My Predictions for the 2005 football season are
1: Louisville
2: West Virginia
3: Connecticut
4: Pittsburgh
5: Syracuse
6: Cincinnati
7: Rutgers
8: South Florida

Did you know, UConn will have a new quarterback and just about all new OL and I believe the same with WVU but not as bad as UConn.

1: Louisville
2: Pittsburgh
3: West Virginia
4: Rutgers
5: Syracuse
6: Connecticut
7: Cincinnati
8: South Florida

Rutgers will be the surprise team of 2005, finally made it to a bowl game.

First of all, people writing off UC are going to be REALLY shocked at how good they are next year. Second, UConn is losing some players, no way they finish ahead of Pitt. My personal prediction:

1.) Louisville
2.) Pittsburgh
3.) West Virginia
4.) Cincinnati
5.) South Florida
6.) Connecticut
7.) Syracuse
8.) Rutgers

And before someone goes crazy on my predictions, it's just an opinion just like everybody else's. I think that Syracuse will go through a year of growing pains before re-emerging as a national presence. Again, UC is going to shock a lot of people. UC will be young, so I could easily be wrong, but I really like what UC has coming in, a good strong class, and their schedule is favorable. Mark Dantonio has this program headed in the right direction, solid recruits, BCS-quality facilities now, and the full backing of the athletic department and a strong core of talent returning. South Florida could easily finish in the Top 3, they have some strong talent coming in. UConn is going to be very good but they are in serious rebuilding mode. UC has an advantage in the fact that many of the players replacing departing players have been in the fold and know the system.

Until I see whether or not UC has a good QB next year I am abstaining on giving them a thumbs up. I do think that Syracuse will struggle early OOC, but I imagine they will end up finishing no lower than 5th at worst in the NBE.

My Predictions for Big East Football:
1. Louisville
2. Pittsburgh
3. West Virginia
4. South Florida-(They are my surprise team)
4. Syracuse
6. UConn-(Take a step back but will not be down for long)
7. Cincinnati-(Way too many Senior losses, Dantonio is no joke)
8. Rutgers-(Well they are Rutgers)

I see a three team race between Louisville, Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

UCONN might surprise some teams. We will see. I think we will finish the year 1t 7-4 just like this year. We are looking at a good recruiting class.

Because of the losses at the QB position for WV, UConn and Cinci, I'm going with:

1. Louisville
2. Pittsburgh
3. Syracuse
4. West Virginia
5. South Florida
6. UConn
7. Cincinnati
8. Rutgers

Though I wouldn't be that surprised if any of the top 4 listed were to win the title.

UC will finish ahead of South Florida and Rutgers is improving and are my surprise team.

I think this will be a tough league next year.

1. Louisville Excellent team & if Brohm is the real Deal then #1 in NBE
2. Pittsburgh Palko seems good enough
3. West Virginia Trandy Pic
4. Syracuse New Coach will add new excitement
5. South Florida Need consistent QB play
6. UConn Needs a new QB to step up
7. Cincinnati #8 gone & way to many seniors graduating
8. Rutgers is well rutgers

JMHO...... for what it's worth......

I agree mlbuc. Until I see more consistency out of the bearcats I will abstain from projecting what great potential is there. The quarterback replacement is key. Look at how the bearcats laid that rotten egg at Papa John's stadium when Gino was out with a broken hand. Dantonio is indeed the real deal. However, it may take more time than we hungry bearcat fans want to admit for this team to reach the level of play we so desire.

As a result, I can only say the bearcats will go 7-4 at best in 2005. Hopefully, that will be good enough for a bowl but in 2005 they're in the Big East and not CUSA so we will see. As indicated below, I can see a three way tie for 4th place. My predictions are:

1. Louisville - Nothing I have seen would suggest otherwise.

2. Pittsburgh - The loss to Utah was disappointing. However, this team is hungry and the quarterback is both talented and confident

3. West Virginia - WVA is a talented team that also struggled with too much inconsistency in 2004. If the team becomes more consistent it can finish higher and even win the NBE title.

4. Syracuse - unknown potential, unknown talent

4. Cincinnati - unknown potential, unknown talent

4. Connecticut - unknown potential, but talented, could finish 4th, ahead of the Cuse & Cinci.

7. Rutgers - will spring some upsets like over Michigan State in 2004 but wane afterwards.

8. South Florida - This team will continue to be the team of manana ( tomorrow). Great potential yet to be realized.

That's my two bits!!!

1. LOUISVILLE
2. Cincinnati
3. South Florida
4. West Virginia
5. Pittsburgh
6. U Conn
7. Syracuse
8. Rutgers

:haha: :haha: :haha:

Oh wait, I messed up!

1. LOUISVILLE
2. S. Florida
3. Cincinnati
4. West Virginia
5. Pittsburgh
6. U Conn
7. Syracuse
8. Rutgers

UC fans, what specifically makes you confident about next year?

The negative I would see is losing 25 seniors and the way UC looked in person when they came to PJCS without Gino, who is one of of the 25 leaving.

Is there a QB that redshirted this year that is pretty good or maybe even a true FR coming in. The backup that played against UofL looked rough. Granted he didn't have a full offseason to prepare with the 1st team but still, it was real ugly.

I'm not real confident in the cats next year. but If I had to look for positives:
1. Two proven running back in Benton and Glathaar.
2. Three WR over 6'2" that have significant playing time. One needs to step up and be a consistent threat.
3. A Junior Tight End that has been great in the redzone.
4. What's beginning to look like the best recruiting class we've had in a long time.
5. Coaching staff is staying together, something we never had with Minter.

Unfortunately, the negatives are much greater:
1. Virtually no returning LBs.
2. O-line needs rebuilding, I think one starter is returning.
3. D line needs rebuilding. Losing Cole and Frazier, our D Ends, is huge.
4. Secondary wasn't great last year, losing arguably our two best corners and our SS.
5. Replacing Gino will be huge.

I really don't see UC being consistently good this year. They will have their moments, but there's a lot of youth on this team. I think there is only 9 Seniors next year?

Things to look for:
1. Has the team learned the system? Last year they had to learn how Dantonio worked, let's see if they have bought into his style of coaching and play. If they have, it will help the team get some consistency.
2. Will the QB situation be resolved? UC would like a QB that could put up great numbers, but I guess I'd at least like to have a QB who protects the ball.
3. Will the running game get going? Blocking needs to be there from the line. If the running game gets going UC won't have to put the QB into a situation where he is forced to make plays. That will help his numbers.
4. Will the run defense be able to recover from the huge losses in the front 7? This is critical, if UC can't stop the run, this may be a long season.

As for QBs:
We have two Frosh one Redshirt.
F(RS) Spitzer has good size 6'5", but form what I have heard is not terrible accurate. I thought we might see him during the UL game this year, but him not playing may be telling.
F(T)Grutza is supposedly smaller than listed. Had good numbers in HS, but some have said that it was against inferior competition. Was scout team player of the year.
Both of these guys have unknown potential.
We recruited a JuCo QB.
Jr Davila led his JuCo conference in Qb statistics last year. Should be on campus now so he'll get time to win the job in the spring.
Also there is greyshirt Tony Pike. From what I heard he may move to a different position.
We are also recruiting Goodman from Colerain HS. He led his team to Div 1 championship in Ohio this year. Colerain was largely a rushing team, and it sound like Goodman is a option QB, but I have heard that he will be able to pass if needed. The only reason he didn't pass last year was because Colerain was regularly leading the team they were playing, and nobody could stop their rush.

That's pretty much the situation right now. Hopefully there's a diamond or at least some other precious/semi-precious stone in that mess.