Big East Sports Blog

Junior wide receiver Darius Reynaud will skip his senior season at West Virginia and enter the 2008 NFL Draft.  Reynaud complete the trifecta of Mountaineers bolting from Morgantown.  Former head coach Rich Rodriguez took the head coach job at Michigan, and running back Steve Slaton is also forgoing his senior year at West Virginia to enter the draft as well.

Reynaud was the top receiving threat for West Virginia this season, finishing with 733 receiving yards.  Reynaud hauled in two touchdowns in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl trouncing over Oklahoma 48-28 on Jan.3rd.

Reynaud had 64 catches in 2007, tying him for fourth all-time in a season in school history.  His 12 touchdown receptions tied former West Virginia wide receiver Chris Henry’s school record in 2004.  Reynaud was also named to the all-Big East second team for the second consecutive year.  His departure leaves a big void in wide out core for West Virginia, with no other Mountaineer having more than one touchdown reception all season.

The exodus from West Virginia continues, as running back Steve Slaton will forgo his senior season and enter the 2008 NFL Draft this coming April, the junior running back announced on Sunday.

In 2006, Slaton set the record for rushing yards by a running back at West Virginia with 1,733 yards, but Slaton saw those numbers take a dip in 2007.  In ‘07, Slaton ran for 1,051 yards and tied his career-high with 17 touchdowns.  Slaton ran over the 1,000-yard mark for the third straight season in 2007. 

Just a few days after grounding Ball State’s run defense into dust, Rutgers running back Ray Rice is skipping his senior season and taking his game to the NFL.  Rice declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft this coming April.

Rice finished his career as the Scarlet Knights’ all-time leading rusher with 4, 926 yards.  He also holds the record for most touchdowns (49), rushing yards in a game (280) and rushing yards in a season (2,012).  In the victory over Ball State in the International Bowl, Rice became the 13th player in college football history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season. 

During his three seasons at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights amassed a 26-12 record.  In the previous three seasons before Rice arrived in the Rutgers backfield, the Scarlet Knights failed to finish above the .500 mark for 12 straight years.

It’s uncertain whether or not junior running back Ray Rice will return to New Brunswick for his senior senior, but if this was his last game as a Scarlet Knight, what a way to go.

Rice shook off tacklers, ran around, over, through, and past Ball State defenders to help propel Rutgers to their second straight bowl victory 52-30 over Ball State in the International Bowl on Saturday.  Rice ran for 280 yards on 35 carries and four scores, while eclipsing the 2,000-yard plateau.

Rutgers (8-5) scored in double digits in every quarter (14 poitns in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th, and 10 in the 2nd).  Rice had two scores in the third quarter, a 1-yard run and a monstrous 90-yard on the first drive of the third quarter.  Rice set a school record rushing for over 100 yards in eight straight games and finished the season with 2, 012 rushing yards.  Quarterback Mike Teel finished the day 16 of 25 for 303 yards and three touchdowns, setting a school record with his 20th touchdown pass of the year in the fourth quarter. Wideout Kenny Britt hauled in six receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown, while Rutgers finished the afternoon with a whopping 595 yards of total offense.

For Ball State, the Cardinals close out the year 7-6.  Quarterback Nate Davis was 25-of-49 for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Dante Love turned in a big day with 13 catches for 169 yards and one touchdown, and Darius Hill had nine catches for 89 yards and two scores.

The Scarlet Knights dominated every aspect of the game and put on an offensive clinic in Canada.  Rice had one of the most memorable rushing performances in a bowl game and Mike Teel set a school record for touchdown passes in a single season.  The outcome of this one was never in doubt.  Rutgers led at halftime 24-9, and turned the offense up a few notches in the second half, blowing the doors off with a 28-point effort. 

Now, the big question comes:  Will Ray Rice be running back to Rutgers or straight to the NFL?

Apologies go out to Butch Jones, Doc Holliday, Terry Bowden and Jimbo Fischer.  Your interest was both flattering and appreciated.  But West Virginia found their man to replace former head coach Rich Rodriguez.  In fact, they never really had to look far to find him.

The Mountaineers removed the interim tag and promoted Bill Stewart to head football coach just hours after West Virginia convincingly destroyed Oklahoma 48-28 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night.

