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 Bearcat defense looked bad once again but their offense was superb.  Tony Pike returned to the field in impressive fashion throwing six touchdowns. The #5 Bearcats will have their toughest test of the season as they travel to Pittsburgh for the Big East Championship.  The Panthers had nothing to gain or lose in the back yard brawl against West Virginia.  Their lack of focus was on full display as the Mountaineers held on for a 19-16 victory.  The loss dropped Pitt down six spots to #15 which truly means nothing as a victory over Cincinnati will send Pitt to a BCS game.  West Virginia climbed back into the Top 25 rankings at #23 with the win over Pitt as WVU shirts & apparel continue to fly off the shelves along with the new WVU Snuggies.

The Cincinnati Bearcats remained at #5 on their bye week.  They will face an athletic Illinois team on November 27th on national television.  The Pitt Panthers also stayed put on their bye week.  The #9 Panthers will face arch rival West Virginia on the 27th.  The Panthers and Bearcats will square off on December 5th in Heinz Field. The latest bowl predictions have Pitt playing in the Sugar Bowl against Florida with Cincinnati facing Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl on January 1st.

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.