Over at the Fanhouse, I have the results of a small voting bloc of Big East bloggers on Big East football awards. It’s a small bloc, because not many responses were received.

Here’s my ballot.

Coaching performance from Best to Worst:

1. Jim Leavitt, USF
2. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
3. Bob Petrino, Louisville
4. Mark Dantonio, Cinci
5. Rich Rodriguez, WVU
6. Randy Edsall, UConn
7. Dave Wannstedt, Pitt
8. Greg Robinson, Syracuse

I was stunned by how well USF did. At the start of the season, I figured them for last. What with all the injuries, arrests, and drug suspensions. Yet, they kept winning. They got better during the season. For just the 2006 season, I think Leavitt edges Schiano who would get this award if it was for evaluating the job over his whole tenure.
Greg Robinson does not have the talent, and the team did not quitting. I have some real questions about his decisionmaking and coaching . Dave Wannstedt and Pitt’s secon-half nose-dive keeps all the questions and doubts about Wannstedt being a head coach answered for many and unanswered for poor Pitt fans.

Offensive Player of the Year:

Pat White, QB, WVU. He makes the offense go. His decisionmaking in the spread option has been excellent all year. The threat of him taking off, frees up Steve Slaton. He doesn’t pass much, but is quite accurate when he does.
Defensive Player of the Year:

H.B. Blades, MLB, Pitt.
It’s hard to pick Blades, considering how bad the defense around him was. I think to some degree that this is a reflection on how down the defense was overall in the Big East. Rutgers had probably the best team defense, but who was the actual difference maker on the squad? Rameel Meekins? Courtney Greene? That was a squad where the sum exceeded the parts.
Defense, on the other hand, was lacking in major star power. Rutgers had the best defense this year, but it was a unit outperforming the individuals. Is Courtney Greene better or more important to Rutgers than Rameel Meekins?

That made Blades the only standout in the Big East, despite being on a defense that was torched by any team with a competent O-line and running back who could go north-south.

Special Teams Player of the Year:

Art Carmody, K, Louisville.

Some good return guys in JuJuan Spillman (L-ville), Lowell Robinson (Pitt) and Ean Randolph (USF); but Carmody was reliable and extremely valuable to Louisville. Especially during the games when Brohm was out and then just trying to get back into form.

Newcomer of the Year:

Matt Grothe, QB, USF.

A no-brainer. He was the reason that USF did much better than expected. Stepped in when Julmiste went down to start the season, and just won with his arm and legs. He was the entire USF offense for many games, and still couldn’t be stopped by defenses keying on him. Could very well be better than Pat White next year.
Most Overrated Player:

Brendan Carney, P, Syracuse.

Ray Guy hopeful, the only thing working for Syracuse last year. Just fell to middle of the pack in Big East punting.

Most Surprising Team:

Cinci

I thought they would be 6th or 7th in the Big East this year. Instead, they improved all season despite lesser talent than nearly every team in the conference. The lack of depth caught up to them in many games as they faded in the second half. They gave every team they faced at least one half where they scared the crap out of them including: VT, OSU, Pitt, WVU and L-ville.

USF was a close second in this category for me.
Most Disappointing Team:

Pitt

The way Pitt collapsed in the second half of the season was pathetic. They folded as they faced better competition. The team failed to improve throughout the season like good teams or teams with promise do. Very frustrating to see them skid off the tracks in the final five games.

Way too early prediction for best team in 2007:

USF.

I think USF might be able to challenge next year — assuming their players can avoid arrests and drug suspensions. They’ve got the coach, and the talent is starting to fit into place. It’s going out on a limb, but if you really want to make predictions about the 2007 season in December, then why not go on the crazy side. Why take the easy call with Louisville?

AOL has launched its College Basketball Fanhouse. The format has changed a bit. Rather than have individual bloggers coming individual teams, there are just a couple bloggers for each conference. A bit more wide ranging responsibilities.

Once more, I have been asked to be a lead blogger for the Big East. I’ll be sharing duties with the Mighty MJD — who concedes to something of a WVU bias to make this an interesting dynamic. MJD  has also been doing the NFL Fanhouse this year. His Monday Night Football Liveblogs have been about the only thing to make many of the games tolerable.

This should actually have less of an impact on my Pitt Blather blogging then the college football. The AOL blog will have me focused more on the whole conference not just Pitt.

You can find appropriate AOL links in the sidebar under the various categories.

Okay, last minute poll, so here it is. A little incoherent, but honestly, I don’t think any team is that clearly defined after the top 4 or so. And even then #4 seesm shaky. A very strange season of parity.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Southern Cal	—
3	Michigan	—
4	Florida	1
5	Louisville	4
6	LSU	2
7	Rutgers	4
8	Boise State	4
9	Wisconsin	4
10	Oklahoma	4
11	Notre Dame	5
12	West Virginia	5
13	Texas	3
14	Arkansas	10
15	Texas A&M	11
16	Auburn	1
17	California	2
18	Virginia Tech	1
19	Wake Forest	1
20	Georgia Tech	2
21	Nebraska	—
22	Oregon State	1
23	Hawaii	3
24	Tennessee	2
25	Houston	1

Here are the final polling results. I don’t know what to make of the ACC any longer. The whole conference is just a blend of teams that aren’t that good or bad (well, except for 3 out of 4 teams in North Carolina). Just a frickin’ mess.

Full day on AOL today. I’ll be live blogging all afternoon. I might even be doing a running live blog of the Mich-OSU game. I have  a post on how bad the run defense has gotten over time.

As everyone knows, Pitt rolled over Northeastern 78-52.

Pitt’s first real challenge of the young season is with UMass tonight at 5pm.

I’m in Pittsburgh. Just popping on for a few minutes.

You can find the rest of my postings at AOL here, and some from WVU perspective.

Brian Grummell who does the invaluable College Football Resource, will be doing his usual Thursday night liveblogging of the game for AOL Fanhouse. You can find it starting here.

