Big East Notebook (espn Insider)

[Bull Dozer]

You're welcome  

South Florida

• Credit coach Jim Leavitt for making the correct and obvious choice -- hey, some coaches don't -- in naming redshirt freshman Matt Grothe his new starting quarterback. Now, Leavitt needs to stick with Grothe through thick and thin, instead of flip-flopping with senior Pat Julmiste. Grothe is a much better passer and simply gives his team a better chance to win. He replaced an injured Julmiste in a season-opening 41-10 victory over McNeese State and completed 9 of 13 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, rallying the sluggish Bulls from a 10-7 third-quarter deficit. "He handled everything really well," Leavitt said.

• Redshirt freshman running back Moise Plancher, slated to replace Andre Hall as the team's main ball carrier, was lost for the season with a torn ACL. He's likely to be replaced by a committee, starting with senior Walt Smith, who gained 70 yards on seven carries in the opener, and sophomore Benjamin Williams (nine carries, 54 yards).

• According to the Tampa Tribune, starting tight end Will Bleakley was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with driving under the influence. As of Wednesday morning, Bleakley remained eligible to play Saturday against Florida International. "He's got a lot of work to do to get in my good graces," Leavitt told the newspaper.

• Leavitt needs to do a better job on the PR front. With reporters on hand from several major news outlets -- some had traveled a significant distance -- for the Bulls' season-opening news conference, Leavitt took all of 1 minute, 59 seconds to answer seven questions, according to the Tampa Tribune. He did not make quarterbacks available to the media, either. None of that is good for a program that needs all the positive publicity it can get.

[Bull Dozer]

Pretty soon -- like, by Saturday evening -- people are going to be talking about West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton as a serious Heisman Trophy candidate, if they're not already.

The Mountaineers aren't into printing T-shirts or putting faces on billboards in an effort to promote players for awards. Coach Rich Rodriguez wouldn't allow it. But Slaton's numbers are going to be impossible to ignore.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound sophomore rushed for a national-best 203 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries Saturday in a 42-10 romp over Marshall -- and he figures to run wild again this weekend against Division I-AA Eastern Washington.

For the record, Slaton has 407 yards rushing in his past two games, including 204 in the Sugar Bowl. Rodriguez has expressed concern about overusing Slaton.

Slaton has no such concern. "I think I can sustain that for 12 games," he said.

• Quarterback Pat White aggravated a muscle strain in his side against Marshall. It could have an effect on his ability to throw out routes and deep patterns, but he probably won't need to throw much on Saturday. The Mountaineers' first big test will come the following Thursday, when they host Maryland.

• Rodriguez warned his team about a letdown, showing them clips from Division I-AA Montana's stunning 19-10 victory over Colorado last weekend.

• Rodriguez said the new rules designed to speed up games will cut down a team's possessions. "Normally, we have 12 or 13 possessions in a game," he said. "In [saturday's] game, we only had 10."

• Left tackle Damien Crissey suffered a severe foot sprain against Marshall and is out for several weeks. Sophomore Ryan Stanchek moves from guard to tackle to replace him, and redshirt freshman Greg Isdaner replaces Stanchek.

Cincinnati

• Often, a two-quarterback system only means there isn't one good enough to carry the load, and it can disrupt the offense every bit as much as the defense. But there's no room for criticism of Bearcats coach Mark Dantonio. Not yet, anyway. His two-QB approach -- sophomore right-hander Dustin Grutza and senior lefty Nick Davila -- combined to go 19-for-34 for 283 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 31-0 victory over Division I-AA Eastern Kentucky. Grutza played the first and third quarters and will make his second straight start Friday in a much tougher test against visiting Pitt. Dantonio spoke the truth when he said of his system, "When you see positives like that, I don't think anybody cares who quarterbacks."

• Attracting decent crowds continues to be a concern for the Bearcats, who finished last in the Big East in attendance last season (22,423 per game) and drew only 18,792 to Nippert Stadium for the opener. Dantonio issued a public plea for fans to cheer his team against Pitt in the second annual "River City Rivalry," which doubles as both teams' Big East opener. Pitt won last year's meeting, 38-20. "I have never in three years asked people to come support the Bearcats; I am asking now," he said. "We try to do our work the right way, but we need to be supported. We need to make this a great atmosphere." Two barriers: It's a high school football Friday night in the Cincinnati area, and the game is on ESPN2.

• Even though it was a Division I-AA opponent, Dantonio took special pride in the shutout, Cincinnati's first since 1995. "I remember during the national championship season at Ohio State [in 2002], we never shut anyone out," said Dantonio, who was Ohio State's defensive coordinator that year.

