Rutgers

[beaner]

Please, the Big East out of conference schedules are no worse than any of the teams you mentioned. Vanderbilt, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Cinncinnatti, Bowling Green, Northern Texas, Rice, Sam Houston St, Southern Miss, Central Florida, Western Carolina are some of the teams that Ohio St, Michigan, Florida and Texas played in their super duper out of conference schedules. The point is everyone plays cupcake teams in their non conference schedules. To hold it against one conference and not the other is just silly. Especially when out of the four conference of the teams you mentioned, only the SEC has a better non conference record than that of the "lowly" Big East.

Ohio State went into Texas and has to play other Bowl teams in their own conference as does Florida, Texas, Michigan etc.....You cant compare Syracuse, South Florida, and UCONN to the teams that the Texas',Ohio States and Michigans have to play on a weekly basis.

Points are well taken on the non-conference schedules though.

[geschinger]

Ohio State went into Texas and has to play other Bowl teams in their own conference as does Florida, Texas, Michigan etc.....You cant compare Syracuse, South Florida, and UCONN to the teams that the Texas',Ohio States and Michigans have to play on a weekly basis.

Points are well taken on the non-conference schedules though.

The Big East has a good percentage of it's teams going to bowls so I'm not what the point you are trying to make is.

There is conference bias slipping through in your post... The Big East conference schedule is every bit as tough as the Big 12 of ACC for example. I think if you look at any of the attempts to objectively rank conference such as what Sagarin does you'll find the Big East is a lot better than people want to give it credit for.

[beaner]

The Big East has a good percentage of it's teams going to bowls so I'm not what the point you are trying to make is.

There is conference bias slipping through in your post... The Big East conference schedule is every bit as tough as the Big 12 of ACC for example. I think if you look at any of the attempts to objectively rank conference such as what Sagarin does you'll find the Big East is a lot better than people want to give it credit for.

I have no bias, I'm an ACC guy so i have no allegiance to any conference other than the ACC. I cant see how you can possibly say that playing Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, etc, and half of those on the road compares at all to the weaker teams in the Big East. That's all I'm saying. I have nothing against Rutgers, West Virginia, or the Big East in general. I dont think that those teams are at the same level as some of the other conferences.

[geschinger]

I have no bias, I'm an ACC guy so i have no allegiance to any conference other than the ACC. I cant see how you can possibly say that playing Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, etc, and half of those on the road compares at all to the weaker teams in the Big East. That's all I'm saying. I have nothing against Rutgers, West Virginia, or the Big East in general. I dont think that those teams are at the same level as some of the other conferences.

I wouldn't argue with you about the SEC, that is the toughest conference by far IMO. But the Big 12, ACC, etc... are weaker at the top than the Big East is. And it's possible in those conferences to make it to a Championship game w/o even having to play the best in the conference.

[beaner]

I wouldn't argue with you about the SEC, that is the toughest conference by far IMO. But the Big 12, ACC, etc... are weaker at the top than the Big East is. And it's possible in those conferences to make it to a Championship game w/o even having to play the best in the conference.

Yea, the ACC is down certainly, but normally it's much stronger than the Big East. Miami, Florida State, Virignia Tech...etc are always Title contenders. The Big East had a few contenders this year, and I too was a believer in West Virginia until that Louisville game. They turned the ball over too much and couldnt stop anybody. While the Big East may be stronger at the top than the ACC or Big 12, those two are much deeper top to bottom than South Florida, Syracuse and UCONN.

[geschinger]

Yea, the ACC is down certainly, but normally it's much stronger than the Big East. Miami, Florida State, Virignia Tech...etc are always Title contenders. The Big East had a few contenders this year, and I too was a believer in West Virginia until that Louisville game. They turned the ball over too much and couldnt stop anybody. While the Big East may be stronger at the top than the ACC or Big 12, those two are much deeper top to bottom than South Florida, Syracuse and UCONN.

ACC has been down ever since raiding the BEast. Two years in a row the ACC representative in the BCS would have had no chance of being there if not for an auto bid. I find that to be ironic as back when UM switched there were people in Miami arguing that the Big East didn't deserve a BCS bid as they needed another at large to make sure that FSU and UM both continued to get their yearly invite.

I have to disagree... The Big 12 has teams like Baylor, Iowa State and Colorodo and the ACC has teams like VA, NC and Duke and the Big 10 has teams like Illinois and Northwestern all of which are teams that grade out as being worse than the worst two Big East teams - Syracuse and UConn.

[beaner]

ACC has been down ever since raiding the BEast. Two years in a row the ACC representative in the BCS would have had no chance of being there if not for an auto bid.

I have to disagree... The Big 12 has teams like Baylor, Iowa State and Colorodo and the ACC has teams like VA, NC and Duke and the Big 10 has teams like Illinois and Northwestern all of which are teams that grade out as being worse than the worst two Big East teams - Syracuse and UConn.

