At the Big East's annual Football Media Day on July 26th, the media selected the Miami Hurricanes to win the Big East this fall, with the Hokies being picked second and the Pittsburgh Panthers third.

Here is the complete run-down of the voting, with the total number of points and the number of first place votes in parentheses:

This is the 7th time in 9 years (1993-2001) that the Hurricanes have been picked first. From 1993-2000, Miami won three championships after being picked first 6 of 8 times. The exceptions to the Canes being picked first were 1996, when Syracuse was picked to win the league, and 1998, when WVU was preseason #1. The Hurricanes won the league outright in 1994 and 2000, and shared the title with Virginia Tech and Syracuse in 1996 (source: 2000 Big East Football Media guide).

This is the third straight year (1999, 2000, and 2001) the Hurricanes and Hokies have been picked to finish 1-2 in the conference. In 1998, after both teams struggled in 1997, they were picked to finish third (Miami) and fourth (VT) behind WVU (first) and Syracuse (second). In 1997, Miami was picked first, Syracuse second, and Tech third.

The #3 prediction for the Pittsburgh Panthers is the first time Pittsburgh has been ranked that highly by the Big East media. WVU's 6th-place prediction is their second in a row.

The Hurricanes return quarterback Ken Dorsey and an experienced, talented offensive line, plus 8 starters from last year's 34th-ranked defense. Virginia Tech returns 9 starters from last year's 27th-ranked defense. On offense, the Hokies lost Michael Vick and four of five offensive linemen, but they bring back national scoring leader and co-Big East Offensive Player of the Year Lee Suggs (28 regular season TD's, 168 points), plus flanker Andre Davis.

Pittsburgh will be led by Biletnikoff Award Winner Antonio Bryant, the national leader in yards-per-game in receiving last season (130.2 ypg). The Panthers also return 10 of 11 starters on a defense that finished 29th in the nation last year, led by All-Big East defensive end Bryan Knight.

Running back William Green, who finished second in the Big East last year in rushing, is back for Boston College. Syracuse is headlined by last year's league-leading sack artist, Dwight Freeney. West Virginia (with new coach Rich Rodriguez), Temple (20 of 22 starters back), and Rutgers (with new coach Greg Schiano) round out the list.

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