Big East in Serious Trouble?

[The Ancient Enemy]

Well, the first week of college football for the Big East is in the books. It has already been determined that the BCS committee is reconsidering the automatic birth that the Big East holds. Let's take a look at how these teams fared.

Cincinnati vs. Eastern Michigan:
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- Cincinnati wins the contest, giving the Big East a 1-0 record so far. Cincinnati joined the conference this season to help replace Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. The Cincinnati Bearcats are not a strong football program, whereas the three teams just mentioned are all very strong programs. Eastern Michigan does have a very good WR and a better-than-average QB. However, they are a LONG TIME cellar-dweller in a mid-level conference. Cincinnati won 28-26.

Buffalo vs. UCONN:
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- UCONN is another team that joined the conference recently, making the jump from I-AA. Randy Edsall has done wonders in recruiting and getting his program ready to compete at the I-A level. They have already had a QB drafted, and this year feature two great running backs. UCONN won the game 38-0, giving the Big East a 2-0 lead. Buffalo is rated 119 out of 119 teams.

Rutgers vs. Illinois:
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- For the second year in a row, Greg Schiano's Scarlet Knights were poised to make the leap into conference contention. After last year's disappointing season, the Scarlet Knights returned a very capable QB and backfield, combined with a good defense. Illinois has been in the Big Ten cellar for a few years now, and was ushering in a new head coach who could not even win with the 2nd best pool of talent in the entire country. After a topsy-turvy game, Illinois won, making the Big East 2-1. Illinois is expected to finish no better than 2nd to last in the Big Ten.

South Florida vs. Penn State:
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- USF is a mid-level program who is slowly getting better. They are also, like Cincinnati, replacing powerhouses like Virginia Tech and Miami. Penn State is a team who cannot even make it to a bowl game when 50% of the teams in America make it to bowl games. Penn State has an inept offense and a solid defense. USF lost the game 23-13, and showed a few signs of brightness even against a strong defense. This makes the Big East 2-2. Penn State is expected to finish about 6-5 or 7-4. The Big East is now 0-2 against Big Ten competition.

Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh:
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- Pitt goes into this game with a lot of clout and a national top 25 ranking. Pitt is expected to finish in 2nd place in the Big East, and last season actually represented the conference in a BCS game that matched Pitt against undefeated mid-level conference champs Utah. The game quickly turned into a varisty team taking on a sixth-grade pick-up team. Notre Dame came into this game with no ranking, and a lot of question marks. It was even worse than the score indicated, and ND won 42-21 in a game where Pitt's lines were pushed all over the field. The Big East is now 2-3, with wins over EMU and Buffalo.

West Virginia vs. Syracuse:
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- Inter-conference battle. WVU is usually the class of the conference, and did not score an offensive touchdown against a team that has been in the cellar since Donovan McNabb graduated.

Louisville vs. Kentucky:
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- In defense of Louisville, anything can and will happen in a rivalry game. Media-darlings the Louisville Cardinals (who are very hyped and expected to represent the conference) looked pretty flat against a team who is at the very bottom of their conference every year. After UK rallied, a player fumbled the ball on the goal-line while trying to score the tying touchdown. The Louisville defense showed severe lacks, overall (a kid had 6 sacks), when they needed to step up. What is going to happen when they play a team who is not Kentucky? Besides the inter-conference battle, the Big East goes 3-3, with wins over powerhouses like EMU, Buffalo, and Kentucky.

Point being, is the Big East really as bad as some people on here are saying? Or is it still too early to tell?

[El-Moldo]

I think it's too hard to judge ANY conference after week 1 of the season. Take the Big 10 for example. Ten of the 11 teams played, with 9 teams opening at home. (It's awfully nice if you don't have to travel for the season opener). The Big Ten was 6-0 against MAC teams. How tough is a team when the average sportsman doesn't even know what their mascot is? Anyhow, here is the rundown of their games....1) #4 in the country Michigan, in the BIG HOUSE, managed to beat N.Illinois by 16.... 2) #6 Ohio State beat Miami of Ohio at home by 20....3) Iowa slaughtered Ball State who had 10 players suspended for the game. Also at home....4) At home, Michigan State beat Kent State 49-14....5) Northwestern beat Ohio U at home by the score of 38-10....6) Illinois needed overtime to beat Big East foe Rutgers in front of a sellout crowd in Champaign....7) Wisconsin gave up 42 points to Bowling Green before winning by 2 TDs....8) Minnesota, the only Big Ten team to travel for week 1, beat Tulsa by 31....9) Indiana beat Central Michigan by 7 at home. PSU plays CMU in game 3....10) PSU scores 2 offensive TDs to beat South Florida by 10 in front of roughly 99,000 home fans....11) And Purdue was off this weekend. They will open at home next weekend against the Akron ZIPS of the MAC..... So there you have it. Gonna be tough to assess a conference after ONE week of football. We all will know more NEXT weekend.

[HOLLYWOOD]

AE,

Why is the Big East in Trouble? They will be fine, just worry about that great Big 10 Conference then! Penn St. had trouble with a lower tier team in the Big East! What does that say.

[fleaflicker]

It says that while Penn State isn't that good, the Big East team USF was worse. It is hard to say whether the Big East is in trouble yet, but each team will have four out of conference battles this year, and if they don't win at least half, they'll be in some hot water yet again this year, except for possibly Louisville (the media darlings).

[HOLLYWOOD]

Very True Flea and the Bowl games will be big as well!

[The Ancient Enemy]

I did not say the Big East was in trouble. I asked what you gents thought based on my post. Moldo is right that the Big 10 played at home and played lower-tier teams. However, they won all their games, including what I would say is a decent upset in Illinois over Rutgers. As for USF, let's not call them a lower-tier team in the Big East just yet. I have heard a few sports commentators mention USF as a possible spoiler and bowl team that may be able to sneak up on some conference foes. I'm telling you, before that game Saturday, I was worried that they'd beat Penn State. USF is NOT that bad of a program. They are a newer team still to the I-A level and are virtually still unknown. Look at UCONN. If UCONN can make the leap to I-A and do well, why is it such a stretch that USF is not that far behind? Not even Fla. Atlantic and and Fla. International had horrible showings this past weekend.

I picked Louisville to go undefeated and get slaughtered by USC for the national title. This is based on the fact that Louisville is in a conference with an automatic bid, they should go undefeated based on their weaker conference competition and weaker out of conference competition, combined with the fact that no one this season seems like they are poised to go undefeated in a major conference and challenge USC for the #1 spot. Everyone is down this year. USC plays 1 good team: Notre Dame. And I say "good" because I know Weis is already getting ready to win that game. But, after this game against UK, I am not so sure Louisville can even be slated to beat Oregon State in a few weeks. Oregon State is a decent football program. What I am seeing, yet again, is a Big East conference that is full of average teams. Louisville will still win it, I'm sure.

[HOLLYWOOD]

We will see what happens AE!