Last year, Pat White, LeSean McCoy and Donald Brown filled headlines and garnered national attention for the Big East. They were the faces of the conference and helped show critics that the Big East still had staying power in the BCS.

This year, all three of the players have moved onto the NFL and their absence from the Big East has many people expecting a drop off in the conference’s production.

However, if anything can be learned from the first week of the college football season, it is that the Big East still has talented players that are ready to replace last year’s big three.

Jarrett Brown

West Virginia quarterback

Last week marked the start of a new era for West Virginia. Gone is its star quarterback Pat White. Jarrett Brown has the daunting task of trying to replace him.

The 6-foot-4, 221-pound fifth-year senior made his second career start this past Saturday, but played like he had been starting for years. Brown went 19-of-26 for 243 yards.

‘I was pleased with his decision making, and I was pretty pleased with how he managed the chains, and he didn’t turn the ball over,’ West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart said on the Big East coaches’ teleconference Monday. ‘He made some very nice second and third reads which Patrick (White) didn’t get to until later in the year last season. I only had to get after him one time.’

On Saturday, Brown completed 73.1 percent of his passes and did his best Pat White impersonation by rushing for 69 yards – including a 22-yard touchdown run – in a 33-20 win over Liberty.

‘He knows that he isn’t Patrick White, but he knows that he is Jarrett Brown,’ Stewart said. ‘I don’t want him to press; I just want him to take care of our offense.’

Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon

Connecticut running backs

Connecticut has to replace one of the best talents it has ever seen in its program’s brief history.

Donald Brown led the nation in rushing last year for the Huskies with 2,083 yards on the ground and was the conference player of the year. He accounted for 45 percent of the team’s total yardage and left a gapping hole in the depth chart.

For now, though, the Huskies seem to have found their solution in sophomore Jordan Todman and senior Andre Dixon.

Todman led the team with 157 yards rushing, while Dixon finished the game with 100 rushing yards, in Connecticut’s 23-16 win over Ohio on Saturday.

‘I thought that we actually left some yards on the field but they played hard,’ Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall said. ‘They did a good job and it’s good to have both of them in there. They both played about the same number of plays. We were very happy with their performance.’

Connecticut spent most of its offseason working on their passing game, expecting a drop off in the running game with the loss of Brown, Edsall said. However, in week one, the Huskies had more than twice as many rushing yards as they did passing.

Pittsburgh: Dion Lewis

LeSean McCoy was one of the Big East’s best running backs last season, rushing for 1,488 yards and 21 touchdowns.

The Panthers also lost McCoy’s backup, LaRod Stephens-Howling, and third string running back Conredge Collins.

‘The biggest question mark on our offense was our running back because of graduating three last year,’ Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said.

To fill the void, the Panthers looked to true freshmen Dion Lewis last week. Lewis ran for 129 yards in his collegiate debut and had three total touchdowns.

‘I thought Dion handled everything in a very mature way,’ Wannstedt said. ‘He didn’t give you the feeling that he was a freshman out there. He handled the good and the bad during the course of the ballgame. I couldn’t have been happier.’

Lewis showed off a rare combination of speed and power on several runs, breaking off runs as long as 28 yards and averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

‘He can run fast,’ Wannstedt said. ‘We know that he has really good speed. He is a strong powerful guy, a little bit more than you probably give him credit for, but I think the reason that he breaks tackles and makes yards is he’s more of a downhill runner.’

GAME OF THE WEEK

North Carolina vs. Connecticut

Saturday, noon, ESPNU

With a Huskies win against a top-level non-conference opponent, the Big East gets evidence that it is worthy of an automatic BCS bid. A loss, and the critics continue their criticism of the conference.

The Huskies had a good game running the ball in week one but need to be able to throw Saturday, as the Tar Heels will likely not wilt to a one-sided offense. UNC gave up just six points in its home opener last week.

‘We know we have got a lot of work to do,’ Edsall said. ‘We know we got to get a lot better this week. We can’t play the way we did last week or the results won’t be the same.’

rwmarfurt@syr.edu

Published on September 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm