MORGANTOWN - Bill Stewart dipped into the well of old Rich Rodriguez quotes Saturday afternoon.

Rodriguez never actually used the line following a specific loss, but rather in the wake of a disappointing series of games (an 8-1 start that became an 8-3 finish in 2004) or in anticipation of what the reaction might be to a defeat (heading into a showdown of unbeatens with Louisville in 2006).

Stewart, though, had a more real-time dilemma on his hands: putting into perspective what was sure to be the reaction following West Virginia's disappointing 19-14 loss to two-touchdown underdog Syracuse Saturday afternoon.

"My God, I'm not going to go jump off the Westover Bridge,'' the Mountaineer coach said. "I can tell you that.''

And, indeed, one loss in the Big East does not a disaster make. The truth is that in the last seven years, only twice has a Big East team won the league with an unbeaten conference record. And for both Cincinnati (7-0 in 2009) and West Virginia (7-0 in 2005), an undefeated season wasn't even necessary. The second-place team both seasons was 5-2.

In other words, it hasn't been since 2002 that a team needed to win all of its conference games in order to win the Big East.

The more pressing issue, though, in the wake of a Saturday loss to a Syracuse team that was beaten 45-14 at home the week before by Pitt is whether West Virginia is even up to going 6-1 in the conference. It was not Stewart's intent to assume that there would be yet another loss along the way, but he did attempt to point out that just one defeat doesn't wipe out a team's chances.

"You know how many times we've won the Big East here [with a league record of] 5-2?'' Stewart asked. "Look it up.''

Well, OK, but the answer is just once; twice if one counts a 4-2 mark in the post-ACC transition year of 2004. That was perhaps the season that most parallels this one because it was the season that four non-descript teams (Pitt, Boston College, Syracuse and WVU) tied for first and Pitt got the league's BCS berth and was promptly drubbed by Utah in the Fiesta Bowl.

There has been little indication that this season will be any better than that for the league.

But the only time West Virginia - or any team, for that matter - won the league at 5-2 was 2007. That was Rodriguez's last year, when the Mountaineers lost early to South Florida, clinched the Big East title with a rout of Connecticut and then laid the 13-9 egg against Pitt to take themselves right out of the national championship game.

The fact is, West Virginia has finished 5-2 in the Big East five times, including the last four years in a row. And with the exception of 2007, the Mountaineers finished tied for second in each of those other four seasons.

That, however, is splitting hairs because the more pressing issue is what of finishing 6-1, which is now the best the Mountaineers can do. And the truth is that not since 2002 has a Big East team finished with one loss and not won the league championship. Cincinnati in 2008 and Louisville in 2006 were the last two conference teams to finish 6-1 and both won the title outright. WVU and Miami tied for first at 6-1 in 2003.

"We've won the Big East one time in the 11 years I've been here at 7-0. One time,'' Stewart said. "There's a lot of football left.''

It could, however, be a lot of disappointing football should West Virginia not discover some answers to its offensive problems. A team with a vast array of playmakers scored touchdowns on two rather impressive drives in the first quarter against Syracuse, and then not only went scoreless the rest of the way, but didn't even march into field goal range until the end of a game in which a field goal would do no good.

Still, Stewart was typically upbeat, not about the loss but about the future.

"We had a lot of positives out there [Saturday],'' Stewart said. "But the negatives outweighed them and, by golly, it's a great lesson in life.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.