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Lewis Is Pitt's Runaway Star

By Brett McMurphy 12/25/2009 2:00 PM ET

Dion LewisDave Wannstedt has won a Super Bowl and a national championship. He's blocked for Tony Dorsett and he's coached Emmitt Smith. He knows what a great running back looks like.

And that's why he only needed to see Dion Lewis run a few times before he offered him a scholarship.

Wannstedt said he watched maybe "five plays" of Lewis' Blair (N.J.) Academy Prep School highlight tape before he turned it off. He had seen enough.

Wannstedt offered Lewis a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh and Wannstedt's decision has paid huge dividends for the Panthers.
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Starting 11: Like Les Miles, Brown's Strategy Deserves Second Guessing

By Clay Travis 12/09/2009 6:00 AM ET

Getty ImagesA couple of weeks ago, Les Miles made one of the dumbest coaching decisions at the end of a game that any of us had ever seen. I wrote about that and called Miles an idiot. If you're an LSU fan you still see the end of that Ole Miss game in your nightmares. Given that a head coach is paid millions of dollars for his judgment, I thought the ridicule was much deserved. But then Mack Brown went and one-upped Les Miles with the dumbest decision in the history of the conference championship game, snapping the ball with seven seconds left and his team already in field goal range.

By the grace of God, Texas' offensive line was unable to stop Ndamukong Suh from putting heat on Colt McCoy and the Texas quarterback casually tossed the ball out of bounds with one second left. Of course Texas went on to make the field goal to win the game, but that's beside the point, stupidity deserves ridicule. And in this case, Mack Brown's decision-making was every bit as bad as Les Miles'. Especially when you consider that Texas would have been left with a timeout if the clock ran out.

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Sources: Big East Bowls Set

By Brett McMurphy 12/06/2009 3:31 PM ET

Bill StullPITTSBURGH -- With Cincinnati locking up a BCS bowl bid Saturday, most likely the Sugar Bowl, and West Virginia headed to the Gator Bowl, the biggest question remaining was where the Big East's other four bowl teams would land.

Bowl sources told FanHouse this is how the rest of the Big East bowl lineup will shake out:

Pittsburgh (9-3) is headed to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, where the Panthers will play North Carolina.

UConn (7-5) is headed to the Papajohns.com Bowl, where the Huskies will play South Carolina.

South Florida (7-5) is headed to the International Bowl, where the Bulls will face Northern Illinois.

Rutgers (8-4) will play UCF in the St. Petersburg Bowl.

The Big East's official bowl announcement is expected later today.

Gilyard Returns Cincy to Big East Title

By Brett McMurphy 12/05/2009 7:03 PM ET

Mardy GilyardPITTSBURGH -- Sold-out Heinz Field was rocking. Pittsburgh had just converted a blocked punt into another touchdown and led Cincinnati by three touchdowns with only one minute and 39 seconds until halftime.

The Bearcats were staggering. They looked discombobulated. Quarterback Tony Pike said they were "kind of lost out there." The Bearcats' perfect season and second consecutive Big East title was slipping away.

We'll let Cincinnati senior Mardy Gilyard explain what happened next.

"Before the kickoff, John Goebel ran over there, he's a quiet guy, you know," Gilyard said. "He ran over and grabbed me: 'Hey Mardy!' I was in shock. He was like 'you need to turn it up another notch! We need this! We need this!'

"A couple of defensive guys came over and they was like 'Hey Mardy, man, we just need a spark, bro. We need something.' Coach [Brian] Kelly came over: 'He was like, listen, we need something.' I just know when I'm up-tempo and moving, I'm successful out there on the field, the team looks real good. When I'm fast, the team is fast. When I'm slow, the team is slow.

"Once I popped – once I put my foot in the ground and cut back across the field -- I was just like 'Oh man.' "
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Big East Picks: End of Road for Bearcats

By Brett McMurphy 12/04/2009 8:39 PM ET

Dion LewisPITTSBURGH – "The Road" is a tremendous, tremendous novel written by Cormac McCarthy that's been made into a movie (haven't seen it yet).

It's set in an unknown time in the future and about a father and son walking through a future America that's been decimated by an unknown cataclysm. The scenery is grim and dreary and -- I'm finally getting to the point -- parts of the movie were filmed in and around Pittsburgh.

