Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/02  at  05:26 PM

Gary, the AP poll comes out Aug. 16. The BCS poll isn’t released until six weeks into the season. Ari, I’m not in love with Pitt, I only picked them ahead of USF. Why? Check the posts below for the reasons. Also, USF must win at Cincinnati and at West Virginia - I don’t know if they will and USF has never gone unbeaten at home in conference play. Yes, they will be favored to do so this year, but they never have. So that could be another loss. If USF finishes 4-3 in league play, Pitt, at worst, should be 4-3 also, maybe 5-2. We’ll all find out soon enough.

Posted by  Ari Hinkelberger, Tampa on 08/02  at  01:56 PM

It was Clebert that we lost.  Not Buie.
My fault.  Got them mixed up.

Posted by  Ari Hinkelberger, Tampa on 08/02  at  01:42 PM

Lost in the mix of our so called “weakened” defense is the addition of a JuCo All-American LB.  The return of the consensus All-American DE and the fact that one of the Big East’s leading tacklers (T-Mckenz) come back.  I understand we lost Buie, Moffit, Jenkins and Williams..  But we are still pretty loaded on the defensive side of the ball.  We get Verpale back at Strong Safety (if he starts).  We add Kion Wilson.  And Nate Allen and Jerome Murpy are back after playing a lot of mins last year..

The only reason Pitt is getting looks is because of that RB.  Their QB is awful.

Posted by  Nabeel Mulla, Dayton, OH on 08/02  at  10:05 AM

Ari, USF is faced with the task of replacing the interior D-line, MLB and 2 CB’s.  We already had trouble stopping the run up the middle last year, and this year will be even more of a challenge without Jenkins and Williams taking away the deep threat.  Pitt’s biggest question is their O-line, but are pretty solid everywhere else.

Posted by  Ari Hinkelberger, Tampa on 08/02  at  09:50 AM

I still can’t seem to grasp why everyone is in love with Pitt.  They have serious QB issues and have yet to put together a decent year on Wanny.

I know the RB situation is solid up there, but Pitt really didn’t look very good last year when we played them.  I don’t understand how a team that we beat pretty soundly last year jumps a USF team that retuns 10 starters on offense and 16 all together.

Makes no sense Brett.

Posted by  Gary Blackman, Tampa on 08/02  at  07:49 AM

Brett,
when is the offical poll coming out?

Posted by  Nabeel Mulla, Dayton, OH on 08/02  at  05:59 AM

Let’s all get off Brett’s back for the Pitt ranking.  They could actually go 10-2 or 9-3 this season, and will probably coast along until the USF game.  I estimate that they’ll probably go 10-2, losing 2 out of these 3: @USF, @Cincy, WVU.  I think that the overrated Big East team is WVU.  Yes they’ve been talented, but they have a big question mark with the new head coach coming in.  They have the potential to have a drop off this year.  Could they really lose 2 in a row in the Backyard Brawl?

Posted by  Brian, Tampa on 08/01  at  06:24 PM

Personally, I’m not flipping out over the rankings.  Besides, in the coaches poll, there’s only 2 Big East teams rank.

If the AP were to resimble this poll, big deal.  That’s one more ranked opponent and helps USF’s strength of schedule if Pitt does well and USF manages to beat Pitt.

That’s my two cents.

Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/01  at  05:08 PM

Hector, actually they heard I predicted USF to go 9-3 and play Oregon in Sun Bowl before last season and was so impressed they asked me to vote. (How many times will I milk that this year?) Honestly, I don’t know the “official” rules for being picked, but I’m fairly certain the AP rotates its voters. Each state gets a specific number of votes based on the size of state, number of football programs, etc. I have no idea how the coaches do it, but I was told Leavitt decided to vote again this year because he wasn’t happy how some of the coaches voted USF last year and he wanted to at least have a small part in the voting.

Posted by  Hector Jimenez, Forsyth, GA on 08/01  at  04:26 PM

Brett....I have two questions dealing with the polls.  You and Leavitt have a vote in both the AP and the Coaches respectively, how does one get chosen?  And second, once chosen does the person get to keep the vote yearly or is it on a rotating basis?

