Tranghese: Big East 'blew it' with Penn State

◊ This is an interesting bit of pretty mediocre news. Mike Tranghese, the Big East's commissioner, said in a Q&A with the New York Times, that the league's biggest mistake was not taking Penn State in the early 1980s.

"The idea wasn’t to take Penn State and start a football league. It was to give Penn State a place. And then they would have been aligned with Syracuse and Boston College. We probably would have brought Pitt in, too, and the four of them probably would have agreed to play and continue as independents."

Tranghese goes on to say how Penn State was within one vote (it was 5-3) of being accepted into the league, and that former Syracuse A.D. Jake Crouthamel took a lot of undue heat from Paterno about it.

"We voted five different times and all five times Jake voted for Penn State. And Bill Flynn at Boston College, God rest his soul, voted for Penn State all five times. The reason that they didn’t get in was that the league was new, a lot of the directors felt it was a basketball league. Some of the directors felt that the concept of the Big East was big markets."

Ok, I'll admit that being from New Jersey, I have a real soft spot for Eastern Football and the Big East. Sure, the conference took a big hit losing Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College in 2004, and would they even have left if Penn State was in the league? It doesn't really matter, because like the entire discussion, it's history now. Still a hoot to talk about, though.

As much as I like Eastern Football, I have no sympathy for the Big East. They had their chance, and blew it big time. At least Tranghese knows it.

But we'll have more on the whole conference realignment thing later this month. Should be lots of fun.

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Greg Schiano, Big East Coach of the Year?

You can't deny it. Rutgers started out 1-5, with its only win over FCB Morgan State. Since the Knights' three-point loss to Cinncinati (Big East champs) on Oct. 11, they've won all six games since. That's right, a team that went 1-5 to start 2008, is now guaranteed a bowl bid, at 7-5.

Rutgers players were ready to kill each other during the bad start, and the fan base was calling for QB Mike Teel's head. Even head coach Greg Schiano was getting some heat.

Where is that program now? The Scarlet Knights crushed Pittsburgh and South Florida, and completely demolished Louisville last night on national television. Rutgers could end up going to the Sun Bowl–not a bad ending to what was looking to be a pretty dreadful season.

Oh yeah, and Mike Teel? He only went 21-for-26, 447 yards, no interceptions and SEVEN (7) touchdowns against the Cardinals. If Coach of the Year was based on which head man led his team to the biggest intra-season turnaround, my vote would go to Schiano. Remember, it's easy to lead a team that's happy, talented and benefitted from a few other teams flopping. I'm not saying Cincinnati's Brian Kelly doesn't deserve Big East Coach of the Year. I really like the guy, and think he's one of the best coaches in the game. But no one can say Schiano doesn't deserve consideration for what he was able to pull out of his team this season.

I'm just sayin...

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National Picks, Week 10

I figured since I have some extra time this week, I'd take some shots around college football. Mind you, these picks were formulated from about 10 percent research, 90 percent gut feel.

Outright Upsets:
Tennessee over South Carolina
Pitt over Notre Dame

Does not cover/watch for outright upset:
Florida St. over Georgia Tech
Utah over New Mexico

Does not cover:
Texas over Texas Tech
Oklahoma over Nebraska

Covers:
Oklahoma St. over Iowa St.
Florida over Georgia

*Ed-Yeah, I know I didn't do Joe Pa's presser. But hey, you've already read about it everywhere else, so why would you care about reading it here? Plus, beating up on ESPN is more fun.

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Big East looking at Service Academies

It seems that the New York Post is trying its hand at college football. Sure, they've done it in the past, but now that Rutgers is a player, the Post must feel obligated to devote more than a fraction of its attention to college football. According to a story run this morning, the Big East is stable enough to explore stronger relations with the conference's closest allies next to Notre Dame--the two service academies, Army and Navy. What's really interesting about this is how Big East Commish Mike Tranghese envisions the early stages of a deal. "...Army would play Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Navy would face Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia," the Post article said, reasoning that the Big East and the academies are just falling victim to the 12th-game crisis happening across college football. You know, how it's now "impossible" to find opponents for that 12th game? Puh'lease.

