I like what the Big East has been doing since they were “robbed” of all their football powers by the ACC. To me, this is a very exciting conference. There are some good offenses and good defenses. As far as I can tell, I don’t see a clear-cut dominant team in the conference. I love that fact. The level of competition is very respectable across the board.
This is the fifth installment of my grades for out-of-conference (OOC) schedules. Links to the other four are here: ACC, Big XII, Big 10(+1), PAC-10, SEC. There are eight teams in the Big East and they all play each other every year. That leaves five open dates for OOC games. Right off the bat, I am going to cut them a little slack because they have to schedule an extra game. The criteria I am basing my grades upon are as follows: FCS teams (Div=1AA), BCS conference teams, current successes of scheduled teams, and the recent success of the Big East team.
West Virginia – Villanova, East Carolina, Colorado, Marshall, Auburn. This is a very good schedule. With the exception of Villanova, all of these teams are pretty good. Going to Colorado is never taken lightly. The ball bounces really funny in Boulder. You are taking your fate in your own hands when you go out there. The Auburn game is late in the season and will be a marquee match-up. I don’t think there are but a handful of teams that would be so bold as to have both these teams on the OOC schedule. The ECU game is on the road. What I have noticed about ECU is that when they have a national audience, they give as good a fight as anyone. The Marshall game is a bit of a rivalry game and those are always scary. Grade: A+ (I’m going to ignore the Villanova game)
Connecticut – Hofstra, Temple, Virginia, Baylor, North Carolina. I really like this schedule for UCONN. Sure Hofstra is a stinker, but the rest is very respectable. They have a tune-up game with Temple. In years past, this may have been a hard fought game, but unless Temple has vastly improved from last year, this is a tune-up for UCONN. The rest are all BCS conference teams. The Virginia game will be tough for UCONN, but they have a probable win with Baylor. By far, going to North Carolina will be the toughest OOC test for the Huskies. They have the chance to play the spoiler to a Tar Heel team that many think will have a break-out year. For UCONN, this is a very respectable schedule. Grade: A (I’m going to ignore the Hofstra game)
Cincinnati – Eastern Kentucky, Oklahoma, Miami (OH), Akron, Marshall. Cincy has the honor of scheduling a BCS giant in Oklahoma. There is no team in the land that would schedule Oklahoma in Norman and think that they have a better than 50% chance in winning. In years past, Cincy may have had less than a 5% chance in winning. Recently, Cincys stock has been rising. They have a quality team that has handled some decent teams recently. I am giving the Bearcats a chance, not a big one, but they do have a chance to be in a position to win that game late. Cincy had no problem at all with Marshall or Miami (OH) last year, so there is no reason to think differently this year. The Akron game is a tune-up. Grade: A (I’m ignoring the Eastern Kentucky game)
Syracuse – Northwestern, Akron, Penn State, Northeastern, Notre Dame. Syracuse has not been the same since McNabb. So, they get a little slack on the OOC schedule. They don’t really need any though. Penn State is a monster who will be dining on Orange dudes that day. Northwestern is another BCS conference team. I like that game as well as the Akron game. It really is too bad that Notre Dame is doing so badly. It is not the fault of the teams that have them scheduled, and usually the Domers will be pretty good. I didn’t even know Northeastern had a football team. Grade: B+
Rutgers – Fresno State, North Carolina, Navy, Morgan State, Army. Ok, I give them credit for the North Carolina and Fresno State games. Those are two quality OOC games. If you listen to the pundits, they will tell you the both those teams are ready to explode. As for the rest of the schedule, you can’t get on Rutgers too much because they always play Army and Navy. It’s a rivalry thing. I can’t be too harsh on those. So, that leaves Morgan State. I’m not paying any attention to that one. Grade: B
South Florida – Tennessee-Martin, Central Florida, Kansas, Florida International, North Carolina State. South Florida is not going to sneak up on anyone this year. The biggest test on the OOC schedule is going to be Kansas. Was KU a one year wonder? This game will probably tell us volumes on each of these two teams. NC State is a good scheduled game for the Bulls. CFU and FIU are a couple in-state rivalries. (if that is even possible with such a young team.) CFU may put up a fight, but FIU is bad. I’m ignoring the TN-Martin game. Grade: B-
Pittsburgh – Bowling Green, Buffalo, Iowa, Navy, Notre Dame. There is one redeeming quality from this OOC schedule…All FBS (Div-1) teams. This is the only team in the Big East that has done this. For that, I cannot fail them. The FBS teams that are scheduled are the bottom of the barrel. Iowa and Notre Dame are the toughest teams on the schedule. Navy and Bowling Green have a small chance in beating Pittsburgh this year. That leaves Buffalo. With the way Pittsburgh has played recently, except for the WVU game last year, I am going to give them a break. Grade C+
Louisville – Kentucky, Tennessee Tech, Kansas State, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State. How disappointing was Louisville last year? Very. My first thought of this schedule was that it was very disappointing from Louisville. Then, I remembered that Louisville was just as disappointing. According to my grading criteria, I must take that into account. The Kentucky game is an in-state rivalry. That may be a good game if Kentucky can keep up the level of play from last year. The Kansas State game may be a good test for this Louisville team. KSU has a ton of JUCO transfers coming in. By the time the Wildcats play Louisville, those JUCOs should have their feet under them. Memphis is a decent team and will certainly put up a fight. Who can forget that Louisville/Middle Tennessee State game from last year? What a defensive coordinator’s nightmare. Should get good. Grade: C
Kinda tough on this conference with only eight teams and seven conference games. Filling a twelve game schedule when everyone else is in conference at some point... You almost have to discount a non-conference game or two as I think they're doing good to fill out the schedule...
