Big East Bold Prediction: It's All About Pitt and Dion Wins the Heisman

Meet the preseason front-runner for the 2010 Heisman Trophy—his name is Dion Lewis and he wears No. 28 for the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Our pre-pre-preseason prediction:

Lewis will rush for more than 2,400 yards, win the Heisman Trophy and lead his Panthers to the Big East title.

Lewis, the 2009 Big East Player of the Year, rushed for 1,799 yards last year as a freshman and his Panthers were edged out by Cincinnati.

This will be the Year of the Panther in the Big East and the Year of Dion at the Heisman Ceremony in December.

Lewis and Pitt will take center stage on September 23 when they host Miami in a Thursday night ESPN game. They'll take on the Miami Hurricanes and Lewis will face a strong, fast defense, a Miami trademark.

The stage grows larger on October 9 when they travel to Notre Dame. National stage, huge opportunity.

Pitt has a decent chance to be undefeated at that point. The Panthers open at Utah (9-2) then play New Hampshire (9-11), host Miami (9-23) and Florida International (10-2) at home. Dion should have some great stats after those four games.

Then come the Irish.

After that, it's seven Big East games starting at Syracuse (10-16) then home games against Rutgers (10-23), Louisville (10-30) road games at UConn (11-11), USF (11-20), home against West Virginia in what could determine the Big East title then the season finale at Cincinnati.

Yes, we're making Pitt the favorite, but here's how things could align for the Big East this year:

1. Pitt: Nothing but opportunity and perhaps the nation's best offensive weapon.

2. West Virginia: The Mountaineers have a weapon of their own in Noel Devine and Jock Sanders is a multiple threat. They return all but two of their defensive starters.

3. UConn:   Is this the year Randy Edsall gets off to a great start and has his team in the thick of it come November? Could well be.

4. South Florida: Skip Holtz will avoid the October-November belly-flop of the past regime but needs one more year to be at the top of the Big East conversation.

5. Cincinnati: How much will the Bearcats miss Brian Kelly? There is still talent in Cincy but this is Pitt's year.

6. Rutgers: There are young stars like Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu but the Scarlet Knights have a lot of holes to fill from last season.

7. Syracuse:  The Orange will continue their improvement but are still a couple of years away from moving up in the league's pecking order.

8. Louisville: Charlie Strong needs two more Strong recruiting classes.

There you have it. It's short and sweet, for now.

Things can change in a hurry. An injury or two and any team can be gasping for air and a .500 season.

Yes it's early. But at least we have something to talk about.

2010 Big East schedules:   www.BigEast.org