Big East: best case/worst case 2010

Best Case/Worst Case: West Virginia

September, 1, 2010
9/01/10
4:30
PM ET
Here is the final chapter of my look at the best and worst case scenarios for each Big East team. Closing out the cases is West Virginia.

Best Case

Country roads lead to Arizona.

This is the Mountaineers' best chance at a national title since 2007. Starters are back everywhere, with big-time playmakers like Noel Devine and Jock Sanders on offense and Robert Sands on defense. Newcomers like Ivan McCartney, Stedman Bailey and Bruce Irvin make immediate impacts. New starting quarterback Geno Smith shows poise beyond his years and evokes memories of Pat White.

The schedule is set up perfectly for a run, too. Coastal Carolina and Marshall present no problems in the first two weeks. Devine runs for 200 yards and three scores in a blowout of Maryland, setting up a Top 15 matchup in Baton Rouge the following week.

The LSU game resembles the 2006 Sugar Bowl, as Devine, Sanders and Tavon Austin shock the Tigers out of the gate with their speed. West Virginia builds a 35-7 halftime lead and hangs on for a 38-35 victory, moving the Mountaineers into the Top 10.

They won't budge from that neighborhood the rest of the year. A hangover-induced ugly win over UNLV follows, and then revenge is earned against South Florida. West Virginia then takes out two teams it never loses to in Syracuse and Connecticut before welcoming Cincinnati back to Morgantown Nov. 13. Turning the tables from the last two years, officials botch a call that awards Devine a touchdown instead of a goal-line fumble, and the Mountaineers prevail in overtime.

After beating Louisville with ease, the Backyard Brawl arrives with the Big East title on the line. It's a bruising, back-and-forth game, but Smith finds Brad Starks in the end zone in the final minute for a six-point win. A season-ending romp over Rutgers finishes a 12-0 season and a BCS title berth against another surprise undefeated team, Virginia Tech. Devine, who compiles 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns, wins the Heisman Trophy.

Returning to the scene of his greatest triumph, Bill Stewart delivers a stirring pre-game speech at University of Phoenix Stadium. Sufficiently jacked, West Virginia runs the Hokies ragged and dedicates the crystal trophy to the fallen coal miners back home.

After the season, the school is cleared of all NCAA wrongdoing as the infractions committee pins all blame on Rodriguez, barring him from ever coaching college football again.

Worst Case


Country roads lead to an oncoming 18-wheeler.

The Mountaineers are a veteran bunch, but there still remain questions about the offensive line, the receivers' experience and depth at quarterback.

After starting off with two less-than-impressive wins, West Virginia is upset by a hungry Maryland squad, causing much grumbling among the fan base. A week of distractions and finger-pointing prove disastrous in Death Valley, as LSU pummels the Mountaineers by three touchdowns and breaks Smith's foot in the process.

The team squeaks by UNLV with true freshman Barry Brunetti at the helm, but South Florida continues to play thorn in the side with a win in Morgantown. That begins a quarterback carousel between Brunetti, Jeremy Johnson and Coley White, none of whom are particularly effective.

West Virginia beats Syracuse but finally trips up against a fired-up Connecticut in East Hartford on a Friday night. Cincinnati runs its winning streak over the Mountaineers to three.

After Louisville throws a scare into Stewart's team, Pitt rolls to a 21-point victory in the Backyard Brawl. The Panthers win the Big East title and play for the BCS championship.

Smith returns from injury at the end of the season to salvage a win over Rutgers in the finale. But a 6-6 record causes near panic throughout the state's borders, and fans stay away from the team's consolation trip to the Beef O'Brady's Bowl.

After the season, the NCAA decided to set a precedent against teams violating practice time rules. West Virginia loses scholarships and practice sessions for the next two years. (Rodriguez and Michigan get slapped, too, but after an 11-2 season, the Wolverines forgive and forget.) Athletic director Oliver Luck gives a tepid vote of confidence to Stewart, but there's no doubt where the hottest coaching seat in America resides for 2011.
We have reached the penultimate edition of our best- and worst-case scenarios for each Big East team. As always, this is a serious exercise mixed in with some fun.

Time to check out South Florida's picture.

Best Case

Call it a giant Skip ahead.

South Florida has been on the cusp of greatness the past few years, winning some big games but not showing the consistency needed to compete for championships. A big reason for that was coaching. Now the Bulls have a guy who knows how to win league titles in Skip Holtz, and that makes a huge difference.