I see where West Virginia is expected to once again terrorize the Big East. South Florida had a pretty good recruiting year again and may once again challenge for the conference title.
In another note, I see where Notre Dame and UConn are close (if they haven't done it already) to signing a long term home and away series. I think that will be very good for both programs. Not sure who Notre Dame may drop...
Yeah, I had to condiser that they had to schedule 5 games. I'm sure it is tougher than it looks if you are WVU. I thought they all did well as well. Nobody got a grade under a C from me. That is saying a lot. I am curious to see if Cincinnati and Rutgers can keep up their winning ways. I hope so.
Dwindy has a point. West Virginia will be a wild card this year. New coach and a more competitive conference. I don't think Auburn will be in the BCS hunt when they meet, but that could be the game that sends West Virginia to Miami.
Good stuff again. You're nailing this OOC. Can't really argue with any of your OOC posts.
Exactly. I sure hope they aren't holding their breath for Notre Dame. I'm trying to think of what schools they could absorb. Can't really think of any. You are right though, eight is barely a conference.
I can think of a couple more Florida schools that might be very interested in joining the Big East if the opportunity arose... Central Florida and Florida International are quickly assembling big time programs... Another Southern school might be Troy University in Alabama. Further north is another possibility, East Carolina. Two of those schools would balance out the travel north to south. Looking back up north, the MAC has 13 teams... Buffalo would be a natural with the Syracuse rivalry and there is another program on the move. If the Big East wants to become not just a 10 school conference but even a super conference like the SEC and Big 12, there are schools that I think would be willing to make the jump and none of those teams would present push overs...
The Big East could look for another Florida team like FAU. There is also ECU or Troy. The Big East has no shot at ND. I think if the Domers do join a conference, it will be the Big 10 for sure.
First off let me put this out there; The Big East will not expand for a couple years. It's complicated and it has to do with their TV Deal. If and when they do expand, you can expect a major shake up as the conference will split into two entities.
With that being said, When they do expand, The Schools playing both Basketball and Football will take in Memphis and Eastern Carolina. It's purely a monetary situation. Memphis makes their football and basketball programs more profitable with their large TV market. The same can be said for Eastern Carolina but, only on their football side.
If the new Big East dose expand to 12 teams and that's a huge if; They will take on Army and Navy for the huge TV ratings boost and for the National exposure.
The teams that will be in the Big East (Football Side) are; WVU, UConn, Syracus, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh and USF.
The Teams in the new Basketball Conference are; St Johns, Marquette, Villanova, DePaul, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Seton Hall and Providence. They will be a Non-Football Conference.
This is just my take on what I have been hearing and reading about on other forums and from news exerpts.
Olds
when ND enters into a conference with football it won't be the Big Ten they will remain with the Big East for all sports atthat point and I believe that they have already said this much if they was to ever join a league might be wrong on that part though
USF, That sounds very resonable. I didn't think about the economics of it and there are more sports than just football involved. From that stand point, Memphis would be a great addition. Thanks for the info.
Ythe, I think that people could guess what Notre Dame is going to do all day long. It doesn't make much difference to me either way. I would think that a football school like ND would be more inclined to join the Big 10. Now that there has been some weakness in the Big 10 and some strength in the Big East...Maybe...?
Big East expansion great topic. (shows how good u did w/ the grades for this conference oldskew)
i don't believe they'll go into buffalo, its another Temple but with a dying market instead o####rowing one
i think you have some pretty radical ideas usffan. i could not see any situation where memphis joins the big east. think of the basketball conference. they've gotten way too saturated at the top of the conference. its so top heavy i can only imagined some of the conf. usa schools (notably football-less marquette) regret moving from a conf. where they were top dogs into a level of competitiveness never seen in college conferences before.
memphis will not go to the big east it would be suicide.
i really don't see why ND has no shot in the big east oldskew. they're already in it and i see a possible scenario where PSU realizes that joining the big 10 didn't benefit them like they thought it would back in 1990 AND that the conference isn't goin to 12 teams any time soon. so why not go to the big east, almost automatically be crowned king in football (recruiting wise at least) and put itself in a much better situation than they have in the big 10. forget basketball they'll never be good in either conf.
i love the idea about navy and army joining. with this new rule about being able to play professional sports. both academies have a slightly better shot at better athletes and then may get more of a bump in recruiting joining the big east. it really would be win win. so instead of florida and alabama (troy) schools.
i say a 12 team conference with much more
.
i say a 12 team conference with much more attractive addtions
South: Navy, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Louisville, Penn St., USF
North: Army, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, UCONN
just off the head conference alignment. wow that looks like fun though
Prof, hard to argue any of that. I see the ND football camp wanting to play Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan. Maybe I'm wrong. I do like the service academies idea. Thanks for the comments.
free polls
I like the match-ups and the years of bad-blood between rivals in college football. I enjoy a good game no matter the national implications. Give me a 3OT game between a couple of Sun Belt teams over a 40 point blowout between a couple top 25 teams anytime. I consider myself to be a fan of the game. I will be as respectful to visitors on my blog as they are to me. Go Huskers! Go Navy! Go Jags! Go Cubbies!
