Notebook: QB Injuries Ravage Big East

On Monday, Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe was asked who would be the Cardinals' starting quarterback Saturday against Southern Miss.

"I don't want Southern Miss to know who the quarterback is," Kragthorpe said. "You guys will find out when they walk out on game day."

Forget the Abbott and Costello routine "Who's on first?", "Who's starting at quarterback?" has become the all-too-common theme in the first month of the Big East.

Last year, the league was stockpiled with clear-cut starting quarterbacks at West Virginia (Pat White), South Florida (Matt Grothe), Rutgers (Mike Teel), Pittsburgh (Bill Stull), Louisville (Hunter Cantwell) and Syracuse (Cameron Dantley). At Cincinnati and UConn, Tony Pike and Tyler Lorenzen ended up getting the majority of the starts, but the Bearcats and Huskies each used three different starting quarterbacks last season.

This year because of injuries, determining a starting quarterback at several league schools has been more like musical chairs.

Last season in the Big East, 12 players started at least two games at quarterback. This year, the league already has had 11 players start at least two games at quarterback -- and if Adam Froman starts for Louisville Saturday, he will be the 12th league QB with at least two starts this season.

Injuries have had a great impact on the position throughout the league and the No. 1 example is at South Florida where QB Matt Grothe was lost for the season with a torn ACL. In a cruel irony, Grothe's injury occurred a week after he passed White as the league's all-time leader in total offense.

Overall, the league's list of wounded QBs who have missed a start because of an injury could fill a MASH unit: USF's Grothe (knee), UConn's Zach Frazer (knee), Louisville's Justin Burke (bruised sternum) and Rutgers' Tom Savage (concussion).

Rutgers' coach Greg Schiano, who has had Savage and Domenic Natale split four starts this season, was asked about Savage's availability for Saturday's game with Texas Southern. Schiano's answer summed up how most of the coaches in the league are feeling about their own situations.

"We hope to have him back," Schiano said.

Buckeye State Bragging Rights

Forget health care, the big debate in Ohio these days is who has the better football team? Cincinnati or Ohio State.

The Buckeyes have the storied tradition, the only two-time Heisman winner, the dotting of the I, the most BCS title game losses, etc. Cincinnati has -- uh -- the better chili.

This year, though, the Bearcats also might be better on the field. At least in the eyes of the Associated Press voters.

The Bearcats are No. 8 in this week's AP poll, one slot ahead of No. 9 Ohio State. It's the first time since 1951 that the Bearcats are ranked higher than Ohio State. Ohio State won the last meeting 37-7 in 2006, but unless they meet in a bowl game, they won't play again until 2012.

"By that time hopefully we've continued to accelerate our program where Ohio State has something to gain by playing us," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "In years past, this [which is the best team] wasn't really a conversation because Cincinnati wasn't the kind of program that would merit that kind of conversation."

While the AP voters gave Cincinnati the slight edge, it's not even close according to one member of the Kelly household.

Kenzel Kelly, Brian's 8-year old son, recently pitted Cincinnati against Ohio State on his PlayStation. The final score was Cincinnati 91, Ohio State 0 - and it wasn't even that close.

"I promptly took him to McDonald's," Brian Kelly said.

Big Four Billboard Boasting

Near downtown in Tampa, Fla., USF's marketing department put on a USF-sponsored billboard: "Big 4: Welcome to the Club Bulls Fans." It's in reference to USF's win at Florida State two weeks ago and the Bulls' quest to make the state's Big Three of Florida, Florida State and Miami a Big Four.

The billboard has the No. 3 crossed out and includes team logos of UF, FSU, UM and USF.

USF coach Jim Leavitt, who called the win at FSU the "biggest in school history, no question," was not thrilled about the new billboard.

"I had nothing to do with it, I don't know how it got up and I don't know who put it up," Leavitt told the Tampa Tribune. "We have not won national championships and we have not won conference championships. What gives us the right to sit there all of a sudden like we've won all these championships and done all this stuff? That's not me. That's never been me.

"I don't want people to sit there and think I think we're all that -- because we're not. We're a program that's trying to get competitive. We're a program trying to build."

The Bulls, who are 1-0 against FSU, 0-1 against Miami and have never played Florida, get their next crack at a Big Three/Big Four program Nov. 28 when they host Miami.

Around the League

Last season, UConn's Donald Brown led the nation in rushing with 2,083 yards. This season, the Huskies are ahead of Brown's pace -- albeit it's the combined numbers of Andre Dixon and Jordan Todman. Dixon and Todman are combining for 191 yards per game, compared to Brown's 160-yard per game average last season. "Andre is more of a slasher, while Jordan is a little bit shiftier," UConn coach Randy Edsall said about his dynamic duo. ... Pitt QB Bill Stull has gone from being booed by the home fans in the season opener to No. 5 nationally in passing efficiency. The difference? "This may be too simple, but the No. 1 thing is he's not throwing interceptions," Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. ... Louisville has held second-half leads in two of its three losses this season, but has been outscored 41-24 in the fourth quarter this season. Pitt outscored UL 28-0 in the second half of Friday's 35-10 win. "The first three series of the second half were catastrophic," Kragthorpe said. ... How hard has it been for USF to replace kicker Maikon Bonani, who suffered a back injury this summer falling from a Busch Gardens skyride? Delbert Alvardo and Eric Schwartz have combined to miss six of nine field goals - with five of the six misses from 40 yards or closer.