Thanks and it’s great to see you post your vote weekly.

Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/01  at  03:26 PM

Sally, it’s located in Stillwater, Okla. Why do you ask? I thought about pulling a Spurrier and ranking the Cowboys 25th, but I didn’t want to get my vote yanked after one poll.

Posted by  Sally in St. Pete,  on 08/01  at  03:19 PM

Where in the heck is Oklahoma State????

Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/01  at  03:09 PM

Brian, no problem. Should make for an interesting year to say the least.

Posted by  Brian, Sanford on 08/01  at  03:05 PM

Thanks for the feedback Brett.

Can’t wait to see them throughout the year.

Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/01  at  03:02 PM

Brian, Clemson has arguably the nation’s best set of skill players - RBs James Davis and C.J. Spiller, QB Cullen Harper (27 TDs, six picks in ‘07), WRs Aaron Kelly and Tyler Grisham and possibly the nation’s best secondary. They return 16 starters from 9-4 team (three losses to ranked teams). I’ll admit, I might have Kansas too low. But when I look at their 11 regular season wins last year, they didn’t beat one Big 12 team that finished better than 7-6, two MAC teams, FIU and a I-AA. They did have a nice Orange Bowl win, though. As far as Pitt, I don’t expect everyone to agree, just giving my reasoning - which (shocker) could be wrong.

Posted by  Brian, Sanford on 08/01  at  02:37 PM

Brett,

I didn’t have any specific teams in mind for a comparison, but wanted to see if you’d give a broad outline.  Since you asked I could find a few questions.

I see you buy into Clemson.  Why is everyone so high on them this year?

A lot of people are giving more love to Kansas.  Why do you have them at 20?

As for Pitt, It’s no slight at you, but I think a lot of us just think USF is better than Pitt.  That’s why you’re getting the flack.

Thanks Brett.  It does look good though.

Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/01  at  01:57 PM

Brian, if you have a specific question about a couple of teams, I’ll be happy to answer it, but I’m not going to do a head-to-head comparison of all 25 teams.

Posted by  Brett McMurphy,  on 08/01  at  01:56 PM

For all the Pitt haters - I put WVU, Pitt and USF as my top three in my Big East ballot so that’s why Pitt is above USF. Why are they 15?  Because USF is 16. Perhaps I should have put USF at 25 and Pitt at 24 and no one would have a problem with it? While everyone mentions the WVU win, I think they deserve No. 15 for a few reasons: 7 returning starters from nation’s No. 5 defense, return of stud RB McCoy, settled at QB, plus they lost three games in the final minutes last year. They could have been 8-4, instead of 5-7, so would No. 15 make more sense then? Those types of games usually even out the next season. Here’s more on what I think of Pitt: http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/big-east-countdown-no-1-and-2/

Posted by  Gary Blackman, Tampa on 08/01  at  01:26 PM

fair assessment other than PITT at 15

Posted by  Brian M, Sanford on 08/01  at  01:25 PM

Brett,

Thanks for posting!

I understand the consistency of picking Pitt over USF from the Big East poll, but it just looks silly to see Pitt as high as 15.

You might be right, but I’m not sold on Pitt yet.

It looks to be a good ballot, though.

If you have time in the future would you consider jotting down your reasoning for one team over another?

Thanks Brett and keep up the good work!

-Brian

Posted by  Jim Johnson, Tampa, FL on 08/01  at  12:43 PM

Brett - Thanks for posting this as I am sure you will do all season long.

But I can’t believe you have Pitt in your Top 15. Could you explain that one?

I understand they have some talented recruits that are getting experience—perhaps Pitt 2007 was like USF in 2004, very young and inexperienced.

However, you don’t have Notre Dame in your Top 25.  I would argue the recruits Weis brought in were better than Pitt’s—and they had the same problems of youth and inexperience.

Are you seriously putting Pitt at #15 because of a single victory over WVU (who was clearly looking past Pitt, and hence fell victim to a trap game) ?

Thank you.