Post by elp525 on Nov 23, 2010 8:03:10 GMT -5
Tuesday November 23, 2010
Jack Bogaczyk
As the 2010 Big East football season limps toward a conclusion, there's one thing you can't take away from the conference.
With the Thanksgiving weekend approaching, the Big East has at least as many championship contenders as the other big boys on the BCS automatic qualifying block.
West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) is a two-point underdog to Pitt (6-4, 4-1) in the 103rd Backyard Brawl on Friday. After that one, Connecticut will know much more about where it stands in the title chase (very good right now) as it faces visiting (and 1 1/2 -point underdog) Cincinnati on Saturday.
However, it's not just for the big berth that the trio in the only BCS league without a ranked team is vying.
There are the other five Big East bowl ties - Champs Sports, Meineke Car Care, Pinstripe, Compass and Beef O'Brady's or Orlando, Charlotte, the Bronx, Birmingham and St. Petersburg, if you prefer.
Well, it will be six if one among Cincinnati, Louisville and Rutgers gets to 6-6. It's no sure thing that will happen. If it doesn't, the Sun Belt Conference will get the Big East's Beefy berth at Tropicana Field.
The Gator Bowl, you ask? Not any more for the Big East. It's now Big Ten No. 4 against SEC No. 6 - which looks a lot like Penn State-Florida to me, and my glasses aren't as thick as Joe Paterno's.
After talking with several bowl folks and Big East and school officials, the conference's bowl scenario is taking shape, but with six league games left as well as two non-conference proving dates (USF-Miami, Boston College-Syracuse) there are issues still to play out.
The big winner in all of this will be whoever gets the BCS berth. The big loser could be Pitt, if the league-leading Panthers stumble and lose the BCS spot. Pitt, which doesn't travel big fan numbers, could drop all the way to Birmingham if things go wrong for Coach Dave Wannstedt's bunch.
However, it should be to no one's surprise that WVU is in good stead - thanks mostly to the fact that Mountaineer fans usually travel in big numbers. Orlando's Champs Sports Bowl wants those people theme-parking in the City that Mickey Mouse mushroomed.
There's a reason Champs Sports reps have been at most of WVU's home games this season.
If West Virginia isn't the Big East's BCS team (likely in the Fiesta Bowl against the Big 12 champ), the Mountaineers will almost surely head to the Champs $2 million payday on Dec. 28 date as the Big East's No. 2 selection against the ACC's No. 3, which could be Florida State, Miami or North Carolina State.
The caveat?
The only way it appears WVU falls below the Big East's No. 2 berth is if Notre Dame (6-5) wins at Southern Cal this Saturday and the Orlando bowl opts for a 7-5 Fighting Irish. Champs Sports can take ND once between this season and 2013).
The Meineke - a retreaded Tire Bowl - had Pitt last year, and is said to be leaning toward UConn, if the Huskies don't make their BCS debut. UConn has the three-way tiebreaker if WVU upends Pitt.
The Muffler Bowl would take WVU, if available, but if UConn and WVU are in the first two slots, don't be surprised if Charlotte (Dec. 31, noon) opts for South Florida (6-4, 3-3) against ACC No. 5 ... because another Pitt loss or two puts USF in the same ballpark as far as overall record.
The other new bowl - and a $2 million payout - for the Big East is the Pinstripe, at Yankee Stadium on the afternoon of Dec. 30. Bring your gloves, but not to catch a foul ball.
It gets the Big East's No. 4 pick, and the game can't lose geographically for a fan draw with UConn or Syracuse ... or in many other seasons, a George Washington Bridge crossing by Rutgers.
The Orange (7-4, 4-3) is probably destined this time to go to the House that George (Steinbrenner, not Ruth) Built, against the seventh pick from the Big 12 (Kansas State?).
What was a Pizza Bowl is now the Jan. 8 BVAA Compass Bowl at historic - and decaying - Legion Field. It's Big East No. 5 (hey, it could be USF, UConn or Pitt) against the ninth bowler from the SEC. Yes, SEC No. 9. That league is likely to send two teams to the BCS field, so another Sun Belt fill-in may be headed for Birmingham.
As for the Big East getting a sixth bowl-eligible team and filling the Beef O'Brady berth ... well, Louisville needs to win at Rutgers, or Rutgers needs to win over U of L and at WVU, or Cincinnati needs to win at UConn and then at home over Pitt.
The early bowl game - Dec. 21, 8 p.m. in St. Pete - will have Conference USA No. 4 on one side. That could be a Big East football wannabe, East Carolina.
So, that's the picture as it stands now. It can change with six of the eight Big East teams having two games left.
It's still all so up in the air, the Disney family of networks has decided to wait until next Monday to figure out who will play at what time on what networks on Dec. 4 among Rutgers-WVU, Connecticut-USF and Pitt-Cincinnati.
