WVU closing in Big East title
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Although it might feel like the Big East football race is over, it's not.
No. 16 West Virginia (7-1, 4-0) remains the odds-on favorite to win the title and pocket the Bowl Championship Series berth that goes with it, but the Mountaineers haven't settled anything with three conference games remaining.
Pitt (4-5, 3-2) isn't out of the picture yet if Cincinnati pulls an upset against West Virginia at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2.
The Panthers are back in business if they get help from the Bearcats, knock off Connecticut at noon Saturday and come on strong Thanksgiving night in the "Backyard Brawl" in Morgantown.
Rutgers (6-3, 3-2) also still has an outside shot, but the Scarlet Knights play at Louisville (6-2, 2-2) next.
West Virginia can ensure at least a tie for the conference championship by defeating Cincinnati (4-4, 2-2). After the brawl with Pitt, the Mountaineers close the regular season with a road game at South Florida (4-3, 2-1) in a game moved to Dec. 3 in the wake of Hurricane Wilma.
"We're not the type of team that can play poorly and expect to win," Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday. "We have to keep our focus and do our jobs."
When Cincinnati coach Mark Dantonio breaks down West Virginia's offense and defense, he sees all the moving parts of a ranked opponent.
"They fly around; they do a great job of stopping the run and their freshman tailback (Steve Slaton) is excellent," Dantonio said. "They have good people up front and they move people in and out to keep them fresh."
Dantonio said West Virginia redshirt freshman quarterback Pat White has emerged as a new offensive threat in the Mountaineers' past two victories over Louisville (46-44) and Connecticut (45-13).
White directed the triple-overtime comeback against Louisville, and ran for two touchdowns and threw for another against Connecticut last Wednesday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
"White is the kind of quarterback who can take a broken play and make something great out of it," Dantonio said.
West Virginia is the highest-ranked team to visit Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium since No. 9 Wisconsin in 1999.
"Cincinnati is a young team like we are," Rodriguez said. "They have a lot of athletes who play hard and we're going to their place to play on national TV. We expect them to give us their best shot."
Notes: Slaton (hip pointer) may not be able to fill his usual role as the featured back against Cincinnati. Rodriguez said Slaton has returned to practice and is "getting better." ... Co-starting quarterback Adam Bednarik (foot sprain) and fullback Owen Schmitt (thigh bruise) also will be available.
