Chris Dufresne’s preseason college football top 25: No. 21 Pittsburgh

The Times’ Chris Dufresne unveils his preseason college football top 25, one day (and team) at a time.

No. 21 Pittsburgh

This is the point where UCLA fans are saying: “What about us?”

Pittsburgh (21), Houston (22), Utah (23), Navy (24) and Washington (25) … what happened to us?

It is true that UCLA was No. 25 last year with the stipulation that the pick was a year early, but watch out in 2010.

UCLA fans with Web access remember stuff like that.

Of course, it presumes the Bruins aren’t ranked higher than No.21 in this year’s poll, which is, um, correct.

Eight-clap did not make the eight cut. Feel free to try out again next year.

This is not because UCLA, coming off a 7-6 season, is necessarily going to be worse. In fact, the Bruins may be better in 2010 and finish with a worse record. UCLA improved, but so did the nonconference schedule and the Pacific 10 Conference.

UCLA plays seven schools that are ranked — or going to be ranked — in the countdown. And if the Bruins thought beating unranked Kansas State at home last year was tough, wait until they try winning at Kansas State in the opener.

Also on the nonconference tap is Houston, a trip to Texas, and then league matchups against the likes of Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford and the University of Sanctions Central ( USC).

UCLA is also breaking in a new offense … the Squirt Gun?

Does all that sound like it adds up to 7-6?

But watch out in 2011.

Anyway, let’s three-river meander over to Pittsburgh, which checks in at No. 21 under a rule we adopted from Major League baseball’s All-Star game.

Here, at least one school must be represented from each major Bowl Championship Series conference, and Pittsburgh is the Big East’s entry. This is not our fault, as the Big East would have had three schools had Miami and Virginia Tech not years ago defected for the Atlantic Coast, four if former Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly had not defected for Notre Dame, and perhaps five had Rich Rodriguez been smart enough to stay at West Virginia.

Pittsburgh isn’t going to wow you in anything, and who can forget the Panthers letting the Big East title slip away with season-ending heartbreak losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati?

Pittsburgh needs to replace steady quarterback Bill Stull, with sophomore Tino Sunseri getting the call, but the offense will be tethered again to tailback Dion Lewis, the biggest thing to hit Pitt since Tony Dorsett (although Craig Ironhead Heyward was bigger). Lewis rushed for 1,799 yards last year and averaged 5.5 yards a carry.

A few tires along the front lines must be kicked and replaced, yet this team should be rough-and-tumble ready to win the Big East.

The schedule is not a tulip tiptoe, with nonconference trips to Utah and Notre Dame and an early home game against Miami.

The Big East is easy to disparage because of its history of being invaded by marauders (the Huns, Mongols, the ACC), and most people think Attila the Big Ten is headed east eventually.

The Big East is a resilient and tough league, though, one that usually outperforms expectations.

The countdown so far: 25. Washington; 24. Navy; 23. Utah; 22. Houston; 21. Pittsburgh.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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