- West Virginia
- Louisville
- South Florida
- Pitt
- Syracuse
- Cincinnati
- Rutgers
- UConn
The next four teams on my list are interchangable but I decided not to take weakling way out and call them tied for 2nd. (though the Big East is notorious for multiple teams finishing in the same spot.) I just really like what Charlie Strong is doing in L-ville. I am glad that we get them at home this year. USF is pretty much universally settled in at the 1 or 2 spot in all the other rankings. They certainly will be a player in this process to settle the Big East Crown. It is apparent that Skip Holtz is recruiting very well. Until, USF wins a conference title they will remain undervalued by me. Yes Bulls fans I know you have our number in Tampa. The next incarnation of Panther Football may prove to be impressive, however, unlike WVU where component parts were plentiful for the new staff, Pitt has a long way to go in terms of fitting that system with the right type of player. There placement here is more due to a stout defense than what they will produce on the offensive side of the ball. Though I think they will improve throughout the season and will likely give WVU, Pitt's best shot. Syracuse is definitely moving in a positive direction and Coach Marrone is doing the right things, but I still think they are a long way off in terms of talent.
Cincinnati may very well have the best or second best offensive unit in the league, so why do I have them so far down the list. It is my contention that they will have the worst defense in the league. They will win some games outscoring their opponents, but they will also give up more points than any other defensive unit in my humble opinion. It does not appear that the bad defense of last year is doing anything to remedy that problem this year. Thus they fall to 6th in my power rankings.
Rutgers is a bit of an enigma. They are killing it on the recruiting trail. They have solid coaching. They have talent on the line. So what is going on in Piskataway? I think that they will win some games this year and may even move up in my Power rankings rather quickly as the year progresses, but it is hard to start this team up the power rankings when they did what they did last year. Thus, they are my big wait and see team this year.
Finally, the defending Big East representative to the BCS, resides at the very back of the bus. A bit harsh on my part, maybe, but please tell me where the offense is coming from. They have a new coach, they have mass player replacements to make, they have problems. I see this team on a free fall from the top of the Big East to the very bottom.
A disclaimer on these power rankings. You see that they are a pre-camp evaluation. Once camp starts and injuries and depth charts are stabilized this Power Ranking could look very different. Stay tuned. I know I will.
Da Geek
4 comments:
OK, quick geek, name the playmakers on Louisville. Don't cheat. Don't google. I agree they are heading in the right direction. But they are missing some key pieces and are very young. (Big play maker - Anderson?? had <300 yds last year)
WVU probably should be at the top. But I think our biggest challenge is coming out of Florida. They have experience and a good coaching staff. And in this league, they have a STABLE coaching staff.
Pitt had under performed consistently under the stash. I don't know what Graham's Defense will look like but they have the talent to compete. They didn't recruit well this year but 4 head coaches in a very short period will do that.
Rutgers recruited well but they have a lot to make up after last year's debacle. They usually overload with cupcakes to inflate the overall record. But I think they been scheduling better and finding out the haven't had the players to compete.
Connecticut should be 1995 Syracuse East. Pasqualoni's good for 9-3 and a bowl appearance. Maybe he can bring back McNabb.
The rest, well, do they really matter except the week the play us??
Should be a good year with a lot of parity again in the Big East. Too much parity is a bad thing for this league. But it should be fun to watch.
I'd probably put WVU #1, Pitt at #2, USF at #3, and then use a random number generator to pick the rest. It looks like the potential is there for a miasma of mediocrity, but I actually have no clue whatsoever what's going to happen with any team. Not a ton to go on at this stage in the game.
I would agree but would put USF second. The big Challenge might be "what will the new team in the mix for next year be doing". We will all be following TCU and try and see what will they bring to the Big East next year. The "Purple frogs" are an entity we haven't considered before. We don't like uncertainty so we will be following them to see what they might bring with them. Are they or even will they be a threat to WVU next year.
@Greg I don't think that I have to ID the play-makers. I acknowledge that they are a work in progress, but Strong is doing this the "right" way. He knows defense he knows recruiting he knows winning. He demonstrated that change with Kragthorpe's personnel. He is now beginning to place his "own" guys on the roster. I just see Louisville doing some special things (in Big East). As I said 2-5 could be interchangeable in my mind I just didn't want to coward out of my power rankings. I'll stand by them.
@Jeremy "Random number generator" I like that. I think that we will know considerably more about this season's contenders after camp and certainly after 4 weeks of college football. I plan on doing a power ranking every week of the football season. I'll do one more post fall camp ranking at that point.
@todrac Skippy has USF going the right direction. I just haven't seen them deliver to this point as an institution. They clearly have the talent. Speed kills and they have plenty of that. I think that with the exception of WVU at Ray Jay there schedule will prove to be daunting on the road. I see the Big East Champ being anywhere from an undefeated Big East run by WVU to a 3 loss Big East champ. We as a conference can ill afford to send another 4 loss team to the BCS.
Keep the comments coming...
Da Geek
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