I agree with your first point. But you have to admit the Big East was in the same boat, remember the year Pitt got the Auto bid and played Utah in the Fiesta Bowl, they got crushed and that was only Utah.

I hear you, but I think the overall depth of the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, and of course SEC is much better than the big East. Maybe Syracuse could beat Iowa State or Colorado, you could be right, but no way do Pitt, Cincinatti....etc beat middle teams in the Big 12 like Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Texas Tech..I guess now that I am writing it, that was my point all along, the overall depth of other conferences os stronger than the Big East. My opinion, of course. We can re visit this conversation as the bowl games go on. I say the Big East teams don't win two bowl games.

[geschinger]

I agree with your first point. But you have to admit the Big East was in the same boat, remember the year Pitt got the Auto bid and played Utah in the Fiesta Bowl, they got crushed and that was only Utah.

That was the old BEast. Tranghese did a superb job picking replacements from what was available.

I hear you, but I think the overall depth of the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, and of course SEC is much better than the big East. Maybe Syracuse could beat Iowa State or Colorado, you could be right, but no way do Pitt, Cincinatti....etc beat middle teams in the Big 12 like Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Texas Tech..

It depends on how you look at it. The BEast is only 8 teams. You are comparing some the bottom half of the BEast against teams that are in the top 3rd of Big 12. If you are an ACC basketball fan I'm sure you'd make a similar argument about the BEast vs ACC in basketball.

I guess now that I am writing it, that was my point all along, the overall depth of other conferences os stronger than the Big East. My opinion, of course. We can re visit this conversation as the bowl games go on. I say the Big East teams don't win two bowl games.

We'll see. I think the BEast will do just fine this bowl season.

Jeff Sagarin does an analysis to rank conferences and it's just another example of how reality doesn't really equal perception when it comes to the BEast.

Jeff Sagarin NCAA football ratingsCONFERENCE          CENTRAL MEAN    SIMPLE AVERAGE  TEAMS1  PAC-10              (A) =  80.93      80.29  (  1)     102  BIG EAST            (A) =  78.30      78.95  (  2)      83  SOUTHEASTERN        (A) =  77.97      78.02  (  3)     124  BIG TEN             (A) =  76.30      77.60  (  4)     115  ATLANTIC COAST      (A) =  75.24      73.78  (  6)     126  BIG 12              (A) =  73.96      74.11  (  5)     12

[beaner]

Meanwhile, look at all of the teams who lost today. Rutgers could end up in the title game after all is said and done. Although my bet is they'll lose to Cincinnati next week.

[geschinger]

Meanwhile, look at all of the teams who lost today. Rutgers could end up in the title game after all is said and done. Although my bet is they'll lose to Cincinnati next week.

I'd take that bet. I do think Rutgers will lose to WVU though.

After watching WVU today followed by watching the one loss teams lose or struggle I have no doubt that a WVU or LOU would be capable of beating a UF or ND. The only one loss team that I think if they played well would handle either easily is USC.

[beaner]

I'd take that bet. I do think Rutgers will lose to WVU though.

After watching WVU today followed by watching the one loss teams lose or struggle I have no doubt that a WVU or LOU would be capable of beating a UF or ND. The only one loss team that I think if they played well would handle either easily is USC.

I'm calling it now, Cincinnati outright over Rutgers! Remember where you heard it first. I think Florida would handle Louisville easily but WVU would give them a game.

[Sports Guy]

Interesting BCS standings.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/BCSStandings

Rutgers shoots all the way to #6...That is enough, IMO, where if things play out right, that they could play for the NC.

If USC loses to Cal but beats ND and Florida loses a game and Rutgers wins out, they could be #2 and play the winner for Mich/OSU.

[geschinger]

Interesting BCS standings.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/BCSStandings

Rutgers shoots all the way to #6...That is enough, IMO, where if things play out right, that they could play for the NC.

If USC loses to Cal but beats ND and Florida loses a game and Rutgers wins out, they could be #2 and play the winner for Mich/OSU.

They very well could... According to the computers, Rutgers is the 2nd best team in the country. What is amazing is that it's not out of the realm of possibilites for the BEast to get two BCS bids.

The worst of all possible scenarios which has more and more possibilities of happening is having an OSU/UM rematch.

While the chances are slim, I even have a sliver of hope for WVU.

If USC loses to Cal, USC beats ND, LSU beats Arkansas, Arkansas beats Florida and WVU beats Rutgers. Unfortunately though it would probably result in UM/OSU rematch.

[beaner]

If Rutgers gets to the BCS title game, I'll walk to the Fiesta Bowl....Hopefully USC wins out and they play Mich/OSU for the title, that would be the best matchup for the sport.

[geschinger]

If Rutgers gets to the BCS title game, I'll walk to the Fiesta Bowl....Hopefully USC wins out and they play Mich/OSU for the title, that would be the best matchup for the sport.

If they win out they'll deserve it. A team (Rutgers) that can help bring the NE back into the College Football elite would be huge for the sport.