ESPN College Football

Like we did for every week of the regular season, it's time to hit the rewind button and look back on the Big East postseason:

Team of the postseason: Connecticut. The Huskies took out an SEC opponent (South Carolina) in impressive fashion and finished the year with four straight wins. There was no better story in college football this season.

Best game: Pitt's 19-17 win over had all the requisite drama and a game-winning field goal in the final minute. Hard to believe, but it was the only Big East bowl game decided by fewer than 12 points.

Biggest play: Connecticut receiver Kashif Moore's one-handed, 37-yard touchdown grab from Zach Frazer in the first quarter against South Carolina. It was spectacular and set the tone for the Huskies' win.


Best call: Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt's two fourth-down decisions on the winning drive at the Meineke Car Care Bowl. First, he decided to go for it on fourth-and-one from his own 30 with half a quarter left instead of punting and playing defense. Bill Stull converted the quarterback sneak. Then on fourth-and-two from the North Carolina 30 with 1:56 left, Wannstedt sent out the field goal unit but hoped to draw the Tar Heels offsides. That's exactly what happened, and both plays helped Pitt string together an incredible 18-play, 79-yard, 8:47 drive to win the game.

Big Man on Campus (Offense): Dion Lewis. How appropriate that the league's offensive MVP and freshman of the year also wins postseason Big Man on Campus honors. He deserves it after his 159 yards rushing on 28 carries and a touchdown against North Carolina.

Big Man on Campus (Defense): The UConn front seven. Can't single out just one guy in a dominating effort by the Huskies up front. South Carolina was shut out until scoring a touchdown with 3:24 left. The defensive line, led by tackle Kendall Reyes, looked fast and determined and was every bit as good as what the Gamecocks saw in the SEC. The linebackers, particularly Scott Lutrus and Lawrence Wilson, made plays all over the field. And almost all of them return in '10.

Big Man on Campus (Special teams): Pitt's Dan Hutchins missed a field goal early but rebounded to hit four of them, including the 33-yard game-winner with 52 seconds left.

Worst hangover: Cincinnati, and not just because the Bearcats and their fans spent a week roaming the French Quarter. The biggest game in school history turned into possibly the biggest mismatch in a BCS game, as Florida staked a 37-3 lead and rolled to a 51-24 victory at the Allstate Sugar Bowl. It will probably be a long time before we see those Cincinnati white helmets again. And it may be a while before a Big East team silences a skeptical public about its national title credentials.

Best timing: Rutgers senior linebacker Damaso Munoz had been kidded by his teammates for being one of the few Scarlet Knights' defenders who had never scored a touchdown. So with 2:18 left against Central Florida, Munoz corralled an onside kick and ran it back 35 yards to paydirt. He dived into the end zone and spiked the ball to cap his career.

Best off-the-field game: The backflip contest between South Florida defenders Jason Pierre-Paul and Kion Wilson before the International Bowl. Pierre-Paul won easily with a dazzling array of flips, and that athleticism is why NFL scouts drool over the still-raw defensive end. You can watch the whole thing here.

Strangest moment: At the end of three quarters, West Virginia tailback Noel Devine had rushed for 168 yards on 16 carries, including a 70-yard gain. And those numbers wouldn't change. Despite closing the gap on Florida State to 23-21 on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers never again gave the ball to their best offensive weapon. It's as if West Virginia coaches thought Devine had already opted to leave for the NFL before the fourth quarter began.

The bad news is there are no more Big East games in the 2009 season. The good news is you won't have to read any game predictions from me for another eight months.

I correctly predicted that the league would go 4-2 in its bowl games this season, but I didn't get all the wins and losses right. Here's a look at how my postseason predictions fared:

St. Petersburg Bowl

• My pick: Rutgers 21, Central Florida 17. I thought this would be a close, defensive struggle. Not so much, as the Scarlet Knights blew out the Knights 45-24.

Meineke Car Care Bowl

• My pick: Pitt 24, North Carolina 21. I rightly saw this one as a close game that would come down to the end. Pitt used a late field goal to win 19-17.