The Road to the Big East title ends Saturday in Pittsburgh when the No. 14 ranked Panthers play host to No. 5 Cincinnati. Temperatures are only expected to reach 36 degrees for the high noon showdown at a sold-out Heinz Field.
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Taking Stab as Big East Goes Bowling

By Brett McMurphy 11/30/2009 7:31 PM ET

Bowling
Before we take a quick review of last week, here's one final stab at the Big East's bowl projections.

Remember, the Big East bowls may select any league bowl-eligible team and are not required to select teams based on where they finish in the league standings. After the champion gets a BCS bowl berth, the Gator Bowl gets the next pick followed by the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Papajohns.com, St. Petersburg and International all share the final three picks and work together to make their selections.

Saturday's Cincinnati-Pittsburgh winner earns the league's BCS bowl berth and that looks like it will be the Sugar Bowl -- unless Nebraska upsets Texas in the Big 12 title game and all heck breaks loose.
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WVU Stops Pitt Cold in Backyard Brawl

By Brett McMurphy 11/28/2009 4:00 AM ET

Noel Devine
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- This one won't quite make up for 2007 -- actually nothing could ever make up for that one for West Virginia fans -- but Friday's 19-16 victory against Pittsburgh was heaven, almost.

There were no national title hopes crushed on this chilly night at Milan Puskar Stadium like in 2007 when the 29-point underdog Panthers shocked WVU 13-9. Heck, West Virginia's victory didn't even hurt the Panthers' chances to win the Big East.

Still, it was a victory the Mountaineers really, really needed.

"This was big, this was really big," said a raspy-voiced Bill Stewart, who still felt the effects from a night of screaming in 36-degree weather. "And it was big for our seniors and it was big because it was Pitt."
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WVU vs. Pitt: Them's Fightin' Words

By Brett McMurphy 11/26/2009 9:00 PM ET

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pittsburgh is one of the best -- and better named -- rivalries in college football.

And it's also home to the Big East's rudest fan bases, according to a survey of college football fans by SI.com.

The survey of 33,144 fans nationwide voted West Virginia and Pittsburgh as the favorite stadiums to visit in the Big East -- 23.2 percent voted for WVU's Milan Puskar Stadium and 19.5 percent voted for Pitt's Heinz Field.

However, West Virginia and Pitt fans also were the overwhelming choices as the league's rudest fans. WVU received 34.9 percent of the vote, followed by Pitt at 25 percent.

Friday night when Pitt visits West Virginia, there might be more late hits in the stands than on the field.
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UConn Finally Hits Sweet Note for Jazz

By Brett McMurphy 11/24/2009 2:28 PM ET

Randy EdsallFor nearly a month, UConn coach Randy Edsall knew what he would do -- he just started to wonder when he would get the opportunity.

That chance finally came Saturday when the Huskies defeated Notre Dame, 33-30, in double overtime. After three excruciating losses, the Huskies finally had a victory for murdered teammate Jasper Howard.

"We've been working very, very hard to get a win for Jazz and his family after his death," Edsall said. "Each week that went by, it seemed like there was a little more burden to get that done. But when we got that taken care of at Notre Dame, I didn't tell the team what I was doing, but I knew what I was going to do once we got that victory."

After the game, Edsall said he talked to Howard's family. Edsall said he will send them the game ball.
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UConn Wins for Jasper Howard, at Last

By Brett McMurphy 11/23/2009 2:00 PM ET

FanHouse Big East writer Brett McMurphy looks back at the week that was in the Big East Rewind.

Two weeks ago, UConn coach Randy Edsall and senior running back Andre Dixon both said how much the Huskies' really needed a bye week after a third consecutive last-minute loss at Cincinnati.

If no other team needed a bye like UConn, no other team in the country needed a victory like UConn. And that's exactly what the Huskies' got. UConn went into South Bend, Ind., and defeated Notre Dame 33-30 in double overtime Saturday.

It was the first victory since the murder of UConn cornerback Jasper Howard. After the game, Edsall pointed skyward in honor of Howard, while the Huskies' players held aloft Howard's No. 6 jersey.

Did anyone else notice UConn's final score just happen to be 33 (3+3=6)?
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