College Football: Week 3 Big East Wide Receiver Rankings
Week 3 was a tough one for the Big East, as three of the five teams that played lost. This included preseason favorites Cincinnati and UConn.
Syracuse continues to show a lot of poise with quarterback Ryan Nassib under center, as he threw for a school record five touchdowns in the Orange’s win over Maine.
West Virginia lived up to their number 21 national ranking as they held on to defeat Maryland, after a competitive first half from the Terps.
Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith again looked impressive, throwing four touchdowns and has 800 passing yards in just three games.
Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and USF all enjoyed their bye weeks in Week 3 of NCAA action.
Let us take a look at how the passing attacks are stacking up so far in the Big East.
Evan Landi, WR, USF
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The Bulls have seen the best of both worlds this season, as they stomped out the inferior Stony Brook squad in the season opener, but got the favor repaid when Florida decimated USF in a sunshine state showdown.
Quarterback BJ Daniels has been erratic on the field at best during this young season, amassing just 348 yards and three touchdowns to four interceptions.
This is the main reason why leading reason Evan Landi has very modest stats with seven catches for 155 yards and no touchdowns in two games.
Landi is a big, physical receiver at 6’3, 221 pounds and has tons of potential as a 20 year old sophomore player.
Still, until Daniels can find some consistency, it is going to be impossible for Landi to have any big time games.
Michael Smith, WR, UConn
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The Huskies expected to bounce back from a lackluster 2009 campaign with a conference title run in 2010, but starting 1-2 has faded those dreams for many fans.
While losing to Michigan was respecting, losing to Temple was not, leaving the Huskies with a ton of unanswered questions as the season goes on.
Smith is in the same boat as Landi, suffering from fairly weak quarterback play from senior Zack Frazer.
The UConn receiver currently has a dozen catches for 180 yards and a score on the season.
While these numbers are not terrible, it is unlikely the junior player will amass more than 700 yards and four or five touchdowns on the season at the way this offense is currently plodding along.
The Huskies have just 29 points in three games so far, so this offense really needs to find a spark before any of its players put up decent numbers.
Jon Baldwin, WR, Pittsburgh
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Jon Baldwin has 10 catches for 171 yards and has found the end zone twice through two games of the 2010 season with the Panthers.
The play of quarterback Tino Sunseri has been pretty average thus far, and their schedule is not getting any easier as they have the University of Miami and Notre Dame coming up in about a three week span.
Games of this caliber will truly test how far along Sunseri is.
Regardless how it goes for the Panthers, Baldwin remains their most reliable receiving option by a long shot.
His huge 6’5, 230 pound frame makes him a match up nightmare against countless opposing secondaries, as well as giving him a great propensity to break tackles.
Expect Baldwin to end the season with total similar to his 2009 effort, which saw him finish the year with 57 catches for 1,111 yards and eight touchdowns.
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Doug Beaumont, WR, Louisville
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Louisville was close to returning to national relevance, something they have not had since 2006, when they took number 25 in the nation Oregon State to the limit.
Although the Cardinals ended up losing 35-28, they have a lot of things to be excited about for a team that has been rebuilding for three years now.
Despite having miserable luck at the quarterback position last year, starter Adam Froman has far exceeded expectations with 634 yards and two touchdowns.
While the senior has shown a propensity to try and force a few balls, evidenced by his three interceptions on the season, he has shown dramatic improvement from a season before and has enabled the Cards to move the ball through the air.
The biggest beneficiary of this offensive improvement is wide receiver Doug Beaumont. In the Louisville native’s senior season, he has 16 receptions for 244 yards and a score.
This makes him a compelling player within the Big East for the rest of the season, as quietly amassing 60-70 receptions and 1,000 yards for the year is a realistic possibility.
While Beaumont does not have great size at 5’9, 187 pounds, his great speed and hands make him a reliable option.
Beaumont and Pittsburgh’s Jon Baldwin look to finish the 2010 season with very similar statistics, but Beaumont gets the edge as he has a far inferior squad around him.
Mohamed Sanu, WR, Rutgers
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While some may disagree with Sanu being ranked this high, the majority of naysayers are looking at simply his receiving numbers right now: seven catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Although Sanu’s receiving totals are modest, his performance as the wildcat quarterback for the Scarlet Knights deserves some recognition.
Sanu has 13 rushes for 63 yards and a score, alongside a respectable 4.8 yards per carry.
He has also thrown for a score in 2010, hooking up with tight end DC Jefferson from 24 yards out on his lone attempt throwing the football thus far.
That equals out to 177 yards of offense and three touchdowns in two games, each touchdown of a different variety.
Despite an extremely disappointing start from sophomore quarterback Tom Savage, head coach Greg Schiano realizes that getting the ball in Sanu’s hands as often as possible gives Rutgers the best chance of winning each week.
While Sanu will almost definitely not have the best receiving totals within the Big East this year, he could easily have the most offensive yardage and/or touchdowns from a non-quarterback position.
DJ Woods, WR, Cincinnati
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Cincinnati’s wide receiver situation was cloudy with Mardy Gilyard NFL bound and then with promising Troy transfer Vidal Hazelton tearing his ACL in the Bearcats season opener.
Despite just a 1-2 start for the defending Big East Conference champs, their passing attack remains potent with Zach Collaros at the helm.
The biggest beneficiary right now is DJ Woods. While Woods had a modest 2009 campaign with 640 yards and four touchdowns, it is easy to envision the slender receiver with over 1,000 yards and 10 plus touchdowns at the end of 2010.
Woods is just coming off a monster effort against North Carolina State, where he had six catches for 146 yards and a touchdown.
Based on this performance, it appears that Collaros and Woods have found their rhythm, so continue to expect big things from this duo as the season progresses.
Van Chew, WR, Syracuse
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If anyone exclaimed that Syracuse would have one of the best Big East passing attacks in 2010 during this offseason, they surely would have been laughed at.
Yet, believe it or not, that is currently the case after heading into Week 4 of the season.
Ryan Nassib has been phenomenal with nearly 700 yards, 8 touchdowns, and just two interceptions three games deep into the season.
He thoroughly picked apart the Maine Black Bears defense in his most recent outing, where Van Chew managed seven grabs for 113 yards and a score.
Van Chew has 275 yards and two touchdowns on the season right now, and if Nassib can keep up the impressive pace he is setting; only big things should be expected out of both of these junior Orange players.
Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia
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While 2010 was expected to be a huge year for Mountaineers wide receiver Jock Sanders, he has currently taken a seat to the undersized sophomore Tavon Austin.
Despite walking around at just 5’9, 173 pounds, the sophomore receiver has proven that he can still play at an elite level.
Austin has 281 yards off of 21 catches and two touchdowns after three games amidst WVU’s nationally ranked 2010 campaign.
Number 21 in the nation has been clicking on all cylinders, largely due to the fantastic play of quarterback Geno Smith.
Smith is currently running a campaign where he is on pace to become just the second Mountaineers quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards.
The first was Marc Bulger in 1998, and Smith’s current projections have him shattering those totals.
This is great news for everyone involved in the Mountaineers passing attack, but especially for Austin, who is clearly Smith’s favorite target at this point.
For the time being, 80-90 catches, 1200 yards, and 10 plus touchdowns seem like very attainable numbers for Austin’s 2010 season totals.
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