No one would deny that there's plenty of talent in Tampa. B.J. Daniels is a force of nature at quarterback. The offensive line is a veteran group. Young stars like Ryne Giddins, Sam Barrington and Terrence Mitchell are ready to emerge on defense. These are the guys who will lead the program over the hump.

The rest of the Big East is put on notice in Week 2, when South Florida goes into The Swamp and shocks Florida, which is still adjusting to life after Tim Tebow. Daniels reminds people more of Saint Tim than John Brantley does as he racks up 500 all-purpose yards.

Easy wins follow over Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and Syracuse for a 5-0 start, which has become familiar to Bulls fans. One thing Holtz doesn't change is the team's ability to beat West Virginia, which happens again in Morgantown on Oct. 14 as receivers A.J. Love and Sterling Griffin make triumphant returns from injury. The Bulls climb to No. 2 in the polls but are beaten the following Friday night in Cincinnati.

Uh-oh, USF fans think, here we go again. But this time it's different. Holtz recharges his troops over the bye week, and they come back to beat Rutgers at home. They get their first-ever win at Louisville and knock off Pitt at home to reach 9-1.

The roll ends at Miami on Nov. 27 on a last-second field goal by the Hurricanes. But the Bulls close out the year by beating UConn on a perfect December Florida day to wrap-up the Big East title. They go to the Orange Bowl for a rematch with the ACC champion Hurricanes. This time, they reverse the previous outcome, completing a two-year stretch where they have beaten Florida, Florida State and Miami. There's no question that a Big Four now exists in Florida.

Holtz is crowned national coach of the year, and the Bulls begin 2011 in the top five.

Worst Case

Skip ahead to 2011, and South Florida may be a power. Just not yet.

The Bulls have talent, but it's awfully young. Daniels and Barrington are sophomores, while Mitchell and Giddins are freshmen. There are no proven standout running backs. Dontavia Bogan is the only receiver who's ever produced anything, and he hasn't done it at a go-to-guy level. The defense is replacing four NFL players, including sack artists George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul.

All that youth, plus the adjustment to a new coaching staff, is way too much to overcome at Florida in Week 2. The Gators take a huge bite out of the Bulls with a 35-point win, and even worse, their defense batters Daniels around. He'll be gimpy the whole year, forcing Holtz to turn to either a walk-on or a true freshman at quarterback.

South Florida still gets to 4-1 thanks to a light early schedule, but it can't compete with a revenge-hungry West Virginia in Morgantown. Cincinnati continues its recent mastery over the Bulls even without Brian Kelly, and Rutgers pounds away for a third straight blowout victory over USF.

Holtz also can't reverse the team's sorry history in Louisville as a banged-up Daniels sits out. Pitt and Miami prove to be too much for the Bulls as well, but they do rally to upset Connecticut at home in the season finale. Yet a 5-7 record leaves the team at home for the postseason for the first time since 2004.

Big Four? USF can't even claim to be one of the Big Five in the Big East.

Meanwhile, Jim Leavitt wins his lawsuit against the university, and a sympathetic judge orders the school to reinstate him as head coach. Leavitt challenges Holtz to a 40-yard dash to decide who should be coach. Then he head-butts Holtz, knocking both men unconscious.

Best Case/Worst Case: Syracuse

August, 30, 2010
8/30/10
4:25
PM ET
We've reached the sixth installment of our best case/worst case looks at each Big East team (with a healthy dose of amusement for each). Time for Syracuse's case study.

Best Case

Sufferin' Syracuse fans, rejoice.

After four long years of the Greg Robinson Error and a 4-8 record last year under Doug Marrone, your pain is about to ease. The Orange showed signs of turning the corner late last season -- including a blowout win over Rutgers -- and this will be the season they return to the postseason. The defense, led by linebackers Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue and an experienced secondary, becomes even more fierce as Chandler Jones steps out of his older brother's shadow. The offense displays the innovation it had late last year with Marrone in charge, confusing defenses with multiple schemes and then pounding them with Delone Carter.

And the schedule, for once, is set up for success. Syracuse opens the year with an easy win at Akron, then goes to Washington in Week 2 and deflate the Jake Locker myth. Genuine excitement builds even for bad home games against Maine and Colgate, both of which the Orange crush for a 4-0 start.

From there comes a bit of a bummer. The opening conference stretch -- at USF, Pitt, at West Virginia, at Cincinnati -- offers few chances for victory, and an 0-4 mark not only evens the record but has fans saying it's the same old Syracuse.

