2011 Big East Positive Impact Factor: Week Eight

By Patrick_the_Ruminator Oct 26, 2011, 7:39pm EDT

Collaros is #1 again in the Big East in the Positive Impact Factor.

The realignment nightmare is not over. Now it has descended into Louisville and West Virginia fighting each other to get out of the Big East and into the Big 12. There are politicians involved now and that's probably not going to be anything good. On the field this past week, Louisville and Syracuse shook up things in the Big East standings with wins over Rutgers and West Virginia. Turning to the Positive Impact Factor (what's this?), we can get a glimpse of what went into those wins and see if anything happened in the PIF standings.

Here's the updated standings:

**2011 Big East Positive Impact Factor: Week Eight**
Rank	Quarterback	Team	Touches	Total TD	Neg Play	XNeg Play	XPos Play	PIF
1.	Zach Collaros	Cincinnati	261	20	32.6	19.9	7.7	55.2
2.	B.J. Daniels	South Florida	313	15	33.9	16.6	4.8	54.3
3.	Ryan Nassib	Syracuse	253	17	35.6	17.4	6.7	53.7
4.	Teddy Bridgewater	Louisville	169	6	36.7	25	3.6	41.9
5.	Geno Smith	West Virginia	320	18	39.4	28.1	5.6	38.1
6.	Tino Sunseri	Pittsburgh	267	6	41.9	27	2.2	33.3
7.	Johnny McEntee	Connecticut	224	6	50.9	26.5	2.7	25.2
8.	Gary Nova	Rutgers	146	7	47.9	32.3	4.8	24.5

Zach Collaros returned to the #1 spot after his Bearcats defeated the South Florida Bulls. Collaros' outdueled B.J. Daniels in PIF 51.8 to 31.4. The only other change happened at the bottom of the standings. Idle Johnny McEntee passed Gary Nova who turned in an 18.3 PIF in Rutgers' loss to Louisville. Ryan Nassib rocked West Virginia's defense for five total touchdowns and a PIF of 91.7, the best of any Big East quarterback this season. Geno Smith's struggled against the Orange defense and only managed a PIF of 32 in a big loss. Teddy Bridgewater only turned in a 41.7 against Rutgers in a win, but that was also the highest PIF against the #1 Big East PIF ranked Rutgers defense.

Now for the defenses:

**2011 Big East Defensive Positive Impact Factor**
Rank	Team	Touches	Total TD	Neg Play	XNeg Play	XPos Play	PIF
1.	Rutgers	244	6	46.3	42.7	2.5	13.4
2.	Cincinnati	304	12	38.2	43.9	3.9	21.9
3.	Connecticut	299	12	42.8	30.4	4	30.8
4.	South Florida	305	13	40.7	29.9	4.3	33.7
5.	West Virginia	260	10	37.7	25.7	3.8	40.4
6.	Syracuse	335	15	38.8	19.7	4.5	45.9
7.	Louisville	261	10	38.3	17.7	3.8	47.8
8.	Pittsburgh	323	10	40.2	9	3.1	53.8

Rutgers and Cincinnati didn't budge from the top spots. South Florida and Connecticut remain neck and neck this season and keep trading the #3 spot back and forth. Connecticut plays tonight against Pittsburgh which should help them stay in third place as Tino Sunseri produces touchdowns at a lower rate than anybody else in the Big East. Pittsburgh's defense needed to run into a quarterback like Johnny McEntee to feel good about themselves. However, we should remember this is the Big East so strange things can happen. Both Sunseri and McEntee have had a game with a PIF of 63+ this year. Syracuse and Louisville made the biggest moves after strong games against the quarterbacks of West Virginia and Rutgers.

Check out the previous weeks of the Big East Positive Impact Factor: