Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

The Big East is a three-team race right now, and if you go by the rankings, West Virginia is third in that pecking order.

A lot of attention has been paid to Cincinnati and Pitt, especially since those two teams meet in the season finale on Dec. 5. Mountaineers running back Noel Devine said Tuesday night that his team is flying under the radar.

"I would say we're the underdogs," Devine said. "I like where we're sitting at right now, but we have to earn our respect. It's not going to be just given to us."

West Virginia and underdog are not words that usually go together in the Big East. The program has won two of the past four league titles, after all. Devine said there's a little bit of disrespect going on with the Mountaineers.

"Of course I'm offended," he said. "That makes me play harder. People have their opinions, but we know how our team is and what we're really capable of doing."

Teams and players love to use the "us-against-the-world" card as motivation. I'm not sure who is counting out West Virginia at this point. Sure, the Mountaineers probably have the toughest road of the three contenders, simply because they have to play at South Florida this week, they have to go Cincinnati on Nov. 13 and they have to snap a two-game losing streak in the Backyard Brawl against Pitt on Thanksgiving weekend.

But anyone who's paying close attention knows West Virginia has just as good a shot at winning this league as the other two contenders. I'd list them as tri-favorites before I'd say underdogs. If viewing themselves as unloved helps the Mountaineers play with a chip on their shoulders, though, then I guess they should roll with it.

I'll have more from Devine and his thoughts on the Heisman race later on.