As promised, here's Part II of the mailbag. (Read Part I here).
Josh from Bozeman, Mont., writes: In your chat last week you said you said that as of now you would give the edge to Pitt against Cincinnati. Yet in your bowl projections you have Cincinnati in the Sugar and Pitt in the Gator. What gives? Did you have a change of heart during the bye week?
Brian Bennett: Josh, I was responding to several questions last week from people who wanted my early prediction on Pitt-Cincinnati. I was leaning toward Pitt then and still am slightly. But I want to see what happens this weekend, especially with Tony Pike coming back for Cincinnati and with the Panthers facing West Virginia on the road. After that, I'll be ready to make my official prediction.
For the bowl projections, I'm using the full body of work and projecting out slightly. For now, Cincinnati has had the better year. Thank goodness this will actually be settled on the field Dec. 5.
Rick S. from Berkeley Springs, W.Va., writes: My son in Kansas City says that Mark Mangino will be fired at Kansas and one of the top coaching candidates to be considered for that job is Randy Edsall. Have you heard anything to confirm this?
Brian Bennett: This is all pure speculation at this point. Mangino is still the Jayhawks coach, though he's certainly under fire and it looks like he's in big-time trouble right now.
If Mangino is let go, then you will hear Edsall's name bandied about because of his connection with Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins, the former UConn A.D. who brought Edsall to Storrs. I'm not sure Kansas is that much better of a job than UConn, though. Edsall turned down overtures from Syracuse, his alma mater, last year and seems committed to Connecticut. But he has definitely earned a lot of national respect this year for the way he has handled a difficult time in the wake of Jasper Howard's death. If he's not on a lot of athletic directors' short list, then he should be.
Steve from Rome, N.Y., writes: I have been a Syracuse season ticket holder for 19 years and never have I been any prouder of an Orange team than I was Saturday. With no shot at a bowl and all of the defections, suspensions, and injuries to numerous key players, they continued to play hard and were rewarded with a deserved upset of Rutgers. What are your impressions of Doug Marrone's first year and the future of the program?
Brian Bennett: I think if you would have told Orange fans before the season that they would enter the final week with a chance to get their fifth win, they probably would have taken that. After all, Greg Robinson only won four games once in his four years, and Marrone has accomplished that despite a tough nonconference schedule and a very thin roster. I've been impressed with the discipline Marrone has instilled, and I think he's doing all the right things to bring Syracuse back to being competitive. Now he just needs more players.
Ken from Philadelphia writes: Hey, Brian, "experts" are killing Pitt for losing to NC State. While I will agree its a bad loss, it seems that if USC only had the one loss to a bad Washington team, the same experts were ready to give them a pass into a BCS bowl. Is this just a case of its USC and they do this every year, or nobody believes in the coach at Pitt?
Brian Bennett: I'm not sure it's apple-to-apples with your comparison, Ken. For one, USC was playing on the road in conference play against a former assistant coach who knew the Trojans well, and they didn't have quarterback Matt Barkley or All-American safety Taylor Mays for that game. Also, they had already proven themselves with a win at eventual Big Ten champ Ohio State on the road. Pitt doesn't really have anything else on the résumé or any ready-made excuses for losing that NC State game (though middle linebacker Adam Gunn's injury played a key role).
Neither Washington no NC State has been very good, but at least the Huskies beat Arizona, played LSU close and have been very competitive in a strong Pac-10. NC State has wins over two FCS teams, Maryland and Pitt -- and that's it. Mostly, though, it comes down to USC getting the benefit of the doubt for its track record for success. Pitt hasn't earned that benefit just yet.
Katherine from New York writes: So, it's clear to all by now that B.J. Daniels is on fire when he's good and colder then ice when he's bad. I know, too, that some players haven't made catches they should have, but still. Do you think, like I hope, that it's just his young inexperience that is what is causing the up-and-down play? He should work out the problems or at least most of them by next year if he's as good as they're saying he's going to be, right?
And if he does, do you think we will be able to do what we have to next year to contend for the Big East title?
Brian Bennett: Peaks and valleys are to be expected from any first-year freshman quarterback. Daniels has been great at times (Louisville, Florida State) and pretty bad at others (Pitt, Rutgers). What concerns me is that, like Matt Grothe before him, so much of the offense is placed on his shoulders. I'd still like to see South Florida develop a more consistent running game so its quarterback doesn't have to make seemingly every single play on the field. That said, I think Daniels is a special talent who should only get better.
As for competing for the Big East title, that's a separate issue. The program has to figure out why it can't beat the better teams in the league except for West Virginia. The Bulls are young in a lot of spots but also lose many significant players on defense, like George Selvie, Nate Allen, Kion Wilson and possibly Jason Pierre-Paul. They should be loaded on offense next year, but again, Daniels can't do it all alone.
