Big East Preview

The Big East Conference's football profile continues to rise and South Florida, West Virginia and Pittsburgh all have the talent to win the league this season. Big East teams have won BCS bowl games in each of the past three seasons, including Louisville beating Atlantic Coast Conference champ Wake Forest in the 2007 Orange Bowl, and West Virginia routing Big-12 champion Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

The conference appears to be very competitive from top-to-bottom. Here's a brief look at how the Big East shakes out.

South Florida
Projected Record (10-2, 6-1)- The Bulls have 17 starters back from last year's 9-4 squad, including virtually the entire offense. Expectations are high at South Florida with a veteran offense and George Selvie-led defense that should reload in a hurry. Quarterback Matt Grothe, one of the nation's best all-around quarterbacks, returns as the Bulls offensive leader while the skill positions welcome back the four top running backs and top four pass catchers. USF does have pressing needs at middle linebacker and cornerback after losing Ben Moffitt and Mike Jenkins to graduation. South Florida's schedule isn't as tough as last season and they could be considered a dark-horse National Title contender if they can avoid some pitfalls on the road.

West Virginia
Projected Record (9-3, 5-2)- West Virginia, like most of the upper crust teams in college football, reloads on the fly and never goes through the rebuilding process, although with just 12 starters back from last year's Fiesta Bowl Champs as well as a new head coach, they might take a bit of a step back. Despite severe losses at the skill positions and on the defensive line, the Mountaineers figure to once again be among the best of the Big East. New coach Bill Stewart has Patrick White to run the attack and mighty- mite Noel Devine to carry the mail. Devine, at 5-foot-8 and 170-pounds has to step up as the feature back and prove he can handle 15 to 20 touches a game after gaining 627 yards on 73 carries in 2007. All five starters return on the offensive line, so the Mountaineers will be formidable offensively. There are only four starters back on defense, but there are plenty of athletes. Linebacker will be the unit's strength with last season's top two tacklers back in Reed Williams and Mortty Ivy. The Mountaineers will play a challenging schedule but they only have five true road games, which should help them to another fine season.

Pittsburgh
Projected Record (8-4, 4-3)- A great recruiting class and last December's upset of No. 2 West Virginia have Pitt entering the 2008 season with a head of steam. The Panthers return 17 starters, but they won't be successful unless they can develop some type of vertical passing game that will prevent opposing defenses from locking down on LeSean McCoy. Quarterback Bill Stull will begin the season under center and could have a big season after being limited by injuries. The offensive line is young but the rest of the offense is loaded with talent. The defense is headed by middle linebacker Scott McKillop who had an incredible151 tackles on his way to an All-American season. Pitt may have a tough time living up to the hype in large part because of a mine field of a schedule that features a home game with Iowa and road trips to South Florida, Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Connecticut, but they should be bowl bound for the first time under Dave Wannstedt.

Louisville
Projected Record (7-5, 3-4)- Entering 2007 the Cardinals had to be considered in the same league with West Virginia. They went 41-9 from 2003 through 2006 under Bobby Petrino, who left for an ill-fated stint in the NFL. With new coach Steve Kragthorpe in from Tulsa expectations were high but the Cardinals had a very disappointing season which included a 38-35 loss as a 37 point favorite at home to Syracuse. Ubiquitous NFL draftnik Mel Kiper has already anointed Louisville's Hunter Cantwell as the top-rated quarterback in the 2009 draft, so there is some hope for 2008 despite having just nine total starters back on both sides of the ball. The Cardinals running backs are also among the best in the Big East. But the Cardinals are still a work in progress defensively. First-year defensive coordinator Ron English and an entire new staff inherit one of the worst units in the country that must improve after allowing 31.4 points and 416.5 yards per game. And they will have to do it with three new linebackers and seven new starters in all. Fortunately for Louisville, the schedule isn't very difficult and they don't play a road game until October 10th at Memphis, so they could get off to a fast start.

Rutgers
Projected Record (7-5, 3-4)- The passing game clicked this spring with the return of two receivers who each racked up 1,000 yards last year and that's even more important this season with the loss of running back Ray Rice. The key for Rutgers will be protecting quarterback Mike Teel and that could be a problem with three vacancies on the offensive line. Coach Greg Schiano will try inexperienced Mason Robinson and Kordell Young to replace Rice. Young and Robinson are breakaway threats, while Rice was a bulldozer and workhorse, who gained over 2000 yards on the ground last season. He will be missed. Defensively the Scarlett Knights will be solid with eight starters back from a unit that allowed 22.5 points per game last season. They have just five road games this season, but all five could be tough, while their home schedule looks mangaeble.

Cincinnati
Projected Record (6-6, 3-4)- Cincinnati is coming off is first 10 win season since 1951 but with just 12 total starters back from that squad they don't figure to match that total. The Cats' cranked out 472 points last year, but they lost quarterback Ben Mauck, leaving a gaping hole behind center. Redshirt freshman Chazz Anderson, who wasn't even on the pre-spring depth chart, impressed the coaching staff enough to move to the top of the heap among three contenders for the job. He will battle with former Notre Damer Demetrius Jones and last season's backup Dustin Grutza. While the offense has their question marks, the defense looks rock solid with three members of the All Big-East team returning from a unit that led the nation in takeaways. The rest of the defense is a veteran group with the depth chart littered with juniors and seniors. The Bearcats have an ambitious schedule and with a very questionable offense, they will probably be fighting for bowl eligibility.

Connecticut
Projected Record (6-6, 3-4)- The Huskies are the defending conference co-champs and have 19 starters back, but can they do it again? Connecticut Coach Randy Edsall welcomes back eight starters on the defensive side of the ball and almost everyone on an offensive unit that struggled. The passing game has to be more explosive if the Huskies expect to repeat and that is squarely on the shoulders of senior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen. If Lorenzen can't improve on last season's mediocre performance transfer Zach Frazer is waiting in the wings. Andre Dixon and Donald Bron are the Huskies talented two-headed running back and they had virtually identical statistics last season, each gaining over 800 yards on about 170 carries. The Huskies won a bunch of close games last season and were an outstanding +14 in turnovers on their way to a 9-4 record. They won't sneak up on anybody this season and have six difficult road games. Connecticut won't be a bad team but they won't repeat as Big East co-champs either.

Syracuse
Projected Record (2-10, 1-6)- Syracuse has won just seven games the last three years and looked bad doing it. Coach Greg Robinson is just 7-28 since taking over and is very lucky to still have a job after going 2-10 in 2007. It may take a miracle for the Orange to squeeze out more than two wins this season. Andrew Robinson is back for his second season as starting quarterback after throwing for 2,192 yards and nearly twice as many touchdowns as interceptions. But he will be without his two best receivers and the rushing attack was non-existent last year, finishing second to the last in the Big East while averaging just 62.75 yards per game. The defense will be led by nose tackle Arthur Jones up front and cornerbacks Mike Holmes and Nick Chestnut in the secondary.

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