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CINCINNATI
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Cincinnati plays its first road game of the season on Saturday,
meeting No. 1 Ohio State. Last week, the Bearcats fell 33-15 at
home against Pittsburgh. Despite the loss, the Bearcats received
strong performances from wide receiver Dominick Goodman, who
caught eight passes for 70 yards. In addition, tight end Brent Celek
totaled three catches and has nine receptions in his first two games.
Cincinnati also received an solid contributions from quarterback
Dustin Grutza, who was 21-of-34 for 189 yards and one touchdown
pass. Ohio State comes into the contest No. 1 in both national
polls after a 24-7 victory at Texas. Senior quarterback Troy
Smith led the way for the Buckeyes, as he threw for 269 yards
and two touchdowns. The only other time that the Bearcats have
faced a No. 1 team was on Oct. 18, 1986, when UC lost to Miami,
Fla., 45-13, at home.
Bearcat head coach Mark Dantonio came to
UC after three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Ohio State
(2001-03). His first game at UC was a 27-6 loss to the Buckeyes.
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CONNECTICUT
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After a bye week, Connecticut returns to action to host Wake
Forest. The Huskies will look to build off of their 52-7 seasonopening
triumph over Rhode Island. In the game, Connecticut
racked up 567 yards of total offense; 418 of those yards came
on the ground, which is the second-highest single game output
in the program’s history and the best total since UConn moved
to Division I-A in 2002. The one-game average of 418 yards
leads the nation in rushing offense.
In addition, senior running
back Terry Caulley’s 95 yards moved him into second place on
the Connecticut all-time rushing list. Wake Forest comes into
the contest after winning a 14-13 nail-biter over Duke. The
Demon Deacons blocked kicker Joe Surgan’s 27-yard field goal
attempt on the final play of the game to seal the win. In its
season opener, Wake Forest defeated Syracuse, 20-10, in
Winston-Salem.
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LOUISVILLE
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No. 12 Louisville resumes its home schedule on Saturday when
the No. 17 Miami Hurricanes visit Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals, who lead the NCAA in total offense (651.0 ypg)
and scoring offense (60.50 avg.) will look to build off their 62-0
win over Temple on the road.
Despite the loss of running back
Michael Bush in the previous week against Kentucky, the Cardinals
still managed to gain 312 yards on the ground against the
Owls. Cardinal running backs George Stripling and Sergio Spencer
each ran for two touchdowns. The shutout victory over Temple
was Louisville’s first shutout since its 34-0 win over North Carolina
in 2004.
Miami will make its first road trip of the season after
its 51-10 victory at home over Florida A&M. In the last meeting
between UM and the U of L, the Cardinals, who were ranked No.
17, fell 41-38 in the Orange Bowl in a 2004 contest. The thenranked
No. 3 Hurricanes erased a 17-point deficit over the final 20
minutes and came from behind twice in the fourth quarter to win.
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PITTSBURGH
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Pittsburgh will look to earn its first 3-0 start since 2000 when it
meets Michigan State on Saturday. Last Friday, the Panthers won
at Cincinnati, 33-14. Quarterback Tyler Palko guided the Panthers
to their first 2-0 start since 2003 as he went 11-of-21 for
267 yards and passed for three touchdowns. Two of Palko’s touchdown
passes were to Derrick Kinder. The scoring tosses were 80
and 55 yards and both came in the third quarter. Three of Palko’s
six touchdown passes this season have gone for over 70 yards.
Palko also is ranked second in the NCAA in passing efficiency
(214.0). In addition, the senior quarterback is ranked fifth all-time
for passing yards in a career at Pittsburgh, he also is just 445
yards behind current BIG EAST Game of the Week analyst John
Congemi (1983-86).
Michigan State will look to improve upon its
2-0 record as it travels to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1960.
