Big East Preview and a brief preview of something called the mountain west

I have been assigned the Big East Conference Preview. The Big East is difficult for me because of my Rutgers bias but I will do my best.

The BIG EAST is special because of its star power. There are 4 legit Heisman candidates and one in waiting. It is probably the most wide open of the BCS but don't mistake that uncertainty for weakness. The BIG EAST boasts three of the top 15 teams in the nation and any of them could be vying for the national title with the right breaks along the way. Don't let the anti-east bias fool you, the BIG EAST has consistently beaten top BCS teams during the season and has a superb bowl record since the exodus of Miami, BC and Va Tech. Commissioner Tranghese and the member ADs should be commended for their deft selections of USF, Cincy, and Louisville. The influx of these schools coupled with the awakening of the sleeping giant known as Rutgers has served to transform an afterthought into a formidable league deserving of its BCS automatic bid.
On to the teams:

The inconsequential
Syracuse - Greg Robinson is on the hot seat at the helm of maybe the worst Syracuse era of my lifetime. The Orange have lost their recruiting base in NJ and seen Orange targets Ray Rice, Courtney Greene and Brian Leonard transform Rutgers into a force to be reckoned with. Robinson will depend on the qb Andrew Robinson to develop quickly otherwise Daryl Gross may not be very patient and change course

UConn - Nothing in sports makes me happier than seeing the Mets lose. Second on that list is seeing the Huskies lose. I can't stand UConn, I hate their campus, I hate their school, I even hate their entire state. Randy Edsall deserves a lot of credit for delivering UConn into 1A football and taking them to a bowl with the likes of Dan Orlofsky. Unfortunately for him, he has not been able to sustain that success and faces The Huskies have a chance to emerge from the doldrums of last season on the back of Donald Brown, a big bruising back from NJ who torched Rutgers and Pittsburgh. UConn has also pinned its hopes to JUCO All American QB Tyler Lorenzen, and to save you a few minutes on Google he is no relation to the hefty lefty and future starter for the NY Giants Jared Lorenzen. UConn has a chance to get rolling opening up with Duke Maine and Temple.


Trap Games

Pittsburgh - Pitt is a tough read. They lose their top offensive player in Tyler Palko and top defensive player in HB Blades as well as top special teams player Darrelle Revis. They also lost their top returning wide receiver Derek Kinder to an injury in camp. These losses will thrust Lesean McCoy a true frosh and former Miami commit at RB into the spotlight. The best receiver they return is Teaneck's own Odderrick Turner, son of former Giant Odessa Turner. Wannestadt has done an excellent job recruiting and will return Pitt to prominence but they are most likely a year away.

Cinncinnati - Rutgers learned last year that Cincy is no push over. With an easy out of conference schedule, a new QB transferred in from Wake and an All Big East Defensive Tackle Terrill Byrd, a mediocre season which can be used by Brian Kelly to jump to the Big Ten is not out of the realm of possibilities. Note that they have both Louisville and WVU at home.


The Comer
South Florida - Don't hold the school's apparent inability to read a map (USF is in Tampa, nowhere near the south of florida) against them. They are for real. Jim Leavitt has built a rock solid program from the ground up and in ten years has his team positioned to enter the top 25 and stay. He boasts a future Heisman candidate at Quarterback Matt Grothe and the best secondary in maybe the nation lead by Trae Williams. This is a team that in the past two years beat Louisville and West Virginia and last year came within a 2 pt conversion of sending the Rutgers game into overtime. This team may suffer from being on everyone's sleeper list, but if they are able to make good on their promise the BIG EAST is solidified as a true power conference. They will be tested early on as they travel to Auburn in week 2.

BCS Worthy

West Virginia - Top 5 Talent and a Top 5 coach. Rich Rodriguez is one of the top coaches in the land and is finally receiving his due after his flirtation with the Crimson Tide. WVU boasts two legitimate Heisman candidates in RB Steve Slaton and QB Pat White. The Mountaineers are buoyed by their spread offense and immense speed. They can run and score with anyone inthe country and have high powered Noel Devine entering the backfield. They lost All American Center Dan Mozes to graduation and the key will be how easily he is replaced and the line is fortified. The key will be how strong the defense is and can they weather a rematch of last years triple overtime game vs. Rutgers in Piscataway.

