FOR ALL OF YOU HOMERS HATING ON THE BIG EAST WE ARE CONSIDERED THE 4TH BEST CONFERENCE SO FAR THIS YEAR AND AFTER THEY SWEEP THE ACC TEAMS THIS WEEK THEY MAY MOVE UP TO 3RD

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/bill_trocchi/09/27/conference.rankings/index.html

1. SEC
Last week: 2

The skinny: Yes, the SEC was ranked No. 2 last week, but seven teams populate Stewart Mandel's top 25 this week, and the argument that was e-mailed to me literally over 100 times -- it's unfair to throw out Kentucky and Arkansas when matching up the Pac-10 and SEC -- made sense. Those are two legit teams that any conference would love to have. When a team (Kentucky) has the conference's best quarterback, a road win at Arkansas, a 4-0 record and still has a good chance of finishing third in its division, that's evidence of one scary conference.

2. Pac-10
Last week: 1

The skinny: Cal-Oregon is the national game of the week, with the winner getting the title of "will give USC its most difficult test." These are two legitimate teams that would win in any league and already own wins against Tennessee and Michigan between them. After the Big Three, there is a dropoff, though Arizona State showed some mettle and legitimized its start by winning a tougher-than-expected league game (over Oregon State). The Sun Devils have a good chance to be 7-0 when they face Cal on Oct. 27.

3. Big 12
Last week: 3

The skinny: The conference was a bit embarrassed in front of a national audience on Thursday when Texas A&M made current-day Miami look like the Michael Irvin/Jimmy Johnson 'Canes. Iowa State also sullied the league's reputation by losing to another MAC team, this time Toledo. But Texas resembled Texas, Oklahoma continues to look like a runaway freight train and Missouri and Kansas are off to pretty nice starts, albeit against weak competition.

4. Big East
Last week: 4

The skinny: Louisville did its part to kill the conference, but South Florida, Cincinnati and even UConn are all playing well. I'm not convinced Syracuse is suddenly good, and Pittsburgh hasn't really done anything all year. Friday night will be big for the league, as West Virginia travels to South Florida for a spotlight game on ESPN. Fans will get to see just how legit the Bulls are up close, and one of the league's premier teams gets to showcase its two Heisman hopefuls.

5. Big Ten
Last week: 6

The skinny: Stewart Mandel feels like the only thing we really know about the Big Ten is there is one good team right now -- Ohio State. Michigan has certainly shown its flaws, though it has resembled the team folks thought it could be in the last two weeks. Wisconsin has looked very shaky all year, Penn State failed its first test and no one else has really proven anything despite undefeated records by Purdue and Michigan State. The Wisconsin-Michigan State game will be a "Show me something" game this weekend, and Purdue gets its turn to whack Notre Dame.

6. ACC
Last week: 5

The skinny: Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State continue to flounder at the bottom of the conference, and the shine quickly came off Georgia Tech. As mentioned above, Miami put together a fine performance against Texas A&M, and Boston College should continue to pile up wins for the next few weeks as it plays weak competition. Florida State could score a nice win for the conference this week in Jacksonville against Alabama.

7. Mountain West
Last week: 7

The skinny: The surprise of the conference is Wyoming, which is sitting at 3-1 after three non-league wins and a 10-point loss to Boise State. The Cowboys' emergence makes up for the mystery of Utah, which checks in at 1-3 despite having a 44-6 win over UCLA on its resume. TCU and BYU are still the class of the league, but there are enough good teams to keep this conference race very interesting.

8. MAC
Last week: 11

The skinny: Yes, the MAC makes a fairly large jump after just an above-average weekend. But last week's ranking was too harsh. With Toledo's victory over Iowa State, the MAC now owns three BCS wins, second only to the Mountain West for the non-BCS conferences. And the MAC's record vs. non-BCS conferences is 4-3, which is the highest percentage of non-BCS conferences. Ball State's performance in a 41-40 loss at Nebraska also gave the league a shot in the arm.