Only that's not true this time. Marrone delivers a rousing pregame speech before the Louisville game, and the players respond by thrashing the Cardinals at home. The next week, Syracuse goes to Rutgers and houses the Scarlet Knights for a second straight year. That's followed by an upset of UConn and Orange alumnus Randy Edsall, clinching bowl eligibility.

The Carrier Dome is sold out and louder than it's been in years for the season finale against Boston College. Carter runs for 200 yards, Ryan Nassib passes for 300 and the Orange win by the appropriate score of 44-0. An 8-4 record results in a trip to the Pinstripe Bowl. The Empire State Building is lighted orange for the occasion. Top New York and New Jersey recruits fill the Yankee Stadium stands. The Big Ten opens its arms to the Orange following the season.

Worst Case

This is going to hurt a little.

Marrone has the program on the right track, but Syracuse still has plenty of issues. The numbers and overall talent level remain down, and preseason injuries have thinned the ranks. The Orange will be counting on a lot of young players to contribute right away. There's a first-time starting quarterback, no proven big-time receivers and some questions along the defensive front. Plus, nobody on the team is used to winning.

The season begins in disastrous fashion, as Akron springs a MAC trap at home in the opener. That makes for a long cross-country flight to Seattle the next week, and Locker goes wild in a blowout Washington win.

Depressed fans stay at home for the first two home games against FCS teams, which Syracuse wins in unimpressive fashion. Then comes that brutal four-game opening conference stretch for which all the Orange have to show are bumps, bruises and more injured players. They're down to an NFL-sized roster by the time Louisville comes to town, but they manage to rally for a 6-3 victory that only a mother could love.

But that's the last win in the season, as the players get into a huge snowball fight once the weather turns, leading to multiple suspensions. Rutgers exacts heavy revenge for last year and Edsall leads a romp on his way to the Big East title. Boston College puts the final, depressing punctuation on the season with a laughably easy win before planting the ACC flag at midfield of the Carrier Dome.

A 3-9 season has fans wondering whether Marrone can ever get the program back. Rutgers, UConn and Pitt bolt for the Big Ten, leaving Syracuse as a lone wolf in the Northeast. Jim Boeheim retires.

Best Case/Worst Case: Rutgers

August, 27, 2010
8/27/10
9:00
AM ET
Here's Part V of our best and worst case scenarios for each Big East club. It's Rutgers' turn.

Best Case

The kids are all right.

Rutgers is a mighty young team, but few people would doubt their talent. Give me skill over experience any day.

The defense is as good and deep as it's ever been under Greg Schiano. Quarterback Tom Savage takes the next step, and versatile receiver/runner/returner Mohamed Sanu joins him on the superstar level. The offensive line comes together, young guns help in the running game, and everything is rosy ... or scarlet.

After dispatching Norfolk State and Florida International with ease, the Scarlet Knights take down North Carolina, which has half its starters suspended. A knockout of Tulane leads to a 4-0 start heading into conference play. That brings a battle with Connecticut, but that game is at home and Savage foils the Huskies again with a late touchdown pass, this time to Sanu.

Following an easy win over Army, Schiano regains his dominance over Dave Wannstedt and Pittsburgh with a road victory in Heinz Field. Two more wins, over South Florida and Syracuse, equals a 9-0 start, Top-10 ranking and the most excitement around Piscataway since 2006.

Cincinnati sticks a needle in the bubble by taking the Scarlet Knights down in a shootout, but Rutgers rebounds for a home finale blowout of Louisville. Just like in 2006, the team heads to West Virginia in the season finale with a BCS bid on the line. Just like in 2006, the Mountaineers win. But with several teams tied at 5-2 in conference play, a convoluted set of tiebreakers pushes the Scarlet Knights into the BCS anyway, where they play Miami in the Orange Bowl.

Schiano one-ups his former team for the biggest bowl win in school history (not that there's much competition for that title). With the core of the team returning for 2011, Rutgers is seen as not only a Big East contender but a national title challenger the following season as well.

Also, MTV cancels "Jersey Shore."

Worst Case

Kids will be kids.

It's hard to win big in college football with youth and inexperience, especially in a conference so balanced as the Big East. Rutgers has a solid defense, but Savage doesn't have many weapons behind Sanu. The offensive line is a mess for the second straight year, and the running game doesn't impress anybody. Only a lousy nonconference schedule inflates the record.

