Filed under: Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia, Big EastThe season's first two weeks have been unkind to Big East football. A series of defeats and one embarrassing victory have placed the proud, overlooked conference in a sort of post-apocalyptic state. No longer relevant on the national stage, members are free to clean up their acts - which may be the right medicine to eventually return to respectability.
Watching the eight schools, one can almost hear former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green's famous press conference rant in the background, yelling "They are who we thought they were!" That is, significant preseason worries about certain programs have clearly manifested themselves. Call it Manifest Destiny, call it the perils of the early part of the football season, call it what you want but like Dennis Green, we're just not ready to "crown their asses."
Take Pittsburgh: the Panthers are loaded with a fistful of NFL prospects and several emerging stars. But, they lost three interior linemen to graduation and had to replace quarterback Bill Stull. Their trademark power run game has suffered as a consequence, with the great Dion Lewis - returning Big East Offensive Player of the Year - completely shut down in back-to-back outings. He is averaging just 2.9 yards a carry, totaling 102 yards. Coach Dave Wannstedt says teams have been able to "zero in" on Lewis, daring new quarterback Tino Sunseri to beat them. He didn't sound overly alarmed, but acknowledged the Panthers had a more veteran passing attack last year, and teams have been able to play a more one-sided game defensively to slow Pitt down. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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