Big East Week 14: Brian Kelly's Final Game for Cincinnati?

Time to take a break from the buffets, turkeys, hams, and what-have-you and get down to the serious business of football. Can you believe it's already Week 14? The Big East title is up for grabs Saturday and, suddenly, there's a lot more to this story than Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Big East Title Game

Cincinnati (11-0, 6-0) at Pittsburgh (9-2, 5-1)

Pandemonium at Heinz Field on Saturday for this showdown at high noon on national television (ABC). It's for all the marbles. The two conference heavyweights meet in the final regular season game of the year. Perfect!

Pitt comes into this game after getting upset by West Virginia. The Panthers will have to play better offensively to have a shot in this one. Pitt has a defense, but points will be scored in this game.

Cincinnati has shown that its defense will yield points. Problem is, the offense can score more than it gives up. Big problem for Pitt.

Pitt's best strategy is to get Dion Lewis going early and often and chew up that clock with long, time-consuming drives. The Panthers have to try and keep Tony Pike off the field.

Now to the real story.

Is this Brian Kelly's final game as coach of the Bearcats?

Notre Dame is calling. It's the worst kept secret in sports.

Most likely it will be Kelly's last game, here's why:

1. Notre Dame is a major step up profile-wise from Cincinnati.

2. Notre Dame is a major step up financially.

3. Kelly has recruited impressively while living in the huge shadow of Ohio State.

4. Kelly is impressive on camera, handles himself well, his record speaks for itself.

5. And finally: Kelly is Irish. He'll say yes to the Irish. In all, it will be far easier to woo him to South Bend than it would to get Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, or any of "those" guys.

Advantage: Cincinnati, barely and Notre Dame, big time.

West Virginia (8-3, 4-2) at Rutgers (8-3, 3-3)

Speed and finesse versus brute force. Should be an excellent matchup. But it will depend on which West Virginia team shows up and the same with Rutgers. Both these teams can play very well and both can, well, stink it up at times.

The big question in this one is: Can Rutgers contain the big-play capability of Noel Devine? Devine has rescued the Mountaineers' season with his ability to explode for the long, really long touchdown run. If he gets past the linebackers, look out.

Rutgers' Mohamed Sanu is awesome. He's a big-time talent, and he's been showing it. He needs to be the catalyst if Rutgers is going to win this game.

Many other variables, including weather.

Should be a good one but goes up against the Pitt-Cincy game, noon kickoff on ESPN.

Advantage: Pick 'em.

South Florida (7-4, 3-3) at Connecticut (6-5, 2-4)

USF's Jim Leavitt is already complaining about the trip to Storrs. He's complaining about the weather.

UConn loves this type of game. The Huskies have the run offense that can give the Bulls major problems. UConn also has momentum. The Huskies are finding their mojo.

On the other hand, USF looked simply awful against Miami last week, and it's typical of USF. USF overpowers less talented teams but fails when it faces equal forces—fails miserably when it faces superior teams.

Aren't we all so very tired of hearing how Jim Leavitt built the USF program from nothing? Well, Randy Edsall has done the same thing at UConn, and he's done it without the fertile recruiting grounds available to Leavitt.

Okay, let's let them settle this one on the field.

And hey, Leavitt, if the weather's bad, just suck it up and play hard!

Advantage: UConn

There you have it. See you on Monday when we pass out the final regular season game grades.