2011 Big East Positive Impact Factor: Week One

by Patrick_the_Ruminator on Sep 7, 2011 9:08 PM EDT in Big East Stats

Now that the first week of the season (and an 8-0 for the Big East at that!) is in the books, it's time for some reflection on the performance of the quarterbacks using the Positive Impact Factor (what's this?). This will be an ongoing theme as Mengus has declared it the "Year of the Quarterback in the Big East."

Unfortunately, I can't give you a national rank yet (I'll come back and fill those in later) as I haven't been able to go through all the games from week one. My computer decided to break down right as the season was starting and I've had to build a new one, which was also the reason for my recent unplanned vacation from posting.

Here is how the Big East quarterbacks looked in Week 1 (min. 14 touches to be ranked nationally):

**2011 Big East Positive Impact Factor: Week One**
Rank	QB	Team	Touches	Total TD	Neg Play	X Neg Play	X Pos Play	PIF
	Zach Collaros	Cincinnati	24	4	29.2	0	16.7	87.5
	Ryan Nassib	Syracuse	30	3	30	0	10	80
	Geno Smith	West Virginia	38	2	28.9	0	5.3	76.3
	B.J. Daniels	South Florida	42	1	35.7	0	2.4	66.7
	Johnny McEntee	Connecticut	13	0	38.5	0	0	61.5
	Gary Nova	Rutgers	17	1	64.7	0	5.9	41.2
	Chas Dodd	Rutgers	17	1	47.1	25	5.9	33.8
	Tino Sunseri	Pittsburgh	35	1	33.3	28.6	2.9	28.6
	Will Stein	Louisville	38	1	44.7	33.3	5.3	27.2

In the case of Connecticut, Paul Pasqualoni had not chosen a quarterback and used three. I picked McEntee for the standings because he had the most touches of the QBs used. Of the returning starting quarterbacks in the Big East who played last week, only Sunseri and Dodd played under their career averages. Ryan Nassib stands out for playing well above his career average of 35.8. Only Nassib and B.J. Daniels played BCS competition in their first game of the season.

Now for the defenses:

**2011 Big East Defensive Positive Impact Factor**
Rank	Team	Opponent	Touches	Total TD	Neg Play	X Neg Play	X Pos Play	PIF
	Cincinnati	Austin Peay	25	0	40	157.1	0	-97.1
	Rutgers	NC Central	41	0	63.4	43.2	0	-6.6
	Louisville	Murray State	48	0	41.7	35.3	0	23
	South Florida	Notre Dame	53	2	39.6	33.3	3.8	30.8
	Connecticut	Fordham	34	0	44.1	14.3	0	41.6
	Pittsburgh	Buffalo	57	1	33.3	11.8	1.8	56.7
	Syracuse	Wake Forest	59	3	33.9	11.8	5.1	59.4
	West Virginia	Marshall	23	0	30.4	0	0	69.6

Overall, it was a very good week for the Big East defenses against opposing QBs. Out of eight games, Big East opponents' quarterbacks only produced six touchdowns at a rate of 1.8% of their touches. Opposing quarterbacks were forced into 15 turnovers at a rate of 4.4% of their touches. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Cincinnati's rating was the best in the country for week one. They forced turnovers from Austin Peay's quarterback on 12% of his touches. The competition is a stronger for the Big East this week so don't be surprised if those numbers come way down for teams such as Cincinnati and Rutgers.

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