9. WAC
Last week: 8

The skinny: Not much separates the WAC and Conference USA, but Boise State will be taking on Southern Miss on the blue turf Thursday night. The Broncos are double-digit favorites in this one against the potential C-USA champ. Hawaii continues to motor along undefeated after beating Charleston Southern without quarterback Colt Brennan. Hawaii will continue to not be tested this week at Idaho.

10. Conference USA
Last week: 9

The skinny: Houston was able to record a win for the league last week by beating Colorado State, but other than that, it was an ugly week. East Carolina, Marshall, Tulsa, Rice and SMU lost to non-conference opponents by an average of 34 points. Another indignity for the conference: Memphis is an underdog against Sun-Belter Arkansas State this week.

11. Sun Belt
Last week: 10

The skinny: Back to the basement for the Belt after a one-week reprieve. Troy's earlier win this season over Oklahoma State looks better after the Cowboys' win against Texas Tech. Arkansas State gives the league a chance on Thursday night to pick up a win against struggling Memphis.

9/28/2007 1:52:13 PM

I hope the game ends 3-0 tonight and everyone resumes laughter

9/28/2007 1:56:13 PM

wow fourth out of six, congratulations

who the fuck is bill trocchi?

9/28/2007 1:58:40 PM

hahahahha, did you even read the article's title spida?

Quote :

"Louisville's sudden collapse bodes badly for Big East"

9/28/2007 2:00:04 PM

IF THE BIG EAST ALL OF A SUDDEN COLLAPSED THEN WHY ARE THEY STILL 4TH AND WHY DID THE ACC MOVE FROM 5TH TO 6TH???

9/28/2007 2:08:36 PM

i think we all agree that the acc sucks

but this is just the opinion of some douchebag sportswriter

it isn't the word of god

9/28/2007 2:13:46 PM

Quote :

"BIG LEAST"

Fixed it for you. But seriously, is beating the Big 10 and ACC anything worth bragging about this year?

9/28/2007 2:18:45 PM

Why would anyone hate on the Big East? What does it matter? I admire what they have been able to do. Most people wanted to foolishly take their BCS bid away and now they have 4 legit Top 25 teams.

I highly doubt the game will be 3-0 tonight. This isn't Miami-FSU on a Monday night here... USF is good though.

[Edited on September 28, 2007 at 2:28 PM. Reason : but I'm right there with you Nate.. big east fan]

9/28/2007 2:27:14 PM

ACC FANS USUALLY HATE ON THE BIG EAST BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH THEY STOLE THE BIG EAST'S 3 BEST TEAMS IN FOOTBALL THEIR CONFERENCE IS STILL SHITTIER!!

9/28/2007 2:38:07 PM

The funny thing is that the Big East's two most storied programs are both the shittiest in the conference. Pitt/Syracuse are bad...

9/28/2007 3:16:30 PM

It's retarded the Big 12 is ranked 3rd...they are a one trick pony this year (Oklahomo)

9/28/2007 3:21:25 PM

SEC and then everyone else

9/28/2007 4:09:17 PM

nothing surprising about that list...

if Louisville wasn't sucking wind right now I'd put the Big Least above the Big 12 for this year, as it is they're pretty neck-and-neck... but that's only for this year...

oh, and if the top 6 from the ACC played the top 6 from the Big 10(11) the ACC would probably come out on top of that challenge. Not by much, mind you, but we probably would come out ahead.

[Edited on September 28, 2007 at 5:28 PM. Reason : /]

9/28/2007 5:28:33 PM

so much for your hillbilly ass team and the national title

9/28/2007 11:18:04 PM

Looks like the ACC did really good this weekend. 2-1 against the all-powerful Big East and FSU beat #22 Alabama.

Normally I hate UMD. But I did enjoy watching them beat Rutger's today.

Looks like the Big East is back to Big Least.

9/29/2007 9:38:15 PM

what? Big East is a sham? NOOOOOOOO!!!

