Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

A quick overview of Week 2 in the Big East, which nearly went as well as you could have hoped for the league if not for one crushing defeat:

Big win:

West Virginia: The Mountaineers simply had to beat East Carolina at home, and they did just that by a 35-20 score despite four turnovers.

Did what they needed:

Pittsburgh: The Panthers avoided any upset possibilities by hammering Buffalo with 54 points. I'm sure Dave Wannstedt is not happy with his defense giving up 27 points and 500 yards, though.

South Florida: The Bulls huffed and puffed until the fourth quarter but managed to get by Western Kentucky on the road by a safe margin. Not pretty, but South Florida should still be 3-0 heading into Florida State, and that's all that really matters.

Cincinnati: Everybody expected the Bearcats to decimate Southeast Missouri State, and they even exceeded those projections in winning by 67 points.

Rutgers: Not sure what the Scarlet Knights gained out of beating a hopelessly overmatched Howard team 45-7. Except much-needed confidence.

So close:

Connecticut: The Huskies had the North Carolina game, which would have been a nice scalp for them and for the league. But they couldn't hold onto a 10-0 fourth quarter lead and lost on a late safety. Ouch.

Respectable loss:

Syracuse: You hate to talk about moral victories. But the Orange didn't embarrass themselves in a 28-7 loss at Penn State in a very difficult assignment. It would have been nice if their offense had put more of a scare into the Nittany Lions, but this wasn't the blowout some had feared.

The league's nonconference record stands at 10-3, which looks great on paper. But there aren't any marquee victories to brag about yet. Several opportunities for such will present themselves in the next two weeks. There also haven't been any embarrassing losses, which is something other leagues can't say right now.