As everyone knows the Gator Bowl has one more shot at the Big East/ND or they can take a Big 12 team again. After last season flopwith TT failing to bring fans do the gator bowl risk on taking the Big 12 again this season especially since ND will suck again. I will laugh so hard if the gator Bowl people get stuck with Olkie State,Colorado,KState. Next bowl shuffle the Gator Bowl just has to come back to the Big East, I can believe they would suffer another texas Tech fiasco then go back to the Big East #2/ND (once every four year) agreement

I think they may take a Big 12 team for two reasons:

1) If they are not interested in continuing the Big 12 relationship, this would be a way to end that quickly
2) They want to take ND if possible and if ND isn't an option, they'll wait it out.

They'd probably keep the contract in place, but would be less willing to take certain Big 12 teams over the Big East.

mattsarz Wrote:I think they may take a Big 12 team for two reasons:

1) If they are not interested in continuing the Big 12 relationship, this would be a way to end that quickly
2) They want to take ND if possible and if ND isn't an option, they'll wait it out.

Agree Matt.

Also, I'm not convinced this year will be a great year for Big East football.

The BE has had two excellent years in a row. Chances are it is due for a letdown.

Cheers,
Neil

i usually agree with you omni but this time i'm not agreeing with you. sfla, wvu, uconn, pitt will compete for the top 4 spots. this is the year where you'll see pitt come out and explode on most of the teams. wvu is wvu speed at every position. the passing game yes i said passing game will break out and be great. uconn is steadily improving. i love their running game. and finally who i think is the best team in the big east. i wouldda put cincinatti in the mix but the loss of thier qb is too great. loiusville lost too many weapons.

the thing about the gator bowl is what if pitt is 2nd... could our fanbase even match any b12 school heading to jax. i hate to get on my own teams fanbase but we just don't travel well.

i just wished that the gatorbowl never agreed to this bowl arrangement with the sun bowl. but it is wat it is.

wvu, ville, rutg, and uconn have done very well. Cincy did well. Time for pitt to step up for the BE, in football.

animus Wrote:the thing about the gator bowl is what if pitt is 2nd... could our fanbase even match any b12 school heading to jax. i hate to get on my own teams fanbase but we just don't travel well.

i just wished that the gatorbowl never agreed to this bowl arrangement with the sun bowl. but it is wat it is.

I think Pitt would send more than the 5000 that went last year from the B12. Pitt sent over 6000 to the Fiesta Bowl way out in Arizona, so I am pretty sure they would send more to sunny and much closer Florida than 5000 fans.

animus Wrote:i usually agree with you omni but this time i'm not agreeing with you. sfla, wvu, uconn, pitt will compete for the top 4 spots. this is the year where you'll see pitt come out and explode on most of the teams. wvu is wvu speed at every position. the passing game yes i said passing game will break out and be great. uconn is steadily improving. i love their running game. and finally who i think is the best team in the big east. i wouldda put cincinatti in the mix but the loss of thier qb is too great. loiusville lost too many weapons.

After West Virginia, which is likely to go 12-0 or at worse 11-1, I am fearful of the 8-4 mediocre effect.

The Big East is likely to have a lot of average to good teams beating each other up, but losing to the Eers. As a result I foresee a lot of 4-3 and 3-4 records in the league. This means to be good nationally, these teams will need to win their OOC games.

I think Cincinnati may be the second best team in the league this year, but I don't see them beating Oklahoma at their place. I also think they will have difficulty winning their three BE road games. So, they would likely finish 8-4.

I think UConn is going to have difficulty beating UL, UNC, RU, and USF on the road. And as bad as SU has been playing, the Huskies still haven't beaten us at the Dome. Again, a likely 8-4 record.

Meanwhile Pitt will play Iowa and WVU at home and gets USF, ND, Cincy, and UConn on the road. UConn has Pitt's number, pure and simple. And I can see Pitt losing three of the other five games to also finish at 8-4.

USF plays at UCF. At some point, you would think the Golden Knights are going to break through the barrier and beat the Bulls. This could be the year, especially if USF is looking ahead to the Kansas match-up the following week. The Bulls play at Louisville, Cincinnati, and West Virginia, so again, an 8-4 record is not out of the question.

The key to the Big East's season may be Louisville.

The Cards, which may be the fifth best team in the league talent wise, actually has the best schedule of the contenders. They could actually finish 10-2 or 9-3 at the worse, if Kragthorpe learns how to coach. If they finish at the high end, it will definitely help, especially if there are 4 other teams going 8-4.

I hope my premonition is wrong and the league pulls out another great season to make it 3 in a row, but the ACC had two teams finish 11-3 last year along with 4 others that finished 9-4 and no one considers their season last year a huge success.

