(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
The Big East has largely been an offensive-minded conference since restructuring in 2004. High-scoring games have been the norm with offensive stars such as Steve Slaton, Pat White, Donald Brown, Brian Brohm and Ray Rice.
This season, with all those former stars now earning NFL paychecks, the conference is taking on a different look, and that look will be one of stout defenses nearly across the board.
Unlike a few years ago, when talking heads such as Kirk Herbstreit slammed the conference for not playing defense (Herbstreit, being true to form, went on to applaud the high-scoring shootout between Ohio State and Michigan later that same season), this season Herbstreit and his cronies will probably be slamming the league for not playing offense.
Last year's conference champion, Cincinnati, will have the most to prove as it tries to defend its title, but it will be playing with a defense as green as the turf it plays on. The Bearcats will be replacing 10 starters from a stellar defensive unit that helped carry them to the Orange Bowl.
Likewise, Syracuse and Louisville will have to pretend they want to play defense after their atrocious performances from a year ago if they want to even think about a possible bowl invitation.
Last season, every team in the Big East except Syracuse and Louisville had defenses that finished the year ranked in the top 30 in at least one of the four main defensive statistical categories—scoring defense, pass defense, run defense, and total defense. Several of the teams ranked among the top 10 in some of those categories.
This year should be even better defensively for the league, but the high-scoring excitement of the past several seasons might not be a common occurance. League fans should probably get used to scores resembling 21-17 as opposed to 42-35.
Predicting the order of finish for the Big East this year is akin to drawing straws. At least five teams should have a shot at winning the conference championship and earning the league's automatic berth into a BCS bowl.
Still, like all good fans of college football do at this time of year, we will attempt to predict the order of finish for what could be a very rugged league to navigate this fall.
1. West Virginia (predicted record 10-2)
This probably surprises some and doesn't surprise others.
However, looking at WVU across the board, it has the fewest question marks of any team in the league. Yes, the Mountaineers lose Pat White. But White's replacement, Jarrett Brown, has seen a lot of action and has a 2-0 record as a starter with wins over Rutgers and Syracuse.
Brown will also be throwing to what should be the best group of receivers WVU has fielded since the days of Marc Bulger and his impressive cast of receivers.
On the ground, look for Noel Devine to rush for over 1,500 yards if he stays healthy. Coach Bill Stewart made short yardage pick-ups a priority during spring ball, and offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen now has several big bodies to choose from to pick up that oft-elusive first down from a year ago.
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