1. West Virginia (5-1, 1-0): The Mountaineers may lose a game somewhere along the way, but they got rid of nemesis South Florida. They still look like clearly the best team in this league.
2. Cincinnati (3-3, 1-0): Outside of West Virginia, no team has played better the past three games than the Bearcats. One caveat: their defense got torched in the first half by Louisville on Friday night.
3. Pittsburgh (3-3, 1-0): After one week in the cellar, the Panthers climb back into the top three with an impressive 45-14 win at Syracuse. Perhaps this team is slowly putting things together. It still has as much individual talent as any team in the league.
4. Rutgers (4-2, 1-0): The Scarlet Knights escaped in overtime against Army on Saturday, and the way they play might guarantee nail-biters the rest of the way. The next test will be a conference road game at Pitt.
5. Louisville (3-3, o-1): The Cardinals move up a spot despite losing 35-27 to Cincinnati. Their offense is vastly improved, and despite defensive shortcomings, they will give teams fits this year. At least they performed better against one of the supposed title contenders at home than ...
6. Syracuse (4-2, 1-1): Was losing at home to the team picked to win the Big East a terrible thing? No. Was losing by 31 points bad? Yes. Yes, it was.
7. Connecticut (3-3, 0-1): The Huskies didn't play last week and haven't gotten it done in a big spot yet this season. This week's road game against Louisville is all but a must-win if they want to do anything worthwhile this year.
8. South Florida (3-3, 0-2): The Bulls have one of the best defenses in the league, but right now their offense makes Rutgers look like a scoring juggernaut. The loss to Syracuse at home seems worse now after what Pitt did to the Orange. A losing record and an extended vacation in December is becoming more of a possibility for Skip Holtz's first year.