Brett Mcmurphy Posts

"Win one for the Gipper?" How about "Win one to keep the Gipper out of the Gator Bowl?"

When Stanford plays host to Notre Dame (6-5) Saturday, the entire Big East Conference will be pulling for the Cardinal to defeat the Fighting Irish.

The reason is simple: an Irish victory would likely earn Notre Dame an invitation to the Gator Bowl, taking one of the Big East's bowl berths.

The Gator Bowl has the option of selecting a Big East team or Notre Dame, as long as the Irish have at least seven wins. There has been an understanding between the Big East and the Gator Bowl that it would only take Notre Dame if the Irish is within two wins of an available Big East team. However, there is nothing in writing and since the Gator Bowl and Big East are parting ways after this season, the Gator Bowl has no reason to honor that agreement.

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)?

With not many upsets -- outside of the Wild, Wild West Conference, better known as the Pac-10 -- the top nine teams in my Associated Press Top 25 ballot remained the same as last week.

So unless Alabama loses to Auburn, Florida loses to Florida State or Texas loses to Texas A&M this weekend, the BCS title game seems pretty cut and dried between the SEC champion (Alabama/Florida) against Texas. That is, as long as the Longhorns don't lose to Nebraska in the Big 12 title game next week.

With the BCS title game participants pretty much locked in, college football's favorite pastime has already begun. No, not figuring out who will be Notre Dame's next coach, but lobbying for the best possible bowl berth.

Technically Notre Dame is a bowl partner with the Big East Conference and the Fighting Irish is a full-member of the Big East, except for football.

Yet, even with the Irish's ties to the Big East, when they play host to UConn Saturday there won't be one person affiliated with the league that will be rooting for the Irish -- well, except for, the entire city of Cincinnati.

Bearcats Nation will be pulling for Notre Dame to win so that ND coach Charlie Weis will not become former ND coach Charlie Weis. And, in turn, current Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly won't become future Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.

Other than Cincinnati, the rest of the league will be pulling for the Huskies. The reason is if Notre Dame (6-4) wins at least seven games, by either defeating UConn Saturday or Stanford next week, the Irish is a virtual lock to take the Big East's spot in the Gator Bowl. That would shuffle the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh loser down to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

TAMPA, Fla. -- The University of South Florida's men's basketball program has violated numerous NCAA rules over the past months, a former USF assistant coach, former USF players and other school sources told FanHouse.

Most of the NCAA violations involve USF video and conditioning assistant Terrelle Woody, who was hired Aug. 26, 2008, in a non-coaching position by USF coach Stan Heath (right) as part of a package deal to guarantee the signing of highly touted Maryland transfer Gus Gilchrist.

The violations include Woody providing transportation to student-athletes, watching "open gyms," coaching players and illegally working out USF players.

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.

MONTGOMERY, Ohio -- From the original Montgomery Inn, it is the home of the world's greatest ribs - I plan on enjoying some of those ribs after the show tonight, but we are not here to talk about the great cuisine at the original Montgomery Inn. We are here to talk about the undefeated, fifth-rated UC Bearcats with head coach Brian Kelly. Nine and oh after last week's unbelievable ...

Dan Hoard's opening statement from inside the Montgomery Inn lounge Thursday night is greeted with thunderous applause from the UC fans, many who made their reservations three weeks ago to guarantee a table to sit and watch a football coach do a radio show.

The fire marshal would probably prefer only 150 folks in the lounge, but what's the harm in squeezing in another 50 or so on this night? Every table, seat, bar stool and nook and cranny, for that matter, is occupied as the Bearcats' faithful, nearly all decked out in red or black UC gear, hangs on Kelly's every word -- almost as intently as they grip those Montgomery Inn world's greatest ribs.

The top three teams -- Alabama, Florida and Texas -- on my Associated Press Top 25 ballot keep chugging along. At this point, it's almost meaningless which order you rank them since Alabama and Florida will play on Dec. 5 in the SEC title game and Texas, if it remains unbeaten, is guaranteed a spot in the BCS title game against an undefeated SEC champion.

However, what if Alabama lost to Auburn and then beat Florida? Or what if Florida lost to Florida State and then beat Alabama? Would that mean that a team outside the hallowed trio could slip into No. 2 in the final BCS ranking and earn a berth in the BCS title game?

For all you BCS haters out there, that's what you need to root for -- because if that happens, how would they pick between unbeatens TCU, Cincinnati or Boise State? Or better yet, would a one-loss team get chosen over an unbeaten TCU/Cincinnati/Boise State?

CINCINNATI -- The talk all week in Cincinnati -- no make that for the past few weeks -- was when would Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike return? And, if so, would he start?

Friday against West Virginia, Pike finally saw his first action in 29 days and even threw two touchdowns, but he was merely a footnote. The real story for the Bearcats was running back Isaiah Pead, who rushed for a career-high 175 yards as the fifth-ranked Bearcats did just enough to get past the Mountaineers 24-21.

With the victory, Cincinnati became the nation's first team to get to 10-0 this season, but it was anything but a perfect 10. Playing on Friday the 13th, there were a lot of strange occurrences for the Bearcats, including trailing in a game for the first time in 24 quarters and losing a fumble for the first time this season.