West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez doesn't agree that his team's victory in the Sugar Bowl rescued the Big East from oblivion. But he doesn't mind people saying it, anyway. "I'm glad people are talking about that instead of saying, 'Oh, that loss really hurt,'" Rodriguez said Tuesday at Big East football media day. "I like to think that the league was OK regardless, but it's a positive thing to have people talk about that win." West Virginia, which went 11-1 overall in 2005 (7-0 conference) and beat Georgia 38-35 in the Sugar Bowl, was picked to win the conference in a preseason poll of Big East media released Tuesday. The Mountaineers received 18 of the 24 first-place votes; Louisville was the second choice, receiving the other six first-place votes, followed by Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Syracuse. "They went there and played one of the best schools traditionally, and had a great victory," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said of West Virginia's Sugar Bowl victory. "I believe the league got a tremendous amount of respect from that. But I think we have to do it again this year. That's the way it is every year." West Virginia is ranked from No. 2-10 in magazine and website preseason polls released so far. The USA TODAY coaches' poll will be announced Aug. 4. The Mountaineers finished No. 6 in the USA TODAY coaches' poll last year, giving hope to a conference that had experienced years of flux after the defections of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College. Louisville (9-3 in 2005) was one of the teams brought in to beef the league back up. "Louisville's very good. Watch what they do in their non-conference games," said Rodriguez, who will take the Mountaineers to Louisville for a Thursday night game on Nov. 2. "That's not going to be fun. It's almost scary what they've done at home." If the preseason polls are an indication, that game could determine the conference champion. But it's what the Big East schools do outside the league that could determine its reputation. "Beating a team like Georgia, the SEC champions, that says a lot about their conference and our conference," said West Virginia lineman Dan Mozes, an all-conference selection last year. "It established the Big East as a legitimate conference. But I don't think the conference was ever in need of a savior." Rodriguez, who last month received a three-year contract extension for more than $1 million a year, has led the Mountaineers to at least a share of three straight Big East titles. But Rodriguez said he draws a more important lesson from the 2004 team that started 8-1 before finishing 8-4. "Even when we won, we didn't win by enough. Nobody was happy. We did not enjoy any of the success we had, and it was like everybody was mad," he explained. "We still have a pretty young football team. They're going to still make mistakes. I'm not going to put too much pressure on them."