The Big East as a whole went 5-3 last weekend. On paper, that's not great but it's not devastating.
Dig a little deeper and you see the Big East played three MAC teams and two Conference USA teams and went 3-2. Not great again but nothing to cry about, right? Well, look closer.
Akron beat Syracuse. Gach.
UConn needed overtime to beat Temple. Fech.
Mighty South Florida needed overtime to beat Central Florida. Meh.
Pittsburgh, who already lost to a non-BCS team, had the lone "blowout" with a 27-16 win over Buffalo, who trailed the Panthers by 1 at halftime. Hooray?
And then there's West Virginia. 3 points against a Conference USA team? Really?
Coupled with Cincinnati's loss to Oklahoma and last week's mediocre season opening, the conference is sending a very clear message to all the Big East haters out there...We were just kidding about being a true BCS conference. The conference was barely able to hold its own against multiple non-BCS conferences, it's best teams struggled and/or lost and we barely competed against a fellow BCS team. I don't really blame Cincy as much though, that was a tall order. But as for the rest of the conference, unacceptable.
Look, are they going to disband the conference or kick us out of the BCS because of this weekend? No. But the Big East has no room for error when it comes to proving we belong with the big boys. As of now, we will officially have no teams in the Top 10 and probably none in the Top 15. We're reverting back to pre-2004 national levels at an alarming rate. We don't have the conference depth to replace our top teams if they falter. Every BYU, East Carolina and Fresno State that passes us by just drives the message home ever harder.
It's weekends like this last one that makes it that much more imperative for Syracuse to have a credible program. Even a mediocre Syracuse program helps bring a little stability to times like these, rather than dragging it all down even further. That said, we can't be accountable for 24-3 losses by West Virginia to Conference USA teams. Jesus...
Oh, I fear the "Syracuse Rule" could be rearing it's ugly head this season. At least we will only be involved with it in name-only.
(Photo: AP)
Dig a little deeper and you see the Big East played three MAC teams and two Conference USA teams and went 3-2. Not great again but nothing to cry about, right? Well, look closer.
Akron beat Syracuse. Gach. UConn needed overtime to beat Temple. Fech.
Mighty South Florida needed overtime to beat Central Florida. Meh.
Pittsburgh, who already lost to a non-BCS team, had the lone "blowout" with a 27-16 win over Buffalo, who trailed the Panthers by 1 at halftime. Hooray?
And then there's West Virginia. 3 points against a Conference USA team? Really?
Coupled with Cincinnati's loss to Oklahoma and last week's mediocre season opening, the conference is sending a very clear message to all the Big East haters out there...We were just kidding about being a true BCS conference. The conference was barely able to hold its own against multiple non-BCS conferences, it's best teams struggled and/or lost and we barely competed against a fellow BCS team. I don't really blame Cincy as much though, that was a tall order. But as for the rest of the conference, unacceptable.
Look, are they going to disband the conference or kick us out of the BCS because of this weekend? No. But the Big East has no room for error when it comes to proving we belong with the big boys. As of now, we will officially have no teams in the Top 10 and probably none in the Top 15. We're reverting back to pre-2004 national levels at an alarming rate. We don't have the conference depth to replace our top teams if they falter. Every BYU, East Carolina and Fresno State that passes us by just drives the message home ever harder.
It's weekends like this last one that makes it that much more imperative for Syracuse to have a credible program. Even a mediocre Syracuse program helps bring a little stability to times like these, rather than dragging it all down even further. That said, we can't be accountable for 24-3 losses by West Virginia to Conference USA teams. Jesus...
Oh, I fear the "Syracuse Rule" could be rearing it's ugly head this season. At least we will only be involved with it in name-only.
(Photo: AP)