Pitt Football: Big East Power Rankings

New ESPN.com Big East blogger Andrea Adelson has her Big East power rankings up. Pitt isn't in first, but she does rank the Panthers pretty highly.

In Andrea's power rankings, Pitt comes in second just behind West Virginia:

2. Pittsburgh. I might be way too high on Pittsburgh right now, but I saw what Todd Graham did at Tulsa (and Rice!) and I am an early believer. I know folks question whether Tino Sunseri can run the no-huddle attack, but he will be placed in situations to succeed, and having Ray Graham in his backfield will help. So will a solid offensive line that should benefit from Chris Jacobson's move to center. The defensive line is solid as well. In fact, a big reason I have Pitt up here is because it has the potential to be the best team in the trenches.

Some may see this as homerism, but I'd also put Pitt in second. No, I don't think the Panthers are necessarily a great team, but I think the conference is down even more than last season. There are too many question marks for me to put Pitt at the top of the heap, but I'm not all that sold on the Mountaineers, either. They've lost just as much as Pitt did and are no guarantee to win the title, either.

South Florida lost very little, but they always seem to disappoint ... even more than Pitt. Syracuse could also contend, but I think that UConn, Rutgers, and Louisville have next to no shot. Rutgers and Louisville don't have all that much and the Huskies lost the best player in the conference and will be starting a new quarterback.

The team that really intrigues me is Cincinnati. The Bearcats have a nice core of offensive stars coming back, even though they lost Armon Binns, the only 1,000 yard receiver in the conference last season. The question with them, though, is always defense.

I'll have my power rankings up shortly.