Whatever happens with the NFL lockout, football bettors can at least take solace in the fact that college football isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
Like the ACC, the Big East is better known for hoops than pigskin, but the Big East was even less of a marquee conference last season. <\/h3>\n
The ACC had four nationally ranked teams; the Big East had none.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, West Virginia\u2019s <\/strong>odds lead the conference at +250<\/strong> to win. \u00a0The Mountaineers\u2019 offense looks like the class of the conference. Geno Smith is a near consensus pick as the Big East\u2019s top quarterback entering 2011 and has some intriguing playmakers at his disposal, including Tavon Austin and freshman Vernard Roberts. West Virginia\u2019s defense isn\u2019t huge but defensive end Bruce Irvin is a stud. Some people are worried about the sudden swap of Dana Holgorsen for Bill Stewart as head coach. I\u2019m not. West Virginia has a great shot to win the Big East.<\/p>\n South Florida <\/strong>is right there, also with +250 <\/strong>odds. They Bulls are the sentimental favorite in that they\u2019ve been a plucky underdog and are trying to break through to BCS contender status. Skip Holtz led this team to eight wins in his first season. <\/p>\n I love the playmakers on the Bulls\u2019 defense but is B.J. Daniels a good enough quarterback to lead South Florida to the promised land? <\/p>\n He had more interceptions than touchdown passes last season.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh (+350) <\/strong>sits right behind the top two. Under new head coach Todd Graham, the Panthers\u2019 offense should really take off in a new no-huddle system. It could spell big things for quarterback Tino Sunseri and tailback Ray Graham \u2013 but how quickly will they grasp the new offense? <\/p>\n Pittsburgh may need a year to spread its wings.<\/p>\n The undefeated season under Brian Kelly just two years ago seems like a distant dream for Cincinnati (+500). <\/strong>Zach Collaros is a good enough quarterback to make the Bearcats\u2019 offense above-average. But what about the \u201cD\u201d? All 11 starters return, but that group was 88th<\/sup> against the pass and allowed 28 points per game. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n Are the Bearcats sure they wanted all those starters back?<\/p>\n Feels like Louisville (+800) <\/strong>hasn\u2019t been relevant since the Brian Brohm days. I doubt that will change in 2011. Yeah, the Cardinals won a respectable seven games last year and their running game looks good, but they lost a truckload of starters. Their entire O-line is new and they have almost zero game experience at quarterback. <\/p>\n Freshman Teddy Bridgewater may even start.<\/p>\n Rutgers (+1200), Syracuse (+1300) and Connecticut (+1800) <\/strong>bring up the rear at the sportsbook. Rutgers\u2019 downfall looks to once again be its offensive line. Chas Dodd is sweating already knowing that center Dallas Hendrikson is already out for the year with a knee injury.<\/p>\n Syracuse will have trouble keeping teams off the board with six defensive starters gone. Ryan Nassib looks like the starter but he may eventually get pushed by true freshman Terrel Hunt and Ashton Broyld.<\/p>\n Connecticut doesn\u2019t look like it will contend in 2011 but I\u2019m not sure the Huskies should have the worst odds in the conference. <\/p>\n They return nine starters on \u201cD.\u201d I suppose oddsmakers can\u2019t get past the fact that they have totally new personnel starting at quarterback and running back. Fair enough.<\/p>\n Unless you\u2019re a true believer in South Florida, the Big East shouldn\u2019t be a tough decision. Most teams in this conference are in the midst of transition periods \u2013 but not West Virginia. Its key playmakers are intact. <\/p>\n I think the Mountaineers can win the Big East and wind up ranked in the national top 25.<\/p>\n Pick: West Virginia +250<\/strong><\/p>\n CappersPicks.com brings you the only college football handicapping<\/a> guide you\u2019ll need. Use the College football previews<\/a> for the 2011 NCAA football season to help you with your college football handicapping at our top sportsbooks online this season.<\/p>\n Looking for Big East Conference football betting odds? Use the College football previews for the 2011 NCAA football season to help you with your college football handicapping, right here at Cappers Picks handicapping online…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":24097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[28750,50097,14153,2402,14149,10655,15908,1565,3007,50095,15290],"class_list":["post-39845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-28750","tag-2011-big-east-conference-picks","tag-big-east-conference","tag-big-east-football","tag-big-east-football-picks","tag-big-east-gambling","tag-big-east-odds","tag-college-football-handicapping","tag-college-football-previews","tag-conference-futures","tag-ncaa-football-futures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39845"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39862,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39845\/revisions\/39862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/big-east-logo.jpg\" "\\"big"){kind=logo}
THE FREE 2011 BIG EAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL PICK<\/h3>\n
CHECK OUT OUR BEST 2010 COLLEGE FOOTBALL CAPPERS – CLICK HERE!<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"