Big East finishes bowl season with winning record

With this being the final Big East notebook of the year, it’s time to recap the conference’s… With this being the final Big East notebook of the year, it’s time to recap the conference’s bowl season, as well as present the final set of awards for the season. Overall, Big East teams went a respectable 4-2 in bowl games, bested only by the Pac-10 and SEC. The Big Ten finished with the worst winning percentage of all the major conferences. The Cincinnati Bearcats blew the only chance the Big East had at a BCS win against Virginia Tech. The Bearcats could not stop the Hokies’ rushing attack in a disappointing 20-7 loss in the FedEx Orange Bowl. Normally reliable, Bearcats quarterback Tony Pike threw four interceptions, which turned into 10 points. The game started off promising for the Bearcats when Pike hooked up with Marshwan Gilyard, who made a spectacular toe-tapping catch on the sideline, for a 15-yard touchdown on the first drive of the game. Gilyard finished the game with seven catches for 158 yards and the one score. But after the first drive, the Hokies’ defense and running back Darren Evans took the game over. Evans ran for 153 yards and a score, helping Virginia Tech control the ball for nearly 40 minutes in the game. The Bearcats finished off a stellar season with an 11-3 record and a Big East championship. The question is if the Bearcats can extend their success into next year with most of their starting defense graduating. Pitt fell to Oregon State in the Brut Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, by the perplexing score of 3-0. The Beavers’ kicker Justin Kahut tallied the only points of the game on a 44-yard field goal with 2:18 left in the second quarter. As promised, both defenses delivered. But the real story was how badly the Pitt offense struggled in terms of pass protection and quarterback play. Pitt quarterback Bill Stull went an abysmal 7-of-24 for 52 yards and threw an interception. As much as Stull’s inconsistency plagued the Panthers, a lot of the credit falls on the Beavers’ defensive line. Its relentless pressure bottled up LeSean McCoy, who ran for 85 yards. From the most boring bowl game to one of the more exciting, the Meineke Car Care Bowl had the feel of a big-time bowl game with a sold-out crowd of 73,000-plus on hand and plenty of talent on either side. Pat White led West Virginia to a 31-30 victory over North Carolina in his final collegiate game with his arm rather than his legs. White threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns in the contest, while running back Noel Devine ran for 61 yards and a score. White threw the game-winning strike, a 20-yard pass to Alric Arnett, midway through the fourth quarter, and Pat Lazear intercepted Tar Heels quarterback T.J. Yates late to seal the game for the Mountaineers. With the win, White became the first quarterback to win four bowl games as a starting quarterback. Rutgers powered its way to its third-straight bowl victory under coach Greg Schiano with a 29-23 victory over North Carolina State in the Papajohns.com Bowl. Quarterback Mike Teel threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns to help erase an 11-point second-half deficit. Draft-bound wide receiver Kenny Britt caught six passes for 119 yards and a score. Connecticut steamrolled to a 38-20 victory over Buffalo in the International Bowl in Toronto behind Donald Brown. The junior outgained the entire Buffalo offensive output of 237 yards by rushing for 261 yards and a touchdown. The Huskies fought back after losing five first-half fumbles, all from the special teams, and completed just four passes in the win. Shortly after the game, Brown announced he would declare for the NFL Draft. Finally, South Florida rolled to a 41-14 defeat over Memphis in the magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl. The game was a virtual home affair for South Florida, whose campus resides just 32 miles from Tropicana Field where the game was played. Bulls quarterback Matt Grothe threw for 236 yards and three touchdowns in the win, helping lead the Bulls to 496 offensive yards. The win gave the Bulls something to cheer about after they slumped from a 6-1 start to an 8-5 finish. On to the awards: Big East Beast of the Year (Offensive): This award goes to Connecticut’s Brown. The draft-bound star rushed for 2,083 yards this year and 18 touchdowns. And how is this for ball security: Brown never fumbled this year. In fact, he hasn’t fumbled once his entire career. But don’t just look at the numbers. Brown continuously faced eight and sometimes nine-man fronts from defenses ignoring a non-existent passing attack. Honorable Mentions: McCoy-Pitt, White-WVU, Teel-Rutgers Big East Beast of the Year (Defensive): A two-horse race goes to Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop. McKillop finished the year with 137 tackles, 87 solo, 17.5 tackles for a loss, four sacks and two interceptions. Not only that, McKillop showed up for the big games. With a BCS-bowl bid on the line against Cincinnati, the senior made 17 tackles, including two for a loss. Against Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, McKillop made 11 tackles and one interception. Performances when it mattered most gives McKillop the edge. Honorable Mention: Mike Mickens-Cincinnati Big East Least of the Year: The biggest disappointment in the Big East goes to every player on South Florida but the quarterback Grothe. The junior did the best he could to right the ship of his Bulls, finishing with 591 rushing yards and 2,911 passing yards on the year. A preseason favorite to win the conference, South Florida tanked to 8-5 and a sixth-place finish in the Big East. Big East Coach of the Year: The trendy pick here is Brian Kelly from Cincinnati. But how about the job that Schiano did for Rutgers? After the Scarlet Knights lost by three points to eventual conference champ Cincinnati to fall to 1-5, Schiano rallied the troops to seven-straight victories, capped by their Papajohns.com Bowl win, to finish the year at a respectable 8-5 overall and 5-2 in the Big East. Schiano opened up the playbook along the way to ignite a once-conservative offensive attack. Final Big East Standings: Cincinnati (11-3, 6-1), Pitt (9-4, 5-2), West Virginia (9-4, 5-2), Rutgers (8-5, 5-2), Connecticut (8-5, 3-4), South Florida (8-5, 2-5), Louisville (5-7, 1-6), Syracuse (3-9, 1-6).