"A ninth member, even limited partners such as Army and Navy (both have a significant TV following) would give league members eight league games. That would allow the flexibility of four non-conference games so teams could pursue non-conference rivals such as Pittsburgh and Penn State."

If I'm not mistaken, Pitt is already in the Big East. Papers like the Post should stick to covering A-Rod's next bowel movement. College football to them is just a gambling sport, nothing more.

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NY Times and the Syracuse Orange(men)

I don't regularly read the NYT down here in DC, what with the Post and all. But I was ferociously searching for something to write about today, and stumbled upon the NYT's blog The Quad. Not too bad, more about general college sports than a football blog, but still fun to read. They're doing a countdown of the 119 (or 120, I don't exactly know) teams until the season starts. I was curious to see where some of our opponents ended up.

Ironically, Syracuse was the lowest ranked of all Penn State's opponents--No. 98.

"...Game(s) to watch: The first month of the season. The Orange could enter October at 2-3 or even 1-4, in which case it’s another losing season and the door for Greg Robinson. However, if the ‘Cuse can get a win at Northwestern and steal one at home against Penn State or Pittsburgh, then it will go into the Big East schedule 4-1, needing only two or three wins the rest of the way to make a bowl game."

Not exactly the glowing prospects of, say, nearly all other teams this year. I agree with most of this. It's not hard to predict a team like the Orange(men), but I really can't believe that they would take the shot in the dark to pick PSU as a possible upset. I don't like Pitt, but I'll go so far as to say I wouldn't even pick Syracuse over the Panthers. Not in a million years, never mind over Penn State. Get real. But moving on.

..."Quick facts: When I refer to Greg Robinson as the worst thing to ever happen to Syracuse football, this is not just an opinion. The numbers back me up. No coach in Orange history had ever lost 10 games in a season — Robinson has done it twice in three years. No Orange coach with more than two years on the job has compiled a losing record — Robinson’s career winning percentage is .200. His two predecessors, Dick McPherson and Paul Pasqualoni, won at least seven games 12 out of 13 years from 1987-99; Robinson has won seven in his first three years combined. ‘Cuse fans can bemoan how Pasqualoni allowed the Orange to slip in his last six years (39-33 from 1999-2004) but I would venture to guess that most, if not all, Orange fans would accept a similar record over the next six years. The program that gave us Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Larry Csonka, Art Monk and Donovan McNabb, among others, deserves better."

I with Syracuse could get its act together. I'm an eastern kid, growing up in New Jersey with Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College and the like, doing well every year and stealing the headlines. Eastern football is going to come back. Penn State, BC and WVU are helping that along, but without Syracuse, frankly, it won't happen. Rutgers can't replace the Orange(men), no matter how hard they try. Penn State should roll in the Carrier Dome, but I'll save my prediction for game week.

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BCS Conference Strength

What better way to pass the time than dissecting other bloggers' dissection of college football? As we are only ankle-deep in the 2008 football season, there's not much to talk about other than roster changes, a few sprinkles of info from Spring practices, and maybe a "Our conference is better than yours" argument or two. And that's where we have it. Even though it's not really defending or attacking a particular conference, Bears Necessity made quite a splash with its Which Conference Proved They Were the Strongest? post this week.

"The Big 10 did not defeat a single team above .500 from the big conferences. Not one. Not any. No no no."

I realize that this post was about OOC schedules. Fine. But the entire argument is null and void if you don't include bowl games to the OOC opponent list. Michigan beat Florida and Penn State beat Texas A&M, both teams coming in with .500+ records. I know, teams don't plan who they'll play in the bowl, but don't those games count towards which conference is better? OK though, I'll go along with the regular-season OOC games only. But what about other conferences, like the Pac-10?

