Can't say I'm familiar with the site, but here's the link:

http://www.covers.com/articles/articles....141599&t=0

USFFan

Quote:Big East football preview

Tue, Jun 12, 2007By Tim Roberts

The Big East won a lot of favor last year and not just because of Louisville and West Virginia, the conference’s expected powers. Rutgers joined the Cardinals and the Mountaineers high in the national rankings and the three teams combined for 34-5 straight-up (SU) and 23-13-1 against-the-spread (ATS) records in 2006.

South Florida and Cincinnati joined the Big Three in the bowl scene and did the conference proud by winning their postseason games, making the Big East 5-0 SU in bowl games. Its five teams provided paydays over 63 percent of the time for the season as a whole.

That gives the Big East a lot to live up to in 2007. Luckily there’s a boatload of talent returning, enough to put half of the conference’s eight teams in most preseason top-25 polls.

Here’s how we see things shaping up.

West Virginia Mountaineers

Rich Rodriguez’s boys might repeat last season’s 7-0 SU start, but won’t match the 28-point average margin of victory over the same span. The Mountaineers have three tough road games over a four-week span in September culminating with a Sept. 29 visit to South Florida.

West Virginia will be favored for each of those games due to its backfield, commonly cited as the nation’s best. Tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White are burners embedded in the Heisman Trophy chase. Fullback Owen Schmitt is a good runner and an even better blocker. Opponents found out last year that White is a good passer when needed, but why bother with the pass when no one can stop the run?

The defense gave up too many passing yards late last season, often a byproduct of an AWOL pass rush. Eight starters return and even a slight improvement could lead to a Big East title with the Cardinals visiting Morgantown this year.

Predicted record: 11-1

Louisville Cardinals

The Cardinals should be fine through October, though visits to Kentucky, North Carolina State and Cincinnati pose threats with all three hosts looking to prove themselves against a national powerhouse. Louisville should handle all three, however, thanks to its high-powered offense.

Quarterback Brian Brohm is another Heisman candidate in the Big East and has two elite receivers and a tight end on the verge of stardom as targets. George Stripling and Anthony Allen should combine to match the departed Michael Bush’s numbers from 2005.

Bobby Petrino headed to the pros, but new head coach Steve Kragthorpe is a great replacement, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, the Cardinals have a lot of defensive talent to replace, which doesn’t bode well for their killer November schedule (at WVU, USF and Rutgers).

Predicted record: 10-2

South Florida Bulls

Quarterback Matt Grothe was the story last year as he led the young Bulls to the cusp of national rankings and a win at the Papajohns.com Bowl. The story this year will be South Florida’s defensive speed. Having a pair of the conference’s top shutdown corners increases everyone else’s confidence on defense, one that already limited the Big East big boys to impressively low outputs last year.

The offense should be fine as long as Grothe stays healthy. The line is experienced, the underrated receiving corps is loaded with speed and the underachieving backfield is quietly stockpiling talent.

South Florida’s biggest scheduling problem is its Sept. 8 visit to Auburn. An upset win would do wonders, but how demoralizing would a big loss against an SEC power be? The Bulls host West Virginia and Louisville but visit its main opponent for third place in the conference with an Oct. 18 trip to Rutgers.

Predicted record: 9-3

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers’ schedule-makers gave the Knights a big boost before the season even started. The school’s non-conference games aren’t overly intimidating and the Knights host their most important Big East games with the exception of the season-ending visit to Louisville.

Ray Rice is back in the Rutgers backfield, but he’s not surrounded by elite talent. Mike Teel is easily the weakest starting quarterback among the conference’s upper-half teams and he lost his top targets in tight end Clark Harris and fullback Brian Leonard. If Teel can’t develop something with his wide receivers, opposing defenders will key on Rice even more than they did late last season.

The Knights’ defense should be strong again with Greg Schiano’s zone blitz going wild and a pair of very good safeties keeping opposing receivers honest. The September home games against Navy and Maryland will dictate the type of bowl Rutgers will play in at season’s end.

Predicted record: 9-3

Cincinnati Bearcats

Head coach Brian Kelly already has a win under his belt with the Bearcats thanks to last January’s triumph in the International Bowl. The team we see in September, however, will barely resemble what we saw in Toronto, as Kelly’s had a chance to mold Cincinnati’s football team in his image over subsequent months.

The offense becomes a no-huddle spread attack and it remains to be seen whether Dustin Grutza’s the right man to quarterback the “Cat Attack” or if former Wake Forest man Benjamin Mauk will take the reins. Lots of starters return to the defense, but they won’t be playing for defensive ace Mark Dantonio anymore and they’re learning a new scheme as well.

The non-conference schedule will illustrate the Bearcats’ progress in Year 1 of the Kelly regime. A 5-0 record through Sept. 29 would have them returning to a bowl, but a 3-2 record is more likely over that span.

Predicted record: 6-6

Pittsburgh Panthers

The pressure’s building on Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt, whose big name hasn’t led to a winning season or bowl appearance since he started in 2005. Giving up big-time points to Louisville and West Virginia is expected, but letting Michigan State score 38 and Connecticut score 46 when the Panthers were favored in each game? Come on.

The loss of linebacker H.B Blades and cornerback Darrelle Revis hurts the defense, but not as much as the loss of quarterback Tyler Palko hurts the offense. The line looks fine and the starters from the other skill positions return, but the three-way battle for the quarterback spot will determine Pitt’s offensive output.

The Panthers’ conference schedule includes a trio of road trips to Big East powers. The non-conference schedule includes road trips to Michigan State and Virginia that will likely determine whether Pitt plays a bowl game or not this year.

Predicted record: 6-6

Connecticut Huskies

Connecticut’s offense returns a lot of starters at skill positions and a ton of linemen with varying degrees of experience as a starter. There’s no clear-cut quarterback in place, however, with last year’s top passer D.J. Hernandez moving to wideout this year. That puts too much pressure on sophomore running back Donald Brown to produce big-time yards.

The Huskies in 2006 made opposing running backs salivate and losses at the tackle and safety slots aren’t going to help UConn’s poor rush defense in the least.

On the plus side, the Huskies have scheduled Duke, Maine and Temple to kick off 2007. A 3-0 start to the season could build enough confidence to pull off an upset or two later in the schedule. But a bowl doesn’t look likely for head coach Randy Edsall’s boys.

Predicted record: 5-7

Syracuse Orange

Syracuse was a moneymaking team last season, starting 2006 7-1 ATS thanks to an underrated defense. The Orange return only five defensive starters, however, and are replacing its entire starting group of linebackers.

Andrew Robinson is the new quarterback in head coach Greg Robinson’s West Coast offense and he has some nice receivers as his top targets. The talent level at Syracuse, however, just doesn’t meet the other schools of the Big East, as evidenced by the 1-13 SU and 4-10 ATS conference records during the Robinson regime.

The Orange also booked a tough non-conference schedule, including visits to Iowa and Louisville in September. The Carrier Dome gave ‘Cuse an edge last season (5-1 ATS), but the Orange will be hard-pressed to match that pace with the 2007 home schedule they face.

Predicted record: 3-9

Why do these national writers keep bringing up Bush. Even though this one got it right about Bush being around in 2005...why bring him up. UofL had to deal with his departure last year. What other team in the entire country do writers write about a player from two years ago being replaced? Bush was good but my God, give it a rest. I think we may be over him by now.