After blowing his motor yesterday and retiring from the race, Denny Hamlin said, “It’s like we take one step forward and two steps back.” While Hamlin was discussing his run for the title being over in this season’s NASCAR Chase, his comment holds true for one set of teams in college football: the Big East conference.
I guess I have to keep spending time defending my conference here, in the hopes that someday someone will see it and give us a glimmer of respect. But until then, let’s reason about the BCS. Mike Huguenin of Rivals.com said this early this morning about the Big East conference’s chances of getting two teams into the BCS.
“Not to be indelicate, but the BCS bowls don't really want the Big East champ, so why in the world would they want the Big East's No. 2 team?” he wrote. Let’s continue with his wisdom, sad, but probably true.
“Right now, Pittsburgh looks as if it will be the No. 2 team. The probability is extremely low a BCS bowl would extend a bid to a 10-2 Pitt team. If Pitt wins the league, the probability is exceedingly low that an 11-1 Cincinnati team would get an at-large bid. The call: Cincinnati (the champion) to the Fiesta Bowl.”
Well, let’s hear it for Huguenin who has decided to go against conventional logic and put the Big East Champ in the Fiesta Bowl. But, let’s get serious for a second, that will never happen. The Fiesta Bowl would more than likely take Texas Christian (TCU) over Cincinnati because TCU is closer to Tempe, Arizona and they’ll bring more fans.
As you know, more fans mean more money.
Every other bowl projection I’ve read at this point says the champion (and every outlet says that will be Cincinnati) will play the second place SEC team in the Sugar Bowl. That’s fair being that the Sugar Bowl has last pick of BCS eligible teams. Basically, everyone knows that the Big East is pretty weak.
Everyone but Bearcats wideout D.J. Woods, who earlier this week stated, “I guess you have to be a big school surrounded by a big stadium.’’ Truth is, you might have to be. But, here’s a good question for the “experts,” if Pittsburgh, a school with multiple national titles and numerous NFL alums is in the top ten on Dec 5th, why do they not have an opportunity to play for an at large berth in the BCS?
The simple answer: National perception. On Saturday morning before our kickoff I talked with my counterpart at Syracuse, R.J., who mentioned that the Big East is getting little love. “It’s bull****,” he said. “You guys are getting screwed by the system. It’s like they’re treating this conference like we’re a mid-major.” Which is the exact phrase fellow video guy Joe Stanek used hours earlier while we sat and watched West Virginia play South Florida in the hotel.
The Big East, a mid-major. Nothing sounds better than that, I say, sarcastically of course. Brian Kelly doesn’t agree. “Now we’re two thirds of the way through the season. We’re sitting at 8-0 and we’ve got a month to go. We’re in a pretty good position over the next four weeks. If we win four games, we’re going to go somewhere neat.”
As Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer noted last week, “True enough, and those wins over Top 25s West Virginia and Pitt would get the Bearcats just high enough to chant “We’re Number Three!” if they win their BCS bowl game.
The sad thing really is, he’s telling the truth. But for now, we sit back and wait, because it’s all moot if either Pittsburgh or Cincinnati loses before December 5th. And right now, the Big East needs all the help it can get for perception, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
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