"...both USC and Arizona St. had two weak schedules this year, but at least the Trojans had to go on the road for two of them (and the Nebraska game did seem like a toughie to begin with)."

Oh, so it's OK for USC to not completely blow the doors off (not right away, at least) of Nebraska because the Huskers were supposed to be better? Naha. If you want to play that card, then you have to give Penn State credit for playing a Notre Dame team coming off of two straight BCS appearances, 10-win seasons and was supposed to finish somewhere around 6-6. Or what about Ohio State's win over Washington in Seattle? The Huskies were 2-0, just off upsetting Boise State. At that point, they were supposed to be a decent team, possibly in bowl contention. If you're going to make an argument, first be careful how much ammo the other side has.

"After LSU beating Virginia Tech, no other team defeated a Division I opponent with more than eight wins. Again, the SEC’s accomplishments were internal (beating up on each other) rather than external (11-1 against the Sun Belt! POWER LEVEL RISING!)"

Finally! Someone outside of the Big Ten calling out the SEC for playing glorified high school teams OOC. I don't care what the SEC schedules are like in 2008 (many more teams are traveling a good distance for OOC BCS games), the SEC has still been the absolute worst conference when it comes to playing OOC games away from the Confederate States of America.

"Florida State had to go to Boulder (and won), play the Tide (and won) along with getting beaten by the Gators. Thanks to their glorious past, the Seminoles will not be having any light schedules anytime soon."

Colorado lost to Iowa State, Alabama and let Nebraska torch them for 51. (Even though CU won 65-51) Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe... 'nuff said there

"Cal beating Tennessee was mighty impressive, but it’s always tougher to go into SEC country and win it. South Florida took advantage of Tiger mistakes and blasted their way to victory. Cincinnati obliterating Oregon State was a close 2nd."

This was part of the Big East analysis, but of course a Cal win over an underachieving Tennessee team was "mighty impressive" according to this Cal homer. But for South Florida, the win at Auburn was one of the most underrated games in 2007. At first, everyone was shrugging it off as a fluke. Then USF got to No. 2, and lost to Rutgers. Out came the "Ah ha! I knew they were fake!" arguments. No, and no again. The Big East will never gain respect for what its done the last few years. I can't really explain it. It's just one of those oddities in college football that will never be solved. But now for the topper:

"...the Big 10 looks like a total embarrassment in terms of the opponents they face. It’s almost hard to believe why they’ve performed so badly during BCS season–they never look totally prepared for what’s coming to them."

Fared so badly, indeed. The Big Ten has sent seven different teams to the BCS: Ohio State (4-2), Michigan (1-3), Illinois (0-2), Wisconsin (2-0), Penn State (1-0), Iowa (0-1), Purdue (0-1). The SEC has had only six different teams represent the conference in the BCS: LSU (4-0), Florida (3-1), Georgia (2-1), Tennessee (1-1), Alabama (0-1), Auburn (1-0). The Big Ten is 8-9, while the SEC is 11-4. But if the SEC is so wonderful--not saying that the author of Bears Necessity is saying the SEC is better; it's just the most common conference comparison in football, BT vs. SEC--then why hasn't it sent more teams to the BCS on a regular basis? With 12 teams, you'd think there would be a different pairing every year, like the Big Ten had in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. (OK, I know, Illinois shouldn't have been there, but they were, so shut up about it already) And if you want to throw a little dirt in their Johnny Reb eyes, just bring up the whole Georgia beating Hawaii thing from last season.

No conference is better than the other. You can't gauge something like that in college football, when teams rarely play common opponents, never mind playing teams from Division I-A. But it sure is fun to argue, isn't it?

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Just a side note, RUTS just brought it to my attention that Penn State has released its official Spring 2008 roster. I'll take a look at it and give some thoughts.

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