As the Bulls pulled off a late-game win against the Wolf Pack on Saturday afternoon, the rest of the Big East surged forward. The Crow’s Nest sizes up the conference to see what USF will deal with later this season.
Cincinnati 34 Pitt 10
Pittsburgh (0-2) continued to struggle this week against Cincinnati (1-0), with the Bearcats setting the tone from the very beginning with a 58-yard running touchdown courtesy of George Winn on the first play from scrimmage. This was Cincinnati’s season opener, giving way to the introduction of sophomore running back Ralph Abernathy, who the team hopes will become their playmaker this season. He’s off a tremendous start with two touchdowns against the Panthers. The Bulls will face Cinci and Pitt back-to-back to end the 2012 season.
NC State 10 UConn 7
The Huskies’ (1-1) slow start proved to be incredibly costly by the end of this match, where an early fourth quarter touchdown couldn’t provide enough momentum for Connecticut to overcome NC State. What little offense UConn could provide was thanks to sophomore running back Lyle McCombs, who rushed for 60 yards and caught a 43-yard pass that eventually led to his scoring the Huskies’ only points of the game. USF will meet UConn in Tampa for an early November rematch of last season’s 16-10 heartbreaker.
Maryland 36 Temple 27
The Temple Owls (1-1) were 10-point favorites coming into this game, but the Terrapins (2-0) jumped on the Owls’ sloppy and unsynchronized play to pull out an unanticipated win in the final minutes. Senior wide receiver C.J. Hammond proved deadly on his only reception of the game, taking a 62-yard pass from quarterback Chris Coyer to the house in an attempt at an Owls comeback. The matchup with Temple will mark USF’s halfway point of the season, meeting on the Owls’ home turf in Philadelphia before the Bulls’ bye week.
Louisville 35 Missouri State 7
No. 23 Louisville (2-0) did not disappoint, thoroughly dominating their opponents Missouri State (0-2) and leaving little question as to why they are considered the conference favorite. Sophomore quarterback Teddy Bridgewater led the way for the Cardinals with the best game of his playing career, passing for a career-high 344 yards and two touchdowns on 30-of-39 passing completion. The Bulls will be well rested before going up against a tough Louisville team, as the Cardinals are the first team USF plays coming off of their bye.
Rutgers 26 Howard 0
Rutgers (2-0) had little trouble with the Howard Bison (1-1) this week, beating them handily in the Scarlet Knights’ home opener to keep the team undefeated on the season. Perhaps more impressive than Rutgers’ offensive efforts were those made on the defensive side of the ball; the Scarlet Knights’ defense held the Bison to just 149 total yards and shut them out of the end zone entirely. USF will open up their Big East conference play against Rutgers this Thursday after a short week for both teams, with the Bulls still rolling from the momentum of a last minute win in Nevada to help against the wall-like Scarlet Knights defense.
USC 42 Syracuse 29
The Orange (0-2) were simply no match for No. 2 in the country USC (2-0), though it appeared Syracuse had a chance at an upset until the Trojans pulled away in the fourth quarter. Despite a spectacular game from veteran quarterback Ryan Nassib- who passed for 322 yards, including two touchdown passes in addition to a touchdown run- Syracuse had no answer for USC’s Robert Woods’ six touchdown passes throughout the game. The Bulls will meet the Orange in late October for USF’s homecoming game after having played two straight games on the road.
Samantha Ouimette is the sports editor of The Crow’s Nest. She can be reached at ouimette@mail.usf.edu.
