Louisville, Ky. – I’m sitting here on the edge of Big East Conference country, which a year ago, according to snobs in the Southeastern Conference next door, would have put me somewhere between college football oblivion and the Sun Belt.
I don’t have to walk far from here to find myself in a debate that is growing around the country: Should an undefeated Big East team go to the Bowl Championship Series title game over a one-loss SEC team?
It’s a terrific question, particularly since one of those two teams likely will end up in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 8 to face the Michigan- Ohio State winner.
It’s a terrific question because the SEC has more good teams than any other conference, its speed is unmatched and its road games are the toughest in the country.
It’s also a dumb question. If any team survives the Big East undefeated, there is no way this unblemished champion should have to buy a ticket to watch an SEC team play for the national title.
This is no longer the old Big East, folks. No longer will its champion be a 19th-ranked Pittsburgh team that goes to the Fiesta Bowl two seasons ago and gets drilled by a Utah squad that outmanned it at nearly every position.
“We have two teams in the top 10, three in the top 15,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said on Monday’s Big East conference call. “Pitt is on the cusp. It speaks well for the commitment of the league. Top to bottom, it’s a small league, but from one through eight the league is the strong- est it’s been in a long time. The talk of the demise of the Big East should be gone by now.”
Here’s why: Thursday’s monumental showdown between third-ranked West Virginia and fifth-ranked Louisville was being called not only the biggest game in the state of Kentucky’s history but the biggest college game in ESPN history. The kicker is this game doesn’t even mean the Big East title.
Next week Louisville goes to No. 15 Rutgers (7-0), and Rutgers goes to West Virginia in the regular-season finale Dec. 2. The Scarlet Knights have the most dangerous defense in the conference. Throw in Pitt (6-2) hosting West Virginia and Louisville back-to-back to end the Panthers’ season and you have a gauntlet I doubt any team in the SEC could survive.
“As I’ve said many times, if someone is 12-0 at the end of the year, regardless of what happens, that’s pretty good considering a year ago they had a coffin out for us, and two years ago we were in a limbo bowl, and the year before that we were dead,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Thursday in Louisville.
Some in the SEC know it, too. Georgia coach Mark Richt has a vote in the USA Today coaches poll, and his Bulldogs are still recovering from West Virginia’s 38-35 Sugar Bowl win.
“It’d be tough not to vote an undefeated team ahead of a team with one loss,” Richt said on Wednesday’s SEC call. “Certainly there are conferences where you wouldn’t do that. But the Big East has proven it’s pretty good. We have first-hand knowledge of West Virginia.”
OK, SEC fans, don’t throw your laptop at me. Don’t get carried away with the computer ratings. Sure, the computers rank West Virginia 13th and Louisville ninth. West Virginia’s nonconference victims are a combined 15-18, not including I-AA Eastern Washington. Louisville’s are 20-22.
Starting Thursday night, both teams’ Q-rating started their climb.
“The SEC tends to overrate their conference and thinks of the national championship as a birthright,” BCS analyst Jerry Palm said Thursday. “But it is a good league. Florida has played a good schedule and got beat only once. That Florida deserves a shot even though someone beat them is a reasonable argument, but I’d give West Virginia or Louisville a shot. If I had a vote, I’d vote for them. It’s the nature of college football.
“If you lose in the regular season, you need some luck.”
I saw No. 7 Florida (fourth in the BCS) play at Auburn, and the Gators threw away the win with a bad fourth quarter. Auburn’s defense is ridiculously scary. But three Big East teams face similar challenges this month. If one gets out alive, its ticket for Glendale should be a sideline pass.
Is Rodriguez a Heel?
Rodriguez had an interesting comment when asked about reports that his name is linked to the North Carolina job. He didn’t deny interest. He commented. He didn’t close the door.
“I never say never, particularly right now,” Rodriguez said on Monday’s Big East call. “After the season I’m sure I’ll sit down with our people here and discuss it with my family if anything is interesting at that point.”
Hmm. Why would a West Virginia native leave his alma mater, a perennial national power, for a basketball school? He just signed his second renegotiated contract that pays him $8.65 million over seven years. However, for the right coach North Carolina will pay Roy Williams-type money – in the $2 million range.
A better guess is at season’s end, Rodriguez will barter his way into a third renegotiation. Former Miami coach Butch Davis remains the favorite in Carolina, although Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe now is being mentioned.
Footnotes
Duke has been outscored 78-3 in the first quarter. In the past seven games, North Carolina State has scored only three points in the first quarter. … Oklahoma’s maligned defense is back. Past five games: 50 points allowed and 13 turnovers forced. … The Gators qualify for the SEC title game if they win Saturday at Vanderbilt and Tennessee loses to visiting Louisiana State. … Clemson coach Tommy Bowden was hit in the face by a mini-liquor bottle during the Tigers’ 24-7 loss at Virginia Tech eight days ago. The perpetrator was ejected. Turns out he was a Clemson fan. … If 11th-ranked Notre Dame allegedly is overrated, why has it been jumped the past two weeks by teams (Florida and California, respectively) that were idle?
END OF THE ROAD
SMITH OUT AS SPARTANS COACH
In the end, John L. Smith never had a chance at Michigan State. The Spartan faithful and media questioned the choice the minute he arrived in 2002 from Louisville – fresh off a 38-15 GMAC Bowl loss to Marshall. He had no ties to Midwest recruiting and was hired by the most trigger-happy administration in the Big Ten.
But Smith’s biggest flaw is his teams had no guts. One disappointment and they collapsed. You could hang a calendar showing the month of November over your fireplace and beat the Spartans in the comforts of your own home. In Smith’s four years, the Spartans have finished 1-4, 1-4, 1-6 and have lost five of their past six this year.
“The Notre Dame game broke everyone’s heart, the Illinois game broke everybody’s spirit, Ohio (State) broke everybody’s legs,” MSU vice chairman Joel Ferguson told reporters after Wednesday’s firing. “Just a lot of things that happened, really. Just a perfect storm. That’s what really happened. These last six weeks have been a perfect storm.”
Athletic director Ron Mason was more direct. He all but said Michigan State needs better players. Ironically, Smith was compiling one of the best recruiting classes in the Big Ten, including ballyhooed quarterback Keith Nichol of Lowell, Mich.
“This year he was doing a pretty good job,” Rivals.com’s Jeremy Crabtree said Thursday. “He has lost a lot of battles in the state of Michigan to Michigan and lost some kids in the Midwest region to Ohio State.”
Six potential successors have emerged: Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, 41, MSU’s defensive line coach under Nick Saban; Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach Phil Shurmer, 41, a Dearborn, Mich., native and former Spartans player; University of Cincinnati head coach Mark Dantonio, 50, a former Ohio State defensive coordinator who has turned around the Bearcats; Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English, 38, one of the nation’s top assistants; Central Michigan coach Brian Kelly, 38, who has Central Michigan unbeaten in the Mid-
American Conference; and former Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci, 51 on Saturday.
Mariucci, considered an early favorite, is losing steam. He’s best friends with Spartans basketball coach Tom Izzo, who will be a force on the search committee. But some think he won’t recommend that Mariucci come to a school that has fired its last two coaches before their seasons ended.
Also, Mariucci did not impress area fans with the job he did with the Lions, a point he may want to correct with another shot in the NFL.
