Big East Football Power Rankings after Week #5

With Big East play officially under way, we welcome the first edition of the Big East power rankings. Teams and rankings are listed below and make sure to take a look at our Week 5 football recap. For more Big East football coverage be sure to check the Big East football standings & weekly Big East scores.

South Florida (5-0, 0-0): Give the Bulls credit for a gutsy road win Saturday at NC State, despite missing several key players with injury. South Florida is the Big East’s most talented team, but have played down to perceived weaker competition in years past. Will history repeat itself in 2008?
Connecticut (5-0, 1-0): The Huskies silenced many critics this weekend with a hard-fought road win at Louisville. Donald Brown gets all the publicity, but give back-up quarterback Zach Frazier and the entire Huskies defense credit for coming back from a two score deficit to win. While Frazier is still green, his throwing ability actually makes this offense more dangerous than with Lorenzen under center.
West Virginia (2-2, 0-0): Once again Pat White’s health is in question, as the Mountaineers open Big East play this weekend with Rutgers. The latest reports seem to indicate that the thumb White injured last weekend will be fine for the Mountaineers next game. Luckily, with West Virginia welcomes a Scarlet Knights offense this weekend that has been abysmal. They likely won’t need to pile on the points to win.
Cincinnati (3-1, 0-0): Mardy Gilyard may be the best wide receiver in the Big East, unfortunately he’s running out of quarterbacks to get him the ball. A 17-15 win against Akron doesn’t say much, but when you’re on the road and down to the third string quarterback you’ll take it. The Bearcats should get by Marshall this weekend, before opening Big East play with Rutgers.
Louisville (2-2, 0-1): Although their record doesn’t show it, there may not be a team in college football that has improved more from their opener to now than Louisville. Hunter Cantwell was gutsy against UConn, but he was clearly injured in the fourth quarter, and probably shouldn’t have even been in the game to begin with. Look for the running game to get plenty of action and yardage against Middle Tennessee this weekend.
Pittsburgh (3-1, 1-0): Pittsburgh’s overall record looks a lot prettier than their play on the field. After needing a fourth quarter comeback to get by Syracuse, we’ll learn a lot about this team on Thursday when they travel to South Florida.
Rutgers (1-3, 0-0): Welcome to the win column Rutgers. With back-up Jabu Lovelace out, Mike Teel is leading this team for better or worse. He looked great against Morgan State, but with a trip to Morgantown coming up, Teel will come back to planet earth. Unless this team goes on some kind of unexpected run, bowl eligibility remains doubtful.
Syracuse 1-4, (0-1): Syracuse gave Pittsburgh all they could handle for three and a half quarters, but just weren’t good enough to win. Give this team for not quitting on themselves or their coach.

By Aaron Torres
BigEast-fans.com Staff Writer

To share your thoughts with Aaron please e-mail him at ATorres00 @ gmail.com

Read more of Aaron's thoughts on Big East football and other sports at http://at-sports.blogspot.com/

More of Aaron's writing at BigEast-fans.com: