LIVE FROM THE DOME: THE BIG EAST REPORT

BY CHRISTOPHER J. MOGOLLON
BIG EAST INSIDER

Rutgers 38 - Buffalo 3 - Ray Rice came out of the gate dominating, rushing for two touchdowns in the beginning of the first quarter. He carried the ball very well utilizing his speed to take advantage of a much slower Buffalo defense for some big runs. Rice had two long touchdown runs (34 yards, 41 yards) racking up three total touchdowns and 184 yards. Quarterback Mike Teel had a great performance throwing for 328 yards hooking up with junior receiver Tiquan Underwood ten times. Underwood’s speed was just too much, scoring two touchdowns with 248 yards getting many of those yards with his feet. Rutgers offense was more than Buffalo could handle -- a program that has just won six games in the last four seasons.

Cincinnati 59 - SE Missouri State 3 - The Bearcats struggled in the beginning of the game with a lot of penalties and drives that went nowhere. The passing game was very efficient as Wake Forest transfer Ben Mauk threw for 240 yards, getting the ball to ten different receivers. Marshawn Gilyard had the best game of the receivers catching the ball eight times for 136 yards including a 56-yard reception. In total, the Bearcats put up 612 total yards on offense using several different formations and digging deep down their depth chart. The defense played well forcing six turnovers including an INT for a touchdown.

Louisville 73 - Murray State 10 - Louisville put up the second most points of anyone in college football this week (Oklahoma 79 vs. N Texas) and did it early scoring 49 points in the first half. Heisman hopeful Brian Brohm had a field day throwing for 375 yards on 21 attempts with four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Harry Douglas stole the show catching five balls for 151 yards including touchdown grabs of 44 yards and 59 yards. Louisville ran for 261 yards with junior tailback George Stripling getting most of the carries for 92 yards. The defense did what they had to do forcing a turnover and the holding the Racers to only 271 total yards. Murray State was 5-16 on third down conversions.

Connecticut 45 - Duke 14 - In the battle of out of conference foes, the Big East spanked the ACC. The game started out very ugly but finally UCONN got on a role and never looked back. The defense was simply dominant holding Duke to 23 total rushing yards and forcing three interceptions, one going for a touchdown by Darius Butler late in the game. The new Huskies quarterback Tyler Lorenzen was also impressive throwing for 299 yards and going 22/30. Even though it was against Duke, UCONN did a great job of dominating the Devils in Durham in a very big opening win. Now if they did it on the hardwood instead of the gridiron it would be even more impressive.

South Florida 28 - Elon 13 - The Bulls didn’t come out and destroy there opponent like people thought but there defense always kept the game under control. South Florida didn’t have many big plays, but Matt Grothe had a solid game throwing for 227 yards and two touchdowns. He threw the ball for short passes getting 10 different receivers the ball. Elon had good field position a couple times because of great kickoff returns by Mike Mayers, but had to settle for field goals. The Bulls defense only allowed one touchdown when the game was already over with two minutes to go.

Pittsburgh 27 - Eastern Michigan 3 - The Panthers have a lot of pressure on them this season especially head coach Dave Wannstedt. Pittsburgh needed to make a statement especially on defense after losing team leader H.B Blades and playmaking corner Darrelle Revis, and they did. Pitt struggled at the beginning of the game with a new quarterback but Bill Stull settled down throwing for 175 yards, completing 14 out of 21 passes, mostly on short tosses. They did their attacking with their running backs splitting carries between LaRod Stephens-Howling (75 yards rushing) and LeSean McCoy (70 yards). The defense is where Pitt dominated holding Eastern Michigan to only 175 total yards. They put the game out of reach with a touchdown drive to start the second half, ending with sophomore Shane Brooks punching it in from the one.

West Virginia 62 - Western Michigan 24 - With two Heisman candidates on their team it was going to be tough for any MAC school to stop this powerhouse offense. Slaton did what he does best running for 109 yards and three touchdowns including a 58-yard run to open up the half. Slaton averaged 6.1 yards per carry and showed his versatile catching two balls, including a 50-yard pass on which Slaton made the Western Michigan defense look silly, a first but not a last for WVU foes this season. Patrick White rushed for 97 yards (two touchdowns) and his passing was efficient, for 192 yards and two touchdowns. WVU’s best receiver Darius Reynaud caught five balls for a total of 92 yards. West Virginia’s defense was a little shaky defending the pass allowing Jamarko Simmons to have 14 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns, but they could not move the ball on the ground (34 rushing yards).