ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

Shawn from Hollidaysburg, Penn., writes: Brian, in your latest power rankings you typed that you were "taking into account the bowl results." Cincinnati and Pitt scored a grand total of 7 points and both lost. It is one thing to lose a bowl game, but Pitt couldn't even score 3 points. If you are truly taking into account the bowl results then I can't understand your final rankings. They just don't make any sense. I realize that both of those teams beat WVU in close games, but WVU once again gave the Big East their most exciting bowl game win of the year. If you are going to make a statement about Rutgers like "if they were playing any Big East team this weekend, they might well be favored," then you should also allow for the fact that the Mountaineer offense finally came together in the bowl game and would likely do much better against the two teams that beat them in Big East play: Pitt and Cincinnati. Also if you are rewarding Pitt and Cincinnati in the rankings for beating WVU in the regular season then why aren't you doing the same for WVU for beating Rutgers in the regular season? Yes it is pretty obvious I'm a WVU fan, but these are still valid questions.

Brian Bennett: First of all, my power rankings are obviously very subjective, and really you could order teams No. 2 through 4 any way you like and make a valid argument. When I said I was taking into account the bowls, that just means the bowl performances were added to the overall data, not becoming more important than the overall season.

I put Rutgers No. 2 because the Scarlet Knights won seven straight to end the year and were playing as well or better than any team in the league during that streak. West Virginia, though it did have the league's best bowl performance, still didn't play all that well down the stretch of the season. I thought Pitt had the better overall season, especially with the head-to-head win.

I don't think you can argue against Cincinnati as being No. 1 since the Bearcats won the conference title outright and beat all three of those teams head-to-head. (And we now Virginia Tech is better than North Carolina -- just look at the ACC results). Still, if those top four teams all played each other right now in a tournament, any of them could win it.

Greg from Tampa writes: I know USF didn't do well in conference play but one of those two wins, was against UConn, who is losing Donald Brown. Where does the justification for UConn being No. 5 and USF being No. 6 on the power rankings? Also loved the blog all season. Looking forward to the offseason with ya.

Brian Bennett: The justification is that UConn won three league games to South Florida's two and was, I thought, more competitive in league play overall. It doesn't matter that Brown is leaving, since these rankings are based purely on what happened in the 2008 season.

David Elswick from Parts Unknown writes: I think the 2008 Big East is very similar to the ACC at the point in time when Florida State finally lost a game (to UVA?). With that loss, other teams started believing they too could win and local media were more supportive of their teams. I'm a WVU fan (born in WV). But for the Big East to grow in football support they need to have a greater fan base in Ohio and PA and that will only come when teams in those states can compete for the Big East title.

Brian Bennett: Well, I don't think any one team has dominated the Big East like those old Florida State teams. Sure, West Virginia won two of three league titles, but the Mountaineers had two losses in 2007. But I do agree that it's a good thing for the league that Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are back. It makes the conference more competitive and energizes more fans. Now the Big East really needs Syracuse to get going again, and for Louisville to rebuild.

Jordan from Morgantown writes: Memories from 2008... My best memory from 2008 would be the South Florida @ WVU game. I'm a senior at WVU and it was my last home football game as a student. I had on four layers of clothes to keep me as warm as possible, topped by a white Pat White jersey, a white hat, and a white towel draped over my shoulder. When I stepped out of my apartment to go to the stadium and saw the roads, hills, and the rest of Morgantown covered with a blanket of white snow, I just knew I couldn't have picked a better time to see my final football game as a WVU student.

Brian Bennett: Thanks for sharing. That "White-Out" was pretty cool.