Around the Conference Week 6

Big week for Pitt as the Panthers have their best only chance to escape a week without a loss for the rest of the season as they take on a bye. The bye week will still outgain the Panthers. UConn joins Pitt on the bye which means one more week with the Huskies in first place in the Big East. On to the rest of the conference.

Utah vs. Louisville--Louisville showed up with some defense last week against NC State. The Cardinals only allowed 334 yards and forced five turnovers. NC State still averaged 7.2 yards per pass, but three fumbles killed any chance for the Wolfpack in a 29-10 loss. Louisville is still averaging around 600 yards of offense per week, but have dropped to second in the nation behind Texas Tech. That will not stand. Utah is 2-3 with a win over UCLA in which the Utes scored 44 points. In the other 4 games Utah has played they have a combined 43 points. Utah is 104 in total offense at 304 yards per games which is way under the 417 yards per game allowed by Louisville.

South Florida vs. Florida Atlantic--USF has jumped to number 6 in the polls this week and should have no problem this week with a Florida Atlantic team that has lost to Oklahoma State and Kentucky this year. FAU is bringing the 65th ranked offense and 90th total defense to this game. Rusty Smith is the Owls quarterback and has thrown for 1289 yards on the season with 9 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. FAU has the 29th ranked passing offense in the country, but has trouble running averaging only 113 yards per game on the ground. USF is winning games on defense as the offense remains low at 84th in the country, but the Bulls are averaging +2 per game in turnovers. No way they could get that against WVU though.

Cincinnati vs. Rutgers--Cincy has run the table thusfar despite injuries to starting quarterback Ben Mauk. Dustin Grutza has jumped in and the offense has still clicked with the qbs combining for almost 1300 yards and 13 touchdowns to only 2 interceptions. Butler Benton is a bruising back averaging almost 5 yards per carry and Greg Moore chips in with 7.3 yards per attempt. Overall the Bearcats are 22nd in total offense which doesn't get a lot of press because they have played great defense all year. Cincy is only giving up 10.6 points per game which is 4th in the nation and has the 37th ranked defense overall and is first in turnover margin at +2.8 per game. Mike Mickens has 4 interceptions and DeAngelo Smith has 3 on the year while Sophomore LB Andre Revels leads the team in tackles. Rutgers is coming off a home loss to Maryland in which the Knights only rushed for 82 yards and were held to 3.6 yards per rush. Rutgers converted only 3 of 13 third down attempts and failed on both fourth down conversions. Rutgers actually led at the half before being outscored 20 to 7 in the second half. Maryland was able to force three turnovers while not turning the ball over at all offensively. Rutgers needs to get back to running the ball this game if they are going to rebound. The Scarlet Knights passed 44 times compared to only 23 runs against the Terps. This game will mark the fifth straight home game for Rutgers to start the season. Unlike most Jersey kids these guys hate to leave the state when school starts.