Utter crap time here. Lee claims to be too busy to help draft this one. Bull. Even he’s trying to avoid trying to figure this mess out.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	Southern Cal	6
4	Arkansas	6
5	Rutgers	7
6	Florida	1
7	Notre Dame	6
8	West Virginia	—
9	LSU	2
10	Louisville	7
11	California	5
12	Texas	8
13	Boise State	2
14	Wake Forest	3
15	Wisconsin	1
16	Oklahoma	2
17	Auburn	10
18	Boston College	2
19	Maryland	2
20	Georgia Tech	1
21	Nebraska	1
22	Tennessee	8
23	Kansas State	3
24	Tulsa	1
25	Virginia Tech	1

Just looking at it, tells me I have to make changes. Cal slides further. Maybe flip ND and WVU. Maybe. Flip Oklahoma and Wisconsin, perhaps.

Help!

Thanks as always to Lee for drafting it — his version and explanation after my draft ballot. As usual, I made some changes which I will note. Still time to point out errors, ommissions or general cluelessness

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	Louisville	2
4	Texas	2
5	Florida	1
6	California	3
7	Auburn	—
8	West Virginia	5
9	Southern Cal	1
10	Arkansas	2
11	LSU	5
12	Rutgers	2
13	Notre Dame	2
14	Tennessee	6
15	Boise State	2
16	Wisconsin	1
17	Wake Forest	2
18	Oklahoma	—
19	Georgia Tech	2
20	Boston College	5
21	Maryland	5
22	Nebraska	4
23	Texas A&M	1
24	Virginia Tech	—
25	Tulsa	2

Here’s what Lee originally submitted:

1. Ohio State: No, the close win over Illinois wasn’t simply a case of the Buckeyes looking past the 2-8 Illini. Ron Zook and his defense did a skillful job, in the second half, of exploiting what has been Ohio State’s weakness all year – a large, talented offensive line that can’t adjust to a single stunt or loop. The penetration that the Illini got on Troy Smith and Antonio Pittman had better be a wake-up call, because the best front seven in college football is now less than two weeks away. Of course, Tressel’s unimaginative play-calling didn’t help things either, but I tend to believe that he just doesn’t want to show the Wolverines too much. On a side note, Ron Zook has done a tremendous job at Illinois this year, nearly beating not only Ohio State, but Penn State, Wisconsin, and Indiana as well. Really, the only teams that have really been able to physically dominate the Illini are, well, Rutgers and Syracuse. Y’all pardon me while I let my Big East bias shine… Speaking of which, I disagree with Pitt TE Darrell Strong’s assertion that the Panthers are, indeed, number one.

2. Michigan: No, the close win over Ball State wasn’t simply a case of the Wolverines looking past the 3-7 Cardinals. Ball State exploited what has been Michigan’s weakness most of the year – an inability to score enough points to put an opponent away. The dropped catches and putting the reserves in too early didn’t help either. Of course, Carr’s unimaginative play-calling didn’t help, but I tend to believe that he just doesn’t want to show the Buckeyes too much. And yes, the repetition between how I described #1 and #2 is intentional.

3. Louisville: To me, the gap between the first two teams and #3 has narrowed this week. Louisville’s offense looked balanced and great Thursday night, admittedly against a porous WVU defense and pitiful Mountaineer secondary. The Cardinals’ run defense was suspect, admittedly against the most explosive ground attack in the country. So yeah, there were some weaknesses here. But not much worse than the weaknesses that Ohio State and Michigan showcased yesterday. 354 yards through the air and 114 on the ground is nothing to laugh at against anybody, let alone WVU. Yeah, I think that the Cardinals would have a chance against the top two, so long as they decide once and for all how they want to pronounce the name of their city (even Pitino calls it Loo-ee-ville, you hicks).

4. Texas: Everybody keeps talking about an Ohio State-Michigan rematch in the title game, but nobody talks about an Ohio State-Texas rematch there. If Louisville loses to Rutgers and Ohio State is fortunate enough to make it past Michigan (and it will take some fortune), it very well could happen. This is not the same team that lost to the Buckeyes back on Septbember 9th. Colt McCoy has come of age a lot faster than Juice Williams has, with career-high 346 yards on 23-of-29 passing against the Cowpokes. Perhaps the most offensively explosive team in the top five. Perhaps even better than Louisville. But, alas, Louisville is undefeated.

5. Florida: Yeah, Vandy challenged them (especially on defense), but the Commodores challenged the Wolverines in the Big House too. And a win on special teams is still a win. A legitimate top-five team and national championship contender (if Louisville falls).

6. Auburn: (Yawn) A typically unimpressive win, this team against Arkansas Freakin’ State (it’s in Jonesboro, and you bet your @$$ I had to look that up). OK defense. Struggling offense. Can’t put them above Florida.
[And I couldn’t actually move them up for whacking on a 1-AA team, but with the big demotion to WVU, that meant a little something extra for Cal.]

7. California: A good win against a game UCLA squad. Nate Longshore and his offense continued to shine, completing 20 of 24 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Their offense is probably better than Auburn’s or Florida’s. I ranked them just behind these two, though, because of their defense and because Cal plays in the PAC-10 (perhaps unfair). That being said, I won’t argue with anybody who puts Cal as high as #5. The Bears are clearly the class of the PAC-10.

8. West Virginia: Why this high? Because if Slaton had held on to the ball a little better, the Mountaineers would be in the top three. Really, that’s all it might have taken. Yeah, the secondary sucked, and we all knew it would. But what an offense! And how much of a stud is Pat White for being able to run it all by himself for a successful drive without Slaton? On a neutral site, WVU could realistically beat any of the seven teams ranked above them.

9. USC: The second best team in the PAC-10 took out its frustrations on hapless Stanford (how’s the new gig going, Walt?). I am not impressed, nor have I been since they clocked Arkansas in the first week of the season… which, incidentally, is the only reason I have them ranked ahead of…

[You know, that Nov. 18 against Cal is looking mighty big right now. Going to be a great day/night of football.]

