South Florida's mascot Rocky the Bull votes for the Big East. (Icon SMI)
The Big East has been searching for a national identity for years now and have established weeknight games as a primary marketing ploy . Teams like South Florida and West Virginia have made their way up the rankings and even Cincinnati made a claim for an undefeated season as recently as last season.
However, the conference still lacks the coverage and, almost to punish someone doing a weekly preview (you knew this would have to be about me at some point right?) the Big East plays as many Thursday and Friday games for any conference not named CUSA. As the Pac10 and Big 10 proved over the summer, college football is all about television revenue.
It is another pivotal weekend in the Big East – three of the four games on the slate hold big conference match ups. To some out there having a good selection of Thursday and Friday night games means you always have something to watch (I fall into that category) and for others having that many Thursday and Friday night games means you have to do work earlier in the week (I fall into that category too). Either way – the Big East is trying to get your attention, whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen.
Are Geno Smith and Noel Devine the new Pat White and Steve Slaton? If not, they still look to be the class of the Big East. (Icon SMI)
Finally, three weeks into the season, Big East fantasy football players (and the Big East in general) have found their ‘team.’
The conference itself had another collective losing weekend (2-3, with one win coming against FCS Maine), but the West Virginia Mountaineers seem to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. WVU beat up Ralph Friedgen‘s Maryland Terrapins, giving the team two wins against FBS schools.
The rest of the Big East is a collective 2-9 against FBS schools. The ‘Neers have a number of options on offense, and defense for that matter, that will put up big numbers throughout the season in a defenseless Big East Conference.
Week Two for the college football season in the Big East has thankfully come to a close.
This is not Dion Lewis, #1 is Ray Graham scoring multiple TDs against New Hampshire (Icon SMI)
Unlike week one, in which the conference face-planted against decent competition, week two fared better for the majority. Despite half of the league’s teams played FCS competition and with Rutgers and West Virginia playing FBS bottom feeders the Big East certainly still has massive issues.
- Pittsburgh 38 – New Hampshire 16 – In the surprise of the weekend in the Big East, Pittsburgh Sophomore running back sensation Dion Lewis rushed for 27 yards on 10 carries. I know what you’re thinking, Lewis must have been injured or at the least been suffering from some pre-game food poisoning. Such was not the case as Lewis has now gone two games without rushing for 100 yards, something that didn’t happen at all last year. The former Heisman Trophy candidate did reach the end zone on the ground and, something to certainly watch, Lewis had five catches for 52 yards, but backup Panther running back Ray Graham (right) did the work scampering for 115 yards and two scores.
As expected, Junior wide out Jon Baldwin caught six balls for 100 yards and a score. Pittsburgh receiving sleeper Mike Shanahan, not that one, pulled in 3 passes for only 38 yards and no touchdowns.
After a big let down in week one for the Big East Conference collectively, the eight team league will look to rebound in a big way against some supposed inferior competition. Let’s go to the breakdown for the weekend in Big East football that will provide big fantasy points for owners (at least for one half):
West Virginia@ Marshall, Friday at 730pm
WeMustIgniteThisCouch.com
The Thundering Herd gave up 6.8 yards per rush last Thursday against Ohio State. Now, the Mountaineers are no Buckeyes, but senior running back Noel Devine will get a lot of carries and have a big game in the Friends of Coal Bowl versus the rival Herd. Last week against Coastal Carolina, ‘Neers quarterback Geno Smith looked pedestrian until the second half started (20-27 216 2 TD).
The grand poobah of expert leagues kicked off Sunday Night – the live draft of the Fantasy College Football Invitational. This year, we combined our longest standing league and its name with a several other expert leagues in the industry to form the grand-daddy league. A whopping 20 owners comprised the field with each team selecting 20 players for a total of 400 players. Surprisingly, the draft moved swiftly and we were done in a little over 3 hours.
The starting lineup for the league consists of:
2 QB
2 RB
2 WR
1 TE
1 Flex (RB, WR, TE)
1 Defense
1 Kicker
My Fantasy College Blitz entry had the 20th pick in the draft (scroll WAY to the right), the lowest I have ever drafted in any league in any sport. My strategy going in was to get solid low risk running backs and wide receivers in the first 4 rounds. After that, I would load up on high upside guys at those two positions the rest of the way.
If a top quarter back didn’t fall to me at picks 20/21, I knew that by the time my next picks came up at 60/61, at least 15-20 QBs would be off the board. Therefore, I planned looking for value QBs later in the draft if that happened. The TE position is not very exciting so I planned on taking a few sleepers late. The defensive scoring is not strong enough to use anything more than a late pick and the same goes for kickers.
Pick 1.20
RB Kendall Hunter – Oklahoma St. (right, courtesy of SMI)
The Cowboys offense is going to put up a ton of points and Hunter is as a lock for Top 10 RB if he can stay healthy. Quickly adapting to his dual-purpose role.
