Brett Mcmurphy Posts

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.

CINCINNATI -- Since the Big East Conference was reconfigured in 2005, West Virginia has been the league's bell cow. The Mountaineers have won or shared two of the four league titles.

Entering this season, West Virginia's 22-6 record in Big East play was a whopping five games better than the next best league team. Nobody had done it better -- or even came close.

But times, they are a changin'.

It started last season with Cincinnati winning its first league title and the Bearcats are on pace for a second consecutive title this season.

Friday, West Virginia visits Cincinnati and the national television audience can watch how these programs are heading in different directions.

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."

Money, it's been said, can't buy you happiness. It also can't guarantee a Top 25 football team either.

There are at least 31 head coaches in the BCS ranks that will earn more than $1.8 million this season, according to a salary study conducted by USA Today.

Of the nation's 31 highest-paid head college football coaches in America, only nine are currently coaching teams in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll. That leaves 22 of the nation's 31 highest-paid coaches outside the AP Top 25.

Of those 22 coaches, five have a losing record this season -- Florida State's Bobby Bowden (4-5), Wake Forest's Jim Grobe (4-6), Virginia's Al Groh (3-6), Washington's Steve Sarkisan (3-6) and Maryland's Ralph Friedgen (2-7) -- and another is at .500 -- Michigan State's Mark Dantonio (5-5).

Four of the 22 coaches are in the cellar in their respective conferences -- Missouri's Gary Pinkel and Kansas' Mark Mangino (each tied for last in the Big 12 North), Michigan's Rich Rodriguez (tied for last in the Big 10) and Friedgen (tied for last in the ACC Atlantic).

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.