Let’s check out the August happenings in the Big East.

One sign that Rutgers didn’t expect to be this good at this point is this year’s schedule. Buffalo, Navy, Norfolk State (Norfolk State?), and Army join Maryland on the Scarlet Knights non-conference slate. And Navy probably wasn’t any good when this schedule was put together. The breezy schedule is no concern to the fawning local media, however.

No surprise, but UConn’s Randy Edsall has named Tyler Lorenzen as the Huskies quarterback. Lorenzen, a junior college transfer, hopes to shore up a position that has been in a state of flux since Dan Orlovsky helped lead the Huskies to brief semi-prominence.

The zone blocking schemes of Alex Gibbs disciple Rick Trickett helped West Virginia’s backfield look even faster than they were, but the Mountaineers may feel the loss of Trickett, who took a lucrative position at Florida State. More on him later this week. Their new line coach, Greg Frey, was the offensive line coach at conference rival South Florida, serving on the USF staff for the last 11 years.

The snakebit Syracuse program suffered another blow when promising freshman Jermaine Pierce, had to end his football career due to previously undiagnosed blood clotting issues. Veteran Syracuse Post-Standard beat writer Donnie Webb observed that Pierce was “physically the best looking linebacker to set foot on campus in my 19 seasons covering the team.”

Ben Mauk looks to have unseated Dustin Grutza as starting QB at Cincinnati. Mauk should be better prepared than most to handle the awkward relationship he is sure to have with Grutza, as Mauk lost his starting job to Riley Skinner at Wake Forest, though that was via injury. Falling to backup led to Mauk’s transfer to the Queen City.

You know all about All-American Louisville QB Brian Brohm. But did you know that Hunter Cantwell is the best backup QB in the country according to Rivals.com? And waiting in the wings is Matt Simms, son of Phil and brother of Chris. Simms will redshirt this year and have four years of eligibility remaining.

South Florida has a terrific cornerback tandem, possibly the best in the nation. But the stats can be a bit misleading as to which one is better. Trae Williams had 7 interceptions but a lot of scouts will tell you that even though he only had a single interception, Mike Jenkins is the better prospect. Jenkins had 15 passes defended, although that can be an inflated stat to boost the spirits of a superior player who isn’t getting many interception chances because opponents don’t want to challenge him.

Heralded Pitt true freshman quarterback Pat Bostick has returned to the Panther camp after leaving for personal reasons. Aided by Bostick’s absence, expect junior Bill Stull to win the quarterback job at Pitt.

Our Maximum Profit Football Annual, taking into account a lot of late changes, goes out this Thursday. If you haven’t arranged to get your free copy, visit FootballAnnual.com right now to rectify that situation.

A trip around Big Ten country is in store tomorrow. Talk to you then.