Josh from Bozeman, Mont., writes: In your chat last week you said you said that as of now you would give the edge to Pitt against Cincinnati. Yet in your bowl projections you have Cincinnati in the Sugar and Pitt in the Gator. What gives? Did you have a change of heart during the bye week?
Brian Bennett: Josh, I was responding to several questions last week from people who wanted my early prediction on Pitt-Cincinnati. I was leaning toward Pitt then and still am slightly. But I want to see what happens this weekend, especially with Tony Pike coming back for Cincinnati and with the Panthers facing West Virginia on the road. After that, I'll be ready to make my official prediction.
For the bowl projections, I'm using the full body of work and projecting out slightly. For now, Cincinnati has had the better year. Thank goodness this will actually be settled on the field Dec. 5.
Rick S. from Berkeley Springs, W.Va., writes: My son in Kansas City says that Mark Mangino will be fired at Kansas and one of the top coaching candidates to be considered for that job is Randy Edsall. Have you heard anything to confirm this?
Brian Bennett: This is all pure speculation at this point. Mangino is still the Jayhawks coach, though he's certainly under fire and it looks like he's in big-time trouble right now.
If Mangino is let go, then you will hear Edsall's name bandied about because of his connection with Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins, the former UConn A.D. who brought Edsall to Storrs. I'm not sure Kansas is that much better of a job than UConn, though. Edsall turned down overtures from Syracuse, his alma mater, last year and seems committed to Connecticut. But he has definitely earned a lot of national respect this year for the way he has handled a difficult time in the wake of Jasper Howard's death. If he's not on a lot of athletic directors' short list, then he should be.
Steve from Rome, N.Y., writes: I have been a Syracuse season ticket holder for 19 years and never have I been any prouder of an Orange team than I was Saturday. With no shot at a bowl and all of the defections, suspensions, and injuries to numerous key players, they continued to play hard and were rewarded with a deserved upset of Rutgers. What are your impressions of Doug Marrone's first year and the future of the program?
Brian Bennett: I think if you would have told Orange fans before the season that they would enter the final week with a chance to get their fifth win, they probably would have taken that. After all, Greg Robinson only won four games once in his four years, and Marrone has accomplished that despite a tough nonconference schedule and a very thin roster. I've been impressed with the discipline Marrone has instilled, and I think he's doing all the right things to bring Syracuse back to being competitive. Now he just needs more players.
Ken from Philadelphia writes: Hey, Brian, "experts" are killing Pitt for losing to NC State. While I will agree its a bad loss, it seems that if USC only had the one loss to a bad Washington team, the same experts were ready to give them a pass into a BCS bowl. Is this just a case of its USC and they do this every year, or nobody believes in the coach at Pitt?
Brian Bennett: I'm not sure it's apple-to-apples with your comparison, Ken. For one, USC was playing on the road in conference play against a former assistant coach who knew the Trojans well, and they didn't have quarterback Matt Barkley or All-American safety Taylor Mays for that game. Also, they had already proven themselves with a win at eventual Big Ten champ Ohio State on the road. Pitt doesn't really have anything else on the résumé or any ready-made excuses for losing that NC State game (though middle linebacker Adam Gunn's injury played a key role).
Neither Washington no NC State has been very good, but at least the Huskies beat Arizona, played LSU close and have been very competitive in a strong Pac-10. NC State has wins over two FCS teams, Maryland and Pitt -- and that's it. Mostly, though, it comes down to USC getting the benefit of the doubt for its track record for success. Pitt hasn't earned that benefit just yet.
Katherine from New York writes: So, it's clear to all by now that B.J. Daniels is on fire when he's good and colder then ice when he's bad. I know, too, that some players haven't made catches they should have, but still. Do you think, like I hope, that it's just his young inexperience that is what is causing the up-and-down play? He should work out the problems or at least most of them by next year if he's as good as they're saying he's going to be, right?
And if he does, do you think we will be able to do what we have to next year to contend for the Big East title?
Brian Bennett: Peaks and valleys are to be expected from any first-year freshman quarterback. Daniels has been great at times (Louisville, Florida State) and pretty bad at others (Pitt, Rutgers). What concerns me is that, like Matt Grothe before him, so much of the offense is placed on his shoulders. I'd still like to see South Florida develop a more consistent running game so its quarterback doesn't have to make seemingly every single play on the field. That said, I think Daniels is a special talent who should only get better.
As for competing for the Big East title, that's a separate issue. The program has to figure out why it can't beat the better teams in the league except for West Virginia. The Bulls are young in a lot of spots but also lose many significant players on defense, like George Selvie, Nate Allen, Kion Wilson and possibly Jason Pierre-Paul. They should be loaded on offense next year, but again, Daniels can't do it all alone.
Brian Bennett | email
College Football- ESPN.com Big Ten blogger
- Joined ESPN.com in 2008
- Wrote for The Courier-Journal
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Andrea Adelson
Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.
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