Where are the Big East teams???

Has ANYBODY seen the Big East?

I was looking for something before the college football games started today, and I had a hard time finding it. But it wasn’t nearly as hard as finding a Big East team in the top 25.

What’s going on here?

I am not saying this as a complaint to the pollsters, I say that to the conference that apparently does not have one team good enough to be in the top 25 at the beginning of the season. And to think, just a couple years ago people were singing the praises of Rutgers and West Virginia. Now, what’s up with that?

Didn’t Cincinnati finish 11-3 last year? Didn’t Uconn once have a 5-game winning streak and finish 8-5? Louisville was once one of the highest scoring teams a couple of years ago. Pittsburgh won 9 games last year!

Rutgers went 8-5 last year and it wasn’t too long ago when South Florida was in the top 3 in the NATION. West Virginia won 9 games last year and Syracuse…

Well, they can’t all be steaks, as my professor once said.

This is almost disturbing that a “power conference” can be snubbed for lack of power. But there are obviously some reasons for it, one being that it is a small conference, and lacks the competition that the other conferences have. Last year I personally felt that the Mountain West Conference, with Utah, BYU, TCU and Air Force, was more competitive than the Big East.

But come on, surely ONE Big East team ought to have made the top 25, right?

Six out of 8 teams made post season, it has to count for something, right?

Right?

Well, let’s look at the conference as of last year and see why nobody put a Big East team in the preseason top 25.

Let’s start with Syracuse…

Uh…let’s not. Moving on…

West Virginia had a 9-4 record, but a soft Big East schedule (and a short one), coupled with the embarrassing loss to ECU hurt them. Losing to Colorado didn’t help either, even though West Virginia did beat UNC at the end of the season. But losing Pat White means rebuilding, which may be a problem.

South Florida was one of those teams that almost had the nation at their feet. I kinda wonder why this team wasn’t at least near the bottom of the top 25 this year, they beat Kansas last year, won their bowl, and had a pretty good year. They have some of the star players back, but many say there are holes in the team. Four of their 5 losses came from teams with a winning record, so I guess there would be some beef as to why South Florida wasn’t at least considered in the bottom half of the top 25. It might be because the last two years, they started out great, but fizzled at the end.

Rutgers went 8-5 and no longer have their ace QB. I bet they wish they still had Ray Rice. For a team that started 1-5, they salvaged the season pretty well. They beat everybody in the conference except Cincinnati and West Virginia, but I suppose if you take those two out, the competition might not be so hot. Still, some pollsters put Rugters just out of the top 25, so a win or two early might get them back in. But they gotta get by Cincinnati, first on their list.

Pittsburgh loses their two main rushers from last year and needs to step it up a bit. A 9-4 record is cool, but losing to Bowling Green off the top in 2008 didn’t look so good. Losing that bowl game to Oregon State 0-3 left a lot of question marks as well, but if you factor out the conference schedule, they did beat Buffalo (MAC Champions), Iowa and Notre Dame. That is not a bad resume. Looking at their schedule, it is possible for Pittsburgh to be 5-0 and get on that top 25 list…watch for it.

What happened to Louisville? A 5-7 season, with a loss to Kentucky and several conference foes. This season does NOT look good for them, having lost their star QB, and AT Kentucky, AT Utah, AT Connecticut, AT Cincinnati, AT West Virginia and AT South Florida…ugh! I don’t see any hope here folks.

Connecticut to me is one of those decent teams that can sneak up on you based on their weak strength of schedule. Not saying anything bad about the Huskies, I like their style. But often times when it is time to prove, they fall a little short. Yeah they beat Virginia last year, and started out 5-0, but that changed quickly as they finished 3-5, although beating Buffalo in a bowl game. Playing Baylor, Ohio and Rhode Island might give them 3 wins, and I can see 6 wins easy but a top 25 ranking…not quite sure. They might sneak up there for a minute or two before dropping out.

And Cincinnati, why aren’t they in the top 25? They finished 11-3, come on, give a Bearcat some love! Their three losses were to Oklahoma, Connecticut and losing at the end of season to Virginia Tech. They return a lot of key offensive weapons, and their schedule is quite favorable. They don’t play Oklahoma or Virginia Tech this year, and Connecticut has to come see them….this could be a pretty favorable schedule for Cincinnati, and maybe the Big East privately lays hopes on them making some noise and bringing some credibility back to the conference.

Of course, all the preseason polls are purely speculative, but one has to wonder why not even one Big East team is on the top 25...the conference has something to prove, and they better get started quickly, lest they lose all respect from the other teams and conferences in the nation. The only way to get that respect is to do one thing…win… and win today.