- Tony Tribble – USPRESSWIRE
Two weeks down, fourteen to go. The college football landscape is off to a raucous start. Here’s a smattering of what we learned about the Big East in Week 2.
1. Pittsburgh is in big trouble. The home loss to Youngstown State was supposed to send a wake up call to Paul Chyrst’s team. Well, after a beat down at the hands of Cincinnati, it’s clear that the Panthers missed the call. Two turnovers and allowing 259 yards on the ground is a sound formula to lose road games in the conference.
2. Matt Barkley showed Syracuse why he’ll be the top pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. While the Orange deserve credit for hanging in there against the most talented team on Saturday in East Rutherford, they had no chance against Barkley when the game was on the line. Syracuse might be the most exciting 0-2 team in the country.
3. South Florida has a flair for the dramatic. When B.J. Daniels connected with Andre Davis for a 56-yard score with 38 seconds left, South Florida took the lead and completed a wild comeback on the road in Nevada. While Nevada isn’t a juggernaut, they had won 17 of 18 at home. Give credit to the Bulls for rallying after allowing 21 first quarter points, playing poised, and winning a non-conference game in a different time zone. This is a tough team.
4. Rutgers defense has a chance to be special. Tulane and Howard aren’t serious competition, but Kyle Flood clearly has a unit with the potential for big things on his hands in Piscataway.
5. Temple disappoints. Losing a game to an ACC team isn’t cause for concern for the Big East’s newest member, but Temple should have been able to handle a young, banged up Maryland team. While forcing four turnovers is normally a key to victory, coughing it up three times is not what Steve Addazio is looking for.
6. Louisville rolls. Teddy Bridgewater threw for 344 yards and the Big East’s only Top 25 team took care of business against an inferior opponent.
7. UConn is offensively challenged. Holding Mike Glennon and N.C. State to ten points should be enough for victory, but four turnovers doomed the Huskies.
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Joe Giglio is the ACC and Big East football writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter or check out his Facebook page.