Konica Minolta Gator Bowl

• My pick: West Virginia 27, Florida State 25. I knew the Mountaineers would get a battle from the emotionally charged Seminoles. I didn't realize that they would completely stall after taking a 14-3 lead or fail to give the ball to Noel Devine in the fourth quarter in a 33-21 loss.

Allstate Sugar Bowl

• My pick: Florida 33, Cincinnati 21. My crystal ball was just a little off, as I had the right score for a New Year's Day game involving a Florida school versus the Big East, just the wrong game. Clearly I gave the Bearcats' defense way too much credit in this pick, as they lost 51-24.

International Bowl

• My pick: South Florida 31, Northern Illinois 16. I didn't think the Bulls would have too much trouble in this game. And after being tied 3-3 at the half, they pulled away for an easy 27-3 victory.

Papajohns.com Bowl

• My pick: South Carolina 34, UConn 28. I figured the Gamecocks would take advantage of Connecticut's shaky late-season defense, but instead the Huskies nearly pitched a shutout before giving up a late score in an impressive 20-7 win.

Some were close, some were way off. I'll try to do better next year.

Here's the final tally on 2009 picks from the ol' blog:

Regular season 57-11 (83.8 percent)

Bowl season: 4-2 (66.7 percent)

Total: 61-13 (82.4 percent)

The Big East finished 4-2 during bowl season, marking the fourth straight year that the league has posted a winning record in the postseason. Dating back to 2006, the Big East is 17-6 in bowl games.

While that's a commendable record that the conference will surely highlight in its media guide and promotional materials, this year's record is not as impressive as it seems. The league went 2-2 against teams from BCS conferences in bowl games, and both wins came against opponents (North Carolina and South Carolina) that finished 7-5 in the regular season.

Big East champion Cincinnati wasn't remotely competitive in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against Florida, the league's one marquee matchup. League runner-up West Virginia lost by double digits to a 6-6 Florida State in the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl. Instead of merely reciting the 4-2 record, here's how we should look at the Big East's bowl season:

Took care of business: Rutgers and South Florida. Both the Scarlet Knights and Bulls should have been considered heavy favorites against Central Florida and Northern Illinois, respectively. BCS conference teams have no business losing to also-rans from Conference USA and the MAC. To their credit, Rutgers and South Florida won their games going away to help the Big East avoid embarrassment.

Good wins: Pittsburgh and Connecticut scored the best victories for the Big East. Pitt took out North Carolina in Charlotte in an exciting game to finish with a 10-win season. UConn notched its first-ever win against an SEC team, dominating South Carolina from start to finish in a 20-7 victory at the Papajohns.com Bowl.

Fell flat: Cincinnati was vastly disappointing and cost the Big East some credibility on the national stage. There's simply no other way to put it. West Virginia's loss wasn't terribly surprising, given the emotion surrounding Florida State coach Bobby Bowden's last game. Still, the Mountaineers clearly had the better team and seemed to make almost no adjustments after grabbing an early 14-3 lead.

That's a clearer picture of the Big East's 4-2 postseason.

Instant analysis of the Papajohns.com Bowl, which Connecticut won 20-7 over South Carolina:

How the game was won: The Huskies had been brutalized defensively in the final month of the regular season, but they played like an iron curtain against the offensively suspect Gamecocks. They shut down the run and got heavy pressure on South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia. UConn took advantage of the Gamecocks' many mistakes, controlled field position and did what it does best on offense: run the ball and add a few shots downfield in the passing game.

Turning point: Garcia scrambled for a short gain but then coughed the football up while being hit late in the fourth quarter. UConn's Scott Lutrus recovered the loose ball. Eight Andre Dixon rushes later and the Huskies were in the end zone for an insurmountable 20-0 lead.

Stat of the game: While the Gamecocks kept shooting themselves in the foot with dropped passes and turnovers, Connecticut did not commit a penalty.