The Scarlet Knights win their first two but are embarrassed at home by North Carolina, which travels only 22 players because of suspensions. Army and Tulane add up to four wins, but conference play is rough on the young team. Connecticut, Pitt, West Virginia and Cincinnati all were picked ahead of Rutgers in the preseason poll, and each shows why. Adding insult to injury, Syracuse whips the Scarlet Knights for the second straight year as Savage and Sanu get hurt.

Louisville is the only league win, and Rutgers finishes 5-7, not even good enough to make the Pinstripe Bowl.

MTV renews "Jersey Shore" for five seasons after record ratings. In a misguided bid to sell tickets, Rutgers hires The Situation as its mascot for 2011.

Best Case/Worst Case: Pittsburgh

August, 26, 2010
8/26/10
4:30
PM ET
Rolling right along with our best case/worst case scenarios for each Big East team (and having a little fun in the process).

Today, we look at preseason Big East favorite Pittsburgh.

Best Case

Party like it's 1976.

Last year, Pitt won 10 games for the first time in more than a quarter century. And why can't 2010 be even better?

Dion Lewis is the nation's leading returning rusher, Jonathan Baldwin is a freak of an athlete at receiver and Greg Romeus was the Big East co-defensive player of the year last season. There is top-shelf talent and depth just about everywhere, and it's time for Dave Wannstedt's program to have a true breakout campaign.

It doesn't take long for the nation to notice, as Pitt wins at Utah and beats Miami on a Thursday night in its first three games, climbing into the top 10 for the second straight season. On Oct. 9, Wannstedt gets some payback against Brian Kelly as his Panthers whip Notre Dame by two touchdowns in South Bend.

Easy wins follow in the next three weeks as Pitt continues to climb the polls. Buzz builds for a Thursday night showdown at UConn, and Tino Sunseri throws three touchdown passes to Baldwin for a 10-point win.

At 10-0, the Panthers are ranked No. 1 by kickoff of the Backyard Brawl. West Virginia is out for blood with memories of 2007 fresh on its mind. Trailing 13-9 in the fourth quarter, Pitt gets a 50-yard touchdown run by Lewis to break it open.

The perfect season is clinched in Cincinnati when the Bearcats botch an extra point late. Lewis, who rushes for 2,000 yards, wins the Heisman, while Baldwin takes the Biletnikoff Award. The Panthers fall short in the BCS title game, but they've earned enough respect for the program that the Big Ten swoops in and snatches them up after the season -- offering 2-for-1 home games against Penn State as incentive.

Worst Case

Party like it's, well, just about every other year.

Pittsburgh has been a perennially disappointing team, and the hype surrounding this year's team is a little too much. Yes, there are stars back. But there's also a first-year starting quarterback, holes on the offensive line and some shaky pass coverage.

Sunseri struggles to adjust in his first year starting, while the O-line issues keep Lewis' effectiveness down. Romeus and Jabaal Sheard play like guys protecting their draft status, while injuries force the team to go young at linebacker.

Pitt drops its opener at Utah, which rarely loses at home, and again two games later to a resurgent Miami. When Kelly proves once again to have Wannstedt's number, the Panthers have a wildly underachieving 2-3 record, and fan interest dissipates. They bounce back to win their first three Big East games but lose at UConn.

Eventual Big East champion West Virginia thumps Pitt in the Brawl, while Cincinnati continues its recent mastery with a season-ending blowout win at Nippert Stadium. Pitt finishes 6-6 and declines an invitation to a minor bowl. Lewis and Baldwin go pro, while Wannstedt contemplates retirement.

Penn State and West Virginia play for the national title. The Big Ten invites Rutgers, Syracuse and UConn but not the Panthers since it already has the Pennsylvania market.

Best Case/Worst Case: Louisville

August, 25, 2010
8/25/10
11:05
AM ET
Continuing on with our look at the best and worst possible scenarios for each Big East team. (And remember, we're having a little fun with these).

Today, it's Louisville's turn.

Best Case

New blood, new attitude, new fire. They make a world of difference.

It seemed like Steve Kragthorpe's teams lost a couple of games each season simply by not being prepared, focused or properly schooled. That won't happen under Charlie Strong and his staff.

Louisville won't wow anybody with its size and athleticism, but other teams have done more with less than the Cardinals have. We know they have good running backs, a solid offensive line, some guys with speed on defense and some promising newcomers.