Jack Bogaczyk
As the 2010 Big East football season limps toward a conclusion, there's one thing you can't take away from the conference.
With the Thanksgiving weekend approaching, the Big East has at least as many championship contenders as the other big boys on the BCS automatic qualifying block.
West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) is a two-point underdog to Pitt (6-4, 4-1) in the 103rd Backyard Brawl on Friday. After that one, Connecticut will know much more about where it stands in the title chase (very good right now) as it faces visiting (and 1 1/2 -point underdog) Cincinnati on Saturday.
However, it's not just for the big berth that the trio in the only BCS league without a ranked team is vying.
There are the other five Big East bowl ties - Champs Sports, Meineke Car Care, Pinstripe, Compass and Beef O'Brady's or Orlando, Charlotte, the Bronx, Birmingham and St. Petersburg, if you prefer.
Well, it will be six if one among Cincinnati, Louisville and Rutgers gets to 6-6. It's no sure thing that will happen. If it doesn't, the Sun Belt Conference will get the Big East's Beefy berth at Tropicana Field.
The Gator Bowl, you ask? Not any more for the Big East. It's now Big Ten No. 4 against SEC No. 6 - which looks a lot like Penn State-Florida to me, and my glasses aren't as thick as Joe Paterno's.
After talking with several bowl folks and Big East and school officials, the conference's bowl scenario is taking shape, but with six league games left as well as two non-conference proving dates (USF-Miami, Boston College-Syracuse) there are issues still to play out.
The big winner in all of this will be whoever gets the BCS berth. The big loser could be Pitt, if the league-leading Panthers stumble and lose the BCS spot. Pitt, which doesn't travel big fan numbers, could drop all the way to Birmingham if things go wrong for Coach Dave Wannstedt's bunch.
However, it should be to no one's surprise that WVU is in good stead - thanks mostly to the fact that Mountaineer fans usually travel in big numbers. Orlando's Champs Sports Bowl wants those people theme-parking in the City that Mickey Mouse mushroomed.
There's a reason Champs Sports reps have been at most of WVU's home games this season.
If West Virginia isn't the Big East's BCS team (likely in the Fiesta Bowl against the Big 12 champ), the Mountaineers will almost surely head to the Champs $2 million payday on Dec. 28 date as the Big East's No. 2 selection against the ACC's No. 3, which could be Florida State, Miami or North Carolina State.
The caveat?
The only way it appears WVU falls below the Big East's No. 2 berth is if Notre Dame (6-5) wins at Southern Cal this Saturday and the Orlando bowl opts for a 7-5 Fighting Irish. Champs Sports can take ND once between this season and 2013).
The Meineke - a retreaded Tire Bowl - had Pitt last year, and is said to be leaning toward UConn, if the Huskies don't make their BCS debut. UConn has the three-way tiebreaker if WVU upends Pitt.
The Muffler Bowl would take WVU, if available, but if UConn and WVU are in the first two slots, don't be surprised if Charlotte (Dec. 31, noon) opts for South Florida (6-4, 3-3) against ACC No. 5 ... because another Pitt loss or two puts USF in the same ballpark as far as overall record.
The other new bowl - and a $2 million payout - for the Big East is the Pinstripe, at Yankee Stadium on the afternoon of Dec. 30. Bring your gloves, but not to catch a foul ball.
It gets the Big East's No. 4 pick, and the game can't lose geographically for a fan draw with UConn or Syracuse ... or in many other seasons, a George Washington Bridge crossing by Rutgers.
The Orange (7-4, 4-3) is probably destined this time to go to the House that George (Steinbrenner, not Ruth) Built, against the seventh pick from the Big 12 (Kansas State?).
What was a Pizza Bowl is now the Jan. 8 BVAA Compass Bowl at historic - and decaying - Legion Field. It's Big East No. 5 (hey, it could be USF, UConn or Pitt) against the ninth bowler from the SEC. Yes, SEC No. 9. That league is likely to send two teams to the BCS field, so another Sun Belt fill-in may be headed for Birmingham.
As for the Big East getting a sixth bowl-eligible team and filling the Beef O'Brady berth ... well, Louisville needs to win at Rutgers, or Rutgers needs to win over U of L and at WVU, or Cincinnati needs to win at UConn and then at home over Pitt.
The early bowl game - Dec. 21, 8 p.m. in St. Pete - will have Conference USA No. 4 on one side. That could be a Big East football wannabe, East Carolina.
So, that's the picture as it stands now. It can change with six of the eight Big East teams having two games left.
It's still all so up in the air, the Disney family of networks has decided to wait until next Monday to figure out who will play at what time on what networks on Dec. 4 among Rutgers-WVU, Connecticut-USF and Pitt-Cincinnati.
