Big East Football is a joke. No one on the west coast gives a damn about you. Loserville football is in the crapper. You are a fool.

People on the west coast probably care about BE football as much as people on the east coast care about PAC 10 football. The reality is that a small percentage of the FBS teams can boast a national following, but in general most people are at least aware of all the Big 6 conferences and their schools.

(07-12-2010 01:34 PM)OrangeCrush Wrote:  Not just academics.

How about national reputation?
National prestige?
National exposure?

How many ECU games has somebody in New York or Texas or Michigan ever watched?
How many UCF players can somebody from Boston name?
How many nationally televised games has Temple played the last 5 years?

Syracuse may be down now, but our school's athletic program is heavily covered in the national media, and the FB history is the stuff of Disney movies. People can name Donovan McNabb and Marvin Harrison. Jim Boeheim is a household name.

There are college sports fans out there who would likely have to google ECU just to know what state it is in. Colorado? California? Which Carolina?

I thought people in NYC did not care about college football. As you know, sports fans know USF and ECU...its the casual fan that may not.

Additionally, I have to assume you are linking "prestige" and brand name. In the mid-atlantic, East Carolina is a brand name, just as UNLV is in California. My wife would not know where Texas Tech is except that it is somewhere in Texas...East Carolina is, obviously somewhere in the Carolina's...I think this name brand is a ridculous argument. I know where Syracuse is because it is named for the City its located (I have actually been there a few times). But do you think most people outside of the Northeast know that Syracuse is a good school? Do you know that Davidson is a good school, or where its located?

Last I checked the population was growing in the South and shrinking in the North....this has been happening for oh about 40 years or so. In other words what someone in Boston knows or does not know is less relevant then it used to be. I know plenty of people who live where I live, originally from the North, and many send their kids to in state schools like East Carolina. They go there, see it, realize its a good place to go to school, check to see what programs they have, and then they are an East Carolina fan. Just like that. Prestigious? Its not Duke...but then its not supposed to be, Duke is a few hours away and costs a ton of money....Syracuse is not Duke either, but it does cost a ton of money.

I rarely see kids from high schools in NC go to Syracuse. I see them going to Harvard and Yale...even Stanford...but not Syracuse. As I said in a previous post, we ALL know where the elite academic schools are in the Northeast and none of them currently reside in the Big East conference. I'm not trying to put down the Big East, it is what it is. What it isnt is based solely on academics.

It sounds like East Carolina might be too affordable for you?

(07-12-2010 01:47 PM)miko33 Wrote:  Regarding the BE as it is constituted today, it is a fair assessment to say that the last round of expansion has exceeded expectations. It also helped greatly that WVU caught fire for about 3 years at the exact perfect time. But there is also a legit concern that the BE expansion during the last round already captured the best non-BCS teams that made geographic sense to the conference. Could ECU, UCF and Memphis catch fire like the previous schools? Perhaps, but it is also just as likely that these 3 teams end up being dead wood for the conference. The bottom line is that it is a gamble. In 2003/2004, the BE had no choice - we had to gamble. Right now, we don't have to gamble. If the money is there for the conference, I'd be open to adding a 9th member from among ECU, UCF or Memphis. If the money is not there, and our only option with the 3 candidates would be to rely on "potential only", then I would be opposed.

If you look at the BE objectively, the 3 CUSA schools have exceeded expectations, but they are not carrying the BE today. UL had 1 BCS appearance - that's it. Cincy had 2 BCS appearances, but it was not the clear cut top notch program in 2008 and 2009 due to the fact that the majority of BE teams could have been good representatives too. There is more parity at this time in the league than ever before. As much as it hurts to admit it, WVU was the only school that can lay a legitimate claim to carrying the conference during the darkest years. As of 2008, the BE is legitimately solid and does not need any one team to carry it now.

Carry is a strong word, in terms of carrying the conference. But if you add in WVU you would have to say that the 4 lowest Tier academic schools have been performing just as well as the other 4, if not better as a group.

(07-12-2010 01:07 PM)Capital Pirate Wrote:  Now I know this thread is nothing more than flamebait.....

As soon as he starts a thread you should know this. Guy's a troll I tell ya.

(07-12-2010 01:39 PM)OrangeCrush Wrote:  

(07-12-2010 01:37 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(07-12-2010 01:34 PM)OrangeCrush Wrote:  How many nationally televised games has Temple played the last 5 years?

Around 25

Really?

please name them. Temple has had 5 games per year televised nationally? What were the 5 last year?

he must be refering to basketball games

(07-12-2010 12:50 PM)Capital Pirate Wrote:  you do realize that almost 50% of the current Big East football lineup is made up of programs that very recently jumped over from CONFUSA, right?

Only 3 BEast programs came from CUSA. That's only 37.5% of the conference, which is a long way from 50%. You should sue ECU for not properly educating you, kiddo...