Big East - kings of the 06-07 bowl season

The Big East conference will finish the bowls this season at 5-0. The only undefeated conference in the nation in the bowls. Two wins over the ACC, a win over the Big 12, and wins against the MAC and C-USA. Hopefully this post-season showing will remind voters of the strength of the conference and earn Rutgers (not to mention Louisville and West Virginia) some respect in the final poll next week.

 

South Florida should also be sniffing the top 25....probably finish around 27 or 28th.

 

Just imagine what this Big East Conference will be in a few years if Greg Robinson can turn things around at Syracuse and the very solid 2007 recruiting class for Dave Wannestedt at Pitt turns into something.

 

Don't forget Rutgers recruiting class is going to be a strong one especially with the addition of Anthony Davis today.

 

No, it shouldn't. Any team that lost to Kansas shouldn't sniff the top 25.

 

With the exception of West Virginia and Louisville, the Big East played in mismatched bowl games.

Rutgers played 7-6 Kansas State, the last bowl tie-in in the Big 12. Cincy played Western Michigan. South Florida played East Carolina.

I'm all for giving the Big East more credit. But their bowl record isn't the proper reason to give.

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

At the very least, it's bargaining power for the Big East getting into better bowl games.

And just so Swofford doesn't forget, that's 0-7 in BCS history for the ACC and its highest ranked teams (VT, GT, Wake) will be hoping to be 20th while Louisville and WVU will be top 10 and Rutgers maybe something like 12th.

 

How long are the current bowl contracts for? Can the Big East start bargaining for better bowls starting next year or are the tie-in contracts not up for a few years?

 

The ACC is 1-8. Florida State won the 2000 Sugar Bowl.

 

The Big East should be able to parlay this year into some better bowl arrangements. Maybe not for next year, but possibly for the 08-09 Bowl season.

Also, keep in mind the Big East could have gone to Charlotte and played in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. While that doesn't seem all that prestigious, it did land Boston College from the ACC.

The Big East needs to find a bowl where they can match up against either an SEC or Big 10 school. I'm not sure what's available, but sure to God something either is or will be soon.

 

I think there's some backlash against the Big East for being really bad a few years ago, close to being a football non-entity. Times have changed.