10. Arkansas: Nice win in Columbia. The Hogs just keep perking along, winning the SEC West. Big tests in the next three weeks against Tennessee and LSU will tell us how good they really are, though.

11. LSU: Great win in Neyland Stadium. Doucet and Russell looked the way I expected them to look when the season started.

[I thought Les Miles was going to slug the sideline reporter after halftime when she reminded him that his teams have sucked on the road against ranked teams in the second half.]

12. Rutgers: I struggle with where to put Rutgers just as much as everybody else does, whether they’ll admit it or not. Rutgers is a tough, physical team that belongs more with Wisconsin in the Big Ten than with Pitt in the Big East. Ray Rice and the o-line he runs behind are as good as any in the country. They had a bye this week. We’ll see how good they really are Thursday night against the Cardinals. But for now, this is honestly where I think the undefeated Scarlet Knights belong: I think the 11 teams in front of them are better, and the 12 behind them are worse. Of course, my opinion is fluid, though. If Rutgers beats Louisville, I’ll have no problem vaulting them above a few one-loss SEC teams because, at that point, they will have proven themselves to be better than I think they are right now.

13. Notre Dame: Wow. Brady Quinn connects on 23 of 35 passes for 349 yards and four touchdowns against 1-8 North Carolina, and the media starts handing him the Heisman again. What were his stats against Michigan again?

14. Wisconsin: It’s easy to overlook this juggernaut with a huge offensive line, huge tailback (P.J. Hill), and tough defense. Like most Wisconsin teams, they don’t have the flash that gets you noticed. Stucco is a good quarterback who doesn’t make mistakes, but no Troy Smith or Colt McCoy. The wideouts are OK. Still, nobody wants to play this punishing, blue collar team. Lord knows Joe Paterno didn’t (incidentally, that made my 35 year-old knee ache… yeeouch!).

[They are good, but I couldn’t move them this far up.]

15. Wake Forest: Great win on the road on Chestnut Hill. Currently, the class of the ACC. And yes, that’s at least the fifth team that I’ve said that about over the past two months (Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Virginia Tech being others). Either my rankings are a train wreck, or the ACC is. You decide.

[Clearly Lee didn’t watch the game, or was just drunk. It was a home game for Wake. I would love to move them up this high, but I just couldn’t do it. They have one of the best damn coaches out there — now he knows how to gameplan and use personnel — but the injuries are really mounting.]

16. Tennessee: A good team that just has trouble playing big games at home. The opposite of, well, LSU (a good team that couldn’t win big games on the road… until yesterday). Nice defense on LSU’s last drive, by the way.

[As much fun as it would be to put them this far down, they lost by only 3 to a damn good team, and with their back-up QB playing the entire second half.]

17. Boise State: Crushed Fresneck State on Wednesday (Wednesday?) night. Just keep on winning against, well, nobody in particular, and you may get into a BCS game… not that anyone outside of Idaho will care…

[This would be a 4 spot drop for still winning. Even putting them where I did was a slight drop. Can’t let them go this far. Oh, no, lots will care if BSU goes bowling. The ACC will be humiliated and the Big East rule of evaluating questionable conferences rankings will tick against the ACC for a second straight year.]

18. Oklahoma: Good, close win in one of my favorite tough environments, based on yet another gutsy call by Bob Stoops (still a great sideline general). Oh, what this season could have been…

19. Oregon: Impressive win against Ty Willingham’s scrappy Washington squad. The Ducks may beat USC, but they’re obviously not in the same class as Cal this year.

[I swear, Lee is doing this to piss me off. I said Oregon was out of the top-25 until they actually beat a ranked team. Beat the Trojans this week and we’ll talk.]

20. Georgia Tech: Heck, even Akron can beat N.C. State at home. Still, the Wreck is 7-2 and Reggie Ball and Calvin Johnson are for real. Clearly the class of the ACC’s weaker division (the “Coastal,” and incidentally, non-geographical divisions suck… what’s so hard about ACC North and ACC South? It works for the Big XII. And I don’t have to look up which division Nebraska or Texas are in).

21. Virginia Tech: Beating Miami is even less impressive than beating N.C. State these days, and Tech had to work to do even that much. Should easily finish in second place in the ACC’s pitiful “Coastal” division.

[And that’s why I won’t put them this high. I definitely won’t put them above a BC team that smacked them around a few weeks ago. I watched that Miami game, VT has a good running back and little else on offense.]

22. Boston College: Losing to Wake Forest at home puts them in the also-ran category of the ACC’s tougher division (the “Atlantic”). Still, a solid squad. Fortunately, they no longer have to compete against powerhouses like WVU and Rutgers.

23. Maryland: Terps QB Sam Hallenbach played out of his mind in a stunning upset over Clemson at Clemson. I never saw the Turtles’ resurgence coming. I hate to credit Ralph Friedgen, but I guess I’ll have to (must be the Under Armor “protecting his house”). They’re in the thick of the chase in the ACC’s tougher division. And to think I wasn’t impressed by WVU’s crushing these guys at the time.

24. Nebraska: Thumped Missouri, my one-time Big XII North favorite. Still, it didn’t impress many people now. Big game in College Station this Saturday will tell us more about the Blackshirts.

25. Texas A&M: Tough loss against Missouri. But they were in it to the end. As an Aggie would say, they just ran out of time.

