ESPN Big East Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

Welcome to the official full-service launch of the Big East football blog. My name is Brian Bennett, and I'll be your host. I've covered the conference since 2005 for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., before I pulled a Bobby Petrino and left for another job (albeit with far less secrecy).

Arriving late to the party actually seems fairly appropriate for the Big East. This is a football league, after all, that didn't exist until 1991. Only half its current members -- Syracuse, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Rutgers -- have been around since the inception, while three schools -- Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida -- are entering just their fourth seasons in the conference. Heck, South Florida didn't even play football until 1997, and Connecticut is just now beginning its seventh year as a Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision program.

But so what if the Big East doesn't ooze tradition? Ask the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences how much history matters. The Big East has beaten one of their champions in a BCS bowl the past three years. I'll do my best to get up to speed that quickly.

Enough intro. Let's catch up on happenings around the league with this morning's links:

* West Virginia went through an entire scrimmage without scoring a touchdown on Saturday. Reason to worry? No, says coach Bill Stewart, who held out tailback Noel Devine, receiver Jock Sanders and backup quarterback Jarrett Brown to prevent injuries. Stewart has talked about spreading the wealth more this season instead of relying solely on quarterback Pat White running the option. But as Dave Hickman writes in the Charleston Gazette, the offense won't undergo too drastic an overhaul. "We are not changing this offense one bit," Stewart said. "We're just putting in some window dressing, some motion and movement, some smoke and mirrors."

* Pittsburgh scored a recruiting coup when it beat out schools such as Southern Cal and Tennessee for Dorin Dickerson three years ago. Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Dickerson, now a junior, might be ready to contribute at tight end after playing sparingly as a receiver his freshman year and a linebacker last season. He could provide another valuable weapon in the passing game for quarterback Bill Stull.

* What's this? Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, who energized the program in his first season with a high-powered spread offense, tells Bill Koch of the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Bearcats might take a more conservative approach this year. "I'm prepared for it," Kelly said. "I had to do it in 2000 (at Grand Valley State) with a freshman quarterback, and we won a (Division II) national championship having to play that kind of football. We won a semifinal game, 7-3. At the end of the day it's about winning football games and playing to your strengths. That's where we're at."

Kelly's comments stem from the way his quarterbacks have played in camp, as neither Dustin Grutza nor Tony Pike has demonstrated a mastery of the system the way Ben Mauk did last year.

* Connecticut coach Randy Edsall thought the Huskies' open practice on Saturday "stunk," writes Desmond Conner in the Hartford Courant. More importantly, UConn has to worry about the status of its No. 2 quarterback, Zach Frazer, who has missed time with a concussion. He'll be evaluated again today. The Huskies are also waiting to find out the severity of a shoulder injury to freshman running back Jordan Todman.

* You read a lot of stories in the preseason about players who have changed their diets and have lost a bunch of weight. You usually don't read those stories about kickers. But Donnie Webb of the Syracuse Post-Standard has just such a tale about Orange place-kicker Pat Shadle, who dropped about 35 pounds since the end of last season.

* South Florida is feeling good about being ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll, its highest preseason ranking ever. The Bulls had a rain-shortened scrimmage on Saturday that didn't exactly get Jim Leavitt fired up, according to the Tampa Tribune. "I just didn't think we were as sharp as I was really hoping. We haven't played yet, and we're still working out some things. ... We're not there yet."

* Louisville center Eric Wood has started 37 straight games and is one of the team's unquestioned leaders. As C.L. Brown writes in The Courier-Journal, Wood organized team meetings in the midst of the Cardinals' offseason turmoil. "There were a few offseason players-only meetings where everyone was behind me in all that I had to say," Wood said. "I knew right then we were going to be a tight-knit group."

Rutgers receiver Kenny Britt was limited in practice on Saturday because of what coach Greg Schiano called general soreness, but he should be OK, Tom Luicci reports in The Star-Ledger. Meanwhile, heralded true freshman Scott Vallone has yet to make an impact at defensive tackle because of a lingering foot injury.

Much more to come today, including my visit to Louisville's practice tonight.