Big East Week 6 Preview

Another Friday night game for the Big East. Joy. Definitely not going to have the potential of last week's Rutgers-USF game.

Rutgers has the weekend off from play, so they will likely remain ranked for 3 straight weeks. Is that a record?

As usual, the games from least attractive to most intriguing.

Most of Ohio isn't even interested: Akron at Cincinnati, 3:30 pm ESPN360. Wow. You mean I can watch these teams on herky-jerky ESPN Motion video only if my broadband provider carries ESPN360? Geez, what a deal. I mean it's not like some other team that dominates the entire Buckeye State is on at the exact same time or something.

Doctor Who is also on at this time: Louisville at Middle Tennessee State, 8 pm ESPN2. Yeah, you try and find something interesting about this expected blowout of a game. I'm still trying to figure out why a team called the "Blue Raiders" located in Nashville, Tennessee has a Pegasus spitting a lightning bolt for a logo. [Slight correction from the comments. MTSU is located in Murfreesboro, about 34 miles from Nashville. Still trying to figure out the connection between Blue Raiders in Tennessee and a winged horse from Greek mythology.]

Closer then you would think: UConn at USF, 7 pm. I admit to being more impressed with the Bulls then I thought I would. Jim Leavitt may be boring copy, but he is a hell of a good coach that actually wants to build this program. It helps to have a young stud at QB who is getting better each week with little else around him. Just keep in mind that aside from the opening blowout win over McNeese State, the score difference in the next 4 games were 1, 7, 6 and 2. USF is 2-2 in those games.

For UConn it's been a disappointing season and the offense hasn't done much. The good news is that USF hasn't shown that much offense either. More good news, basketball practice begins next Friday.

Irresistible force meets immovable object: West Virginia at Mississippi State, 2:30 pm. TV coverage for this one is special. If you live in West Virginia you can spend $30 for the pay-per view opportunity. If you live in the Southeast well you can watch the game -- I'm not kidding -- on tape delay Sunday night at 9:30 pm (Eastern) on CSS-TV. Apparently the Bowling Green-Ohio State game is a more attractive showing. Wow.

As for the game itself, WVU runs really, really well and does little else. Mississippi St. defends the run really, really well. Mississippi St. has no offense, so eventually WVU will win this game.

Progress check: Pitt at Syracuse, 12 pm ESPN Regional. Two teams that are better then they were last year. The question, how much better? This game could be a clue. Syracuse has a blitzing defense that leads the nation in sacks and creates turnovers. Pitt has one of the best passing games in the country despite a shaky O-line. On offense for Syracuse they have 2 tailbacks with 100+ yard games under their belts and little else to inspire confidence. The run defense for Pitt remains a, uh, work in progress. It may come down to the punters.