• Senior defensive tackle Tony Carvitti had two sacks in his first career start. He had one sack last season.

• Dantonio has an 8-3 record at Nippert Stadium.

Connecticut

• Mighty Mouse is back -- and that's bad news for Huskies opponents. Junior Larry Taylor, a 5-foot-6, 167-pound do-everything speedster, missed the final five games last season with a torn ACL but showed no rust in compiling 153 all-purpose yards in a 52-7 walloping of Division I-AA Rhode Island. Taylor carried twice for 62 yards, caught three passes for 42 yards and returned two punts for 49 yards. His 27-yard TD catch was the first scoring reception of his career. The Huskies are simply a much better team with Taylor. They own a 12-3 record when he's been on the field but are 1-7 without him. "I feel I haven't lost anything from the ACL injury," Taylor said. "In fact, I feel I have gotten better."

• Senior tailback Terry Caulley, who returned from his own severe knee injury last season, rushed for 95 yards and is just 17 shy of becoming UConn's all-time leading rusher. Wilbur Gilliard (1992-95) holds the mark with 2,624 yards.

• Senior kicker Matt Nuzie was named the Big East Special Teams Player of the Week. He was 7-for-7 on extra points and made his only field-goal attempt, from 41 yards.

• UConn is 5-0 against Division I-AA opponents since it moved up to Division I-A in 2002.

• The Huskies are off this weekend before hosting Wake Forest Sept. 16.

Louisville

• Feel sorry for Michael Bush, who is out for the season because of a broken leg sustained in the season opener against Kentucky. Do not feel sorry for the Cardinals, however. As UConn coach Randy Edsall said, "It's not like Louisville is a one-dimensional team." In fact, Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino is a proven recruiter of dynamic offensive talent and he had to figure he might have to replace Bush this year, anyway, in case Bush declared for the NFL draft. Reserve running backs Kolby Smith and George Stripling could start for a lot of teams. They combined for 1,140 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. As Petrino said of Stripling, "He can hit the home run; he's very fast." Smith isn't slow, and 230-pound freshman Anthony Allen will punish people. The Cardinals' passing game speaks for itself.

• Bush might have the option to take a medical redshirt and return to Louisville next season. If not, he would still be coveted by NFL teams if he makes a complete recovery. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Bush's family had already purchased a $2 million Lloyd's of London insurance policy covering career-ending injuries.

• The good news on the injury front is that quarterback Brian Brohm, coming off a major knee injury, completed 19 of 31 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown. "I didn't even think about it," he said. "It really helped that I had a lot of protection and didn't get hit very much." Expect Brohm to put up more gaudy numbers against sad-sack Temple on Saturday.

• Junior kicker Art Carmody saw his streak of 14 consecutive field goals snapped when he missed a 32-yarder in the fourth quarter. He holds the school record for career accuracy, converting 27 of 33 attempts (81.8 percent).

Pittsburgh

• Opposing teams will quickly realize that Pitt is much quicker on defense this season. Outside linebacker Tommie Campbell, perhaps the fastest player on the team, is barely 200 pounds, but he made a few plays in a season-opening 38-13 victory over Virginia that wouldn't have been made last season. A couple of new starters on the defensive line -- sophomore Gus Mustakas and redshirt freshman Doug Fulmer -- add another dose of athleticism. Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads freely admits that his crew isn't big enough to line up toe-to-toe with power rushing teams, but, as Rhoads put it, "If they can't catch you, they can't block you."

• After three mostly disappointing seasons, senior outside linebacker Clint Session finally seems ready to fulfill his immense promise. Session was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week after posting nine tackles (two for loss), a bone-rattling special teams hit and a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown against Virginia. Coach Dave Wannstedt says Session could have played on the dynamic Wannstedt-coached defenses at the University of Miami.

• The kicking game was a major concern going into the season, because expected starter David Abdul was lost for the year with a heart problem. But sophomore Conor Lee made all five of his extra-point attempts and his only field-goal attempt, from 38 yards.

• Starting sophomore tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling missed the second half of the Virginia game because of an ankle injury but is expected to play Friday against Cincinnati.

• The Panthers were 0-5 on the road last season, including a loss at Ohio and are 0-6 in their past six games away from Heinz Field.

Rutgers

• Progress continues in Piscataway, N.J., where the Scarlet Knights are coming off a 21-16 victory at North Carolina. It was a victory that easily could have turned into the kind of loss Rutgers experienced in its opener last season, when it blew a 27-7 lead at Illinois. This time, the Scarlet Knights showed a finishing kick, as senior cornerback Manny Collins thwarted a late Tar Heels drive with an interception. As fate would have it, Illinois visits Rutgers Stadium on Saturday (ESPN2, noon ET). Coach Greg Schiano says his team learned a lesson in last year's opener. "We learned how difficult it is to win at this level."

