Cincy needs to win Big East title first

University of Cincinnati football fans need to stop worrying about Bowl Championship Series rankings and worry about the Cats’ final two conference games of the season against West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

Although West Virginia lost to the University of South Florida Saturday, Oct. 31, the Cats will still have their hands full with the Mountaineers.

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Panthers are 7-1 and will be a big challenge for the Cats’ final game of the season.

WVU ranks second in the Big East in total offense, trailing only UC. The Mountaineers have passed for 1,809 yards and rushed for 1,460 yards while scoring 30 touchdowns on the year. 

UC has just 1,190 yards on the ground but 2,442 in the air, giving the Cats a big edge in the passing game.

WVU has an unpredictable, yet dangerous offense. Mountaineer running back Noel Devine is second in the Big East in rushing with 954 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Quarterback Jared Brown will also pose a threat to the Bearcats. Brown ranks third in the Big East in passing yards with 1,567, while ranking fifth in completion percentage with 65.8. Brown has also thrown nine touchdowns with seven interceptions on the year.

Tony Pike leads the Big East in passing, averaging 272.2 yards per game with 15 touchdowns and only three picks this season.

UC needs Pike to be healthy for WVU since the Mountaineers rushing defense ranks second in the Big East allowing just 99.1 yards per game.

Although, if Brian Kelly decided to use Zach Collaros and Pike against WVU it could be very useful. Pike could throw on the WVU defense, which ranks seventh in the Big East, while Collaros could use his speed to spread the defense out and run all over them.

Pittsburgh is a different story; the Panthers are going to pose a big threat to the Cats to take their Big East title and lock up the automatic BCS bid.

The Panthers rank second in the Big East in scoring offense with 35 touchdowns, while ranking fourth in scoring defense, surrendering 19 touchdowns on the year.

The Cats will have to focus on stopping the Panthers’ running back Dion Lewis. Lewis leads the conference in yards, touchdowns and rushing attempts. Lewis has recorded 11 touchdowns with 1,029 yards on 185 carries.

Lewis won’t be the only thing UC will have its hands full with, Pittsburgh quarterback Bill Stull, is also a big part of the Panthers offense with a Big East leading 16 touchdowns and 1,654 yards in the air.

Stull is the only quarterback in the league that has better numbers than Pike; now that’s something to worry about.

What Cincinnati needs to worry about is winning the Big East and locking up an automatic BCS bid because they will not jump any team from the BCS top 10.

The only way UC is going to gain any spots on the BCS top 10 is if teams like Iowa, Boise State and TCU lose in the next few weeks.

UC has no shot of jumping any of those teams, especially when the Cats continue to win and drop in the polls.

The other thing about the BCS rankings is that there are too many teams ahead of UC at this point to get to the top two. Being in the top 10 and being ranked ahead of Ohio State should be gratifying enough for UC fans.

Winning the Big East is the best thing UC and its fans could wish for this season; anything more would be a reach.

If Cincinnati pulls off wins against WVU and Pittsburgh they will have won the Big East for the second-straight year and will have a chance to redeem themselves in another BCS
bowl game.

UC has a good shot at winning the Orange bowl this year with the ACC having a down year.

Will Cincinnati win the Big East Championship and go to the National Championship game? E-mail Pat at strangpa@mail.uc.edu