Big East gained some respect in bowl season

By Darrell Laurant  |   Friday, January 09, 2009  |  Comments( 1 )

College Football
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Now that the college football bowls have finally run their course (I'd still like to see Florida play Texas or Southern Cal), it's time to assess the postseason performance of the Big East.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Of the eight big East teams, six went bowling, and four of them won. Of the two that failed, Pitt lost just 3-0 to Oregon State (which had upset USC), and Cincinnati didn't embarrass itself in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.

True, the conference lacked a national championship contender. West Virginia's early loss to East Carolina pretty much eliminated it from title consideration, and South Florida didn't live up to expectations.

On the bright side, the conference showed admirable depth, with Cincinnati, West Virginia, Pitt and South Florida all entertaining BCS possibilities at some point during the year. That Cincinnati, the college football equivalent of a small-market team, emerged on top has to be encouraging for a lot of other blue-chip-challenged teams around the country. Both the Bearcats and their Orange bowl opponents had only a handful of five-star recruits, yet in both cases the whole was more than the sum of its parts.

The Big East emerged with a 2-1 advantage over the Atlantic Coast Conference, its natural geographic rivalry in terms of recruiting. Rutgers (whose escape from an early 1-4 grave was an inspiring story in itself) beat North Carolina State, 29-23; West Virginia edged North Carolina, 31-30, in Pat White's signature passing performance, and Cincinnati lost 20-7 to the Hokies.

The one Big East-Pac-10 matchup was arguably a standoff, and the Big East distanced itself from a couple of lesser conferences with dominating victories -- South Florida 41-14 over Memphis of Conference USA, Connecticut hammering Buffalo of the MAC, 38-20.

Now, of course, the exodus begins. It looks as if LeSean McCoy may bail out early at Pitt, and Donald Brown has bid goodbye to Connecticut, thus relieving the Big East of a couple of Heisman candidates. Actually, Brown's Heisman snub after leading the nation in rushing was a reminder that the Big East still has a ways to go before earning the respect it deserves.

Pat White will leave a yawning void at quarterback for West Virginia, and Mike Teel will finally say so long to Rutgers after what seems like seven seasons directing Greg Schiano's offense. Teel's favorite target, Kenny Britt, is also likely gone.

This would leave South Florida's Matt Grothe, who decided not to petition the NFL draft council, as the conference's marquee offensive player in 2009. Grothe is undersized by NFL standards (he's Drew Brees Lite at this point) and had an erratic junior season, so he still has some things to prove.

On defense, South Florida sackmaster George Selvie will probably exit, and Pitt All-America linebacker Scott McKillop has no choice. He's a senior, as are DB stars Mike Mickens of Cincinnati and Courtney Greene of Rutgers.

Nevertheless, the conference should be better top to bottom next season. Pitt might be the early favorite, based on its stockpile of young talent, although South Florida remains the sleeping giant. West Virginia, Rutgers and Cincinnati have some significant holes to fill, but they should benefit from some strong recent recruiting years. Connecticut must rely on defense while it rebuilds its offense, and 2008 bottom feeders Louisville and Syracuse could be a lot better. The latter, in particular, should build on the energy generated by a new coach (Doug Marrone) and some promising underclassmen.
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