Preseason Blog Poll Results

Who is going to win the Big East this year? Your guess is as good as ours, but assorted BE football bloggers decided select a consensus conference favorite, also voting for all-conference teams, and projected award winners in the process.

Participating blogs:

Astro's Bulls Blog (South Florida)
Bleed Scarlet (Rutgers)
Eye of a Panther (Pittsburgh)
Orange::44 (Syracuse)
Orange Fizz (Syracuse)
The Smoking Musket (West Virginia)
The UConn Blog (Connecticut)
Troy Nunes Is an Absolute Magician (Syracuse)

If your favorite blog was not included, it was either because they apparently have no fans on the internet (Cincinnati), did not respond to invitations to participate, no contact address could be found, were unfortunately overlooked, and there was one major human oversight where a ballot was not sent in time to the popular Pitt Blather blog.

Projected order of finish (tally of first place votes in parentheses)

1. USF (3) - Big East bloggers generally loved USF, with the only major skeptic being Rutgers blog Bleed Scarlet.

2. West Virginia (2) - The votes are once again a near consensus, with Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is an Absolute Magician the only one skeptical of the Mountaineers.

3. Pittsburgh (1) - Aptly named The UConn blog projects big things for the Panthers in '09, losing only one conference game.

4. Rutgers (1) - The double reverse jinx may be in play, with Troy Nunes Is an Absolute Magician seeing the Knights rolling through a god-awful schedule to their first ever BCS berth.

5. Cincinnati (1) - There's a lot of skepticism of the Bearcats this year, likely owing to their complete overhaul on defense. Bleed Scarlet thinks that Brian Kelly and co. will manage to outscore their opponents anyway, while Syracuse blog The Orange Fizz believes that Cincy will barely manage to stay out of the conference basement.

6. UConn - UConn's projection is as boring and monotonous as their offense, with exactly four voters placing them fifth, and the other half had them sixth.

7. Syracuse - Upset of the century! The rebuilding Orange managed to stave off a crumbling Cardinals squad for seventh. The Orange Fizz actually has the Cuse finishing sixth in conference, ahead of Cincinnati.

8. Louisville - It's going to be a very long year for the once-proud Cardinals.

First Team All-Conference Roster

QB: Matt Grothe (USF)
RB: Victor Anderson (UL) - unanimous selection
RB: Noel Devine (WV) - unanimous selection
WR: Marshawn Gilyard (UC)
WR: Mike Williams (SU)
TE: Nate Byham (Pitt) - unanimous selection
OT: Anthony Davis (RU)
OT: TIE Jeff Linkenbach (UC)/Mike Hicks (UConn)
OG: Josh Jenkins (WV)
OG: Art Forst (RU)
C: Ryan Blaszczyk (RU)
K: Maikon Bonani (USF)
KR/PR: Marshawn Gilyard (UC)

DL: Scooter Berry (WV) - unanimous selection
DL: Arthur Jones (SU)
DL: Greg Romeus (Pitt)
DL: George Selvie (USF)
LB: Reed Williams (WV) - unanimous selection
LB: Ryan D'Imperio (RU)
LB: Scott Lutrus (UConn)
CB: Aaron Berry (Pitt)
CB: Brandon Hogan (WV)
S: Robert Vaughn (UConn) - unanimous selection
S: Nate Allen (USF)
P: Rob Long (SU) - unanimous selection

Second Team All-Conference Roster

QB: Tony Pike (UC)
RB: Mike Ford (USF)
RB: John Goebel (UC)
WR: Jonathan Baldwin (Pitt)
WR: Jock Sanders (WV)
TE: Mike Owen (SU)
OT: Jeff Adams (UL)
OT: Jason Pinkston (Pitt)
OG: Zach Hermann (USF)
OG: Moe Petrus (UConn)
C: Jim McKenzie (SU)
K: Jake Rogers (UC)
KR/PR: Mike Holmes (SU)

DL: Jabaal Sheard (Pitt)
DL: Terrell McClain (USF)
DL: Lindsey Witten (UConn)
DL: TIE George Johnson (RU)/Mick Williams (Pitt)
LB: Jon Dempsey (UL)
LB: J.T. Thomas (WV)
LB: TIE Kion Wilson (USF)/Lawrence Wilson (UConn)
CB: Jasper Howard (UConn)
CB: Jerome Murphy (USF)
S: Aaron Webster (UC)
S: Sidney Glover (WV)
P: Teddy Dellaganna (RU)

Team by team breakdown

UC: 7
UConn: 7
UL: 3
Pitt: 7
RU: 6
SU: 6
USF: 9
WV: 8

Honorable mention (also receiving votes)

QB: Jarrett Brown (WV), Bill Stull (Pitt)
RB: Kordell Young (RU), Delone Carter (SU), Andre Dixon (UConn), Joe Martinek (RU), Jordan Todman (UConn)
WR: Jesse Hester Jr. (USF), Timmy Brown (RU), Alric Arnett (WV), Doug Beaumont (UL), Donte Davis (SU), Carlton Mitchell (WV)
TE: Shamar Graves (RU), Kazeem Alli (UC), Ben Guidugli (UC), Tyler Urban (WV)
OT: Selvish Capers (WV), Jamar Bass (USF), Tucker Baumbach (SU), Greg Tomczyk (UL)
OG: John Malecki (Pitt), Lucas Nix (Pitt), Jeff Braun (WV), Alex Hoffman (UC), Zach Hurd (UConn), Jason Pinkston (Pitt), Kevin Haslam (RU), Jason Kelce (UC), Alex LaMagdelaine (UConn), Caleb Ruch (RU), Mark Wetterer (UL)
C: Moe Petrus (UConn), Chris Jurek (UL), Robb Houser (Pitt)
K: Dave Teggart (UConn), San San Te (RU), Shane Raupers (SU)
KR/PR: Dontavia Bogan (USF), Trent Guy (UL) Jasper Howard (UConn), Max Suter (SU)

DL: Alex Silvestro (RU), Jason Pierre-Paul (USF), Chris Neild (WV), Aaron Harris (USF), Julian Miller (WV), Curtis Young (UC)
LB: Adam Gunn (Pitt), Greg Williams (Pitt), Derrell Smith (SU), Manny Abreu (RU)
CB: Jason McCourty (RU), Johnny Patrick (UL), Dom DeCicco (Pitt)
S: Joe Lefeged (RU), Mike Holmes (SU), Boogie Allen (WV), Aaron Bagsby (UConn), Max Suter (SU)
P: Desi Cullen (UConn), Delbert Alvarado (USF), Cory Goettsche (UL)

Awards

Preseason Big East Offensive Player of the Year: Noel Devine (3)
Preseason Big East Defensive Player of the Year: George Selvie (5)
Preseason Big East Special Teams Player of the Year: Rob Long (3)
Preseason Big East Rookie of the Year: Greg Paulus (2)
Preseason Big East Coach of the Year: Jim Leavitt (3)