Thanks to Lee coming back this week to give his top-25. I tweaked and will respond to what I changed below in Lee’s explanation. As always, there is until Wednesday to make changes so make the case in the comments.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	West Virginia	1
4	Florida	4
5	Louisville	1
6	Texas	3
7	Auburn	—
8	Tennessee	3
9	California	1
10	Southern Cal	5
11	Notre Dame	2
12	Arkansas	—
13	Boise State	6
14	Rutgers	1
15	Boston College	1
16	LSU	2
17	Wisconsin	1
18	Oklahoma	3
19	Wake Forest	3
20	Clemson	11
21	Georgia Tech	4
22	Texas A&M	2
23	Washington State	3
24	Virginia Tech	2
25	Oklahoma State	1

1. Ohio State: The offensive line remains weak, and allowed too much penetration against Minnesota. Fortunately, Troy Smith easily outran most of the pressure (we’ll see if he can continue this against the best front seven in college football on November 18th). Beyond that, there are few glaring weaknesses on this team. Explosive offense, aggressive defense, clearly the best team in the country this week.
2. Michigan: Struggled a little against Northwestern, although the weather clearly played a major role in this (as it did for the Ohio State/Penn State outcome). Best defense in college football. The offense seems to be doing just enough to win, and that’s why I have them at #2 this week. But maybe they’re just saving the big offensive explosion up for November 18th.
3. West Virginia: On a bye week, I’ll just reiterate that it was reassuring to see Pat White throw so well against UConn last weekend. If WVU develops a reliable passing game for when defenses throw eight men in the box, look out world. All this being said, the Mountaineers are 2.5-to-1 point underdogs Thursday night. If they crush Louisville while Michigan struggles at home against Ball State, damn straight I’ll move the Mountaineers up to #2.
4. Florida: Looked a little less than overwhelming in edging out Georgia 21-14 in the World’s Largest Source of Jokes About Banning Alcohol. But who else could I put in front of Louisville? Everybody else in the SEC looked even more underwhelming.
5. Louisville: Bye week. The last time I saw them, they weren’t exactly dominating Syracuse. So, I’m picking them to lose at home Thursday night. WVU has too much on offense, especially if White throws well again. Tiny little Papa Johns Stadium won’t offer that much of a homefield advantage (half of it will be Mountaineer fans anyways), and Brian Brohm has been off since he came back. So, yeah, I think the Cardinals will be dropping next week. But, I still think that they’re better than…
6. Texas: Pulled one out of the fire in Lubbock. I know that Tech is tougher than they’re ranked, and I know that Tech always plays the Longhorns tough. But still, a one-loss team has to do better than that against an unranked opponent to stay in the top five.
7. Auburn: Underwhelming win in Oxford. I know that the SEC is allegedly the toughest conference in the country, but come on. This is freakin’ Ole Miss. War Eagle has to grow an offense before they can move ahead of Texas.
8. Tennessee: OK win, when you consider that it was against the Old Ballcoach. Yeah, California has been looking better than Tennessee lately, but I just can’t forget what the Vols did to them in Knoxville earlier this year.
9. California: On a bye week, what still sticks in my mind is the struggle against the admittedly-well-coached-but-still-unranked Huskies. Yeah, Cal has looked better than Tennessee, Auburn, or Texas at times this year. But, once again, I can’t put them ahead of a Vols team that humiliated them.
10. Notre Dame: Beating up Navy impresses nobody, especially after UCLA should have had your season last week. Plus, you’re not going to get any sympathy from me after “60 Minutes” drooled all over you last night (In the national championship race? Quinn is among the Heisman Trophy favorites? Did ANYBODY at CBS bother getting a perspective on ND from outside of South Bend!?). Incidentally, I’m the last guy that can complain about language. But being from New Jersey is no excuse for shouting that crap on the sidelines when you’re representing one of the most visible symbols of Catholicism in America. I can’t believe that I’m about to say this, but clean it up… now I’m going to Hypocrisy Hell for sure… [Get a grip, Lee.]
11. USC: You suck. You’ve sucked ever since that Arkansas game. Your demise has been imminent for weeks now. Thank God somebody finally put this lame horse out of its misery. I love that this screws Notre Dame’s strength-of-schedule too. [I’m willing to keep them above ND at this point.]
12. Arkansas: Yawner against Louisiana-Monroe (and somebody’s gonna have to explain the Louisiana state higher educational system to me sometime… are ULL and ULM just branch campuses of LSU?). Think that they’d lose to USC again?
13. Rutgers: Underwhelming against Connecticut, who just put eight men in the box and ran all over the Knights. WVU and Louisville are both way better than Rutgers. [Which is why I couldn’t put them this high.]
14. Boise State: Suddenly, that dominating win over Oregon State back on September 7th is starting to look impressive all of the sudden… The computers will LOVE the Broncos now. [Funny thing, Boise State winning out may really mess with the ACC thanks to one of several BCS “Big East” rules (I’ll have more about that later).]
15. Wisconsin: Go ahead and accuse me of having a Big Ten bias again, Chas (while everybody around here accuses me of having a Big East bias – which, hey, I won’t dispute). But the Badgers just keep on winning with a physical offensive line and power running game – the way they have ever since Barry Alverez left South Bend. Yeah, they didn’t exactly dominate Illinois on Saturday, and that’s why I can’t list them any higher than #15. But the Zooker is starting to build something at Illinois (look out Buckeyes), so this isn’t entirely a surprise. Watch Wisconsin line up against Penn State’s defense this Saturday. This will be the game where Wisconsin proves whether or not it belongs in the top 20. [Let me get this straight. At home, against Illinois — improving or not — and having to come back 24-7 to win 31-24 are grounds for this team to get this high? If it weren’t for the dearth of teams, I’d want to drop them. Big 11 Bias!!!]
16. Boston College: Best team in the ACC? For the moment, it sure looks so. Once again, its nice to see all those former Big East teams do so well in the ACC.
17. LSU: Bye week.
18. Oklahoma: Surviving without Peterson. Beating Missouri so soundly was impressive. [I’m debating putting them ahead of LSU. LSU has the talent, but I trust Oklahoma to actually win games.]
19. Wake Forest: The Deacons still haven’t really beaten anybody, but I can’t put a 7-1 team behind…
20. Virginia Tech: Second best team in the ACC? Well, after that Thursday night performance, I certainly can’t put them behind… [A nice recovery after two prior conference stinkers, but not worthiy of top-20.]
21. Clemson: CHOKE!!! And that, is why you’re Clemson. But at least you beat… [And ACC dreams of two BCS bids in one season go down the drain once more.]
22. Georgia Tech: Nice come-from-behind win. Too bad it was only against Miami.
23. Texas A&M: Sneaking back into my top 25 after beating a bowl-bound Baylor team (hey, that’s a big deal in Waco). [This one feels like a house of cards, but I will leave it alone.]
24. Washington State: The Cougars only losses are to USC, Cal, and Auburn. They beat Oregon and did a lot better against UCLA than Notre Dame did. A phoenix is rising from its ashes up on the Paloose.
25. Oregon: OK, but lost to Wazzou. So you can’t pass them in my rankings. [For beating Portland State? I said Oregon was dead to me last week and I meant it. So now Lee actually ranks them. OK State is more deserving this time. Or maybe Tulsa.]

