Don't bother with Internet directions or navigation devices. The coach whose team just lost to West Virginia and the coach whose team next plays the Mountaineers agree: The starting point in the route to the Big East Conference title is just south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
"They're the most talented team in the league,"
said Connecticut's Randy Edsall, coach of the team that fell, 35-13, on 28 unanswered points to visiting West Virginia last weekend. "They were picked to win the Big East. We shared it with them last year, but if anybody's going to win the title, you've got to go through Morgantown to get it done."
"Oh, without question,"
said Brian Kelly, whose Cincinnati (6-2, 2-1 Big East) travels to Mountaineer Field at 7 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
"Since we came to training camp, we've told our kids, 'This championship goes through Morgantown, W.Va.' You've got to go there,"
Kelly said. "Look, if you're going to be a Big East champ and you want to control your own destiny, you've got to go there and beat them. ... Our kids understand the importance of the football game."
The Mountaineers (6-2, 3-0) are ranked No. 20 by The Associated Press and are No. 25 in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
QB or not QB
Cincinnati has won this season with three quarterbacks -- this after the NCAA denied last year's starter, Ben Mauk, an extra year of eligibility -- but likely will start Tony Pike Saturday. Season-opening starter Dustin Grutza returned Thursday, six games after his right leg was broken, but his availability remains unclear.
"Our training staff claims that he's a lot better,"
Kelly said, but added that he wanted to monitor Grutza in practice before deciding whether to play him.
Should Grutza play, or should it be Pike, who led the 24-10 win Thursday against South Florida with a broken left forearm?
"It's a good question,"
Kelly said. "If Dustin Grutza is ready to play this week, we'd have a tough decision to make relative to, do you play the guy who's been starting for you, a senior, or do you go with the guy who's just beaten South Florida? It's not going to be an easy one when I have to make that decision."
Pike's replacement, Chazz Anderson, has a sprained knee. Anderson was available on emergency basis against South Florida, Kelly said.
