Now before you say I am flaming, I'm watching the Boise/Tulsa game as I am sure some of you are doing as well. They talked about the matchup betweeen Cincy/USF and one the announcers made a comment that Cincinnati made it to a BCS bowl game last year and Boise St hopes to do the same again this season.

The thing is he said it like it was some type of accomplishment that a BE made it to a BCS bowl game. Doesn't the BE champ automatically go to a BCS bowl game?

Then they talk about UC QB being a darkhorse candidate for the Heisman and that the country will get a chance to watch Cincy this weekend. First of all, why is the QB for the 8th ranked team in the country a darkhorse candidate for the Heisman? If Pine played for West Virginia, Pitt or Syracuse would he be considered a darkhorse?

I think you guys get my drift; ESPN and others in the media really do show a lack of respect for this conference and in particular the teams that do not have football history like WVU, Pitt and Syracuse. And although I may not have much love for the BE, it absolutely erks the hell outta me when I hear snobby-holier-than-thou SEC enthusiasts talked down the BE.

Just thought I would get that off my chest.

You get respect for continued excellence... not for a year or two of good teams. If UC keeps up the program then they will get the Virginia Tech treatment and be considered a major program in short order.

Yeah, UC is still relatively new on the national scene as a major player in football. It's still a bit unusual seeing them in the Top 10. I knew UC for years as one of the worst in college football. They have built up very slowly but are now in great position to be a power for years to come. I never would have imagined being in a league with UC for football when I was in college, the transformation there has been incredible and a credit to the league. Continued success will mean more respect.

I heard something earlier in regards to the lack of respect in regards to scheduling. I think we need to eliminate all sub division teams (D-1AA) teams from our schedules. We are getting some slack for the two sub division teams we played this year. The argument by some continues to be, FSU is down this year and you still have not played anyone with Charleston Southern, Wofford, and Western KY on the schedule. Improving the schedule will help gain some respect.

Or win a National Championship like Florida and you can get away with playing Div IAA (sorry but I don't relate to that sub-division crap) programs and still be ranked #1 in the country.

(10-14-2009 10:43 PM)BlazerRod Wrote:  Or win a National Championship like Florida and you can get away with playing Div IAA (sorry but I don't relate to that sub-division crap) programs and still be ranked #1 in the country.

You won't get knocked for playing 1 Division 1-AA team - I think that most people have accepted that as a fact of life in today's college football world. There definitely is an issue with playing 2 Division 1-AA teams in a season, though.

Also, you get more credit for scheduling 1 brand name marquee game than for scheduling multiple games against mid-tier (or even good but not marquee) BCS schools. Whether that's fair or not is debatable, but from the eyes of the national media, playing 1 OOC game against USC/Texas/OSU and 3 cupcakes means more than playing 3 or 4 OOC games against competitive but not marquee teams. There are arguments for both sides of this debate. On the one hand, it seems that it ought to be respected to have a team play against legit competition every single week, even if they aren't necessarily marquee teams. On the other hand, if you want to be considered an elite team, people want proof of that by seeing how you stack up head-to-head against another elite program.

On this front, USF is well-positioned since it has already beaten FSU (who even in a down year is still a "name" opponent) and has the opportunity to play against a very good Miami team later this season. Cincinnati will be a bit more hard-pressed from a perception standpoint (even though I think a rational college football fan that digs deeper will understand that it has a very good OOC schedule overall) - Oregon State is a very tough place to win at in reality but very few people outside of the West Coast seem to understand that, while my Illini might have been a worthy opponent 2 years ago yet are now bottom-of-the-barrel with a resurrection of fireronzook.com.

Last year was Cincinnati's first BCS Bowl, and this year could be Boise St. first. I think that is the correct comparison..........
a "first BCS Bowl".

(10-15-2009 10:55 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Last year was Cincinnati's first BCS Bowl, and this year could be Boise St. first. I think that is the correct comparison..........
a "first BCS Bowl".

Not really. If you'll remember, Boise won their first BCS game...