Of course the difference is that the Big East could have 6 teams out of 8 finish the regular season at 8-4 or above but still - that might not be enough of a factor to impress the media to declare the season a huge success, unlike two years ago when the league had three double digit win teams and last year when we had West Virginia and three 9-3 teams.

Cheers,
Neil

mattsarz Wrote:I think they may take a Big 12 team for two reasons:

1) If they are not interested in continuing the Big 12 relationship, this would be a way to end that quickly
2) They want to take ND if possible and if ND isn't an option, they'll wait it out.

that would be my guess as well. As long as the Big 12 has a decent canidate available they take em.. and hold out for ND.

goodknightfl Wrote:

mattsarz Wrote:I think they may take a Big 12 team for two reasons:

1) If they are not interested in continuing the Big 12 relationship, this would be a way to end that quickly
2) They want to take ND if possible and if ND isn't an option, they'll wait it out.

that would be my guess as well. As long as the Big 12 has a decent canidate available they take em.. and hold out for ND.

I was traveling through Alabama yesterday, a sec hack, said he was told that the SEC was having conversation with the gator bowl about replacing the big 12. I dont know if it is true, just telling you what I heard.

animus Wrote:i usually agree with you omni but this time i'm not agreeing with you. sfla, wvu, uconn, pitt will compete for the top 4 spots. this is the year where you'll see pitt come out and explode on most of the teams. wvu is wvu speed at every position. the passing game yes i said passing game will break out and be great. uconn is steadily improving. i love their running game. and finally who i think is the best team in the big east. i wouldda put cincinatti in the mix but the loss of thier qb is too great. loiusville lost too many weapons.

I'm of the opinion the UC will find a QB before the season is underway.

Neil, if they find their QB, and get him ready in time, Oklahoma isn't unbeatable. UC's defense took a lesson from WVU's Fiesta Bowl domination of the Sooner line. Their defense is just as fast. All they need is for their offense to score more than the Sooners do. If they find their QB in time, Kelly's offense will be able to manage.

With Cotton bowl moving to Jan 2[possiable 3 out of every 6 yrs]. SEC by-laws would not be in effect & Gator could go after SEC. Hopefully they do a split with liberty, Music or Independence. If they don't, you will need 10 or 11 for Birmingham

I think that they would once again go after Big12 and keep that hope of landing Notre dame last year.
Im not sold on WV going 12-0 or 11-1. They los lots on Defense and changing coaches will have its effects. I really dont think this WV team is as talented and well rounded as last years team.
I do see them as favorites but not the runaway that some of you guys think.
Cincy,USF and UConn will be tough. Pitt could be bigest surprise.
I see the Big East champ going 10-2 and two or three others in the 9-3,8-4 range.

templefootballfan Wrote:With Cotton bowl moving to Jan 2[possiable 3 out of every 6 yrs]. SEC by-laws would not be in effect & Gator could go after SEC. Hopefully they do a split with liberty, Music or Independence. If they don't, you will need 10 or 11 for Birmingham

?!?

Cubanbull Wrote:Im not sold on WV going 12-0 or 11-1. They los lots on Defense and changing coaches will have its effects. I really dont think this WV team is as talented and well rounded as last years team.

WVU will go 12-0 if Stewart does the kind of job he did in January. I think the defense will be fine. Most of the guys who will play in the secondary have game experience. There are some good JC transfers coming in for the defensive line. WVU's linebackers may be the fastest in college football this year, and they are the real strength of this defense. If the D-line can handle the blockers, the LBs will clean up this year.

The offense won't miss a beat, if they find a replacement for Schmitt. I think Devine is going to be better than Slaton. And if the passing game works as advertised, this team is going to be special.

All we'll need is for someone else to step up for The BEast to get us an extra BCS bid.

bit
I will make abet with you that WV does NOT go 12-0. He did a great job in the bowl game but that team was loaded and SHOULD have been playing for national championship. This team while good is not as experienced and it wil not be as easy to replace guys like Slaton,Reynaud,Dingle and Magro to name a few.
You guys will be good but Stewart will ind out pretty fast that is one thing coaching a team with no pressure as he did in the bowl game when most thought WV would lose to now being the head guy and having all the pressure on you.
When you win things are wonderful, when you lose thats when a HC shows its mettle and we do not know how Stewart and this team will react to a loss.
I can say that probably Pitt,USF and UConn should be better than last year. Cincy and UL could probably be also.
We shall see what happens but Stewart has NOt experienced what it is being a HC at WVU if they lose to a team like Colorado etc and he starts being compared to RichRod

I'll pass on the bet cuban. I'm not sure about it. You'll notice I used the word IF a good bit.

Saying that, however, I will say that if WVU is 11-0 when USF comes to town, they'll be unbeaten when the Bulls leave town. Bet on that?

Ill see u in Morgantown for the Big East championship

I'll be in the Blue Lot.