Big East Football Power Rankings: Week 3

by Andrew Porter on Sep 12, 2011 11:25 AM EDT in Big East News

Welcome back to the Big East Football Power Rankings. Every week the editors of SB Nation's Big East blogs will cast their vote in an attempt to measure the current state of the Big East. The results are below.

This entire conference sucks.

Okay, that might be a bit extreme since South Florida and West Virginia have both been able to string together two-weeks of not embarrassing themselves, and South Florida even has a "marquee" (sort of) win against Notre Dame, but outside of that, everyone in this conference sucks.

It is as if UConn (loss to the SEC's worst team), Syracuse (tied with URI until deep in the game), Pitt (beat Maine by less than a touchdown), Cincinnati (blown out by Tennessee) and Rutgers (Rutgers) all saw Louisville lose to Florida International on Friday and said to themselves, "yeah, we can do worse than that."

How bad was it? When submitting ballots this week The Smoking Musket asked for permission not to rank teams 3-8 and Down The Drive went right on ahead and submitted a ballot with a six-way tie for eighth place.

It's going to be a long season football fans. I'd warn South Florida and West Virginia not to screw everything up, but if they do they'll at least have plenty of company.

1. South Florida (5): 68 points -- vs. Ball St. W 37-7 -- Last Week: 2

2. West Virginia (4): 67 points -- vs. Norfolk St. W 55-12 -- Last Week: 1

3. Pittsburgh: 48 points -- vs. Maine W 35-29 -- Last Week: 3

4. Cincinnati: 39 points -- @ Tennessee L 45-23 -- Last Week: 4

5. Syracuse: 35 points -- vs. Rhode Island W 21-14 -- Last Week: 5

6. Rutgers: 31 points -- @ North Carolina L 24-22 Last Week: 6

7. UConn: 24 points -- @ Vanderbilt L 24-21 -- Last Week: 8

8. Louisville: 12 points -- vs. Florida Int. L 24-17 -- Last Week 7

Past Rankings: Week 1 | Week 2

Individual ballots are after the jump.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician
1. West Virginia
2. South Florida
3. Pittsburgh
4. Syracuse
5. Cincinnati
6. UConn
7. Rutgers
8. Louisville

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

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

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Comments

I thought you guys were a UConn blog

I understand your trying to be unbiased and realistic about UConn, but I think your being way to harsh and unrealistic. I think our defense alone puts UConn ahead of cuse and rutgers. The offense may be putrid right now, but it can only get better.

Try and convey some confidence in your team. That’s why your a fan right?

GO UCONN!

by JJSHusky25 on Sep 12, 2011 11:44 AM EDT reply actions

I think we can get there

but it’ll take time — and a quarterback.

Cuse beat a FBS team (Wake Forest) who is about on the same level as Vandy so they get the nod for now.
Rutgers hasn’t done that, but their game with UNC was closer than our Vandy game, and UNC is better.

TheUConnBlog.com

by Andrew Porter on Sep 12, 2011 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Cuse maybe because they are 2-0

I still disagree with Rutgers. UNC coughed up 4 turnovers, i believe, and still managed to win against rutgers. As the season matures, praying for improved qb play, and shoemate(PP said he should be good against isu) and mccombs tandam, UConn will end up in the top 5 of the league at least.

by JJSHusky25 on Sep 12, 2011 11:56 AM EDT reply actions

Based upon the season thus far I think UConn has to be ranked 7th

Mainly for the reasons Andrew listed above.

Going forward though, it is really tough to see where the points are going to come from on offense. I know we are used to “bad” QBs and no WRs, but this year is rivaling the 2006 team. As a whole the offense is probably worse, unless Shoemate turns out to be pretty good because I am not sold on McCombs being anything too special.

The defense is good, maybe very good. But without an offense to sustain drives and give them a rest, they will get tired and continue to give up big plays like they did against Vandy due to this agressive style that Brown runs.

Things I need to see next game to be more optimistic:
1. Better offensive play calling. DeLeone did not help McEntee any with the gameplan they tried to employ. And sadly based on what all the Cuse fans have been telling us I don’t see this changing for the better.
2. Is Shoemate an answer on offense? We need more talent. Hopefully he has some.
3. Long sustained drives on O.
4. Better coverage by Jerome Junior. He has to improve in this area if this defense is going to stay good because he will be left on an island a lot.
5. A pass attempt by McCummings.

2011 National Champs in Men's Basketball
18-1
1967: Embrace it

by derbyguy on Sep 12, 2011 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: item 1

George will hammer on your square peg of a quarterback until he either fits in the round hole of George’s offense or breaks Pasqualoni eventually replaced DeLeone with Kevin Rodgers for a time who was a bit more adaptable but still stubbornly attached to the offensive system.

We will not rest until we see these capitalist octopuses annihilated.

-Che Marrone

by jpb531 on Sep 12, 2011 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions