BigEastSportsBlog.com

The Louisville Cardinal men’s basketball team are ranked 3rd in the nation by the AP poll released today. The overwhelming expected dominance of the Big East was definitely reflected in the AP poll, as four team’s were ranked in the top 10 and three in the top five. Uconn comes in at second, Pitt at five, and Notre Dame came at nine. Seven teams from the Big East were ranked in the top 25. North Carolina was the unanimous number one choice by the AP.

The Bulls lost their third conference game of the season, and even coach Jim Leavitt admitted that their chances at a Big East championship are officially shot.

The Bearcats threw the ball wherever they wanted, making Madden video game catches if they needed to, and shut USF down inside the 10-yard line twice in the forth quarter.

With the Bulls out of the Championship chase, they can take solice in the fact that the St. Petersburg Bowl is right in their own back yard.

Tony Pike continues to dominate the USF defense. He has 281 yards, and threw his second touchdown pass of the game. He hit running back Darrin Williams for a five-yard touchdown to put the Bearcats up 24-10. 

USF drove the ball deep into Cincinnati territory twice, failing on a fourth-and-goal from the five, and and fourth-and-five from the 8-yard line.

Freshman kicker Maikon Bonani isn’t affected by the Cincinnati cold (currently 41 degrees) or the blackout by Bearcats’ fans. After the defense forced Cincinnati to punt for the first time tonight, Bonani drilled a career-long 47-yard field goal to bring the Bulls to within a touchdown.

On a third down from the Cincinnati 36-yard line, junior quarterback Matt Grothe had a pass tipped and intercepted, killing a scoring opportunity. On the ensuing Bearcats drive, quarterback Tony Pike hit running back John Goebel for a 28-yard pass, but Goebel fumbled the ball. 

The USF secondary is once again having problems, allowing Pike to throw for 227 yards in the first half. For a comparison, USF has 179 yards of offense in the half.

The Bulls seem to have no answer for Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike. He has 144 passing yards and a touchdown after hitting Mardy Gilyard for a 26-yard touchdown. The play capped a 12-play, 91-yard drive. 

USF trails 17-7 with 9:17 left in the first half. In an interesting note, the Bearcats’ crowd has “blacked out” for tonight’s game. Nippert Stadium is almost completely full, and nearly every fan has a black shirt on.

Just as opponents have done to USF in its two losses, the Bulls did to the Bearcats. After giving up a touchdown, the Bulls marched 82 yards in four plays, keyed by a 47-yard pass from Matt Grothe to sophomore wide receiver Carlton Mitchell and a 32-yard run by junior Moise Plancher. Plancher took the ball in from the 1-yard line to tie the game.

USF junior quarterback Matt Grothe has made a career out of keeping plays alive, but on a third down early in the game, he kept a play alive long enough to make a crucial mistake.

He was pressured from the start of the play, but spun out of  tackle and made a beeline for the sidelines. A Cincinnati defender caught up to him and grabbed his legs as he threw. Cincinnati corner back Mike Mickens intercepted the forced pass and set up a two-yard touchdown run.

I’m here in chilly Cincinnati — where the No. 23 USF football team is playing the UC Bearcats — and USF will be down at least three players. Senior linebacker Brouce Mompremier is on the sidelines in sweatpants and his jersey, meaning he is likely inactive for tonight’s game.

Mompremier suffered a severe neck injury on Sept. 20, when his head collided with the hip of teammate Carlton Williams. Mompremier returned to action against Syracuse on Oct. 18, but was hit in the back of the head last weekend against Louisville. With Mompremier out, the Bulls have only four healthy linebackers.

Also on the injury front, sophomore running backs Mike Ford and Jamar Taylor did not make the trip with the team after suffering injuries against Louisville.

Rutgers knocked off heavily favored Pittsburgh this weekend as quarterback Mike Teel threw 6 touchdowns and ended the day with 361 passing yards. His performance was good enough to earn the senior QB both conference and national offensive player of the week honors. For more on Teel, check out Tom Luicci’s article in The Star-Ledger.

With 7 tackles, 2 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss against USF, Louisville defensive tackle Adrian Grady was named the BIG EAST defensive player of the week. Grady lead the Cards defense as they limited the 25th ranked rushing team in the nation to only 8 yards on the ground throughout the entire game. Grady and the Cards defense also came up big when it mattered most, as the Bulls went 4-11 on the third down conversions.  

Big Men on Campus

UConn running back Donald Brown is truly a monster. The nation needs to wake up and take a look at his stats. The country’s leading rusher went off on the Bearcats last weekend, tallying 150 yards on 29 carries and recording two touchdowns. The junior running back is yet to average under 4 yards a carry in a game this season and has scored at least one touchdown in seven of the last eight games. 

Anyone who enjoys watching a talented running back do his thing was thrilled to see WVU’s Noel Devine run wild on Auburn last Thursday. The sophomore ran for over 200 yards for the first time in his college career, recording 207 yards on 17 carries for an insane average of 12 yards per carry. In the Mountaineers past two games, Devine has run for 395 yards on 35 carries for an average of 11.2 yards per carry.

It is bitter sweet to report on Louisville wide receiver Scott Long’s 5 catch, 134 yard, two touchdown performance against USF, as the junior receiver tore a ligiment in his leg during practice this week and is now out for the season. Although Scott is out for the rest of 2008, he did end the his season by scoring the game winning touchdown against the Bulls and should be back next year.

West Virginia linebacker Anthony Leonard was not even suppose to start a game this season. Yet, on Thursday the redshirt sophomore recorded 16 tackles against Auburn, and also forced a fumble.