Like I said, use the comments to let me know what should change and why.

Lee, had business that kept him from contributing this week. So, I was on my own.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	Texas	1
4	West Virginia	1
5	Southern Cal	—
6	Louisville	—
7	Auburn	—
8	Florida	—
9	Clemson	2
10	California	—
11	Tennessee	2
12	Arkansas	2
13	Notre Dame	1
14	LSU	1
15	Rutgers	2
16	Boston College	3
17	Georgia Tech	4
18	Wisconsin	2
19	Boise State	2
20	Texas A&M	2
21	Oklahoma	2
22	Wake Forest	2
23	Nebraska	5
24	Tulsa	2
25	Missouri	1

Oregon is dead to me at this point. They will need to beat USC to get back in the BlogPoll.

I’m trying to decide if teams are really starting to figure out WVU — UConn made it look rough for the Mountaineers in the first half, but they had no offense to do anything. The other possibility, and this would also apply to Louisville, is that the coaches are holding things back. Trying not to show too much before the big game next Thursday. Otherwise, I am really starting to wonder about both.

A lot of teams did not exactly impress me this weekend, but no other teams did much to justify moving into the polls or moving much higher.

I have until Wednesday morning to revise my ballot. Make the case for some changes.

I’ve got a bunch of open tabs I need to clear out, and not enough time to do it.

Welcome to our world Mr. Mandel.

By this point in the season, you’d like to think you have a pretty good grasp on how good a team is, particularly when that team is 6-1. But I have to admit, I still have no idea how good this year’s Pittsburgh Panthers are — and I’m not sure they do, either. “Maybe we’re just getting lucky,” joked quarterback Tyler Palko when I spoke with him last Sunday.

We watch them every weekend and don’t have a consistent opinion.

It is blatantly obvious to the most average sportswriter that this is the game of the week in the Big East.

Context, please.

It’s easy to show Pitt QB Tyler Palko‘s rejuvenation with this obvious number: His pass efficiency rating has jumped from 126.7 last year to a nation-leading 188.6 this season. The underlying reason is that coordinator Matt Cavanaugh tweaked his West Coast approach to stretch the field and accommodate a quarterback who throws a nice deep ball. That leads us to a more revealing number going into this week’s key Big East game against Rutgers: Palko is second in the nation with 10.3 yards per attempt–way up from last year’s 7.0. Any offensive coordinator will tell you that number is the most important statistic for a quarterback.

It’s a good number. An interesting number, but I’m not quite sure as to why it is “the most important statistic for a quarterback.” Anyone care to supply the answer?

I like that SI.com considers Palko about the 5th best QB in college football. Now, here’s what I’m wondering. Does anyone actually know what kind of offense Pitt is running versus what it had run under Walt Harris? Look at the comment “…In this, his second year in coach Dave Wannstedt’s pro-style system…”

Excuse me? I thought the passing game for Pitt was now more of a true West Coast from OC Matt Cavanaugh and that Harris ran more of the pro style. Of course, I’ve read it the other way in the past. Honestly, and maybe it’s just because it’s late, but I don’t know anymore. I’m not sure anyone really knows anymore.

While on the subject of Walt Harris, there was this in Stewart Mandel’s mailbag (I saw it Frank, but was going to let it go).

Stewart, Stanford managed just 52 yards of total offense in its Homecoming game, a loss to Arizona. The Wildcats entered the game ranked 118th in the nation in rushing yards and ran for 223 yards against the overmatched Cardinal. Stanford is now 0-7, the fans and players have quit on Walt Harris, and it’s clear that the program has been in complete disarray since Ty Willingham left in 2002. Have you ever seen a case where one coaching change has so drastically crippled a college football program?
— Tony Barber, Mountain View, Calif.

No, I have not. The program has gone from being a regular Pac-10 title contender under Willingham to the absolute worst team in the conference by a country mile. The Cardinal was bad under Buddy Teevens, too, but not nearly this bad. And what makes it all the more puzzling is that Stanford showed promise last year in Harris’ first season. As you may recall, they came dangerously close to knocking off Notre Dame in their regular-season finale, which, if they had, would have sent them to a bowl game. Even stranger: This is not a young team. They returned 16 starters, including 10 on offense (though several have been injured).

That said, I knew something was fishy when seven of Harris’ assistants left after one season. Though Harris did an admirable job of turning around Pittsburgh’s long-suffering program, he was generally despised there by the end of his tenure. And now he’s not exactly inspiring confidence in Palo Alto. In addition, the athletic director who hired him, Ted Leland, left the school last year and was replaced by former Iowa AD Bob Bowlsby, who you know is looking forward to the opportunity to make his mark on the program. Cutting ties with a coach after two seasons certainly doesn’t help a program’s stability, but at the same time, I don’t know if it’s possible for the Cardinal to become any less stable than they already are.

This will be a bit of a rant.

Anyone remember Harris’ first year at Pitt? Remember how the team turned around in one season and in one of the greatest Backyard Brawls ever (and the best game I ever saw in-person) beat the Hoopies in Morgantown? Remember the next year when Pitt went 2-9. Losing to Rutgers and Temple? I do. It was my first year as a season ticket holder since graduating. I sat through a bunch of those humiliations. When the team regressed badly. Players were not that good and being shaken out of the program.

I had bounced around for a bit in Chicago, law school — in Ohio when Pitt played and was crushed in the home-and-home with OSU — and generally just not connected to the school and the team. This was pre-net so there was no way to stay aware of what Pitt was doing outside of little box scores in papers and very little info in general. Hackett and then Majors with the assistance of an uncaring administration had nearly destroyed Pitt football.

Walt Harris brought Pitt back to respectability (that and a job in Youngstown that made trips to the ‘Burgh an easy thing). Slowly. Surely. There were steps back. There was also progress. There were times when it was thought he might leave. Alabama. Ohio State. They sniffed. Whether he or they were serious, nothing came of it other then some extensions, raises and some nervousness by fans at the time.

When Harris left Pitt/was forced out, I was torn. Harris had probably reached the end of the line with Pitt. There was something of a plateau. He had alienated a lot of people. If he had stayed, it is very likely he could have done harm to Pitt.

At the same time, I felt like I owed Coach Harris. I owed him a debt. This, despite not knowing the guy. Never meeting him. At times being as eager as anyone else to throw him over.
Walt Harris brought me back to caring and following Pitt and college football. I wouldn’t be writing this blog. I wouldn’t be writing for AOL on college football. None of that, if it hadn’t been for what Walt Harris did to bring Pitt back into mainstream Division 1-A college football.

So I hope he turns the corner at Stanford. Just as he did in time at Pitt. Rebuilding doesn’t come easy at all places.  I know not everyone feels the same way. That’s fine. My view is just that. My view. Just don’t expect me to revel in his struggles.

The bloggers have spoken and Pitt comes in at #24. You can see individual ballots here. By this standard, I actually underranked Pitt by putting them at #25. Apparently, the number of voters down on their school more then others has dwindled to this point, because that small deviation actually got me on the “straight bangin'” list.

I just can’t believe VT still got votes after the way they were undressed by BC on the field and Kirk Herbstreit in the booth last Thursday.

Here’s my draft ballot. I have until Wednesday morning to make changes so start arguing. Thanks as always to Lee, who has his rankings below, with my comments where appropriate for the changes I made.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	1
3	West Virginia	1
4	Texas	2
5	Southern Cal	—
6	Louisville	1
7	Auburn	5
8	Florida	6
9	Tennessee	1
10	California	1
11	Clemson	1
12	Notre Dame	1
13	Georgia Tech	—
14	Arkansas	2
15	LSU	—
16	Oregon	9
17	Rutgers	2
18	Nebraska	5
19	Boston College	2
20	Wisconsin	6
21	Boise State	1
22	Texas A&M	4
23	Oklahoma	5
24	Wake Forest	2
25	Pittsburgh	1

As usual, Lee drafted the ballot, I made a couple tweaks. Lee’s explanation below, along with some occasional commentary from me in italics especially where I made changes. Give reasons to make changes in the comments and I have time to make changes if found meritorious by tomorrow morning.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Florida	—
3	Michigan	—
4	West Virginia	3
5	Southern Cal	1
6	Texas	2
7	Louisville	3
8	Tennessee	8
9	California	8
10	Clemson	5
11	Notre Dame	1
12	Auburn	7
13	Missouri	11
14	Georgia Tech	4
15	Arkansas	11
16	LSU	7
17	Georgia	6
18	Oklahoma	4
19	Rutgers	2
20	Iowa	1
21	Boston College	5
22	Boise State	2
23	Virginia Tech	2
24	Nebraska	2
25	Oregon	12

1. Ohio State: Just keeps on rolling towards November 18th. This Saturday’s matchup against the schizophrenic Spartans isn’t scary anymore, as this is not the same MSU that crushed Pitt in the second half. Fire John L. Smith now.

2. Florida: The quality of the Gators’ wins puts them slightly ahead of Michigan. Now admittedly, Auburn was sorely overrated. But still, who has Michigan really beaten besides Notre Dame? Leak and Tebow are scary-good as a combo.

3. Michigan: Probably the most well rounded team in the country. This Saturday will be dangerous, and the crowd will be loud. But Michigan just matches up too well against Penn State on paper, even without Manningham. Penn State can’t cover tight ends, and Michigan loves isolating and throwing to its TE’s. Incidentally, it’s nice to see Penn State shut down Paternoville, one of the few unique, excitement-generating traditions of Beaver Stadium, right before the big home game against Michigan. Couldn’t that have waited a few weeks? Idiots.

4. WVU: Beyond beating Louisville, all the Hoopies have to do is root for Florida to lose somehow. Ohio State and Michigan won’t both win out, obviously. The secondary looked very suspect again against Mississippi State, and teams like Florida, Ohio State, or Michigan could easily throw on the Mountaineers. But they’d have to keep up with that offense…

5. USC: I am SO not impressed by the Trojans right now. In fact, I’d rank Texas ahead of these slackers if I thought Chas would let me get away with it. Last Saturday, the best team in the PAC-10 was California, by far.

[I actually wouldn’t have much of a problem with it. USC has not looked good the last couple of weeks.]

6. Texas: Big win, in a big way. Still hanging around the national championship race. Nice to see Mack Brown get that Sooner monkey off of his back. Colt McCoy is a year or two away from becoming a force to reckon with.

7. Louisville: For the second week in a row, a Big East power played a Friday night game and looked less than impressive (RU was last). Last week, I put Louisville ahead of WVU. But not now. Not after a school that I never heard of before (and why not Central Tennessee State instead of Middle Tennessee State?) gave the Cardinals all they wanted for a half. This team maybe misses Brian Brohm more than I had thought. Unless he gets healthy, back, and back into a rhythm again before the Hoopies come calling, WVU wins the Big East.

8. Tennessee: Boy, that one-point loss to Florida is looking bigger and bigger these days, huh? Coulda been a contender… Either way, huge win against Georgia.

9. California: Chas, Chas, Chas… Hey, don’t worry about it. All self-appointed prognosticators are wrong sometimes, especially regarding Cal. Just ask Corso. Although I may have been correct in thinking that Oregon was sorely overrated, at least I didn’t pick the Bears to win it all. Berkeley looked like PAC-10 champions on Saturday. It’s too bad they don’t play USC sooner.