Stewart was named the interim head coach on Dec.16th when then head coach Rich Rodriguez took the same position at Michigan.  Several candidates immediately were interested in the vacant job, including a pair of West Virginia natives, Central Michigan coach Butch Jones and former Auburn coach Terry Bowden. 

A lesson to be learned from all of this, for all coaches in any sport: player support means everything.  If the players are willing to back you, stand behind you and go out there, suit up and lay it all on the line, that’s the highest reward.  It helped to have star quarterback Pat White backing him.  During the post-game press conference, White immediately began lobbying for Stewart to take over.  When White spoke,  Athletic director Ed Pastilong listened.

Stewart was the head coach at VMI from 1994-96, going 8-25 in three seasons.  Stewart has also had stops as an assistant coach at North Carolina, Arizona State, Air Force, Salem College, William & Mary, Navy, and Marshall.

This season, Stewart was the tight ends and fullbacks coach, as well as special teams coordinator.  Stewart arrived in Morgantown in 2000 after he spent a couple seasons in CFL (Canadian Football League) as an offensive coordinator.

The departure of Rich Rodriguez was supposed to be the final death blow for West Virginia leading into the Fiesta Bowl.  They lost the Backyard Brawl, the chance to play in the BCS title game, and then Rodriguez bolted for Big Blue.  The Mountaineers weren’t supposed to contend with Oklahoma, let alone beat them soundly. 

Hats off and congrats to Stewart.  He got this team back to the level of football they were playing B.P. (before Pittsburgh).  You can’t say enough about the preparation Stewart put into this game, and you could clearly tell West Virginia had something to prove, something to play for: pride, respect, and Bill Stewart.

Anyone remember that Rodriguez guy that used to patrol the sidelines for West Virginia?  Chances are you haven’t completely forgotten about him, but after seeing the performance Pat White and the Mountaineers turned in against Oklahoma, I’m certain there’s a large contingent in Morgantown saying ‘Rich who’?  This night belonged to Pat White and interim coach Bill Stewart.

 Stewart became the first of six interim coaches this bowl season to get a win and White ran for 150 yards and threw for 176 and two touchdowns as No.9 West Virginia walloped No.4 Oklahoma 48-28 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night. Freshman running back Noel Devine had a huge coming out party, rushing for 108 yards and two touchdowns.  In all, the Mountaineers totaled a whopping 349 yards on the ground and four scores on 39 carries. 

This was a heck of a game for West Virginia to come into after losing the Backyard Brawl in the season finale to Pittsburgh, their head coach, and a chance to play for the national title.  Their reward for their recent struggles: ringing in 2008 against Big 12 champions Oklahoma.  You could argue the Sooners were national championship worthy.  Or so we all thought. 

It was surely a heck of way to rebound from all that as well.  Early in the game, West Virginia lost running back Steve Slaton to a leg injury, but Devine stepped right in and filled in nicely for the departed Slaton.  The Mountaineers played with a focus and a high level of emotion that engulfed the Sooners.  Bottom line: West Virginia was hungry, they wanted this one in the worst way.  Oklahoma did not.

Oklahoma returned to the Fiesta Bowl looking to avenge their overtime shocking loss to Boise State 43-42 a year ago.  The Sooners have now dropped four straight BCS Bowl games.  Since 2004, Bob Stoops and the Sooners have lost to LSU, USC, Boise State, and West Virginia in BCS bowls.

Oklahoma had zero answers for the spread, high-octane offense West Virginia sported.  Of their six touchdowns scored, five of them came from at least 20 yards.  The Mountaineers had touchdown scores of 57, 21, 17, 30, 79, and 65. 

Trailing 20-6 at the half, Oklahoma cut the lead to 20-15 on a one-yard run by Chris Brown halfway through the third.  A couple of shall we say, curious moves by Stoops followed.  A two-point conversation attempt that failed, then an on-side kick that also field.  West Virginia recovered the onside attempt and needed only six plays to score, a 17-yard run by Devine.  Darius Reynaud’s 30-yard touchdown run had the Sooners in a deep hole, trailing 34-15 to start the fourth quarter. 

After Oklahoma scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Sam Bradford to Quentin Chaney, White put the Sooners on ice with a 79-yard pass to Tito Gonzales, the lead now 41-21 for WVU.  Noel Devine came calling one final time, slamming the final nail in the coffin for Oklahoma with a 65-yard scamper into the endzone.  Game, set, match for the Mountaineers. 

It was a game the Sooners would like to forget, but since 2000, one begs the question in Sooner country: what have you done for me lately?  The defense was shredded by the vaunted rushing attack of West Virginia.  They couldn’t consistently allow time for Same Bradford to get comfortable in the pocket.  Take into account the Sooners had 6 penalties in the first half to match their six first downs.  A very undisciplined by Oklahoma, committing a total of 13 penalties for 113 yards.  

For the Sooners, Bradford was 21-of-33 for 242 yards and two scores, while Quentin Chaney hauled in four catches for 129 yards and one touchdown.  The 349 rushing yards allowed by the Sooners were the most Oklahoma has allowed under Bob Stoops. 

The Sooners were humiliated and the Mountaineers were elated.  Many thought Oklahoma would be the victors 48-28.  Unfortunately for Stoops and company, games aren’t based off of opinions and the consensus of what people think.  West Virginia still had Pat White and they still had each other to rally around leading up the Fiesta Bowl.  Mission accomplished.

No Dennis Dixon, no problem for Oregon.  Justin Roper filled in just fine under center and oh yeah, Oregon still had Jonathan Stewart in the backfield.  Just ask South Florida what he means the Ducks.

Oregon blitzed South Florida 56-21 in the Brut Sun Bowl on Monday afternoon.  It was a clash between two teams at different points of the 2007 college football season that were ranked No.2 in the country.  On this day, Oregon showed why at one stretch there were one of best teams in the country. 

Oregon proved that they weren’t just a flash-in-the-pan or a one-trick-pony.  Dennis Dixon already had a reputation as one of the most gifted players in the country.  Running back Jonathan Stewart made one in matter of quarters. 

Steward set a Brut Sun Bowl record with 251 rushing yards and one score on 23 carries and redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Roper threw for four touchdowns in Oregon’s romp. With Oregon scoring 28 straight points in the third quarter, the rout was in full effect and the Ducks never looked back.

Oregon won for the first time since losing starting quarterback Dennis Dixon to a knee injury in November and snapped a four-game bowl losing streak, winning for the first time since their 2001 Fiesta Bowl victory over Colorado 38-16.

Roper was the spark that started the barrage of scoring for the Ducks in the third quarter.  He tossed two scores for  Oregon, a 14-yard pass to Jaison Williams and a 15-yard pass to Ed Dickson.  Walter Thurmond intercepted Matt Grothe’s pass and took it to the house from 25 yards out and Roper tossed his third touchdown of the quarter, an eight-yard pass to Stewart.

Matt Grothe was 18-of-35 for 197 yards, one touchdown and two picks on the day for South Florida.  Defensively, the Bulls weren’t very good this afternoon.  It came down to predominantly two things for the South Florida defense: their inability to contain Jonathan Stewart on the ground and the freshman Roper played effective, mistake-free football.  The Bulls had zero answers for either player and their five turnovers provided extra ammunition for an already potent offense.

In all, Oregon set or tied four Sun Bowl records on the day: most points scored (56), 4 touchdown passes ( Roper tied with Matt Moore), 251 rushing yards (Jonathan Stewart) and 28 points scored in the third quarter.  A banner day for the Ducks and an awful day to close out 2007 for the Bulls.  Both teams finished 2007 with identical records at 9-4.

Wake Forest proved the old saying to true; it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.  Unfortunately, they proved this theory correct at the expense of the Connecticut Huskies.

Trailing 10-0 at halftime, Wake Forest scored 24 unanswered points in the second half for the come-from-behind win over No. 25 UConn 24-10 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Saturday.  With the win, Wake Forest notched the second most wins in school history (9-4), only behind last year’s win total of 11.

UConn, playing in only its second ever bowl game, got off on the right track by scoring the game’s first 10 points and going into the locker room up 10-0.  Larry Taylor scored UConn’s only touchdown on a 68-yard punt return and Tony Ciaravino booted a 29-yard field goal to complete the scoring in the first half. And the game for UConn.

