Big East Sports Blog

The Big East Conference’s first bowl game will pit Rutgers against an athletic Central Florida squad.  Conference runner-up Pitt will face Butch Davis’ North Carolina Tar Heels on December 26th.  Legendary Head Coach Bobby Bowden, in his last game, will face his old squad as West Virginia battles Bowden’s Seminoles on January 1st in the Gator Bowl.  The conference’s only BCS game features Cincinnati vs. Florida.  The Bearcats will not have Brian Kelly on the sidelines as they battle Tim Tebow and the Gators on January 1st in the Sugar Bowl.  South Florida faces Northern Illinois and South Carolina faces UCONN on January 2nd to wrap up the bowl schedule for the Big East in 2009-2010.

The Cincinnati Bearcats moved up 3 spots to #5 in the BCS Top 25 rankings after lambasting Syracuse 28-7.  Backup QB Zach Collaros has been very productive in his stint as Tony Pike continues to recover from an arm injury.  The Bearcats may have Pike back when they face Connecticut in front of a national audience on November 7th.  The Pitt Panthers moved from #15 to #13 while on their bye week.  QB Bill Stull will return to action on November 7th when Pitt hosts Syracuse.  South Florida entered the rankings at #25 after an impressive victory over West Virginia.  The Bulls will have their bye week before returning to action on November 12th against Rutgers.

The Cincinnati Bearcats slid from #5 to #8 in the BCS Top 25 football rankings with their victory over Louisville.  Backup QB Zach Collaros was very impressive in the 41-10 victory.  UC travels to Syracuse on October 31st, however the Bearcats are not currently picked to represent the Big East in the Orange Bowl based on the latest bowl projections.  The Pitt Panthers moved up from #20 to # 15 with an impressive annihilation of South Florida 41-14.  Panther QB Bill Stull is having a very good season while flying under the radar.  RB Dion Lewis is a also have a very good season.  The Panthers will have a bye week before resuming action on November 7th against Syracuse.  West Virginia moved up from #23 to #21 with a hard fought 28-24 victory over UCONN.  The Mountaineers travel to South Florida on October 30th.

When Rutgers crushed Louisville to completed the regular season for both teams they not only eliminated Louisville from bowl eligibility, but they also pivoted themselves into a stronger bowl game. As a result, Rutgers will indeed play in the PapaJohns.com Bowl as I previous predicted and will face NC State of the ACC on December 29th. Big East Champion Cincinnati gets the headline bowl as they face the ACC Champion Virginia Tech Hokies in the Orange Bowl.

The remainder of the bowl games & match-ups include South Florida vs Memphis in the St. Petersburg Bowl, West Virginia faces North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, Pitt faces Oregon State in the Sun Bowl and Connecticut faces Mid-American Conference Shampion Buffalo in the International Bowl.