There they are -- what are considered the 25 best teams in college football. From No. 1 Florida down to No. 25 Kansas. The best of the best, at least in the minds of the 60 voters in the Associated Press' preseason poll.In all, there are five teams each from the Big 12 and SEC, four from the ACC, three each from the Pac-10, Big Ten and, yes, even the Mountain West. Also ranked in the Top 25 is a WAC team and Notre Dame.
Basically every conference in America is represented except for a few of the so-called mid-majors (Conference USA, the Mid-American, Sun Belt). And one other league is notably absent: the Big East. The same Big East that automatically receives a BCS bowl bid as one of the "Big Six" BCS leagues.
"I can guarantee at the end of the year there will be a Big East team ranked in the Top 25," Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said.
When the Big East was blanked in this year's AP preseason poll, it marked only the third time since the football league began in 1991 that the Big East did not have a team in the AP rankings. And unless the winner of Monday's Cincinnati at Rutgers nationally televised contest emerges with a dominating victory, the Big East's Top 25 exclusion may stretch a couple more weeks.
That's because among the teams receiving votes in the AP Poll (No. 28 Pittsburgh, No. 30 Rutgers, No. 32 West Virginia, No. 33 Cincinnati and No. 45 USF), there aren't many marquee non-conference opponents on their schedules in the opening month that could propel them into the Top 25. The exceptions would be on Sept. 19 when Cincinnati visits Oregon State and West Virginia visits Auburn; and Sept. 26 when Pitt visits N.C. State and USF visits Florida State.
Kelly, whose club has finished each of the past two seasons ranked No. 17, said he wasn't shocked by the Big East's snub because the polls are "based on name recognition and what you've done in the past" – i.e. a popularity/beauty contest.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a lot of folks don't necessarily think the eight-team Big East is that attractive.
"A lot of it has to do with perception and traditions of programs," Kelly said "We're establishing our program. It's not like we can harken back to our national championship days. A lot of it is, there are new teams that are really blazing a trail for their own kind of identity, so we're still a work in progress on that part of it."
West Virginia coach Bill Stewart has been very vocal about the strength of the Big East. "I have pounded the table," he said.
Stewart then rattled off the league's record in BCS bowl games (3-1 in last four), record in bowl games (12-4 in last 16) and record in non-conference games (winning 75 percent of the time).
"I can't tell you why we get hammered," Stewart said. "I guess everyone thinks we're a basketball league. They're full of baloney."
One stat Stewart conveniently forgot was the league's 6-14 record in non-conference games against AP ranked opponents since Cincinnati, Louisville and USF joined the Big East in 2005. However, toss out the Big East's 1-7 record in 2005 and the league is a much-more respectable 5-7 vs. AP ranked teams in the past three years.
Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt, whose club was the media's preseason pick to win the league, and USF coach Jim Leavitt said they are not really concerned with the preseason rankings.
"I would," Wannstedt said, "be concerned if it was the end of the season, maybe."
UConn's Randy Edsall had a similar viewpoint.
"I think the Big East will show its merit at the end of the season, when it really matters," he said.
Despite the Big East missing from the preseason AP and USA Today/coaches' polls, Kelly said the league has earned the respect of some other individuals who are known to have a pretty good eye at judging the talent of college football teams.
"NFL scouts know they'd better come in and watch Big East teams because we've got a lot of good NFL players," said Kelly, who had six players selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. "So if we have the respect of NFL teams out there and we've got the respect of other teams and other conferences we play against, then to me, at the end of the day, that's probably more important than what other people think about us."