The second half belonged to Wake Forest.  The Demon Deacons took advantage of UConn’s struggling offense.  The Huskies managed only nine first downs in the game and didn’t score an offensive touchdown.  UConn had an extremely difficult time keeping up with Kenneth Moore, as Moore caught 11 passes for 112 yards and was named the game’s MVP.

Wake Forest got a 38-yard touchdown run from Josh Adams to cut the lead to 10-7.  A 20-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Riley Skinner to John Tereshinski put the Demon Deacons ahead 14-10, a lead they would not relinquish.

Riley Skinner completed 29 of 38 passes for one touchdown and two interceptions, and Josh Adams rushed for 81 yards and one score for Wake Forest.  Micah Andrews closed the deal for Wake with a 9-yard touchdown run with under 30 seconds to play to put things out of reach for UConn.

Tyler Lorenzen was just 13-for-26 for 98 yards against the Demon Deacons defense, which harassed and disrupted Lorenzen constantly.  UConn was unable to convert on two different fourth-down attempts during the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss, it was an exceptional year for Connecticut.  The Huskies boasted nine wins in 2007.  They were co-Big East champions and were ranked for the first time in school history.  For the year UConn had, the building blocks are in place to turn in an even better year in 2008.

The Bearcats used two words to ground Southern Miss in the Papajohns.com Bowl on Saturday night: Ben Mauk.

Mauk completed 30-of-52 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns as No. 22 Cincinnati defeated Southern Miss 31-31 in the second annual Papajohns.com Bowl on Saturday. 

The win was Cincinnati’s 10th of the season, marking only the second time the Bearcats recorded 10 wins in a season, in school history.  The only other time Cincinnati previously won 10 games in a season was 1951.

Mauk was named the game’s most valuable player, becoming only the third quarterback to pass for over 3,000 yards at Cincinnati.  The loss for Southern Miss (7-6) was a tough pill to swallow.  It was the final game for head coach Jeff Bower guiding the Golden Griffins, after having spent 17 seasons at the helm at his alma mater.

Southern Miss started the bowl game off on a good note, taking an early 7-0 lead on a Jeremy Young 10-yard touchdown strike to Shawn Nelson.  Their early lead, however, would be short lived.

The Bearcats stormed back, scoring 21 unanswered points.  Two touchdown passes from Mauk to Dominick Goodman (14 yards, 5 yards) and a 29-yard pass to Earnest Jackson put Cincinnati on top 21-3.

Mauk essentially ended the game in the third quarter, putting the Bearcats up 28-14 with a 10-yard strike to Antwuan Giddens.

Jeremy Young finished the day 18-of-32, passing for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he was intercepted three times, all three by Cincinnati’s DeAngelo Smith.  Damion Fletcher gashed the Bearcats run defense, rushing for 150 yards on 22 carries.  Entering the game, the Bearcats were holding their opponents to just over 100 yards rushing per game.

The Bearcats get the Big East off on the right foot in this bowl season.  Next up for the Big East, UConn will clash with Wake Forest in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 29th at 1 p.m.

It’s true what they say: bad thing come in threes.  

They ended the 2007 regular season with a stunning 13-9 home loss to Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl.  They lost their chance to play in the BCS Championship game. Now, they’ve lost their head football coach. It certainly hasn’t been all sunshine and chocolate clouds for WVU in the month of December.

On Monday, former head coach Rich Rodriguez officially signed on to become the next head coach at Michigan, leaving the Mountaineers to begin searching for his successor.

 Terry Bowden, former head coach at Auburn, has stated that coaching at West Virginia would be a dream job.  Bowden grew up in Morgantown, while his father, Bobby Bowden, was the head coach at West Virginia.  Bowden has been out of the coaching loop since 1998.

West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong will have 15 days to name an interim head coach to lead the Mountaineers into their Fiesta Bowl contest with the Oklahoma Sooners on Jan.2. 

Two names that will be off of the potential list are offensive coordinator Calvin Magee or secondary coach Tony Gibson.  Both will be accompanying Rodriguez to Ann Arbor.