Previewing Saturday’s Big East Contests
Conference play began last weekend with a pair of upsets. Pittsburgh knocked off South Florida and Rutgers went on the road and took down Syracuse. What does this weekend have in store? Here is a preview of all the Big East games on the slate for today.
Connecticut vs. West Virginia:
West Virginia (4-1) is still the favorite to win the Big East and Connecticut (3-2) appears likely to finish near the bottom of the conference. The Mountaineers have one of the most explosive offensive attacks in the country led by quarterback Geno Smith. They are also at home and could possibly still be stinging from the loss to LSU. Look for West Virginia to pull away in the second half of this one.
Prediction: West Virginia 41 Connecticut 17
Louisville vs. North Carolina
Louisville (2-2) comes into the game a week after suffering a tough home loss to Marshall. North Carolina (4-1) is extremely talented, having only lost on the road to Georgia Tech. Along with Connecticut, Louisville is a bottom feeder in the Big East and will likely be no match for North Carolina on the road. This one could get ugly rather quickly.
Prediction: North Carolina 38 Louisville 14
Pittsburgh vs. Rutgers
This is clearly the Big East game of the week. Both Pittsburgh (3-2, 1-0) and Rutgers (3-1, 1-0) are coming off big wins to open up conference play. Pittsburgh will try to run the football with star running back Ray Graham and control the tempo of the game. Rutgers has one of the Top 20 defenses in the country in points allowed and also forces a lot of turnovers. If Pittsburgh can limit their turnovers, they are a slight favorite to win this one.
Prediction: Pittsburgh 24 Rutgers 17
Syracuse vs. Tulane
Syracuse (3-2, 0-1) is coming off a tough double-overtime loss at home to Rutgers. Tulane (2-3) has one of the worst defenses in the country. That is good news for a Syracuse team that struggles to put points on the board. The Green Wave have allowed 45 or more points in each of their past two games. Don’t expect Syracuse to put up those kinds of numbers, but they should win this one rather easily.
Prediction: Syracuse 33 Tulane 21
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
