The Daily Athenaeum Wrote:Big East gets no respect
Issue Date:Wednesday August 20, 2008
Section: Sports Section
By Scott Cahoon, Sports Writer

8-2 in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 bowl games.

Three-straight BCS victories.

No, this isn’t the Big Ten, the Big 12 or the ACC.

This is the Big East.

After the departures of conference heavyweights Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College, the conference was expected to weaken.

It was expected to crash and burn.

Some were calling for the disbandment of the conference, claiming that it was stealing a BCS spot from a stronger team in another conference.

Now years later, many of those same critics still won’t shut up.

The absence of those heavyweights created a different game within the Big East.

What those critics failed to recognize was that college football teams prepare for the types of teams they see most often. In the old Big East, the more traditional running game and defensive style of play imposed by Miami and Virginia Tech forced the other, weaker teams to match strength with strength during a grueling conference schedule.

Now, in the new Big East, the dominant teams no longer win with a “three yards and a cloud of dust” mentality. The dominant teams win with speed, precision and the spread offense.

Granted, this is a style of play that will not hold up against the older style teams for a long period of time. The endurance necessary to do that would be inhuman.

However, that style of play is extremely surprising to teams the first time they see it.

Teams come in prepared for a power running back and they get Noel Devine.

Dare I say, sans the old superpowers of the conference, the remaining teams have created something different.

Something, dare I say, better.

With the current style of scheduling within college football, the Big East, probably unwittingly has created the perfect answer for the slow, laborious old style teams.

During conference play, the teams within the Big East match speed with speed and strategy with strategy.

But in bowl games, they spring their unique style of play on unsuspecting opponents. The direct result of this is their 8-2 bowl record over the last 2 years.

To repeat for emphasis: their 8-2 bowl record.

There is no better barometer of conference supremacy than a bowl game. The bowl game, by design, is a head-to-head competition of style of play against another. The only conference that has looked comparable to the Big East is the high-powered SEC, which was 7-2 in 2007-08 and 6-3 in 2006-07 bowl games.

However, the biggest differences between the SEC and the Big East do not lie in talent as many believe. It lies in national media coverage, attention and credit.

In Sports Illustrated’s conference power ranking, the SEC is first.

But where is the Big East?

Dead last.

In The Associated Press’ top 25, six SEC teams are included, four of which are in the top 10.

In the very same poll, the Big East makes a mere three showings, and only one – the West Virginia Mountaineers – are in the top 10 at No. 8.

Besides sheer ignorance, there is one alternative explanation.

Maybe the so called critics have recognized the Big East’s new strength.

Perhaps they want the Big East to continue to fly under the radar.

Perhaps they want to motivate this hungry conference even more. And assuredly, it’s going to work.

For that, critics, I applaud and thank you.

These critics are the reason their kids are ugly and stupid. I can't wait for them to eat their words...

this is stupid, "mere 3 teams" it's a freaking 8 team conference.

I know. 3 teams in the top 25 is almost 40% of the conference. The SEC having 6 is just one better at 50%. If we get a 4th ranked, and a couple are just out of the rankings, that's 50%, or half the conference, just like the SEC. And The BEast has to continuously labor under the mistaken impression that we're the weakest of the 6 BCS conferences. Consequently, any way of looking at things to belittle The BEast is taken by the media in the face of fact.

Who among us really cares any longer? We've always had this to deal with, and we keep winning. Maybe some day they'll figure it out. But until then...

Dumb article.. I agree.. that 2 years ago the BE was disrespected.. but don't agree now. If you wish to say that many think its the least of the 6 bcs.. thats different.. and arguable.. but outside of a few in the MWC no one thinks they are = or < any of the non bcs.

LOL...first time I've ever heard of those old Miami teams winning with "3 yards and a cloud of dust".

It's the first time I've heard they held the rest of the conference back with ancient offensive football. I never would have guessed that one.

Imagine that. The spread offense only works because BC, Miami, and VT left. God help us had they remained. We'd be nothing more than a mid-major now.