This is the fifth installment of my grades for out-of-conference (OOC) schedules. Links to the other four are here: 
West Virginia – Villanova, East Carolina, Colorado, Marshall, Auburn. This is a very good schedule. With the exception of Villanova, all of these teams are pretty good. Going to Colorado is never taken lightly. The ball bounces really funny in Boulder. You are taking your fate in your own hands when you go out there. The Auburn game is late in the season and will be a marquee match-up. I don’t think there are but a handful of teams that would be so bold as to have both these teams on the OOC schedule. The ECU game is on the road. What I have noticed about ECU is that when they have a national audience, they give as good a fight as anyone. The Marshall game is a bit of a rivalry game and those are always scary. Grade: A+ (I’m going to ignore the Villanova game)
Connecticut – Hofstra, Temple, Virginia, Baylor, North Carolina. I really like this schedule for UCONN. Sure Hofstra is a stinker, but the rest is very respectable. They have a tune-up game with Temple. In years past, this may have been a hard fought game, but unless Temple has vastly improved from last year, this is a tune-up for UCONN. The rest are all BCS conference teams. The Virginia game will be tough for UCONN, but they have a probable win with Baylor. By far, going to North Carolina will be the toughest OOC test for the Huskies. They have the chance to play the spoiler to a Tar Heel team that many think will have a break-out year. For UCONN, this is a very respectable schedule. Grade: A (I’m going to ignore the Hofstra game)
Cincinnati – Eastern Kentucky, Oklahoma, Miami (OH), Akron, Marshall. Cincy has the honor of scheduling a BCS giant in Oklahoma. There is no team in the land that would schedule Oklahoma in Norman and think that they have a better than 50% chance in winning. In years past, Cincy may have had less than a 5% chance in winning. Recently, Cincys stock has been rising. They have a quality team that has handled some decent teams recently. I am giving the Bearcats a chance, not a big one, but they do have a chance to be in a position to win that game late. Cincy had no problem at all with Marshall or Miami (OH) last year, so there is no reason to think differently this year. The Akron game is a tune-up. Grade: A (I’m ignoring the Eastern Kentucky game)
Syracuse – Northwestern, Akron, Penn State, Northeastern, Notre Dame. Syracuse has not been the same since McNabb. So, they get a little slack on the OOC schedule. They don’t really need any though. Penn State is a monster who will be dining on Orange dudes that day. Northwestern is another BCS conference team. I like that game as well as the Akron game. It really is too bad that Notre Dame is doing so badly. It is not the fault of the teams that have them scheduled, and usually the Domers will be pretty good. I didn’t even know Northeastern had a football team. Grade: B+
Rutgers – Fresno State, North Carolina, Navy, Morgan State, Army. Ok, I give them credit for the North Carolina and Fresno State games. Those are two quality OOC games. If you listen to the pundits, they will tell you the both those teams are ready to explode. As for the rest of the schedule, you can’t get on Rutgers too much because they always play Army and Navy. It’s a rivalry thing. I can’t be too harsh on those. So, that leaves Morgan State. I’m not paying any attention to that one. Grade: B
South Florida – Tennessee-Martin, Central Florida, Kansas, Florida International, North Carolina State. South Florida is not going to sneak up on anyone this year. The biggest test on the OOC schedule is going to be Kansas. Was KU a one year wonder? This game will probably tell us volumes on each of these two teams. NC State is a good scheduled game for the Bulls. CFU and FIU are a couple in-state rivalries. (if that is even possible with such a young team.) CFU may put up a fight, but FIU is bad. I’m ignoring the TN-Martin game. Grade: B-
Louisville – Kentucky, Tennessee Tech, Kansas State, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State. How disappointing was Louisville last year? Very. My first thought of this schedule was that it was very disappointing from Louisville. Then, I remembered that Louisville was just as disappointing. According to my grading criteria, I must take that into account. The Kentucky game is an in-state rivalry. That may be a good game if Kentucky can keep up the level of play from last year. The Kansas State game may be a good test for this Louisville team. KSU has a ton of JUCO transfers coming in. By the time the Wildcats play Louisville, those JUCOs should have their feet under them. Memphis is a decent team and will certainly put up a fight. Who can forget that Louisville/Middle Tennessee State game from last year? What a defensive coordinator’s nightmare. Should get good. Grade: C 
