September 10, 2009

David Fox
Rivals.com College Football

MORE: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | Pac-10 | SEC | Others

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said his team had "no chance" to win that game, in part because of overconfidence but also because his team was outplayed and outcoached. The loss was so bad, it apparently speaks for itself going into West Virginia's meeting with the Pirates on Saturday.

"I'm not going to make a big deal out of it," Stewart said. "I'm sure the 24-3 thrashing we took was an embarrassing loss and a hard lesson to learn, but it showed our football team that we've got to do more than just throw on the ol' gold and blue."

The teams meet under different circumstances this season. Behind Pat White, West Virginia was the prohibitive favorite in the Big East going into the game last season. The Mountaineers are among six teams with legitimate Big East title aspirations this season.

In the first week of the season, both played an FCS program, but neither was that impressive. East Carolina built a 27-7 halftime lead against Appalachian State, then had to hold on for a 29-24 win. Meanwhile, West Virginia allowed a late touchdown and 210 passing yards to Liberty in a 33-20 win.

That's why the Mountaineers are looking to this game to set the tone for the season.

"This will determine what kind of a season we have," West Virginia linebacker J.T. Thomas told the Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette. "East Carolina is a good team and they're tough guys. They're guys who are where West Virginia was once upon a time - the team on the rise, the team that always has something to prove.'"

KEY MATCHUP: QB Bill Stull and Pittsburgh's offense against Buffalo's defense. Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 27-16 last season, but we remain wary about Pitt playing a MAC team because of the Panthers' 27-17 loss to Bowling Green in the first week of 2008. A Pitt win in this one is no guarantee. The Bulls won 23-17 at UTEP last week. More important, Buffalo gave UTEP QB Trevor Vittatoe fits. Vittatoe is a top-tier Conference USA quarterback, so what does that mean for Stull?

PLAYER ON THE SPOT: Connecticut QB Zach Frazer. An offseason to prepare for the starting job and a new offensive coordinator weren't a cure-all for Frazer, a junior who had his third career three-interception game in the season-opening win over Ohio. Frazer faces a much stiffer test against North Carolina, one of the teams that picked him off three times last season. Tar Heels FS Deunta Williams had two interceptions in last week's rout of The Citadel. UConn again should have a strong rushing attack, but at some point against the Heels, Frazer will need to make some plays in the passing game.

NUMBERS GAME: Only one Big East champion or co-champion has lost its first conference game since the league re-organized in 2005. West Virginia lost to South Florida 21-13 in its 2007 Big East opener. Will that be bad news for Rutgers, which lost 47-15 to Cincinnati on Monday?

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"We needed to be more effective and efficient running the football. Travis Kelce brings that mix to the game, where he's a big physical kid, and he can also throw. We think we found a piece of what's going to allow us to run the ball a little more efficiently." - Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, to the Cincinnati Enquirer, about his tight end taking snaps out of the Wildcat formation. Kelce is a former quarterback

"I think coach [Greg Schiano] said it perfectly when he said, 'Don't think everything is going to be OK because of the 1-5 start last year' because that was the '08 team. This is the '09 team. So if we try to think to ourselves that it doesn't matter [because] we started out bad last year, it will keep snowballing." - Rutgers CB Devin McCourty, to the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, on the season-opening loss

"I think maybe it was the second pass or something like that, they start booing our quarterback. I just thought it was a little bit early for that type of reaction, and we were winning at the time. I do think it's different when a guy is making $10 million compared to not." - Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, on the booing of Stull during the Panthers' win over Youngstown State

"Any interception is my fault. If it was behind him, it was a bad ball. If it was high, it was me. It's just a responsibility that I've got to take." - UConn's Frazer, to UConnReport.com

"If I'm going to ask my players not to do it during that time, then I'm just going to stop. My Twittering days are over." - USF coach Jim Leavitt, to the Tampa Tribune after learning at least three players posted on Twitter during team meetings, in the locker room and moments before the opener against Wofford

ETC.: Rutgers true freshman Tom Savage was named the starting quarterback for this week's game against FCS member Howard. Savage was 15-of-23 for 135 yards with a touchdown against Cincinnati after replacing Domenic Natale at the start of the third quarter. Natale had thrown three interceptions. ... Syracuse QB Greg Paulus has received most of the attention for the Orange, but two other players help to make the offense more dangerous than it was last season. Oft-injured RB Delone Carter rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota after playing only four games over the past two seasons. WR Mike Williams caught seven passes for 94 yards and a touchdown after missing last season because of an academic suspension. ... Louisville is off this week after a 30-10 victory over Indiana State. New Cardinals starting QB Justin Burke was 17-of-31 for 223 yards and two interceptions. Coach Steve Kragthorpe described him as "amped up." ... After the Cincinnati-Rutgers opener, the next conference game won't be until Oct. 2, when Pittsburgh visits Louisville.

David Fox is a national writer for Rivals.com. He can be reached at dfox@rivals.com.