NCAA Football connecticut Huskies

After further review: Cincinnati and Pittsburgh remain on a collision course to determine the Big East championship and BCS bowl berth.

The Bearcats and Panthers experienced some anxious moments down the stretch, but both survived to move a step closer to delivering the Big East its first matchup of Top-10 ranked teams since 2006.

Cincinnati held off West Virginia, 24-21, and Pittsburgh outlasted Notre Dame 27-22 over the weekend. Did we mention both UC and Pitt were playing at home and benefited from two game-changing replay reversals?

And who says the SEC has the monopoly on all the controversial replay calls?

The No. 5 ranked Bearcats (10-0, 6-0 Big East) and No. 8 Panthers (9-1, 5-0) get a chance to catch their breath this weekend. West Virginia also is off this weekend, giving the Mountaineers time to reflect on their first two-game Big East losing streak since 2004 and watch Rich Rod against Ohio State.

FanHouse Big East writer Brett McMurphy empties his reporter's pad every week with the latest news from the league in the Big East Notebook.

While the majority of college football programs are utilizing the spread offense, Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt proudly admits his club's offensive philosophy has gone the way of the dinosaur.

So far, so good for Tyrannosaurus Dave and his Panthers. Forget extinction, the Panthers are thriving in their prehistoric offense.

The Panthers are 8-1, lead the Big East in rushing (187 yards per game) and second in the Big East and 16th nationally in scoring offense (34.56 points per game).

"I think there are a lot of different ways to win," Wannstedt said. "Right now everybody's in the spread offense. We're probably one of the dinosaurs left that are lining up with a fullback and a tailback and trying to pound people and play-action pass.

"But that's what I believe in. And the Super Bowls and national championships I've been associated with, that's what we did. You have to go with what you know and what you believe."

A day after saying that Cincinnati senior Tony Pike would be his starting quarterback when "100 percent" healthy, Bearcats coach Brian Kelly told Cincinnati radio station WEBN-FM that back-up Zach Collaros would start Friday against West Virginia.

Collaros started for Pike the past three games, and has completed 80 percent of his passes. Saturday against UConn, Collaros set a Big East and school record with 555 yards of total offense, including 480 yards passing.

Despite Collaros' impressive showing the past 3 1/2 games, Kelly said Pike would regain his starting position when healthy. Kelly's announcement means that Pike still hasn't fully recovered from his left arm injury.

CINCINNATI -- UConn coach Randy Edsall emerged from the visitor's locker room at Nippert Stadium after a 47-45 loss to Cincinnati Saturday, the latest in a season-long full of heartbreakers for the Huskies.

He admitted he's not sure what to say anymore.

"You can use any adjective you want, but we just came up short," he said. "I told [the players] I'm running out of things to tell them after a game like this."

Saturday's loss to the No. 4 Bearcats was the latest in a string of heartbreaking losses since the murder of UConn junior Jasper Howard Oct. 18. Fortunately for the Huskies, they don't play this week, giving them a much needed break.

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.

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati senior Tony Pike is rated as the third-best NFL quarterback prospect by NFLDraftScout.com. He likely will make a fine NFL quarterback one day.

Yet, the No. 4-ranked Bearcats are better off without him.

Last season, Pike led the Bearcats to their first Big East title. This year, he led Cincinnati to a 5-0 start before he re-injured his left (non-throwing) arm – the arm he broke last season.

Pike, who had missed the past 2½ games, was cleared to play Saturday against UConn, but he never left the bench. He should stay there the rest of the season.

That's because sophomore Zach Collaros is smokin' hot.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The demand for a college football playoff could break up the BCS after the 2013 season, but instead of adding a playoff, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) would likely just revert back to the old bowl system, Big East commissioner John Marinatto told FanHouse.

"It [the BCS] is such an entity where there's so many diverse things that come together that make it work," Marinatto said. "I don't know if all that will continue to go on the way it is. If they're pressured to create a playoff, they would simply go back to what the system used to be like and have it as an at-large, free-for-all where people can go [to whichever bowl] they want.

And then there were two.

Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are now the lone undefeated teams in Big East play after last weekend's action.

The No. 4 ranked Bearcats and No. 14 Panthers continue on a collision course for the de facto Big East championship game on Dec. 5 in Pittsburgh. By the way, whatever Nick Carparelli, the Big East's senior associate commissioner for football, is making, he deserves a raise.

Carparelli is in charge of the league's schedule and his philosophy is having the league's top games played later in the year. That's easier said than done, but the Big East could have a pair of Top 10 teams playing for the league title if the Bearcats and Panthers don't stumble.

Stumble is exactly what West Virginia did -- again -- at South Florida. Playing in Tampa, Fla., on a Friday night for the second time in three years, the Mountaineers' league title hopes took a big hit with the 30-19 loss to the Bulls, who had lost their previous two games to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh by a combined margin of 75-31.

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- On a day Connecticut honored slain teammate Jasper Howard, one of his best friends won the game for Rutgers.

Tim Brown, who grew up with Howard in Miami, scored on an 81-yard touchdown pass from Tom Savage with 22 seconds left to give the Scarlet Knights a 28-24 victory over the Huskies in UConn's first home game since Howard was stabbed to death.

"I just went out there and played that game for my friend," Brown said. "He was a special guy to me and I just went out there and dedicated that game to him."

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.