2008 Big East
July 18, 2008
This year in college football the Big East looks to be quite competitive as there are several teams bunched a top the early leader board. They will all be battling hard to claim top spot and it should make for some very interesting football games to watch. Let’s take a look at some of the teams and early odds in the Big East:
West Virginia Mountaineers (+175) – Last season ended with a bang for West Virginia as they won 48-28 in the Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners. This year, many critics are questioning how they are going to rebuild and compete again. They will have a new coach this year in Bill Stewart. He is a down to earth guy and had been very reliable as an assistant in the past. He will have the opportunity to be a head coach this year. A tough spot for the Mountaineers is going to be the loss of 7 defensive starters. West Virginia had one of the premier defenses in the nation last season. They will lose 2 linemen, 2 linebackers and 3 defensive backs. This may spell trouble for them if they cannot rebuild. On the bright side, the Mountaineers return one of the nations best at QB, Patrick White. Last season he had 1724 passing yards and 14 touchdowns. He will need to lead the Mountaineers again this season. Keep your eye on West Virginia as I feel they will have a great year.
South Florida Bulls (+200) – South Florida was a very hot team early last season, but they began to fade last in the season. They were blown out in their bowl game by Oregon, but have very high expectations this year. They will have a veteran offense coming into 2008. Quarterback Matt Grothe will be back as the offensive leader. For the last 2 seasons he has quite simply been the heart of sole of the offense. As a freshman he made his debut in the second quarter of the season opened and never looked back. Grothe is entrenched as the Bulls offensive leader. Also the skill positions welcome back the top four running back and the top four pass catchers. They nearly averaged 35 points a game last season, and they look like they will be even more impressive this season.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (+350) – This season the offense for Rutgers is going to be powered by returning QB, Mike Teel. He was one of the top quarterbacks in the Big East last season. He will be accompanied by star receivers Kenny Britt and Tyquan Underwood. A big challenge however will be replacing Ray Rice, who opted out of his senior year to go to the NFL. Defensively Rutgers will try to change things, as they allowed over 300 yards of offense per game and put way to much pressure on its offense to win high scoring games. If they can step it up on defense then they have a shot at being competitive in the Big East this season.
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