[For the record, I don’t believe I picked Oregon to win the nationial championship. I just thought they were the likely/darkhorse BCS bid from the PAC-10. Suffice to say, I was wrong.

I’m kind of surprised Lee put Cal this high. I would have thought the unis they wore — actually making Oregon look conservative — would have cost them a few spots.]

10. Clemson: Phil Fulmer at least has some company in regretting a one-point loss to an inferior opponent that’s keeping someone out of the national championship hunt. OK, so they weren’t that impressive against I-don’t-care-if-you’re-undefeated-you’re-still-Wake-Freakin’-Forest. But I can’t put Notre Dame in the top ten with their defense, and this was the best alternative.

11. Notre Dame: Grow a defense. Now. The Irish should easily win the rest of their games, but then, just as guaranteed as the changing of the seasons, they’ll get blown out in their bowl game. Why? Yeah. No defense.

12. Auburn: (CHOKE!)

No, Arkansas was not that good. You were that bad. Nice tackling. You know who really needs a playoff system, Tuberville? Teams with one loss.

13. Missouri: Sneaking into my top 15. And they should stay there for at least two more weeks, with only Texas A&M and Kansas State on the schedule. Beating Oklahoma and Nebraska, the only two real teams left on their schedule, is well within reach — as is the Big XII North championship.

[Um, okay.]

14. Georgia Tech: Dropped out of my top ten after struggling mightily against hapless Maryland. Now, the Wreck has two weeks to prepare for a Clemson game that could decide the ACC.

15. Arkansas: I just can’t convince myself that these guys are all that good — hey, I saw that USC massacre. But they sure looked good against Auburn on Saturday.

16. LSU: Nice defense. Whatever happened to that once-genius Bo Pelini? Thank God Pitt didn’t hire him.

[I have to say I’m leaning towards flipping 15 and 16. If Florida is the #2 team, how hard do you ding a team that lost to them on the road? Plus, I think that’s just too high for Arkansas for one win, albeit a really big win.]

17. Iowa: Can’t get past third place in the Big Ten no matter how hard they try. Too much talent in Columbus and Ann Arbor. Maybe too much talent here in State College too.

[I dropped Iowa a few more spots. They just weren’t that impressive to me this year.]

18. Georgia: (HACK!)

19. Rutgers: I moved the Knights up mostly because other teams lost. That near-loss to USF last Friday night still haunts me. But a great rushing attach still makes RU a legitimate top 25 team. Don’t look past Navy to Pitt. Of course, does anybody look past anybody else for Pitt?

20. Oklahoma: Physically dominated. But Peterson still looked good.
[Oklahoma is a little better then this.]

21. Boston College: A solid team… for the ACC…

22. Boise State: Only because they’re 6-0. Not because they’ve played anybody or impressed me all that much.

23. Virginia Tech: Coming off a bye after an ass-kicking by Georgia Tech, what else can I do but still think you suck?

24. Nebraska: Putting along. The November 4th game against my Tigers will decide who gets mauled by Texas in the Big XII Championship game.

25. Pitt: OK, who else could I realistically put here? Penn State? (Overtime against Minnesota? And I never want to hear about the Lions getting screwed by the Big Ten officials again.) Oregon? (Chas?) FSU? (HACK!) Maybe Wisconsin, but hey, I’m allowed to be a homer occasionally. Hey, the team looked great on the road… admittedly against mere Syracuse…

[Yes, I put Oregon here in place of Pitt. I would love to leave Pitt in, but I also can’t get that showing against MSU out of my head. Too big a question on defense against the option. Besides if you are going to shoot Cal up that high for a home win, then presumably it’s for beating a quality opponent. ]

Sadly, I’ve missed several in between. This one comes from CrossCyed.

1. We’re about halfway through the season at this point. Have you gotten a gauge on your team’s chances this year to make noise in conference play, or is the team still a total freaking mystery?

I am amazed at how many fans of so many other teams this year are completely unsure about what their team can do. And I too am one of them. I don’t think Pitt will win the Big East, but I’m not convinced that they can’t end up knocking off Louisville or WVU at this point. Those are the last two games of the season and they are home games so there is a realistic chance still. Of course, Pitt could end up as low as 6th if they don’t take care of other games in the conference. Suddenly Syracuse is looking like a much tougher game this weekend as they have improved plus it’s at the Carrier Dome where Pitt has had minimal success.

I don’t flippin’ know. I want to say they will beat ‘Cuse, Rutgers and USF, but …

2. Many of the bigger conferences such as the Big 12 and the Big 10 use a rotating schedule to determine conference games each year. What are your feelings on the current system used in your conference? Does a rotating schedule work? Has your team always caught a break?

Obviously, the Big East doesn’t have the rotating schedule issue. Arguably, though, the way the home-away BE schedule has worked for Pitt is advantageous this year. If — based on the top-25 rankings — you look at the top 3 teams in the BE: Rutgers, Louisville and WVU all come to Pitt for home games and the road games are to Cinci, ‘Cuse, USF and UConn. The only reason I hedge, is that Pitt has not played much of the conference slate yet, so they haven’t shown they will take advantage of it.

3. In an effort to get to know more about college football, both nationally and regionally, what have you done to expand your college football horizons? Have you caught yourself watching games from other conferences, or taking an interest in games that show up on ESPNU or Fox Sports?

I’m stuck in Ohio. So whether I want to or not, I have to see what the Big 11 is doing every week. The ACC has my attention thanks to the Fanhouse stuff. So I’m already trying to absorb action from 3 BCS conferences every week. That doesn’t even include the SEC stuff on CBS that I click to. The wife hates this time of year.

4. What would you change about the current exposure your team gets, either on the radio, television, print, or on the internet?

It’s not bias or anything like that. It’s seeing Pitt and the whole Big East used increasingly as programming filler for ESPN’s weekknight lineup. The Wednesday and Friday night games. Being stuck in the role previously occupied by the Mountain West before they had enough and left the WWLS.