Strong gets the most out of that combination, starting off right away with a win over rival Kentucky in front of the largest home crowd in Louisville history. The expanded Papa John's Cardinal Stadium rocks as fans watch the defense deliver big hits and the offense do imaginative things with Victor Anderson, Bilal Powell and mobile quarterback Adam Froman.

Louisville falls in Week 3 at Oregon State but takes care of business against Eastern Kentucky, Arkansas State and Memphis for a promising 4-1 start. Cincinnati has a bit too much firepower in the conference opener, but the Cards upset UConn at home to break a three-game losing streak to the Huskies. Demar Dorsey picks off Zach Frazer in the end zone to seal the win.

A loss at Pittsburgh follows, but Louisville rebounds by winning at Syracuse and continuing its home mastery of South Florida as true freshman Dominique Brown runs circles around the Bulls out of the WildCard formation. That makes the team 7-3, spiking the most interest around Derby City since the Orange Bowl year in 2006.

Alas, the regular season ends with losses to West Virginia and Rutgers, but Louisville fans happily travel down I-65 to Birmingham for the Papajohns.com Bowl. The local pizza chain isn't the only familiar part of the trip; the Cardinals get an unusual rematch with Kentucky and beat the Wildcats again, ending the year 8-5 and with nothing but good feelings about 2011.

Worst Case

Players make coaches, not the other way around. And Louisville just doesn't have the players in 2010 for Strong to engineer a turnaround.

The Cardinals lack a big-time quarterback, are scarily small on the defensive front, inexperienced in the secondary and generally lacking any big time playmakers outside of the tailback position. Since when has that ever been a good combination?

A more talented Kentucky team sends the record crowd home early with an easy blowout win in the opener. Louisville gets waxed again at Oregon State and loses to Memphis as its defense can't stop anybody. Strong's head nearly explodes as Cincinnati hangs 70 points on the PJCS scoreboard as payback for the Petrino era.

That's just the beginning of the pain. Injuries mount and Strong turns to as many freshmen as he can to jump start the rebuilding process. Overmatched in most games, the Cardinals manage to pull off just one Big East victory: an upset of South Florida. That only marginally brightens a 3-9 season -- one win fewer than Kragthorpe's worst year.

Kentucky wins the SEC East, and Joker Phillips claims the title of most celebrated new coach in the Commonwealth. Strong wonders why he ever left Florida; Louisville fans wonder when they'll ever be good again.

Best Case/Worst Case: Connecticut

August, 24, 2010
8/24/10
2:00
PM ET
Here is Part 2 of our preseason Best Case/Worst Case scenarios involving the Big East. Time to state the cases for Connecticut.

Best Case

This is the year Connecticut goes from a nice little story to national powerhouse.

Randy Edsall has his deepest team yet in Storrs, and the Huskies are poised for a run. They have a senior quarterback (Zach Frazer), a star tailback (Jordan Todman), a physically imposing offensive line, plus veterans like Scott Lutrus and Lawrence Wilson on the defense. Edsall and his staff's coaching ability shores up some of the weak spots on the defense, and a team that lost its five games by a total of 15 points last season gets some karmic payback in 2010.

The year starts off with a bang, as UConn soundly thumps Michigan and former nemesis Rich Rodriguez by two touchdowns at the Big House. Entering the Top 25 off that win, the Huskies start to steamroll, beating Temple, Vanderbilt and Buffalo on the way to a 5-0 record.

On Oct. 8, they avenge last year's heartbreaker against Rutgers by pulling off their own last-second touchdown pass, as Frazer finds Kashif Moore for the 80-yard winning bomb. An easy win at Louisville sets up the biggest home game in UConn history when West Virginia comes to town. The Huskies finally slay the Mountaineers on a Friday night ESPN showcase when Todman scores on a clinching, 75-yard touchdown sprint. They move into the Top 10 for the first time in school history.

Sniffing such rarefied air is new to the program, and the team suffers its first bump in the road when Pitt quiets Rentschler Field with a road victory. But Connecticut rebounds to win its final three, clinching the Big East title and heading to its first-ever BCS game: the Orange Bowl against ACC champion Boston College.

This game is no contest as the Huskies stomp BC and offer the league payback for the Eagles' betrayal. Jasper Howard's family celebrates on the field with the team in Miami. In the locker room after the game, Jim Delany calls and offers Connecticut a spot in the Big Ten.

Worst Case

Beware the buzz team.