Player of the game: Dixon had 33 carries for 125 yards and a score. It's not a great per-carry average, but the senior went over 1,000 yards for the season (joining teammate Jordan Todman) and helped UConn control the clock against a pretty stout defense.

Unsung hero: Kendall Reyes. The defensive tackle was dominant up front against the South Carolina offensive line, leading the charge for a Huskies pass rush that overwhelmed Garcia and compared favorably to anything the Gamecocks saw in the SEC.

What it means: In the last Big East game of bowl season, UConn turned in the league's best performance. What a finish for a team that went through so much heartache throughout the middle of the season. The Huskies won their last four games and should go into 2010 receiving heavy consideration for the Top 25 since they return the bulk of their roster. After Cincinnati's terrible showing against Florida, UConn saved a little league face by beating an SEC team for the first time ever, albeit a mediocre one at best.

A brief primer on Saturday's Papajohns.com Bowl battle between Connecticut (7-5) and South Carolina (7-5):

WHO TO WATCH: Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon. The UConn running backs combined for more than 2,100 yards and 27 touchdowns this season. The Huskies' passing game greatly improved in the second half of the year, but the game plan still begins with running the ball. Todman and Dixon will have to get it down against a stout SEC defense that ranked in the top 15 nationally in yards allowed this season. South Carolina has played some excellent running backs in the SEC this year but might not have faced a tandem this good.

WHAT TO WATCH: Forget about strength against strength. The real question in this game is weakness versus weakness. UConn couldn't stop anybody late in the year and turned most of its games into shootouts. The Gamecocks, despite Steve Spurrier calling plays, had one of the most impotent offenses in the SEC and the country this season, though they dropped 34 points on Clemson in a season-ending win. Which team can get the most out of its disappointing side of the ball?

WHY TO WATCH: UConn is one of the best stories in college football this season, rebounding from the tragic death of cornerback Jasper Howard in October to make the postseason. There will be a lot of nonpartisan fans rooting for the Huskies. Beyond that, Randy Edsall has a strong young nucleus returning next year and could use this game as a springboard. It's another chance for the Big East to prove itself against the SEC, and with these teams featuring a clash of styles, it should be an interesting matchup.

PREDICTION: Todman and Dixon should find some running room, but I don't know if Zach Frazer and the passing game can solve the South Carolina secondary. UConn should play with a lot of emotion, but give the ol' Ball Coach this much time to prepare and you're asking for trouble. South Carolina wins 34-28.

Connecticut took part in one of the more sobering events surrounding Papajohns.com Bowl week in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday by visiting the Civil Rights Museum.

"You learn more about things we've all read and heard about when we were younger," Huskies running back Jordan Todman said. "You think about how slavery and the fight for civil rights were really not that long ago. But the world's changed."

UConn has gone through a lot of upheavals of its own this season. There was the murder of Jasper Howard and all the close losses, finally ending with a three-game winning surge to clinch this postseason berth.

"We felt like things haven't gone our way sometimes, and life is unpredictable," Todman said. "But we kept fighting and continued playing the game we love."

Now the Huskies (7-5) have a chance to end the year on a real high note by beating South Carolina (7-5) at Legion Field. The program has never beaten an SEC team, and, in fact, has only played Kentucky and Vanderbilt from that league, not exactly the conference titans.

The Gamecocks have a mediocre record but also boast a talented and formidable defense. But UConn proved in the season's stretch run that it can score with anybody.

Over their past four games, the Huskies averaged 40.8 points a game, as the running back duo of Todman and Dixon were complemented by an emerging passing game led by quarterback Zach Frazer and receiver Marcus Easley.

"People talk about SEC defenses," Todman said. "We're coming from the Big East to put it to the test and see how good the defense really is."

A win might put UConn on more radar screens for 2010. The team loses Dixon, Easley and some other valuable contributors, but will return the vast majority of its roster. Some preseason Top 25 recognition is possible.

"I don't want to look ahead, but I definitely think next year could be good," Todman said. "We're only losing two or three offensive starters and our defense is also really young and talented. It looks good for the future."