The Big East coaches did the politically correct thing in the preseason after the conference failed to place a team in the Top 25.
Just wait, they said. We’ll prove it on the field.
A month into the season, the conference is doing just that.
The Big East is 21-7 against nonconference opponents so far, including a solid if not spectacular 5-6 mark against Bowl Championship Series opponents.
Cincinnati has climbed to 10th in the poll thanks in large part to a road win at Oregon State. South Florida turned in a stunning upset on the road at Florida State. Connecticut won at Baylor.
Even in defeat they’ve been respectable. West Virginia led early at Auburn before falling and North Carolina needed a fluke safety in the final minutes to hold off the Huskies.
“I think week in and week out, the Big East plays very good football and our record out of conference shows it,” said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. “If people have an issue with it, that’s your issue.”
B.J. Daniels beat the Seminoles 17-7 in the first meeting between the two schools.
South Florida coach Jim Leavitt, who grew up in the area and started the USF program from scratch, isn’t sure beating the Seminoles means the state’s “Big Three” – Florida State, Florida and Miami – is expanding to include the Bulls. But maybe it’s time to start thinking about it. South Florida gets a shot at the Hurricanes on Nov. 28.
“To even get in that discussion you need to beat one of them,” Leavitt said. “Those guys have won national championships, we haven’t done that (but) I think maybe over coffee people might talk about South Florida more than they did before.”
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MY NAME, TOO: Before he played his first game at Cincinnati, tight end Ben Guidugli’s name already had a place of honor at the Bearcats’ football field.
The last name, anyway.
His older brother, Gino, set school records for passing attempts, completions and yards in 2002, and holds the career marks in those three categories. His 11,453 yards passing from 2001-04 are almost twice as many as anybody else had.
So, the university honored the northern Kentucky native by adding his name and No. 8 to the facing of the upper deck at Nippert Stadium, in the corner of one of the end zones. When it came time for the younger Guidugli (guh-DOO’-lee) to pick a college, he followed his brother.
ugli said. “I was familiar with the place, had been around Nippert Stadium, knew some of the guys on the team my brother was friends with. Those things definitely helped. And the closeness to home – my parents could come to the games.”
One drawback: It quickly grew tiresome being called Gino’s little brother.
“It still happens every once in a while,” he said. “It doesn’t affect me like it used to. When I first got here, I was like, ‘Yeah, that stinks.’ He was a great player, so I’m not mad about it. But I’m trying to make a name for myself, so we’ll see. I’ve got this year and another year to go, so I’m trying to make the most of it.”
Tight ends don’t get many chances to catch the ball in the Bearcats’ spread, no-huddle offense. Guidugli has six catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Usually, quarterback Tony Pike looks for him when defenses begin to forget about him.
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MAJOR HARRIS KUDOS: West Virginia plans to honor 1989 Heisman Trophy finalist Major Harris at Thursday night’s home game with Colorado and could end up feeding off the excitement of his introduction.
Harris was selected earlier this year for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
“It’s going to be great,” West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said. “I know Morgantown’s excited. The old Gold-and-Blue nation should be excited. This is one of our great heroes of all time. It’s very deserving.”
nd Harris in 1988, the Mountaineers had their first 11-0 season and rose to a No. 3 ranking before losing to national champion Notre Dame 34-21 in the Fiesta Bowl. Harris hurt his shoulder early in that game and wasn’t much of a factor, but it didn’t diminish the impact he had on the program.
During his career, Harris built a reputation for impromptu running, just like Michael Vick would do years later at Virginia Tech and Pat White with the Mountaineers.
“Major Harris was way ahead of his time,” Stewart said. “He just made things happen.”
Stewart, who plans to attend the Hall of Fame induction dinner in New York in early December, was an assistant coach at Arizona State in the 1988 season and attended the Fiesta Bowl that season.
“It just broke my heart,” Stewart said.
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A STULL MOMENT: Bill Stull is thriving – finally – at Pittsburgh.
The senior quarterback, who was booed in the first half of the season-opener against Youngstown State, has bounced back to become one of the Big East’s best. He enters this week’s game at Louisville ranked 17th in the country in pass efficiency (159.21) and has thrown eight touchdowns against one interception.
“Nobody on our football team has been under more scrutiny on a day-to-day basis than Bill Stull,” said coach Dave Wannstedt. “I think that he probably grew up a lot because he handled that type of adversity.”
raised offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti for helping Stull regain his confidence, but added the senior has matured to the point where he doesn’t try to do too much to prove his doubters wrong.
“He tries to do what he can do to help us become a better football team,” Wannstedt said.
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FROMAN’S SPECIAL TREATMENT: Louisville quarterback Adam Froman’s unsuccessful bid to win the starting job during training camp hasn’t kept him from getting on the field.
Froman, a junior college transfer, worked on a couple of special teams units during Louisville’s 30-14 loss to Utah last weekend.
“He came to us and asked if he could get on the field in a couple of different ways,” said Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe. “We put him on punt return units and then on kickoff return units and he did a great job for us.”
Froman’s role could expand going forward. He practiced at wide receiver last week and Kragthorpe isn’t ruling out putting in a couple of Wildcat packages together to take advantage of Froman’s mobility.
Just don’t expect Froman to replace starting QB Justin Burke. Kragthorpe has been pleased with Burke’s play through three games and doesn’t want to rattle Burke’s confidence by giving Froman an extended cameo.
cks and I don’t want that to happen to Justin.”
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AWARDS: Cincinnati wide receiver Mardy Gilyard’s breakout season continued against Fresno State. Gilyard had nine receptions for a career-high 177 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-20 win. Gilyard finished with 226 all-purpose yards to earn Big East offensive player of the week honors. Gilyard was selected as the Big East special teams player of the week earlier this month.
South Florida defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul was defensive player of the week for his role in the Bulls’ upset of Florida State. The junior had four tackles, three tackles-for-loss and a sack in the fourth quarter as the Bulls held the Seminoles to 288 yards of total offense, including 19 yards rushing.
Rutgers punter Teddy Delaganna won special teams player of the week for his play in a win over Maryland. Delaganna averaged 40.6 yards on five punts and forced three Maryland drives to start inside the 12.
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AP Sports Writers Joe Kay in Cincinnati and John Raby in Morgantown, WV contributed to this report.
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