CNBNews

Nov. 22, 2006

BIG EAST Has A Three-Team Race: With two weekends remaining in the regular season, three teams with 4-1 league marks are charging hard to win the BIG EAST crown. West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers are all 9-1 overall and 4-1 in league play. On Saturday, West Virginia hosts USF (ESPN2) at noon Eastern time, Rutgers hosts Syracuse (ESPNU), also at noon. At 3:30 p.m., Louisville plays at Pittsburgh (ESPN).

Can The BIG EAST Place Two In the BCS?: The BIG EAST and the Big Ten are the only two leagues in the country with three teams that have less than two losses. The BIG EAST champion automatically qualifies for a spot in one of the BCS bowls. Six conference champions go to five BCS bowls leaving four more spots for at-large teams. In this week's BCS standings, West Virginia is No. 7, Louisville is No. 8 and Rutgers is No. 15.

Trophy Finalists: Four BIG EAST players and one BIG EAST coach are among the finalists for some of college football's most prestigious awards. Each award list is down to only three candidates. The awards are: Lou Groza Award (outstanding placekicker), Maxwell Award (National Player of the Year), Outland Trophy (outstanding interior lineman), Doak Walker Award (outstanding running back) and the George Munger Award (outstanding coach). Read more