Pitt Picked To Win Big East, Now Guaranteed To Go 7-5

As expected, the Media vote for the Preseason Big East rankings was close.  So many trendy picks, so few elite teams.  In the end, the 24 media votors named Pittsburgh their champion of the day and the most likely team to represent the conference in a BCS bowl when the time comes.  But not by much...

1. Pittsburgh (8) 161

2. West Virginia (5) 151

3. Cincinnati (8) 144

4. South Florida (3) 130

5. Rutgers 126

6. Connecticut 74

7. Louisville 51

8. Syracuse 27

Yep, there's SU down at the bottom as usual.  27 votes means that three and only three voters saw within themselves not to put SU in the basement.  Honestly, I know I'm biased as all hell and therefore my opinion on the matter is moot, but that just shows me how short-sighted and uninformed most of the voters are.  If you really looked at SU last season and how much bad coaching brought them down, coupled it with the 180-degree turnaround going on in the off-season and mix it with the dire situation that is Louisville football, I don't see how you can put SU under the Cardinals.  But again, that's just little ol' biased me.

Rutgers gets no 1st-place votes and finishes 5th?  Really?  All kidding aside about their schedule, Rutgers isn't the most talented team in the league but their schedule GUARANTEES that they will win at least 8 games.  Not only the cupcakery but also the fact that they get almost all of those teams ranked ahead of them at home.  Did people stop and take that into account?  It matters.

Just to rehash and compare, here's the Big East Bogger poll (1st place votes in parenthesis)

1. USF (3)

2. West Virginia (2)

3. Pittsburgh (1)

4. Rutgers (1)

5. Cincinnati (1)

6. UConn

7. Syracuse

8. Louisville

Does one group know what they're talking about over the other or is this exactly the issue with the Big East right now?  No one knows nothing?  The good side to this is that it looks like it's going to be an exciting season from the standpoint of competition.  Every game matters every year, but this year...you know...they matter...again...as well.  I'll stop talking now.

Update: If you root for anyone but Pitt, you're in luck. Nice catch by The Smoking Musket, who noted: the media has correctly picked the league champion only once since the ACC raid, and that was in 2007 when WVU shared the title with UConn. Sorry, Pitt.