ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

Just another Tuesday in paradise. Let's get to your e-mails:

Chris from Florida writes: I understand the reservations about USF because of their history of performance in October and Big East play. What I don't understand is how that should affect rankings. How is it fair to rank a team based partly on how they did in past years and how people think they might perform in future games? Shouldn't rankings reflect what a team has done from the start of the current season to the point it's at presently? Just another point about how bias affects the BCS system. Second unrelated question: What do you see in the next four years of USF's future with B.J. Daniels and more talented recruiting classes every year? Don't be afraid to speculate.

Brian Bennett: In a perfect world, rankings should only reflect what has happened on the field in the current season, Chris. But you can't forget that these are humans voting in the polls. Of course people are going to have biases and remember the times they were burned before. The other thing with the Bulls, I think, is a severe disrespect for their schedule leading into the Florida State game, as well as some skepticism over the Seminoles, who seem incapable of putting two good games together. I think the Bulls deserve to be ranked, but it's not a huge deal. They're right on the cusp and should get in if they win at Syracuse. Then if they can beat Cincinnati at home, they could shoot up the polls quickly.

As for the future, I love the talent that's being assembled there. We saw some of it Saturday, with Daniels, receiver Sterling Griffin, linebacker Sam Barrington, running back Lindsey Lamar and safety Jon Lejiste all playing key roles as freshmen. And don't forget Ryne Giddins, who's like 10th in the defensive line rotation because that unit is so good. This team should only get better and better, and if it's not competing for the Big East title every year, something is wrong.

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T.K. from Pittsburgh writes: You should drop Pitt down below Rutgers and UConn. It's pretty obvious this team doesn't have the defense to compete at a BCS level. Syracuse will surpass the Panthers as well. If Pitt doesn't want to lose all dignity then they need a win over Louisville, which is about 50-50. But, hey, thanks for the respect.

Brian Bennett: It was a close call between Pitt and UConn in my power rankings this week. I decided not to punish the Panthers too severely for losing on the road by a touchdown to a decent ACC team. I still have questions about whether UConn's offense is good enough for it to compete week in and week out in the Big East. Pitt's defense has really only been bad in two of the four games it has played, but those two were such poor performances that it's kind of astounding. The Panthers absolutely must beat Louisville this week to maintain any credibility. Speaking of Pitt ...

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Brandon from Pittsburgh writes: Pitt had a lot of problems with the game against NC State. I think the biggest of which was shown in the fourth quarter. It looked like the players got bored, looked forward to Friday night's game at Louisville. It looked like they stopped playing. Maybe they just ran out of gas, but with a strength and conditioning program like the one run by Buddy Morris ... doubtful. This has been going on all year. Everything stops in the second half for Pitt. Maybe it'll be a lack of focus that'll kill the Panthers this year if it's not fixed?

Brian Bennett: I doubt they got bored. And conditioning is probably not the problem, although the defensive line rotation is not as deep as it looked in the preseason. Clearly there are some coverage problems in the secondary. And the offense, after scoring 31 points in a little under three quarters, just couldn't get anything going after that. Maybe the NC State loss will be a good wake-up call, kind of like the Rutgers blowout was a year ago. This Pitt team has too much talent to play that poorly.

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Andrew from Meriden, Conn., writes: One of the biggest questions among the Husky fans here in CT after the last two wins is: is Cody Endres our new QB or will Zach Frazer start again when he gets healthy (probably our next game against Pitt in a couple weeks)? A lot of people here seem to have varying opinions on the matter and I would like to get your input. Personally, if you compare stats and results it's clear to me that Endres deserves the spot. He has remained calm and composed, delivered strong throws, made smart decisions, and not turned the ball over --- I can't say the same of Frazer so far. However, the coaches must have seen something in Frazer to give him the spot to begin with (word is they liked his leadership skills), so I don't know.

Brian Bennett: I'm not privy to all the little things that UConn coaches see every day -- things like how prepared the quarterbacks are in meetings, how they lead the team, how they make the checks at the line of scrimmage. So I would just have to base my opinion on what I've seen on the field and stats. And judging just by that, I would say Endres looks like the better option. He might not bring as much potential as Frazer, but he's very steady and most importantly, doesn't turn the ball over. Frazer has had a major problem with interceptions, although it must be noted that not all interceptions are the quarterback's fault. It seems to me UConn's offense needs a guy under center who's accurate and dependable, and that would appear to describe Endres at this point.

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Christopher from Fayetteville, N.Y., writes: Do you think the last second loss to Minnesota could end up being the difference between Syracuse going to a bowl or going 5-7? Also, the Syracuse receivers seem to have a lot of dropped balls. Do you think the Orange could be 3-1 or at a long shot 4-0 if the receivers hadn't dropped passes at key times?

Brian Bennett: Well, I don't think Syracuse was going to beat Penn State under any circumstance. But that's an interesting question about the Minnesota game. Had the Orange held on, they'd be 3-1, with a game against Akron at home still on the schedule. Then they'd only have to win two Big East games (which, of course, has been difficult for them to accomplish of late) to get to 6-6. It's tough to play that what-if game, though. What if Mike Kafka hadn't thrown that interception late in the Northwestern game and the Wildcats went down and got a field goal? Then you're staring at a 1-3 record.

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Newman from Cincinnati writes: Coming into the season, everyone thought that Cincinnati's defense was our biggest concern. We shut down Jacquizz Rodgers. Ryan Mathews came in averaging about nine yards a carry, but only got 3.8 on Saturday. Is our defense still a concern?

Brian Bennett: Hello, Newman. (That never gets old for me.) The defense has exceeded all expectations, no question about it. The one place that's still a little bit of a concern is the secondary. At least, Brian Kelly keeps saying he's concerned about it. The Bearcats are young back there and are now dealing with some injuries, which is why Marcus Barnett started at cornerback against Fresno State. Kelly was so worried that he stayed in Cover 2 the whole game instead of helping out against the run, which is why Fresno was able to dominate the time of possession. Obviously, that strategy isn't going to work against the better Big East teams. But Cincinnati has a couple of weeks to work on it and get healthier.

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Hutch from Hamilton, N.J., writes: OK, most of the nonconference schedule is over, and the Big East has done what it needs to do. Win on the road. Conference teams have beaten opponents from the Pac-10 (Oregon State), Big 12 (Baylor) and ACC (Maryland, Florida State) on the road. We have not lost to an FCS team (unlike the ACC). Does this mean that we are finally going to get some national respect? I wonder this because all I hear about the USF/FSU game is how Florida State is inconsistent over a supposed "mid-level" Big East team going into one of the most hostile enviroments in the game and winning. Is whenever we get a big nonconfernece win going to be marred by excuses on why the other team lost over how our teams might be better?

Brian Bennett: I do think the Big East has earned some respect. I do not hear the bashing and criticism any more, and many pundits have given out mea culpas for saying the league would be terrible. (Like this one here). I think people now recognize that the Big East can play a little. The conference still isn't getting a lot of high praise, and I think that's because the schedule provided so few opportunities against highly ranked teams. Not enough attention, though, was paid to how many of those games were on the road.

I also find your question about excuses interesting. When a few national-type people who weren't at the South Florida-Florida State game asked me about it, they focused on the mistakes FSU made. If you watched that game closely, you realized that most of the Seminoles "mistakes" were actually caused by the Bulls' aggressive, hard-hitting defense. South Florida was clearly the better team that day. Hey, that's life in the Big East. It's a continual quest for respect.