• It's a well-kept secret that Rutgers is loaded on offense. Two players likely to wind up in the NFL -- tight end Clark Harris and fullback Brian Leonard -- only touched the ball a combined 11 times against North Carolina, but that hardly mattered. Sophomore tailback Ray Rice piled up 201 yards rushing, new starting quarterback Mike Teel completed 14 of 20 attempts and receivers Shawn Tucker and Dennis Campbell combined for six catches for 84 yards.

• Rutgers launched a Heisman Trophy campaign for Leonard, but Rice might be the more legitimate candidate. His 201-yard game was the seventh-best in Rutgers history. Coming off a 1,120-yard season as a freshman, Rice is no fluke. He's the first Rutgers player since Jacki Crooks in 1998-99 to rush for 100 yards or more in three straight games.

• Leonard has caught a pass in 35 straight games, tops among active Big East players and third in Big East history. West Virginia's Khori Ivy had a 40-game streak from 1997-2000.

• Illinois is coming off a 42-17 win over Eastern Illinois. "They're better than [when] we played last year," Schiano said. "And they beat us last year."

South Florida

• Credit coach Jim Leavitt for making the correct and obvious choice -- hey, some coaches don't -- in naming redshirt freshman Matt Grothe his new starting quarterback. Now, Leavitt needs to stick with Grothe through thick and thin, instead of flip-flopping with senior Pat Julmiste. Grothe is a much better passer and simply gives his team a better chance to win. He replaced an injured Julmiste in a season-opening 41-10 victory over McNeese State and completed 9 of 13 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, rallying the sluggish Bulls from a 10-7 third-quarter deficit. "He handled everything really well," Leavitt said.

• Redshirt freshman running back Moise Plancher, slated to replace Andre Hall as the team's main ball carrier, was lost for the season with a torn ACL. He's likely to be replaced by a committee, starting with senior Walt Smith, who gained 70 yards on seven carries in the opener, and sophomore Benjamin Williams (nine carries, 54 yards).

• According to the Tampa Tribune, starting tight end Will Bleakley was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with driving under the influence. As of Wednesday morning, Bleakley remained eligible to play Saturday against Florida International. "He's got a lot of work to do to get in my good graces," Leavitt told the newspaper.

• Leavitt needs to do a better job on the PR front. With reporters on hand from several major news outlets -- some had traveled a significant distance -- for the Bulls' season-opening news conference, Leavitt took all of 1 minute, 59 seconds to answer seven questions, according to the Tampa Tribune. He did not make quarterbacks available to the media, either. None of that is good for a program that needs all the positive publicity it can get.

Syracuse

• Despite a change in coordinators and the apparently stellar offseason of quarterback Perry Patterson, the Orange offense was every bit as unproductive in its season opener against Wake Forest as it was last season. Here are the ugly numbers (feel free to hide your eyes): 136 total yards, 45 passing yards, three sacks, 1 of 11 third-down conversions. Coach Greg Robinson plans no lineup changes this week against No. 14 Iowa, promising that "we will be productive offensively." The Orange have lost 10 consecutive games.

• Don't expect a quarterback change anytime soon. Well, not this week, anyway. Robinson raved about Patterson's performance, even though the senior was just 5-for-18 for 45 yards, including 1-for-5 for zero yards in the second half. Robinson said Patterson was the victim of drops and other circumstances. "You need to watch the film," Robinson said. "I think when all is said and done, Perry Patterson is going to be a nice-looking quarterback here." Highly touted freshman Andrew Robinson is waiting in the wings. When asked if the rookie might get into a game, Greg Robinson told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "that isn't the plan right now."

• Bright note: Senior linebacker Kelvin Smith had a career-high 16 tackles, including a career-best 13 solo tackles. He also recovered a fumble.

• Greg Robinson sees more than just the first name as a link between Iowa quarterback Drew Tate and New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees. "[Tate's] maybe not as tall, but he's put together, he can maneuver and get around. He throws with a strong arm, pinpoint, [and] he's an accurate passer."

Joe Starkey covers the Big East for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

[smazza]

plancher torn acl- i thought it was a serious injury.

leavitt got lucky jewelmiste got hurt.

[beastiebull]

bad news re Plancher.  Not impressed with  the rest of our eligible running backs.   :-/

[Bishop of Bulltown]

we'll be getting ponton back soon

[bulls96go]

what about JC RB transfer Cannon?