Big East Blog Honors

I wanted to do this sooner, but I was holding out hope that there might be some late votes to come in on this. The Big East handed out its so-called "official" awards last week, this week the final votes are tallied from Big East bloggers (unfortunately a very small response). John of Mountainlair and the WVU football Fanhouse and Mike of Card Chronicle were the only other participants. You can see Mike's ballot, John's and mine.

On to the final tally:

Coaching performance from Best to Worst:

Greg Schiano, Rutgers (2) -- 23 points
Jim Leavitt, USF (1) -- 20
Bob Petrino, Louisville -- 17.5
Mark Dantonio, Cinci -- 17
Rich Rodriguez, WVU -- 12.5
Greg Robinson, Syracuse -- 7
Dave Wannstedt, Pitt -- 6
Randy Edsall, UConn -- 5

Surprised at how hard everyone came down on Randy Edsall. Lots of off-the field issues, but they still ended up finishing close to where expected. They weren't pretty, and the offense stunk. By comparison, Jim Leavitt had even more off-the-field issues (but before the season, rather than during) and drug suspensions and injuries, but had that team overachieving all season.

Greg Robinson got cut more slack than expected for a 4-8 record. A recognition of the talent not being there, but the team not quitting. Even though, there should be some questions about Robinson's decisionmaking. Dave Wannstedt and Pitt's second-half nose-dive keeps all the questions and doubts about Wannstedt being a head coach answered for many and unanswered for Pitt fans.

Offensive Player of the Year:

No consensus. Ray Rice, Pat White and Steve Slaton all were picked as the best this year.

Defensive Player of the Year:

H.B. Blades, MLB, Pitt. Unanimous choice.

The balloting of Offensive and Defensive player of the year pretty much reflects that the offense ruled in the Big East this year. So many weapons on so many teams. In an 8-team league, you can go 4-deep on QBs who many teams would like to have now with Brohm, White, Grothe and Palko. Not to mention the different styles.

Defense, on the other hand, was lacking in major star power. Rutgers had the best defense this year, but it was a unit outperforming the individuals. Is Courtney Greene better or more important to Rutgers than Rameel Meekins? That made Blades the only standout, despite being on a defense that was torched by any team with a competent O-line and running back.

Special Teams Player of the Year:

Art Carmody, K, Louisville.

Mr. Art-omatic or some other bad joke. An easy choice. Some good return guys in JuJuan Spillman (L-ville), Lowell Robinson (Pitt) and Ean Randolph (USF); but Carmody was so reliable and trustworthy. The kind of kicker coaches dream of having, but don't spend enough time trying to find.

Newcomer of the Year:

Matt Grothe, QB, USF.

Another unanimous choice/no-brainer. The reason that USF did much better than expected. Stepped in when Julmiste went down, and just won with his arm and legs. He was the USF offense for many games, and still couldn't be stopped by defenses keying on him. Tough as hell, with some of the hits he bounced back from on top of that. He's only a redshirt freshman.

Most Overrated Player:

Brendan Carney, P, Syracuse.

Hard to believe this goes to a punter on the worst team in the Big East, but it wasn't even close. Yes, as Matt Glaude has pointed out, he wasn't helped by bad snaps this year, but he just didn't do much to merit hype.

Most Surprising Team:

Cinci

Mike at Card Chronicle said it best: "We thought this would be the worst team in the Big East before the season started, but Dantonio did a hell of a job and they damn near beat two of the top three teams in the conference." I'll add that they gave every team they faced at least one half where they scared the crap out of them including: VT, OSU, Pitt, WVU and L-ville.

Most Disappointing Team:

Pitt

And I thought I was just being hard on my team, for losing the final 5 games. The way Pitt collapsed against good competition was pathetic, especially after puffing out expectations on bad teams. The team failed to improve throughout the season like good teams or teams with promise do.

UConn also received a vote for looking so bad all season. And they were (except when they played Pitt).

Way too early prediction for best team in 2007:

Louisville

Not a surprise. They look to have the most returning talent at this point. WVU will see some losses on their O-line (especially Center Dan Mozes). I think USF might be able to challenge next year -- assuming their players can avoid arrests and drug suspensions.