UConn has been full of optimism this offseason, but some red flags are waving. The defense is awfully young along the front, and the secondary was the most yielding in the Big East a year ago. There's no clear No. 1 receiver a la Marcus Easley a year ago. Frazer has been erratic in his career, and his top backup (Cody Endres) is currently suspended.

The season starts off on the wrong note, as Michigan gets ahead early and pours it on, with Rodriguez notching his second straight 66-21 win over Edsall. The Huskies stub their toe again in Week 3 against upstart Temple as Frazer throws four interceptions in the rain. That starts a mild quarterback controversy, but there's no one who can adequately replace him.

Rutgers dashes UConn's hopes with another comeback victory, while West Virginia continues its dominance in the series. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati also prove too talented for the Huskies to handle.

Needing a win at South Florida to attain bowl eligibility, Connecticut's players succumb to the unfamiliar December Florida heat as former coach Skip Holtz zooms his new program ahead in the league pecking order. A 5-7 record is vastly disappointing, but another school still lures Edsall away because of his previous track record.

Syracuse and Rutgers are invited to the Big Ten and Boston College blocks UConn's entry to the ACC, leaving the school in a conference no-man's land. The men's basketball team goes on probation, while the women's team is beset by a dozen torn ACLs. It's the longest winter anyone can remember in Storrs.

Best Case/Worst Case: Cincinnati

August, 23, 2010
8/23/10
4:31
PM ET
It's time to revive our annual preseason series looking at the best and worst possible outcomes for each Big East school. We'll go in alphabetical order for these. And as always, we try to mix in a little fun with our predictions.

Opening the cases: Cincinnati.

Best Case

Never underestimate the heart of a champion, but that's exactly what most people are doing with the Bearcats.

All Cincinnati has done is win back-to-back Big East titles and 18 straight regular season games. Yet the program is neither ranked in the major polls nor favored to win the league.

Well, Butch Jones already proved he can inherit a Brian Kelly team and keep it playing at a high level. He's an offensive mastermind as well, and he's got arguably the best offensive cast in the league to work with. Quarterback Zach Collaros shows that last year's Heisman-worthy, four-game starting stretch was no fluke, as he and receivers Armon Binns, Vidal Hazelton and D.J. Woods torch opposing secondaries. Isaiah Pead runs wild and the Bearcats lead the country in scoring.

The defense, doubted yet again, comes through and does enough to help the team win games. After winning a scrape at Fresno State in the opener, the Bearcats take a 3-0 record into a sold-out Paul Brown Stadium showdown against Oklahoma -- and they beat the Sooners for the best regular-season win in school history.

From there, the schedule softens and allows for an 8-0 start. Cincinnati suffers its one hiccup of the year at West Virginia, but recovers to sweep the final three games and deny Pitt the Big East title yet again in the season finale. An 11-1 record sends the Bearcats to the BCS for the third straight year, and this time they get it done by beating Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame goes 2-10, leading to Brian Kelly's shocking first-year dismissal. A weeping Kelly announces at his farewell press conference: "I never should have left Cincinnati."

Worst Case

It's hard to three-peat. It's hard to successfully manage a coaching transition. The schedule is hard. And the season is hard to stomach for spoiled Cincinnati fans.

The offense scores a lot of points, but the Bearcats can't win shootouts every week. Injuries deplete the receiving corps, and Collaros can't possibly top last year's insane stats. The defense is still undersized, and a lack of depth all over takes its toll. Players used to winning all the time get frustrated and question the new staff.

Giant-killer Fresno State takes the Bearcats down in Week One, and the travel-weary team loses again at NC State 12 days later. The sluggish 1-2 start causes disinterest in the pro sports town of Cincinnati, and Paul Brown is all Sooner red for Oklahoma's visit. A 28-point blowout leaves the Bearcats battered and bruised at 1-4.

They rebound in the stretch that includes Miami of Ohio, Louisville and Syracuse, but UConn and West Virginia use their home-field advantage to turn the tables from last year's last-minute defeats. Pitt comes into Nippert Stadium in the finale and wins to clinch the Big East title, leaving Cincinnati at 5-7. Bearcats fans wonder if they have a Steve Kragthorpe situation on their hands, and Nippert expansion plans are put on indefinite hold.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame goes 12-0 and plays Ohio State for the BCS title as Kelly wins the coach of the year award. He announces at the award banquet: "I'm so glad I left Cincinnati."
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