Big East Report Card Week 6: How 'Bout That Rutgers Rookie?

With a lot of people taking it easy on a Columbus Day holiday, here are the Big East grades from this weekend for your discovery:

Rutgers 27, Connecticut 24

How about this little guy Chas Dodd? We're thinking he looks like the grandson of Grizzly Adams with that red hair and beard. But this kid was simply incredible for the Scarlet Knights. He showed poise and leadership and he's a true freshman. He threw for 322 yards? Wow! Two touchdowns and 18-for-29, no picks.

UConn has to be wondering:  "Who was that masked man?" The kid was great. Rutgers rebounded from that awful showing against Tulane, and grabbed the national spotlight with this Friday night win. Now what do you do with Tom Savage?

Grades: Rutgers A (mazing); UConn D (idn't get it done).

West Virginia 49, UNLV 10

This one followed form. Nice outing for Geno Smith (12-for-16, 220 yards, three TDs) and the Mountaineers were able to go easy on Noel Devine. How about three carries for 84 yards and two touchdowns? Nice. Receiver Brad Starks showed up with four catches for 100 yards and three scores.

They're ready for USF this Thursday on national television.

Grade: West Virginia A

Syracuse 13, South Florida 9

Great road win for the Orange. How about a fourth quarter, 98-yard drive for the winning touchdown? Great defense by Syracuse. This team will be very, very tough the rest of the way. As for USF, what a homecoming bummer. B.J. Daniels threw another two picks and the offense failed to show up. News gets even worse for USF. They have a short week and then head to West Virginia for a Thursday night national game.

Delone Carter went for 105 yards on 26 carries. Nice game management by Ryan Nassib, who keeps improving at quarterback. Nothing flashy, just got the job done.

Grades: Syracuse A; South Florida D-

Notre Dame 23, Pittsburgh 17

Pitt Panthers remain MIA. Dion Lewis, 63 yards. Ray Graham, 44 yards. That's not going to cut it on the road at South Bend. Notre Dame has a long way to go before any sort of glory returns there. Pitt has a lot longer road to hoe. This Panther team right now is not very good. They did well to lose by only six.

Grade:  Pittsburgh C-

Louisville 56, Memphis 0

Wow. Okay, so it was Memphis from Conference USA. Still it was a shutout and a shutout is a shutout. Nice day for Bilal Powell: 204 yards on 18 carries and a pair of scores. Adam Froman went 12-for-16 for 235 yards and FOUR TDs. Josh Bellamy caught two of those and had six catches for 112 yards.

Nice game, Cardinals!

Grade:  Louisville A

Cincinnati 45, Miami of Ohio 3

How about 197 yards on just 10 carries? Nice work, Isaiah Pead! Nearly 20 yards per carry. Good afternoon for Zach Collaros: 14-for-17 for 216 yards and three touchdowns. Now it's time to get down to work and see how you'll do against some better competition.

Good effort, Bearcats!

Grade: Cincinnati A

Great game by Rutgers and Syracuse as they started their Big East campaign on the right foot. See you on Thursday for a little West Virginia-USF pregame meal.