Big East teams aim for redemption this week

Well, it was a rough one for the Big East last week.

Anytime Syracuse notches your only win… Well, it was a rough one for the Big East last week.

Anytime Syracuse notches your only win against an Football Bowl Subdivision opponent, you know things aren’t looking good.

Pitt lost a heartbreaker to Utah, Cincinnati looked awful against Fresno State, UConn simply could not beat a Rich Rodriguez-led team and Louisville was simply outmatched by Kentucky.

But this week promises to be much better, even if there are still several cupcakes on many teams’ schedules.

This week’s rundown:

New Hampshire at Pittsburgh: New Hampshire is a tough FCS team — they have beaten an FBS team for four straight years — and Pitt better not get caught looking ahead to the Miami game. Still, it’s not like any of the teams New Hampshire beat were very good, so this should still be an easy win for the Panthers.

West Virginia at Marshall: The Friends of Coal Bowl has had the same result year after year — a WVU win. This year the outcome will not change. The Thundering Herd’s new coach, Doc Holliday, was formerly a WVU assistant, meaning he is very familiar with the Mountaineers’ roster. But that doesn’t mean he will have more success stopping Noel Devine and company than any of the previous Marshall squads.

Texas Southern at UConn: Connecticut will bounce back against this FCS foe, which lost their first game to Prairie View.  Yes, I did indeed say Prairie View.

Indiana State at Cincinnati: Indiana State has only won two division games since 2004. For lack of a better word, they suck.

Cincinnati will look to fine-tune their sloppy offense, especially after losing starting receiver Vidal Hazelton for the rest of the year with a knee injury.

South Florida at Florida: South Florida’s B.J. Daniels and friends torched Stony Brook. Florida’s fast and furious defense will be another story. Will he hold up? We shall see, but it’s not very likely.

Eastern Kentucky at Louisville: Geez, another cupcake? Well at least Louisville and new coach Charlie Strong will get a win — something that will not come easy the rest of the year for the Cards.

Syracuse at Washington: The Orange will travel all the way to the West Coast to take on dual-threat and big-time NFL quarterback prospect Jake Locker and the Huskies. Everyone knows Locker is good, but apparently his team isn’t. Good thing for them, Syracuse isn’t very good either. This should be a close game.

Rutgers at Florida International: This will be FIU’s first game, and they’re from the Sun Belt. Chalk this one up for the Big East.

Here are three things to watch for in Big East games this week:

Will Pitt make adjustments? The Panthers, while almost completing a nice comeback against a stellar Utah team on the road, still have some major issues they need to take care of before “The U” comes to town. Notably, they need to be less conservative on offense. I know that it was Tino Sunseri’s first start and Ray Graham was unable to play, but offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti needs to open up the playbook if Pitt wants to compete. Once the Panthers started going downfield more in the second half and stopped predictably running every first down, they looked better. Receiver Mike Shanahan had a good game, and he started drawing attention away from Jon Baldwin in the second half. The secondary needs to play better against spread offenses. The safeties are solid but the cornerbacks are inexperienced. The Wildcats run a spread, which will help the Panthers prepare for matchups down the road with Cincinnati and Notre Dame.

Can USF take the Gators? The Bulls played very well against Stony Brook, but big whoop. The Gators’ defense is just about as good as any in the nation. Their offense, on the other hand, was shaky at best last Saturday — and that’s putting it nicely. The Bulls’ defense cannot afford to give up any unnecessary points against the Gators. And by no unnecessary points, I mean none, zip, zilch. OK, well, maybe a couple. B.J. Daniels is going to have to have the game of his life if South Florida even wants to think about a victory. The Bulls are not going to keep up with the Gators playing aggressively. They must count on their defense, minimize mistakes on offense and try to squeak this one out. Playin’ reckless just isn’t the way to win this one.

Can Syracuse blitz Locker back to the locker room? Syracuse played well in their win over Akron. Their blitz-heavy defense will have to be at the top of its game to handle the dual-threat Locker. If they can contain Locker, they win. It’s as simple as that. If the Orange blitz well enough, they will have their first 2-0 record since 1999.

Now here are the player awards from last week. I tried to stay away from anybody who played against an FCS team, because, well, that’s just not fair. Productivity against good teams, gentlemen, will get you in my good graces.

Offensive Player of the Week: Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib

Nassib completed 17 of 27 passes for two touchdowns and an interception — and rushed for 58 yards — in his first start for the Orange. He led his team to a win on the road, and, coupled with a bad week for the Big East, he wins the award.

Defensive Player of the Week: Connecticut LB Lawrence Wilson

Wilson made 12 stops against the Wolverines and was a bright spot in an otherwise poor defensive showing for the Huskies. He’s another player who pretty much wins by default.

Bonehead Call of the Week: Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham’s double-ice of Pitt kicker Dan Hutchins. Talk about absurd — icing the kicker twice? After much confusion and a bet with my roommates on whether Whittingham would ice him a third time, Hutchins finally tied up the game with his second field goal in three tries as time expired. How do you think Whittingham would have felt if Utah had lost in overtime?

Since it’s only the first week and all Big East teams either lost or beat crappy teams, there is no need to do a power ranking. Just flip Pitt and WVU at the top of the standings, and leave the rest as they were last week. Well, that’s it for Big East Breakdown 2.0. Now everyone pray that the the conference fares better this week.