Louisville - The Ville boast a Heisman caliber quarterback and an arsenal of weapons on both sides of the ball including two huge and talented receivers in Harry Douglas and Marco Urrutia which helped the Ville to a top 5 ranking nationally in several team offensive categories. Bobby Petrino did anything but leave the cupboard bare for Steve Kragthorpe who showed his recruiting skills by getting Matt Simms to keep his commitment and convincing Brian Brohm to stay for one more year. They should coast through an easy first 9 games before going on the road to play WVU and USF then a final matchup at home with Rutgers. .

Rutgers - the Cinderella story, the darlings of the nation, all the sudden NY media's favorite team to cover. This past weekend 3 separate NY stations ran Rutgers preview shows. Rutgers has recently signed a deal with MSG for a plethora of cross promotional activities, a clear sign of how far The State Univ of NJ has come. Now they have to back it up between the lines. Don't be suckered into the theory that last year was a fluke. Schiano has been building to this point for several years. Last year was their second straight bowl appearance and they are in line for a third and a possible BCS bowl bid. last year they were a poor officiating call or an end zone drop or a 53 yd FG away from the BCS and a matchup in Tampa. Were they disappointed? yes but the the squad showed deft maturity in easily dispatching Kansas State in the inaugural Texas Bowl. This year's team returns several all american candidates including DT Eric Foster, K Jeremy Ito, S Courtney Greene (potentially the highest draft pick on the team), 2 NFL Tackles in Jeremy Zuttah and Pedro Sosa and a heisman candidate running back Ray Rice. The maturation of Mike Teel at the end of 2006 is a harbinger of the potential success of the offense this year. Teel will be equipped with significant weapons at the receiver spot to keep defenses honest. Look for a breakout year from Kenny Britt a 6'4" receiver who made noise first vs. Louisville and has shown a penchant for making big catches. He is complemented by 5'9" Tim Brown with blazing 4.3 speed who provides a deep threat just ask WVU and K State. The question marks on this team are Middle Linebacker, Tight End and Secondary depth. Rutgers graduated 2/3 of its linebacking corps. It relies on a defense that is predicated on reads and swarming reaction lead by the Mike linebacker. Rutgers thought it had its man in Ryan D'Imperio but a broken leg will sideline him for at least the first few weeks. With the graduation of its top two TEs, a school who has graduated several to the NFL is now without an experienced TE. It shouldn't effect the passing game but may stifle the run game especially when teams load up in the box to stop Rice. Expect this team to get on a roll but don't overlook games against Maryland and South Florida early in the season. The Maryland game will be a good barometer for the season ahead.


Mountain West - If anyone can post all the teams in the Mountain West I will do a preview. Must do so w/o cheating and looking it up. Briefly, the Air Force and BYU are down this year as BYU graduated its QB and is waiting for the offspring of Jim McMahon, Steve Young or any of the Detmers to be of college age and the Air Force is still adjusting to the post Fisher DeBarry era. On a side note, I wonder if it is harder for the academies to recruit while the war is going on. Everything I have read says take the Horned Frogs of TCU. So I will do that, plus they are the Horned Frogs.



On a final note Andy Pettitte is a straight up MENSCH, I hope he gets the recognition he deserves. Not sure if the Yanks make the postseason but Brian Cashman deserves a tremendous amount of credit. Here is a guy whose job is clearly on the line and he has still endeavored to take the best long term approach for his team rather than gambling everything on this year. He can run my team anytime.

If you haven't, go see the new Bourne movie, its the best of the action sequels of the summer and may be the best movie I've seen this summer.


A quick Mike Vick note

Here is the thing with Vick. I did not buy his apology at all. My major qualm was his use of the word immature. He did not condemn his acts as vile, despicable, grotesque but claimed they were immature. The use of the word immature leads you to believe that its just a phase he will grow out of. I would have liked to see him apologize to all of the animals he destroyed and maimed and all of the ones who will be euthanized due to his behavior. While both crimes, I think the comparisons to Leonard Little are clearly off base. What Leonard Little did was clearly more morally reprehensible, however, it was not a carefully crafted plan executed to perfection. Little made a mistake, paid his debt to society and the NFL. Vick planned to establish a dog fighting kennel, established a dog fighting kennel and performed horrific acts upon the dogs for years, not one night. Maybe Little should have or should still receive a harsher punishment than he has, but that does not mean Vick should be treated with more leniency.