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):
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:
| 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.