FanHouse GregPaulus

Each Friday, FanHouse's Brett McMurphy will preview the Big East and make his weekly predictions.

So how was your week? Much better than Syracuse's, I hope.

Let's quickly recap the past few days for Syracuse.

Saturday afternoon, the Orange lost to Cincinnati 28-7 as the home crowd booed quarterback Greg Paulus.

Sunday morning at 5:30, four players, including star wide receiver Mike Williams, were involved in a car accident.

Monday, Williams quit the team and the other three players were suspended. That day in an emotional press conference, Syracuse coach Doug Marrone, fighting back tears, defends Paulus. The school announces that defensive end Jarred Kimmel will undergo season-ending knee surgery.

Also, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports that cornerback JohnMark Henderson left the team. Henderson was the 21st player to leave the team since Marrone was hired in December.

And then things really got interesting.

Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, even when the truth is ugly.

It was a bad week for vowels.

The seven Big Ten schools whose names start with consonants played anywhere from OK to brilliantly this past weekend. The four that start with vowels -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State -- all dropped a pantload on the field.

Illinois gets a partial pass because Missouri has been on a nice run lately. Ohio State played a Navy team that usually goes bowling. Indiana struggled with a Division I-AA FCS school, but they're Indiana; you kind of expect these things from them after a while.

That leaves one school. Iowa. And if I was an Iowa fan ... wait. I am an Iowa fan. Make the jump and see what has me feeling punchy. I promise I'll get around to the games eventually.

For at least the next 25 days, Cincinnati is the Beast of the East. Everyone in the Big East is now officially chasing the Bearcats following Monday's 47-15 seal clubbing of Rutgers.

The Bearcats and Scarlet Knights opened the Big East season Monday and now there is a 25-day break until the next conference game is played.

The way the Bearcats looked Monday, they may not only stay on top of the Big East standings for 25 days, but for the entire season. The Bearcats made a strong statement in defending last year's Big East title.

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The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

Day 5 of a long podcasting week arrives and we're pleased to bring on ESPN's own Qadry Ismael -- an especially relevant guest considering all the news about wide receivers in this year's draft (ahem, Percy Harvin) and Qadry's own first-hand knowledge and ensuing analysis of the draft process.

After the jump, we talk to Qadry about Harvin's chances, Darrius Heyward-Bey's draft stock, who the Giants need to fill Plaxico Burress' shoes (and whether it could be Braylon Edwards) and how Qadry would feel if he came back to campus at Syracuse for his senior season to find out Greg Paulus was throwing balls his way.

The few weeks after the NCAA Basketball season concludes are traditionally chock full of player movement announcements -- new recruits, transfers, entry entrants into the NBA draft, etc. This year has been no exception, but there is a trend gaining more steam. Having a collegiate basketball player become a football player isn't a new thing. Antonio Gates is an All-Pro tight end who didn't play a snap of college football, for example.

Still, the movement from football to basketball seems to be increasing in recent weeks. It makes sense, considering the speed, quickness and agility needed in both. For post players in basketball, they've become accustomed to a physical game anyway, and have the necessary strength-athleticism combo for a position like tight end. Here are four currently considering the shift:

It's barely spring here in the Midwest but spring football is well under way, and there's abundant intrigue in the Big Ten conference. Coming off what seems like the 46th consecutive disappointing bowl season, including a Rose Bowl where Penn State's Daryll Clark (right) did his best but the Nittany Lions still couldn't beat Southern Cal, nobody will be expecting much from the conference or its teams when fall rolls around. Somebody has to win it, however, and now is when the jockeying for position really begins.

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

Clay Travis returns in Part 2 of our epic "ClayCast" (if you missed part one you can check it out right here) to talk more about writing, the process of actually getting a book published, Greg Paulus, which is more hateable: Notre Dame's quarterback or Duke's point guard, really irrational sports fans, Gregg Doyel, purposeful vitriol, and everyone's favorite standby: the blogosphere versus the mainstream media. Whew. Listen or download after the jump.

First, the Green Bay Packers expressed interest in Greg Paulus, the former Duke University point guard and high school All-American quarterback. Then, University of Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez had a meet-and-greet with Paulus about the possibility of playing in Ann Arbor this fall.

And today, there's this: Duke also wants in on the Paulus action. But unlike the Wolverines -- who could envision him as a quarterback in their spread offense -- Blue Devils football coach David Cutcliffe has no such plans. Nope, he'd like to kick the tires on Paulus, college wide receiver.

Greg Paulus made headlines galore recently when it was rumored that the Green Bay Packers were interested in his football services. And now the four-year basketball player for the Duke Blue Devils is shocking folks again. It turns out that Paulus visited Ann Arbor with the possible intention of playing for the Michigan Wolverines football team.

Yes, that's correct. Michigan could suddenly find itself starting Greg Paulus at quarterback next year. But it might be more plausible than you think.

It isn't any surprise that since Brett Favre announced he'd be done with football (umm, the fourth time), the quarterback situation with the Packers would be tumultuous.

Nobody thought it would get to this. Even with Aaron Rodgers doing whatever he can in Green Bay to win people over, rumors are flying around that the Packers have worked out Duke basketball player Greg Paulus. Yes, that was "Duke basketball player" you just read.