Wide receiver Matt Trannon had a school record 14 receptions for
145 yards and two touchdowns en route to earning Big Ten Player
of the Week honors and helping MSU beat Eastern Michigan, 52-
20. In the last meeting between the two teams, the Panthers and
Spartans played to a 7-7 tie.
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RUTGERS
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The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will be in search of its first 3-0 start
since 1981 when it hosts Ohio. It is Homecoming weekend at
Rutgers. Last week against Illinois, the Scarlet Knights won, 33-
0, to collect their first shutout since 2002 when they defeated
Army 44-0.
With the win over Illinois, the Scarlet Knights moved
to 2-0 for the first time since 2000. The RU defense did not allow
the Illini to advance the ball into Scarlet Knight territory. In addition,
Rutgers running back Ray Rice rushed for 108 yards on 23
carries and scored a touchdown. This season, Rice leads the conference
in rushing and is ranked fourth in the NCAA with an average
of 154.5 yards per game. He has compiled four straight 100-
yard games.
Ohio enters the contest in the hopes of improving
upon its 2-0 record. The Bobcats won their only game against the
BIG EAST last season. Ohio beat visiting Pittsburgh 16-10 in overtime.
Last week, the Bobcats defeated Northern Illinois, 35-23.
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SOUTH FLORIDA
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The USF Bulls posted another strong second half performance in
its 21-20 win over Florida International. The Bulls trailed 20-7 at
halftime before scoring a pair of touchdowns in the second half.
This season the Bulls have outscored their opponents 48-0 in the
second half.
This week, the Bulls face UCF in Orlando, Fla. In two
games this season, USF has held its opponents to a total of 30
points. Leading the charge for the Bulls is redshirt freshman defensive
end George Selvie, who is third in the nation in tackles for
loss (2.75). The Bulls also feature punt return specialist Ean
Randolph, who is tied for first in the NCAA for return average
(31.40).
Against FIU, Randolph scored on a 76-yard punt return
for the Bulls first score of the game. He also had two other returns
for touchdowns that were called back because of penalties.
UCF comes into the game in the hopes of rebounding from a 42-
0 loss to Florida on the road.
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SYRACUSE
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Syracuse will face its second straight Big Ten opponent Saturday
when it meets Illinois in Champaign. Last week against Iowa, the
Orange pushed the then-No. 14 ranked Hawkeyes to double overtime,
but fell 20-13, in the Carrier Dome.
In that game, quarterback Perry
Patterson moved into eighth at SU in career total offense. He had
211 total yards in the game, raising his career total to 3,890 yards.
Against Iowa, Brendan Carney punted seven times for a 46.9 average.
As the holder, he saved a bad snap that allowed SU to kick
a field goal to tie the game, 10-10, with six seconds left in
regulartion.
Syracuse has proven to be efficient in taking care of
the ball this season in that they are one of only 20 teams in the
country not to have thrown an interception. Syracuse also is one
of five schools in the country with at least six takeaways. Illinois
enters the game in the hopes of rebounding from 33-0 loss to
Rutgers.
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WEST VIRGINIA
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No. 5 West Virginia will lay its five-game home winning streak on
the line against Maryland on Thursday. In 44 games against Maryland,
the series is tied at 21-21-2. West Virginia has won the last
two contests.
Last week against Eastern Washington, West Virginia
took a 52-3 decision to improve to 2-0 and extend its winning
streak to nine games, which is the second longest streak in
the nation. With the win, the Mountaineers also have won 27 of
their last 31 regular-season games and 28 of their last 32 overall.
The win over Eastern Washington also marked the 38th consecutive
game that West Virginia has won when scoring over 30 points.
The Mountaineers were led by running back Steve Slaton, who
rushed for a game-high 104 yards on just eight carries (13.1 yards
per carry) to post his seventh career 100-yard rushing effort. In
his last three games, Slaton has rushed for 512 yards and is ranked
fifth in the NCAA for rushing yards per game this season with a
154.0 average. Maryland also enters the game with a 2-0 mark
after defeating Middle Tennessee 24-10 last week.
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