Rating the Big East after 4 weeks

[jkwuc89]

West Virginia 4 - 0: No surprise. IMHO, they are the team to beat and probably represent the most realistic shot for a Big East representative in the BCS National Championship game. Travels to USF on Friday night for this week's Big East Game of the Week.
Rutgers 3 - 0: Looks like the Knights now have a viable passing game to go with a very strong rushing attack. Tough home match-up against Maryland this week before the Bearcats come calling.
South Florida 3 - 0: Very good win on the road at Auburn. Friday night's home game against West Virginia will show how good USF really is.
Cincinnati 4 - 0: Very good win over Oregon State. Shouldn't be tested too severely this week against SDSU. Must handle long road trip well and not look ahead to next game at Rutgers.
Connecticut 4 - 0: Exposed Pitt over the weekend. Should have little trouble with Akron on Saturday.
Louisville 2 - 2: Offense is good. Defense is awful. Until they find a way to stop opposing teams, they will continue to struggle. Loss to Syracuse at home is inexcusable.
Pittsburgh 2 - 2: Coach Wannstedt is on the hot seat. He has shown little improvement since taking over at Pitt. Game with Syracuse may decide which team finishes last in the Big East.
Syracuse 1 - 3: Win at Louisville was good but keep in mind how bad Louisville's defense is. Prior to that game, this team was inept. Will most likely finish near the bottom of the Big East.


I think the bottom three above are nearly interchangeable right now. I would give Louisville the edge because their offense is very good.

[Bearcat_DF]

Keith,

Nice summary.

Still, it is hard for me to get my mind around U Conn being out of the cellar and U of L in that mix????

Go Cats!
DF

[The real Bearcat Fan]

I think U of L could still surprise some teams because they can score some points. I agree there defense ts very bad.

[red_n_black_attack]

West Virginia is that good. I say Rutgers and S. Fla get ranked ahead of UC because rankings are used to predict outcome of games. Both get UC at home. Where is this year's WVU - RU game?

Louisville will be a big factor in determining the BEast race. They will be back in the top 25 and will be a fun team to watch at Nippert - fun if you like Mike Mickens to get 3-5 picks! :)

[jkwuc89]

Here are the Big East schedule for UC, USF, Louisville, Rutgers and WVU for the rest of the 2007 season:

WVU at USF on 9/26 (this Friday)
UC at Rutgers on 10/6
Louisville at UC on 10/13 (UC Homecoming)
USF at Rutgers on 10/18
WVU at Rutgers on 10/27
UC at USF on 11/3
Louisville at WVU on 11/8
WVU at UC on 11/17
Louisville at USF on 11/17
Rutgers at Louisville on 11/29

On paper, Rutgers and USF have the advantage because they get three of the "Big Five" games at home. UC gets two of these at home. WVU and Louisville only get one of these games at home.

I know that it is a long way off and there is A LOT of football to be played before this date but if UC and WVU go into their 11/17 undefeated, I predict that ESPN will seriously consider doing game day from UC.

[Bearcat85]

I know that it is a long way off and there is A LOT of football to be played before this date but if UC and WVU go into their 11/17 undefeated, I predict that ESPN will seriously consider doing game day from UC.

I'm not sure if this has any chance, even under the scenario of us both being undefeated, but can you imagine if it did? I'm not sure our fans would know how to handle that!:o