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For 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.

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)?

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.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jonathan Baldwin made two exceptional catches that allowed No. 8 Pittsburgh to open up an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter before Notre Dame rallied behind two touchdowns by star Golden Tate, and the Panthers held on for a 27-22 victory Saturday night that may raise more cries for Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis' ouster.

Notre Dame (6-4) trailed 27-9 with 12:44 remaining after Dion Lewis' 50-yard touchdown run, then came back before Jimmy Clausen fumbled with just over two minutes remaining.

The Irish followed up a did-it-really-happen 23-21 loss to Navy with their eighth consecutive loss to a Top 10 team - the longest streak in school history. Weis is 1-10 against ranked teams since 2006, and has the same record (35-25) as former coach Bob Davie and the same winning percentage (.583) as former coach Tyrone Willingham, both of whom were fired.

PITTSBURGH -- Given our location this evening, I feel a responsibility to work the term "confluence" into the text. For instance, it is an interesting confluence of events that brings Charlie Weis back to Pittsburgh for the first time since his 2005 debut as he is about to coach the most important game of his career. The Fighting Irish have tackled November with all the prowess that they have tackled anything of late, which is to say not well.

The Irish are 3-7 in their last ten November contests after having won their first seven under Weis. We'll see this evening which way the proverbial arrow is pointing in terms of Notre Dame's November nitty gritty.

Key stat heading into the game? Pittsburgh leads the nation in sacks. That's bad news for a team with an immobile quarterback and a back-up who, though experienced, has yet to attempt a pass in a game this season (Evan Sharpley). I cannot, in the words of Matt Millen, "underemphasize enough" how important it is that Clausen, who is likely more dinged up than either he or Weis is letting on, remain in the game.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Pennsylvania is a second home of sorts for the Irish, and not because it happens to be the birthplace of Irish legend Joe Montana.

Nor is it because Pittsburgh's the home of Beano Cook, who once predicted those two Heismans for Berwick, Pa., native Ron Powlus (currently the team's quarterbacks coach).

"We have more subscribers in the state of Pennsylvania than any other state," says inveterate Blue and Gold Illustrated editor Lou Somogyi.

The Panthers, despite their 8-1 record and No. 8 AP ranking, have been averaging crowds in the mid-40,000 level this season at Heinz Field. Saturday night's game, however, despite being available free on television (ABC), is a sellout (65,000-plus) and the Panthers are selling an additional 1,000 standing-room-only ducats. The attendance could possibly break the modern-record for a sporting event in Pittsburgh (66,731 for a 2002 "Backyard Brawl" contest between West Virginia and Pitt).

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame co-defensive coordinator Corwin Brown went Dennis Miller ("I don't mean to get off on a rant, but...") on Wednesday evening, and my question is simply this: Why don't we see this out of the Fighting Irish more often?

If you have yet to see the video, Brown interrupted the first question he was asked during the typically informal gathering and instead called out Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo for nearly two minutes. Brown was most upset by two things:

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."

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.

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.