North Carolina State. NC State QB Russell Wilson was 21-35 for 322 yards and four TDs. (That makes three weeks in a row he’s hit for four TDs in a game.) Oh, and he ran 10 times for 91 yards. Still, the Wolfpack defense had to make a stand when a bad snap was recovered by Pittsburgh to give the Knights 1st and goal on the 8 with 1:18 left in order to preserve a 38-31 victory in this see-saw game.

Rutgers played at Maryland. RU’s true freshman QB, Tom Savage, sat out the game because of head injury sustained last week. His replacement fifth year senior Dom Natale proved ineffective in the rain. So the defense and running game had to step up—but mostly the defense. RU got an interception on the first play from scrimmage and scored on the return. Trailing 13-10 at the half, the Scarlet Knights scored again on a fumble recovery in the end zone early in the second half to regain the lead, 17-13. San-San Te connected on three field goals, and Joe Martinik ran for over 100 yards in the second consecutive week. He finished the day with 148 yards and two rushing TDs, one of 61-yards and the other f 24-yards, both in the fourth quarter. Rutgers outscored the Terrapins 24-0 in the second half to win 34-13.

South Florida played at #18 Florida State. South Florida lost Matt Grothe last week to a season ending injury. It didn’t matter as red-shirt freshman QB B.J. Daniels stepped in to complete 8 of 21 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns. Plus he ran for 126 yards as the Bulls upset the Seminoles 17-7.

Syracuse played at home against Maine. The Orange trailed 17-13 at the half but then scored 28 unanswered points against the Black Bears at the start of the second half before Maine added a meaningless TD to make it 41-24.
West Virginia was idle.

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