Louisville: The Cardinals have the best QB in the nation and with that they will be a force. Brian Brohm turned down the NFL for another shot at a title making first year coach Steve Kragthorpe the happiest man in Louisville, aside from Pappa John of course. Brohm gets the pleasure of throwing to Mario Urrutia and Harry Douglas, easily the best WR tandem in the Big East. Many will question the running game for Louisville all you need to do is look at last years team to see that the Cardinals do not need a feature back to run the ball effectively. On the defensive side of the ball the Cardinals have two key newcomers out of the JUCO ranks in LB Willie Williams (yes, the guy who has been arrested over 10 times) and DB Woodny Turenne. Should these two live up to their lofty rankings coming out the JUCO's this will be the team to beat in the Big East. I took the over on arrests for Williams before the season starts at 3 and, while there aren't too many people who could get arrested 3 times in 4 days, I think Williams is the guy so I am still holding out hope. After looking at the schedule I think the Cards will go into Morgantown and take down the Mountaineers but will stumble either on the road at South Florida or at home against Rutgers giving Louisville an 11-1 season and a Big East title.
Rutgers: Greg Schiano has done the unthinkable in making Rutgers a relevant college football team. The Scarlet Knights are the darlings of college football and look to cash in on all of the attention. Rutgers has the best RB in the Big East in Ray Rice as well as a ferocious, no name defense that is the identity of this Rutgers team. As long as Mike Teel, the returning QB, can manage the game (gotta love the cliche) Rutgers will contend for a Big East crown. With a young defense it will be imperative for Rice and Co. to play smart football and keep their defense out of short field situations due to turnovers. I think Rutgers will follow up their dream season from a year ago by beating West Virginia at home and giving Louisville a run for their money but losing to South Florida giving them a 10-2 season and a trip to the Gator Bowl.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers feature the best running game in the country and have two of the most dynamic players in all of college football in QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton. Why I feel that WVU will stumble a bit is due to the loss of All-American C Dan Mozes, o-line guru Rick Trickett to Florida State and the fact that West Virginia has one of the worst defenses in the country. I look at the Big East as a decent conference and I cannot imagine a team with a defense as bad as WVU's winning a decent conference. The lasting image of WVU's season from a year ago has to be Taylor Bennett (the guy who could not beat out Reggie Ball) shredding the Mountaineer secondary in his first start. If WVU's defense can step up to a varsity level then they will most likely take out Louisville as well as the Big East title. I do not see this happening which is why I have West Virginia losing back-to-back games at Rutgers and at home against Louisville leaving them destined for the Texas bowl going 10-2 on the season.
South Florida: Has there ever been a team that every single analyst at ESPN as dubbed the sleeper team? The Bulls have had some great wins under coach Jim Leavitt (Louisville, West Virginia) but have also had some very bad losses (Kansas and Cincinnati) which is why this team, to me, is setting up to have the same kind of year. The Bulls feature one of the best young QB's in the nation in Matt Grothe and have 8 senior starters coming back on a team that finished last season at 9-4. One of the marks of a young team is inconsistency which is exactly what USF has shown over the course of the last couple of years (losing to Kansas but beating WVU on the road) and there is still a lot of youth up and down the starting lineup with 6 underclassmen set to start. The Bulls will be well coached, as they always are, under Leavitt and I think they are still a year away from contending for a Big East title. After looking at the schedule, I see USF upsetting one of the big 3 in the conference but they will stumble at Pitt in the season finale leaving them with a 9-3 season and another trip to a mid-level bowl game.
Pittsburgh: How can a team with so many resources be so bad? When Dave Wanstedt took over his Alma mater many thought it would only be a matter of time until Pittsburgh would be a national power. Apparently time can last forever as Pitt has had little to celebrate in the last 3 years. Last season the Panthers started out 6-1 and were seemingly headed for a 9 win season when all hell broke loose (read: 5 game losing streak) and the season was, appropriately, deemed a failure. With the off season being a little rough (stud QB commit Sam Bostick briefly left the team) the Panthers could really use a solid season. Unless 7-5 is considered solid I don't see it happening. The Panthers do have a young RB in Lesean McCoy who looks to be the real deal and if Bostick can get it together this could be a force to be reckoned with in the Big East in a year or two but not this year. With the loss of their leader on defense (LB H.B. Blades) this should be another average season for the Panthers which will consist of beating up on average teams and losing to the good ones.
Cincinnati: This looks to be an interesting team. They looked great in beating Rutgers last season at home but looked awful against Pittsburgh getting blasted 33-15. Head coach Mike D'Antoni jumped ship to Michigan State leaving new head coach Brian Kelley at the helm. This team has all of the making for another 8 win season consisting of beating one good team (Oregon State, maybe?) and getting beaten by some bad teams. End of story.
Connecticut: The Huskies are coming off of a stellar 4 win season last year but as hope springs eternal they get the joy of opening up the new season with Duke. All was not lost last season as Uconn did get passed Pittsburgh (a sad commentary on the Big East's bottom half). Uconn should win five games, maybe six and be happy to do so.
Syracuse: Good Lord this team/program/town is horrible. Syracuse has sadly become the epitome of a "basketball" school. The football team is a complete joke and it doesn't look as though it will get better any time soon (yes, we saw Washington beat the hell out of them). If this team wins two games I would be shocked...some one is about to get a very good defensive coordinator when Gregg Robinson gets shit canned.
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