NCAA Football Rutgers 1

Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and West Virginia won as expected last week, but it wasn't quite as easy as the experts predicted.

All three clubs were heavy favorites between 17 and 21 points, yet only Pittsburgh won easily. PItt was the only one of the trio that didn't almost lose. The Panthers disposed of depleted Syracuse 37-10, but Cincinnati and West Virginia had a lot more difficulty.

The Bearcats outlasted a resilient UConn club 47-45, while the Mountaineers held off Louisville 17-9.

Last week's results shows that the league remains divided into three tiers: the best (Cincinnati, Pittsburgh), the worst (Louisville, Syracuse) and everyone else (South Florida, West Virginia, UConn and Rutgers).

While the top and the bottom of the league is pretty well set, it should be interesting to see how the middle four teams shake out in the next few weeks. It will start Thursday when USF visits Rutgers.

Unfortunately, we have to wait another four weeks for the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh contest.

STORRS, Conn. -- Connecticut coach Randy Edsall is good at many things -- such as refining football skills, leading a group of young men and supporting them through the tragedy of Jasper Howard's murder.

He has had little time to make sure his pop culture references were up to date.

"I am Sergeant Schultz, I know nothing," Edsall said earlier this week, when pressed about details surrounding the murder investigation. Just minutes later, in a separate media conference, the arrests of three men were announced.

Ironically, Edsall, especially in recent days, is very little like Schultz, whose character on "Hogan's Heroes" -- a TV show that ran from 1965-71 -- was a bumbling, borderline incompetent mess (Trust me, I looked it up).

Edsall recited Schultz's famous slogan, but that's where the similarities end.

Each Friday, FanHouse's Brett McMurphy will preview the Big East and make his weekly predictions.

Oh and three. That was my record picking Big East games last week against the spread -- losing two games on last-second field goals if you care (and, no, you don't). No wins, three losses.

But hey, it could be worse. I could have South Florida coach Jim Leavitt's record in Thursday night nationally televised games (0-4) or I could have Dave Wannstedt's record against Rutgers.

The Pittsburgh coach has gone oh-fer against the Scarlet Knights. Four games, four losses.

Tonight, the Panthers visit Rutgers with Pittsburgh a 5-1/2 point favorite.

Alternative post headline: Your Guess is as Good as Mine.

In the preseason media poll, Pitt was picked to win the conference followed by West Virginia, Cincinnati, South Florida and then Rutgers. The top four teams all received first place votes. The point difference between Pitt and No. 5 Rutgers was only 34, while the gap between Rutgers and the No. 6 team, UConn, was 48. In other words, everyone is guessing, and everyone is unsure.

Just checking the multitude of preview guides only emphasizes the confusion. The various mags have picked four different teams to finish first in the Big East. In other words, the Big East is looking a lot like the ACC of the last few years. No dominant team. Plenty of parity and coaches getting defensive about it.

[West Virginia] Coach [Bill] Stewart on the league outlook: "I don't call it parity, I call it competitive."

And somewhere in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tom O'Brien nods his head in approval.

Rutgers and UCLA have agreed to a home-and-home series starting in 2016. You, the typical college football fan, don't give a rat's bonkus.

To you, Rutgers is a one-hit wonder from a couple years ago, lucky it can still get bookings at state fairs. After this it's county fairs, then it's back to the day job at Home Depot. UCLA, on the other hand, is like a recently divorced middle-aged guy at a college bar. He can't figure out why, if he could make time with the coeds 25 years ago, they're just not that interested in him now.

You might be right about where each of these programs stand in the summer of 2009. But you're dead wrong about the insignificance of this deal. This is one of the best things to happen to college football in quite a while.