Even with Harris doubtful Huskies still have hands full

With the likes of Miami and Virginia Tech gone from the Big East, there's a new class of the conference and it's clearly West Virginia.

They're the team with the best talent, the best ranking (No. 17) and some experts even picked the Mountaineers to play for the national championship come January.

But there will be no undefeated season and no BCS championship berth thanks to West Virginia's 19-13 loss to Virginia Tech Oct. 3. The loss gave some of those same experts a chance to ratchet down the Mountaineers a notch - and the Big East conference for that matter.

Apparently it's gone right over the Mountaineers head.

"We can't worry about what other people say," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I don't think we took a step in the right direction (after the Virginia Tech loss). The only goal we can't have is to go undefeated, the rest of them are still out there."

The Mountaineers might not be the team they thought they would be at this point in the season, but don't tell that to UConn coach Randy Edsall.

"We're going to have our hands full," Edsall said.

Even without star tailback Kay-Jay Harris running for the Mountaineers, the Huskies will have one heck of a time pulling of what would be their biggest win in program history.

Harris left the Virginia Tech game with a sprained knee and ankle. He was originally listed as questionable following the Virginia Tech game, but was downgraded by Rodriguez last week to doubtful.

"His sprained ankle is a little bit more of an issue," Rodriguez said last week. "I think he did them both on the same play. He's going to be very limited [in practice]."

Harris was the leading rusher in the Big East with 571 yards following the Virginia Tech game.

Jason Colson would be the most likely candidate to fill in for Harris. Bryan Wright is another option for Rodriguez along with freshman Pernell Williams, who has yet to make an appearance.

"They're going to run the same offense whether he's in there or not," Edsall said.

Even without Harris, West Virginia still has one weapon as powerful as any in the country - quarterback Rasheed Marshall.

He's a passer, he's a rusher and he's a huge thorn in the side of every team that plays the Mountaineers. He's going to give the UConn defense fits all night long.

"He's really talented. With a guy like that you almost have to get lucky," linebacker Alfred Fincher said. "He's a good athlete and he's going to make you miss."

It's his playmaking ability that scares Edsall the most. When the coverage breaks down, Marshall can just take off. When there's a man open, expect Marshall to hit him - he's the leader in passing efficiency in the Big East. Your normal package of pass rushing and blitzing isn't going to be enough.

"We've seen people blitz Marshall and he gets outside the containment and starts running," Edsall said. "We know he's going to make plays. What we have to do is try to minimize them and when he does make one, we just have to make sure it's not a big one."

As Edsall said, it all starts with Marshall.

The job of keeping Marshall in check got all the more daunting when the Huskies (4-1, 1-1 Big East) lost their top defensive end Tyler King for the season with a broken leg against Pittsburgh.

Jason Ward will start in place of King while Dan Davis will also see significant time.

The UConn defense says its up to the task and veterans have full confidence in the replacements.

"We've got guys capable of doing the job," Fincher said.