Is B-east worthy of a bcs bid?

[Eric]

I believe the Big East should. I think that eventually West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt, and South Florida will become the class of that conference. I don't think that Rutgers can maintain a program for too long, so I think that they'll be the bottom feeder of the conference. I also think that Cincinnati, Syracuse, UConn, will duke it out for a bowl bid or two for a while.

When the Big East grows, they'll be looking to expand too.

As for 2006, I think they deserve it. Louisville and West Virginia are top-notch right now, and I don't think they should have to battle for an at-large spot to get in. They are the 6th best conference in the nation, so I think that they should.

(CLF, I once said the MWC was #6, that was a typo, I mean #7)

[ktffan]

That's a tough question. I don't have an answer.

[Spence]

I think that they should be given the chance to improve after the conference fell apart, through no doing of their own. The B-East went a long way this year to prove they belong, winning the BCS game. That proves, at the very least, the potential is there to build. It all depends on whether or not they continue building the conference. WVU and Pitt have the structure in place, South Florida has tons of potential and lots of talent in their backyard. Louisville is making an effort.

The answer is 5 or 6 years down the road.

[mountainman]

There was controversy about the Big East before Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College left for the ACC. By the way, I count 21 of those drafted by the NFL recently came from those 3 schools.

I wondered why that is/was the case and the best I could come up with is there's a lot of competition for the sports dollars in the northeast and I have suspicions that the media was in bed with the professional teams.

That is more speculation than anything else, but when trying to figure out what the heck is going on, my experiences have shown me that it's always a good idea to 'follow the money'.

[Derek]

Of course

[Jason G]

I think which conferences are worthy of automatic bids to the BCS varies a little from year to year based upon what happens over the course of the season.

[billybud]

There is no denying that the Big East...outside of it's top two teams of WVU and Louisville is currently weak...I do think that if WVU hadn't gotten an early jump on Georgia...that's what the talk would be about this season...

Pennsylvania and Maryland (along with Fla for USF) are good recruiting bases so the teams could gain some strength...but I think it will be difficult for the conference, as a whole, to compete with the power conferences...

That's partly why the ACC went after new blood....

[colorado_loves_football]

I believe the Big East should.
As for 2006, I think they deserve it. Louisville and West Virginia are top-notch right now, and I don't think they should have to battle for an at-large spot to get in. They are the 6th best conference in the nation, so I think that they should. )

Nice change of position. It's ok, I pretty much agree that the Big East has a competitive 'advantage' over

We all keep referring to 2004, for whatever reason.
Pittsburgh wasn't necessarily 'outstanding', but I think they 'earned' their spot, through competition. Four teams 'tied' for the honor, but Pittsburgh had the most reason for being selected, and I think the bowl result reflected it, myself. Syracuse was destroyed in their bowl pairing, imagine if they had gone! BC beat NC, in the Continental Tire Bowl, but since NC was destroyed by Utah, I'm not convinced that says a lot about BC, either way. Pittsburgh, beaten 35-7, while not exactly the 'best' game you could want, still maybe was the best in terms of the teams represented. Someone who maybe wants to make an argument for Miami, might want to reconsider. Miami lost to NC. I think Pittsburgh 'deserved' the honor, as far as team representation goes.

Beginning in 2007, I believe, conferences will be evaluated, top-to-bottom. That means, that the Big East will have to be given a 'good 'evaluation, in order to retain their BCS bid. Another provisioin is for a conference champion to be ranked sufficiently high (top-12). W. Virginia met that requirement, 2005. I believe they are safe for now.

[billybud]

nm