Lots more coming today, and make sure you read John Romano's column and Kerry Klecic's sidebar from Saturday's 59-14 win against Stony Brook, but when it came to important games, the Big East struggled all weekend, missing an opportunity to prove itself against other top leagues.

It started Thursday night, when Tino Sunseri's interception on the first play of overtime doomed Pittsburgh in a tough loss at Utah, then continued Saturday, with Connecticut getting dominated by Michigan, Louisville falling short against Kentucky and Cincinnati falling by 14 points at Fresno State. That's four losses, with little for the league to hang its hat on -- Syracuse beating Akron and three conference teams drubbing I-AA opponents.

Short of USF upsetting Florida in Gainesville, there isn't much else the Big East can do to impress next weekend -- Syracuse could pick up some points with a win at Washington and Jake Locker, but otherwise, it's another round of underwhelming opponents.

Working on my first Associated Press top 25 ballot, and not sure where the Big East fits in ...