Good News Abounds for Big East Football in Week Six

The tracking news cycle for Big East football fans is usually the equivalent of riding the Coney Island Cyclone.

Fortunately, the week six stories and data were at a crest. Not only did the conference land three teams in the nation’s Top 25 (No. 18 Louisville, No. 20 Rutgers and No. 21 Cincinnati), but Big East commissioner Mike Aresco was in the news again, amid interest in the conference’s TV negotiations and the added (seventh) marquee bowl game. Aresco also mentioned he would explore the possibility of Navy entering the conference earlier than the program’s 2015 target date.

What’s more, all the Big East’s future football teams earned victories.

The Central Florida Knights (3-2) started the victory cycle in a Thursday night game, winning their C-USA opener 40-20 at home against East Carolina. On Saturday, Navy (2-3) beat Air Force 28-21 in overtime at Falcon Stadium, putting the Mids in position to reclaim the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

Also on Saturday, No. 24 Boise St. (4-1) topped Southern Miss. 40-14, Houston (2-3) beat North Texas 44-21, Memphis (1-4) outlasted Rice 14-10, San Diego St. (3-3) beat Hawaii 52-14 and SMU (2-3) shut out UTEP 17-0.

The three Big East unbeaten teams look to maintain their perfect season records Oct. 13 when Louisville (5-0) travels to Pittsburgh, Rutgers (5-0) hosts Syracuse and Cincinnati (4-0) takes on Fordham.