Don’t even get me started on the continuing future of this arrangement, not to mention turning over all of the internet video rights to ESPN in the next contract as well. Insuring that the games won’t be seen that way unless you are on a broadband service that agrees to carry ESPN360, or your willing to pay the same amount for the online gameplan that you would to see it clearer and better on TV.

5. During last Saturday’s game against I-AA Northern Iowa, Iowa State trailed 21-7 at the half. The Cyclone Marching Band played a variety of songs from animated shows, including selections from South Park titled “Blame Canada” and “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” Needless to say, the Cyclones outscored the Panthers 21-6 in the second half. If you had to pick one song for your favorite team to rally to, what would it be? Because we all know what they did for the 2005 White Sox, Journey and “Don’t Stop Believing” are not to be considered.>

Hmmm. I’m pathetically out of date at this point in music. It’s just sad, really. I think if it was the band doing the song, I think “Left of the Dial” by the Replacements would be a good call (I mean it when I said I’m out of date). Really, this is one that calls for debate and discussion by those who know.

Big thanks to Lee for stepping up and doing the ballot draft. I am putting this out here now for comments and arguments about the order. I know I’ll be changing some of the order before the Wednesday voting deadline — I’m backing the Oregon darkhorse BCS bid for the PAC-10 afterall. For now, here’s the draft ballot.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	25
2	Auburn	24
3	Southern Cal	23
4	West Virginia	22
5	Florida	21
6	Texas	20
7	Louisville	19
8	Michigan	18
9	Georgia	17
10	Louisiana State	16
11	Virginia Tech	15
12	Notre Dame	14
13	Iowa	13
14	TCU	12
15	Tennessee	11
16	Oregon	10
17	Oklahoma	9
18	Clemson	8
19	Florida State	7
20	Boston College	6
21	Nebraska	5
22	Arizona State	4
23	Cal	3
24	Michigan State	2
25	Boise State	1

Now, here are Lee’s explanations:

1. Ohio State: Unlike previous games with sloppy starts in the Jim Tresselera, the Bucks still managed to blow out the Bearcats in the end. And they still have the biggest win of the year (sorry Michigan… didn’t EVERYBODY know the Irish were overrated before Saturday?). But as for Mark Dantonio, jeez, what a coach. Thank God he’s stuck at Cincinnati rather than somewhere he could actually do some damage.

2. Auburn: Big win. Tough, tough defense.

3. USC: I go back and forth as to whether or not the Trojans or WVU should be here. But I’ll put the Trojans here only because Nebraska was a slightly more respectable opponent than Maryland… slightly… and USC was hardly crisp…

4. WVU: …but Jeezus did the Hoopies look good on Thursday night. Yeah, Maryland sucked (a nickel defense against West Virginia!?), and their ends couldn’t stay at home if they were stapled there. Still that was impressive speed. Slaton is the fastest player in college football period.

5. Florida: Good, tough win on the road. It’s nice to see Urban Meyer settling in.

6. Texas: Sure, it was only Rice. But they beat the holy hell out of them. Given the pathetic state of the Big XII (I’ll bet they wish they had the Big East’s out-of-conference win/loss record), the Longhorns should run the table easily (and don’t it feel good, as a Big East fan, to belittle somebody else’s conference for a change?).

7. Louisville: So much for the allegedly long-gone days of Miami doing crap like stomping on other team’s logos. Yeah, Miami is in a hole this year. But they’re still loaded with talent. So this was a big win and still an upset in my book.

8. Michigan: OK, hear me out here… We knew before Saturday that Notre Dame was overrated, and that they couldn’t keep up with speedy receivers (see Ted Ginn Jr. and Santonio Holmes in the Fiesta Bowl). We knew before Saturday that Michigan had talent out the wazoo, and that Llllloyd Carr was on the hot seat (and thus unlikely to undercoach again this year). So really, the only surprise of the ND/Michigan game was the extent to which the Irish self-destructed. I mean, the Irish gift-wrapped at least 21 points for the Wolverines… who would have won even without those 21 points, but at least it wouldn’t have been a blowout then. Still, don’t get me wrong. Michigan is for real this year, and somebody in Columbus had better take notice. It’s just that this win didn’t impress me as much as Louisville’s win.

9. Georgia: UAB? Yawn.

10. LSU: Like they said on Gameday Final, you could have played the LSU/Auburn game ten times — five in Auburn and five in Baton Rouge — and each time would wind up 5 and 5. Colossal battle. Really, the best game on Separation Saturday. LSU doesn’t deserve to fall far at all for this loss, especially since, they should have won (SEC refs suck).

11. VT: Quietly moving on up. It’s nice to see the class of the ACC still not able to crack the top ten.

12. Notre Dame: This is about where they should have been all along. Really, I’d like to put them a little further back, but even I couldn’t put them behind Oregon and Iowa. Thanks for gift-wrapping 21 points for the Wolverines. And Brady, pick up your Heisman on the way out the door.

13. Iowa: The Cyhawk game is always tough. Still, the Hawks haven’t done anything too awfully impressive yet (beating up Montana, then squeaking by Syracuse and ISU). Maybe they’re just saving everything up for Ohio State on September 30.

14. Tennessee: Nothing too embarrassing about losing to Florida.

15. TCU: Actually looked good in their win against, admittedly, only Texas Tech (does the Big XII really deserve an automatic BCS bid?).

16. Oregon: The Ducks so deserved to lose that game. PAC-10 refs sucks worse than SEC refs. Oklahoma was the better team…

17. Oklahoma: …so I’m not going to drop the Sooners too far…

18. Clemson: You always have to root for the Bowden Boys. They had to grow up with…

19. FSU: This hypocritical lunatic as a father… Noles suck.

20. Boston College: Nice win. Not.

21. Nebraska: Surprisingly game against USC, although that had more to do with USC than Nebraska.

22. ASU:

23. California: sucks.

24. Michigan State: If John L. Smith actually tries to coach this year, the Spartans could be for real. Look out, Wolverines and Buckeyes. A big offensive line and a great quarterback.

25. Boise State: Just keeps rolling along.