National Weeknight Spotlight on the Big East Conference with Thursday and Friday Night battles, and all of them are playing really good defense so perhaps we should temper fantasy expectations?

Noel Devine has scored in every game this year, likely not stopping that against Marshall. (Icon SMI)

Before looking ahead, let us first look back at last week.

West Virginia 34, Syracuse 13
Paulus-palooza is running off the road – Greg Paulus got pulled for Ryan Nassib in the second half. Mike Williams owners rejoiced as he caught his TD pass from Nassib. I think whoever is the QB knows enough to target Williams so this controversy should have little effect. Noel Devine scored two TDs, but so did freshman Ryan Clarke. Clarke’s emergence hasn’t slowed Devine, in fact has made the Mountaineers more effective in the redzone. I can see Clarke as a good spot start.

Rutgers 42, Texas Southern 0

Rutgers D has eight picks and four TD’s taking advantage of a very soft schedule.A new face on offense emerged, true freshman RB De’Antwan Williams had 132 yards rushing and a TD in his collegiate debut – that was mostly in the 4Q as Schiano emptied the bench versus the FCS opponent. Joe Martinek still looks like the RB1 as he scored twice early on a handful of carries.

Pitt 24, Connecticut 20

Panthers roared back from 15 down after most of the “home field advantage” left booing. Nice work Pitt fan – even the most ardent Wannstedt opponents know not to question the ‘Stache. UConn’s QB Cody Endres looks like the starter now, and Andre Dixon again got the majority of RB production. Pitt QB Bill Stull continues his surge for most improved player, and his TE roommate Dorin Dickerson put his seventh stamp on the end zone during the comeback. Dion Lewis did aw-ite against a good D (24-158) but no paydirt.

Louisville 25, Southern Miss 23
And so ends the Golden Eagles shot at the C-USA crown, reeling hard after the loss of soph stud QB Austin Davis. Cards RB Victor Anderson continues to grind out production (92T+47), and WR Scott Long went long with 5-146T. Southern Miss is an average D so there are some things here for Kragthorpe to build on.

Fast Forward to Week 7

THURDSAY
Cincinnati visits South Florida

Two great defenses in this one, Bearcats rank 9 in the BLITZindex, Bulls #5. Both teams were off last weekend, so no concerns about Cincy traveling on a short week as is often the case this time of year. Regardless of those numbers, unlike Daniel I cannot imagine sitting Tony Pike, Mardy Gilyard or BJ Daniels in this one as the entire offense revolves around them.

I know the Red River Classic is on the docket, but I think this may be the game I am most interested in watching this week given the high levels at which both teams have played this season. Vegas has USF as a home dog by 3, pretty surprising since Bearcats have underperformed the last two. However, Daniel may be on to something calling it low scoring as the number is set around 50 (so final expected 26-24 Cincy) and both teams are going under that regularly. Check the forum if you want to explore personalized advice for your situation.

FRIDAY
Pitt at Rutgers

More defense on the menu (BI 31 vs. 24), and both are particularly stingy against the run (Rutgers sixth nationally, Pitt 30th). I have been calling for weakening production form Pitt RB Dion Lewis in this spot for a couple weeks, if I am rough on myself so far 1-1 with no TDs last week.  The real draw to this game should be seeing ultra-efficient Pitt QB Bill Stull and TE Dorin Dickerson against a stout defense. I am sure the Scarlet Ones will put a better defensive show than in the season opener against Cincy. If Pitt has a weakness it is giving up the big play so Tim Brown looks like a good WR3.

Crazy Vegas stat – Pitt is 23-9 as a road favorite since 1992.

Saturday
Louisville at UConn

I really like the two “below the radar” RBs in this one – Husky Andre Dixon and Cardinal Victor Anderson. Louisville possesses the worst Big East defense on my rankings (76), and they are particularly bad at yards per point allowed (98th at 13.00) so the offense has been putting them in holes – not want you want to see ahead of a matchup versus a top-shelf running team.

Crazy Vegas stats – UConn undefeated ATS, twelve point fave here. Also, Louisville not favored in a lined game yet, and they are 0-4 in the last four as a 10+ dog. Maybe Mr. Anderson unplugs from the matrix this week.

Marshall at West Virginia

The Friends of Coal Bowl – perhaps they will destroy a mountain top on the horizon just for this game? WVU coach Bill Stewart has adopted the sweater vest as a fashion statement and will continue for this in-state battle that WVU has never lost.

Back to the game, two of the nations top 3 running backs square off here (#1 Ryan Mathews of Fresno) and both defenses are average, so play the eponymous Darius Marshall (147 ypg, TD in every game) and Noel “To score TDs is” Devine (126 ypg). Mountaineers have run for 300+ in each of the last two matchups with the Thundering Herd, but Marshall has pulled off numerous upsets in the last month – can the Herd get their first win ever against WVU going back to 1911?

Related posts:

1. Big East Bookends – REW/FF thru the spotlight games
2. Big East Bookend: To forgive is Noel Devine
3. Big East Bookend – The Beginning of the B.J. Daniels Era
4. Big East Bookend: End of the Grothe Era
5. Big East “Other” 2009 rankings

Tags: Big East