The frustration is wearing on Cincinnati first-year head coach Butch Jones. After taking over a team with an 18-game regular season winning streak, his Bearcats have lost two of its first three games.

The sacks are what frustrate Jones the most. He thought his defense had North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson sacked multiple times on second-and-long and third-and-long, only to see Wilson break out of the tackle and find a receiver downfield for a first down. On the other side of the ball, his quarterback, Zach Collaros, was sacked five times, increasing Cincinnati’s NCAA-leading total in sacks-allowed to 15 through three games.

The same amount of sacks UC allowed in 13 games last season.

‘(It’s) very disappointing we didn’t play up to our potential,’ Jones said in the Big East coaches’ teleconference Monday. ‘It’s the little things, too many small details.’

Cincinnati (1-2) has lost by double digits at Fresno State and North Carolina State, the two FBS opponents it has played. The Bearcats’ lone win came against FCS opponent Indiana State.

For UC, it doesn’t get any easier, either — No. 8 Oklahoma is coming to Cincinnati this Saturday. A loss here, and, at 1-3, the Bearcats would have to catch fire to even qualify for a bowl.

Fortunately for Cincinnati, it isn’t the only Big East team struggling out of the gate in 2010. The conference, one of six BCS conferences that receive automatic bids to BCS bowl games, is just 1-6 against the other five power conferences. The lone win came this past weekend, when West Virginia (3-0) defeated Maryland. The conference has lost all five road games against BCS teams, including Cincinnati’s loss last Thursday to the Wolfpack.

‘There are a lot of people in our program, from coaches to players, that are experiencing some different kinds of emotions that they haven’t felt in a long time,’ Jones said. ‘The only thing you can do is get back to work and keep working to get better, and not wavering in your belief.

‘(Oklahoma) is as good of a football team as I’ve seen on film, and it’s a great challenge for us.’

The conference’s early-season woes make this week’s slate of games even more important. Four Big East teams play against BCS teams from other conferences. If the conference is to gain any amount of national respect, this would be the week to make a statement. Otherwise, Big East conference play might not have many implications on the national scale.

Pittsburgh (1-1) gets the first crack at helping the Big East’s stock on Thursday night, when Miami (Fla.) enters Heinz Field. The Panthers was the preseason coaches’ pick to win the Big East, but lost its first game of the season at Utah.

‘Our kids are excited about playing a team in the national spotlight like Miami,’ Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said. ‘I think we’re still trying to figure out where we’re at as a football team this season. … This will be a great test to find out how much we’ve improved from Week 1.’

The other two games against BCS teams this weekend feature the only two undefeated teams in the conference, West Virginia and Rutgers. The Mountaineers travel to LSU, while the Scarlet Knights (2-0) welcome North Carolina to Piscataway.

West Virginia’s win could be the one that grabs the most respect for the Big East. If the Mountaineers can come away with a win against an SEC school ranked in the top 15, it could put them in the national title picture.

With just one more non-conference game against UNLV and then seven Big East games, the Mountaineers have to prove it is one of the best in the country this weekend. It’s something the seven opponents they’ll see in conference play haven’t proved.

‘This is a big week for notoriety (for the Big East),’ WVU coach Bill Stewart said. ‘And us winning some of these games will surely put a bright light on our league. And that’s what we want to do.’

But Cincinnati’s game against Oklahoma might be the toughest of all this weekend. The Sooners average about three sacks per game, led by senior defensive lineman Jeremy Beal, who has 2.5 sacks on the season.

If the Bearcats can’t protect Collaros, it might equal a third consecutive loss to a FBS team. And it might have even more negative implications for the Big East’s national reputation.

‘It is a big week (for the conference), and all I can speak on is ourselves,’ Jones said. ‘We’re playing a great, great football program, a very storied football program that obviously has a lot of tradition.’

Big man on campus

QB Geno Smith

West Virginia

Sophomore

Last week: 19-for-29, 268 yards and four touchdowns

Smith set the tone early against Maryland last Saturday, throwing for three touchdowns in the first half and one more early in the third quarter to give West Virginia a 28-0 lead. The four touchdown passes set a career high for the sophomore, who is turning heads in Morgantown and throughout the country.

Mountaineer quarterbacks are normally known for their legs. The last two quarterbacks at the helm, Pat White and Jarrett Brown, were runners as much as they were passers. Brown threw for 2,144 yards and 11 touchdowns last season and ran for 452 yards. His passing game was secondary to Noel Devine’s running game.

This year, Smith has already thrown for 800 yards and seven touchdowns in the first three games, good for first and second among Big East quarterbacks, respectively. He’s on pace to throw for more than 4,000 yards. The last time a Mountaineer quarterback even threw for 3,000 yards was Marc Bulger in 1998.

Smith will get his biggest test of the season thus far when he and West Virginia square off against LSU this Saturday.

‘He’s a cool customer,’ Stewart said. ‘He got to play against Auburn when Jarrett Brown got (hurt last year), and he got to play against Florida State in the Gator Bowl when (Brown) got knocked out again. So he’s been in big arenas.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on September 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr