FanHouse Jarrett Brown

After losing to West Virginia Saturday, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz grabbed West Virginia QB Jarrett Brown to talk to him briefly.

It actually was one of the few times a Pirate got a hand on Brown.

"I told him that I've seen a lot of quarterbacks play, but I was impressed with the way he handed himself," Holtz told reporters. "He's a big quarterback. He's hard to bring down."

Holtz even went old school in complimenting Brown.

"He's a big athletic quarterback and I think he's got the whole package," Holtz said. "There was one play when I think we had him for a 1-yard loss and all of a sudden he comes plowing out of the pile like (former Miami Dolphins fullback) Larry Csonka or something."

Alternative post headline: Your Guess is as Good as Mine.

In the preseason media poll, Pitt was picked to win the conference followed by West Virginia, Cincinnati, South Florida and then Rutgers. The top four teams all received first place votes. The point difference between Pitt and No. 5 Rutgers was only 34, while the gap between Rutgers and the No. 6 team, UConn, was 48. In other words, everyone is guessing, and everyone is unsure.

Just checking the multitude of preview guides only emphasizes the confusion. The various mags have picked four different teams to finish first in the Big East. In other words, the Big East is looking a lot like the ACC of the last few years. No dominant team. Plenty of parity and coaches getting defensive about it.

[West Virginia] Coach [Bill] Stewart on the league outlook: "I don't call it parity, I call it competitive."

And somewhere in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tom O'Brien nods his head in approval.