9/29/2007 9:43:06 PM

Quote :

"FOR ALL OF YOU HOMERS HATING ON THE BIG EAST WE ARE CONSIDERED THE 4TH BEST CONFERENCE SO FAR THIS YEAR "

NEWSFLASH!!!


When it comes to college football, the top 3 are really all that matters.


Thanks for playing.

9/29/2007 9:45:56 PM

i might have to change my thoughts about the Big Least... Okla and Texas losing makes the Big 12 look even weaker... but a #10 Rutgers team was beaten by Maryland...

jeebus...

S. Florida is now the top team (nationally) for the Big Least, even if they don't wind up ranked higher than WVU tomorrow... wow...

9/29/2007 9:57:37 PM

The ACC has had the most players drafted in the past two years than any other conference. The ACC has talent, but most of it is on the defensive side of the ball. VT's offense sucks (especially their OL), FSU looked better when Xavier Lee took over today, and I don't need to mention State's offense. I will say this, a fair amount of ACC offenses have shown to be better when they play teams out of the conference. Just look at how FSU took it to UCLA in their bowl game last year. Maryland put up 34 on Rutgers today in their win. So maybe it's just that a lot of the ACC defenses are more talented than the offenses, although that isn't that hard to do with a lot of the teams.

I think we may see a rejuvenation in the ACC offenses in the next few years though. TOB and Co. will have a State QB looking like Matt Ryan (whether that be Beck, Glennon, etc.) due to improved O-line play. Our O-line coach, Dan Horton, was named the 2nd best O-line coach in the nation. Yates over at Carolina has looked pretty good at times. GT has Bennett who has shown to be very capable. Clemson despite looking terrible today, has a pretty good QB right now in Harper. If VT finds an O-line, maybe Tyrod Taylor will be turn into a great QB. I have no doubt that with Trickett and Fisher, FSU will become an offensive power again. While the jury is still out on the BC coaching staff as a whole (Jags came into a great situation with the most experienced team and best QB in the ACC), Steve Logan is a great offensive mind and will more than likely keep BC's offense rolling.

9/29/2007 9:59:19 PM

GO SEC!

9/30/2007 2:03:26 AM

THIS WAS NOT A GOOD WEEKEND FOR ME

10/1/2007 9:36:48 AM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21055140/
[/salt]

although, it's a crappy column... more of a basic recap of what went wrong friday night during USF/WVU than an actual column about the BE as a whole

Quote :

" 4) That there are signs of life from the ACC. Florida State's victory over the SEC's Crimson Tide was significant not only for Bobby Bowden's program but for its oft-maligned conference. And that wasn't the only feather in the ACC's cap Saturday. Maryland, widely expected to finish in the middle of the pack at best (especially following a lopsided loss to West Virginia and a complete collapse last week at Wake Forest) went on the road and stunned a top-10 Rutgers team. The Terps' victory -- in which they piled up 458 yards against a Scarlet Knights defense that ranked fourth in the country last season -- was so rousing it even caused television's most transparent Terps homer, Scott Van Pelt, to give a "helmet sticker" to the entire Maryland team on ESPN's late-night wrap-up show. Elsewhere in the ACC on Saturday, surprise 4-1 team Virginia cast its own stone at the Big East with a 44-14 shellacking of Pittsburgh (conversely, Louisville handled N.C. State 29-10), while Georgia Tech showed it's not about to go quietly into the night by shutting down No. 13 Clemson. The league's one big disappointment continues to be offensively inept Virginia Tech, which mustered just 17 points against a bad North Carolina team. (South Florida put up 37 on the Tar Heels just a week earlier.) The Hokies came into the season as the conference's runaway favorite, but now that would appear to be 5-0 Boston College, with any number of other teams -- FSU, Maryland, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake and Virginia among them -- capable as well."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/football/ncaa/



[Edited on October 1, 2007 at 10:15 AM. Reason : added stuff. but it's Stewart Mandel which gets an "eh"]

10/1/2007 10:07:31 AM