Hank Williams Jr. wouldn’t know what to do with himself. The singer of Monday Night Football’s renowned, ‘Are You Ready For Some Football?’ emphasizes a ‘Monday Night party’ in the lyrics. But Williams wasted his time with the NFL. If he was employed by the Big East, he could sing about football on Wednesday, Thursday and even Friday nights, too.

Tonight, Connecticut plays West Virginia. Pittsburgh visits Louisville on Thursday night. Big East games have also been played on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons this season in addition to traditional Saturday games. The trend aggravates many coaches because it interrupts a team’s weekly routine.

‘There’s a lot more disadvantages than advantages,’ Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall said. ‘Your kids are out of class, it disrupts your whole routine. Your preparation is different going into a midweek game.’

While every team is different, the day after a game is traditionally a day off from practice. As the week progresses, players physically recover from the weekend’s game and start understanding the following week’s plan. Over three months, the routine becomes second nature.

‘We just treat Wednesday (games) like a Saturday and back everything up,’ West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said. ‘Obviously, academically, it’s difficult, and that’s why we were concerned, but I don’t think it’s a big deal. We’ve been through it before and we’re going to adjust.’

UConn, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Louisville all had bye weeks last week, so the routine is not totally disrupted. But there is still a travel day for the road team slammed into the academic week.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said because of the bye week, this week’s schedule wasn’t difficult. But the Panthers played a Friday night game earlier this season and Wannstedt said it ‘throws you off.’

West Virginia better get used to it. The Mountaineers play two consecutive Wednesday games, have a bye week and then play on a Thursday night. Their next Saturday game isn’t until Dec. 3.

‘When the schedule came out, we planned for it a little differently,’ Rodriguez said. ‘We’ve played midweek games in the past, but not three back to back. But we tried to prepare for it in the preseason.’

But in the struggling Big East, midweek games give teams increased media exposure. How many other times can a high school recruit from Florida watch Connecticut on television? What about the fans who’ve heard about Louisville’s dynamic offense but have yet to see it?

It’s still not enough to appease some coaches. Edsall understands why those games are scheduled, but doesn’t like it.

‘If I had my druthers, I wish we could just play every Saturday like we used to,’ Edsall said. ‘But now with TV contracts, you can’t do that.’

Rutgers going bowling

Rutgers spent the better part of the week as media darlings, beating Navy, 31-21, on Saturday to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1992. Still, the Scarlet Knights aren’t content with just bowl eligibility.

‘We’ve found a way to win six games,’ Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said. ‘That’s not our goal, but it’s a step and hopefully we can continue and play good football. We’ll see where it puts us at the end of the year.’

But until the Scarlet Knights lose, they’ll continue to draw attention and clichs. New reporters will ask how to spell ‘Schiano,’ and the same ‘hell freezing over’ and ‘the cow jumps over the moon’ stories will appear in college football columns around the country.

‘That’s the way sports is,’ Schiano said. ‘People want to talk when you win and you know why when they don’t. I’m grateful that they want to talk to us, but you have to keep it all in perspective.’

Finally on the field

A little more than a month ago, South Florida was the talk of the conference.

A month later, the Bulls just want to play.

Scheduling and weather forced USF to a lonely October – it’s only played one game since Oct. 1, a 31-17 loss to Pittsburgh on Oct. 15. The Bulls haven’t played at home since Sept. 24. They visit upstart Rutgers on Saturday at noon.

Warm weather in the Northeast has New Jersey reaching 60 degrees this weekend. South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt laughed when asked about it, supposing the Tampa-like temperature will be the last thing on the minds of his eager players.

‘Right now, when you haven’t played as long as we have, it could be 60 below zero,’ Leavitt said. ‘I’m telling you, we just want to play.’

Game to watch

Pittsburgh at Louisville, Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Pittsburgh is making a quiet, late-season bowl push, but Louisville is tough at home. The Cardinals have lost twice this season, but when they’re on, they’re electric. Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt has the Panthers defense gelling into an aggressive unit. The Big East receives a lot of criticism, but if this game can be exciting on national television, it’ll have a positive effect on the whole conference.

Around the conference

Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart won Big East Offensive Player of the Week after completing 18-of-21 passes for 221 yards. Cincinnati linebacker Kevin McCullough was the top defensive player after his 17-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Syracuse. Bearcats punter Chet Irwin placed four punts inside SU’s 20-yard line in the same game, earning him Special Teams Player of the Week. … When asked who will start at quarterback for Connecticut this week, Huskies head coach Randy Edsall said that ‘Dennis’ will. He then said, ‘It could be Dennis (D.J.) Hernandez or it could be Dennis Brown. So Dennis will start this week and he will be backed up by Dennis.’ Edsall then confessed Brown will start tonight against West Virginia. … Louisville running back Michael Bush is quietly leading the nation in scoring. He’s averaging 16.3 points per game.

Published on November 1, 2005 at 12:00 pm