Steve Slaton News - About time Big East shows us the beef

About time Big East shows us the beef

RICH RODRIGUEZ is convincing when he predicts another banner football season for his team’s league.

“I think the Big East will be very strong again,’’ the West Virginia coach said. “And I think we’ll again prove ourselves in non-conference games.’’

It’s a stand he takes with conviction and a strong voice. The Mountaineers are poised to make another run at a Big East title, BCS bowl and, perhaps, a national championship. Pat White and Steve Slaton are serious Heisman Trophy candidates.

To the west is Louisville, another contender for the aforementioned prizes. New Cardinal coach Steve Kragthorpe was able to convince quarterback Brian Brohm to forego jumping to the NFL.

Rutgers should be strong again. South Florida could be the surprise team. And Pitt and Cincinnati won’t be weaklings.

That written, I wonder about the second part of Rodriguez’s prediction — the claim that Big East teams will prove themselves in non-conference games.

Because — as was the case last season — there aren’t many showdowns scheduled against top-shelf BCS thumpers.

Want proof? Hold your nose and check the Big East’s television schedule. Here are the non-conference games: Murray State at Louisville, Washington at Syracuse, Middle Tennessee State at Louisville, Oregon State at Cincinnati, Navy at Rutgers, South Florida at Auburn, WVU at Maryland, Utah at Louisville, Navy at Pittsburgh and Rutgers at Army.

In the immortal words of Snoopy ... blecch. Let’s start from the beginning. I know Murray State is a paid-for victory, but the last time out the Racers were drubbed 42-14 — by Tennesseee-Martin. The team finished 1-10. The gut says U of L might win that one.

As for the real games, Syracuse will play host to a Washington team that was 5-7 last season and next-to-last in the Pac 10. Utah, which visits Louisville, finished 8-5 last season, but isn’t the same program since Urban Meyer left.

One of the three best non-conference matchups is actually the annual WVU game with Maryland. The Terrapins finished last season at 9-4, including a win over Purdue in the Champs Sports Bowl. They have 13 starters back (fortunately for them, not including QB Sam Hollenbach).

Another may be Cincinnati’s home game against Oregon State, which finished third in the Pac 10 last season behind USC and California.

Then there’s USF’s trip to Auburn, which could get ugly for the Bulls. The SEC’s Tigers were 11-2 last season and Cotton Bowl champs.

But at least South Florida is playing a traditional power. Jim Leavitt’s troops have at least one non-conference opportunity at shocking college football. The rest of the league seems to be playing it safe — again.

Connecticut at Duke. (Yawn.) Grambling at Pitt. (Novel, yes; interesting, no.) North Carolina (3-9 last season) at USF, Louisville at North Carolina State (another 3-9 team) and Mississippi State (yet another 3-9 team) at WVU.

Even attempts at playing decent teams seem mistimed. Pitt plays at Michigan State — which finished last in the Big Ten last season. Syracuse goes to Iowa, which was ninth in the Big Ten. The Orange play host to Illinois, which was next-to-last in the same league. Connecticut visits Virginia — which was 5-7 last season.

Get my drift? And mark these words: It’s going to catch up with the league unless officials start placing the schedules on steroids. Last year, the Big East’s success was novel. Officials trumpeted the 37-8 non-conference record. And, considering the bashing of the past, they should have done just that. The 5-0 bowl record was likewise worthy of banging the drum. But — in both cases — there weren’t many opponents from the “A” list.

So please Big East schools, for the sake of you all, get on the horn. Hook ‘em up with Texas. Call Oklahoma. Get the Sooners now, rather than later. Surely, you can track down the phone numbers of officials at Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Tennessee and the Florida schools. And while on this rant, what happened to dates with Notre Dame? The Irish aren’t playing one Big East team this coming season.

Soon the winning against ho-hum schedules will be noticed. It will be ripped. But more importantly, the team or teams that do make national title runs will be shredded — by the BCS computers that measure schedule strength.

All college football fans understand the need for a cupcake or two on teams’ schedules.

The Big East, however, needs to put a little more meat in its non-conference diet.

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