Posts Tagged ‘Big East’
The Big 12 Erupts With… Actual News!
By Paul Myerberg // Feb 15, 2012
After months of anticipation, the Big 12 entered the offseason with a flurry. Step one: West Virginia, in the fold. The Mountaineers were able to file official separation papers from the Big East, with the two parties agreeing on a $20 million exit fee, though neither could get on the same page when it comes to the fashion with which the program alters its conference affiliation – the Mountaineers say they’re leaping to the Big 12, while the Big East says it voted to “terminate” West Virginia’s membership in the league. Semantics, and where you stand at the bargaining table dictates where you lie on the topic.
Tags: Baylor, Big 12, Big East, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, T.C.U., Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia
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Want to Know if W.V.U. is Big 12-Bound?
By Paul Myerberg // Feb 10, 2012
When will West Virginia’s move to the Big 12 be official? Well, the Big 12 could issue a press release announcing that come this fall, you’ll find the Mountaineers playing in a stadium near you. Conversely, the Big East could step forward and announce that no, the Mountaineers aren’t going anywhere this fall, and no, the Mountaineers won’t go anywhere until the end of the 2013-14 academic year. The Big East could do that, but it would merely be a diversionary tactic, one done not because it could actually keep West Virginia in the fold but because stubbornness and petulance are our greatest bargaining tool.
Tags: Big 12, Big East, West Virginia
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As Memphis Steps Up, Big East Steps Back
By Paul Myerberg // Feb 8, 2012
Last October, Memphis athletic director told a local television station that “ultimately,” the university wanted a spot in the SEC. “We think we deserve to be” in the SEC, he said, drawing a national response of shrugged shoulders and muffled guffaws. This was when every major athletic program with a pulse was punch-drunk on expansion Kool-Aid; for Memphis in particular, this was the period after the SEC added Texas A&M and before it added Missouri, meaning the Tigers were angling for the conference’s 14th spot — or 15th, or 16th, should the SEC have continued expanding in perpetuity. Unfortunately, Memphis’ bait, a dangling worm of basketball prominence tinged with only a faint trace of a football program, was not nearly tasty enough to entice the biggest fish in the F.B.S. pool.
Tags: A.C.C., Big East, Boise State, Conference Expansion, Memphis, Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia
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The Official End of an Era in the Big East
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 26, 2012
Miami (Fla.) and Virginia Tech left for the A.C.C. in 2004, followed a year later by Boston College. Rutgers broke through in 2006, bolting out of the gate with nine straight wins and rising as high as No. 7 in The Associated Press poll before splitting its last four games to finish 11-2. Coincidence? Not quite. Perhaps no program – and no coach, Greg Schiano – benefitted more from that trio’s bolt to greener pastures, one that created a power vacuum atop the Big East. Rutgers, along with West Virginia and Cincinnati, helped fill that gap. But the Scarlet Knights never got over the hump, instead making brief bursts towards B.C.S. play before ceding Big East supremacy to other more solidly-built conference rivals.
Tags: Big East, Greg Schiano, Mario Cristobal, Rutgers
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The Year in Review: Louisville (7-6, 5-2)
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 19, 2012
I’ve heard of one or, the depth chart word meant to signify little separation between two position contenders, if not a word meant to signal true co-starter status, but Louisville took it to a whole other level late in 2011. Charlie Strong and the Cardinals see your one or, or your two ors, and raise you five ors, with five running backs theoretically neck-and-neck on the depth chart heading into the regular season finale against South Florida. That’s a game the Cardinals would win, by the way, to ensure a second consecutive bowl trip under Charlie Strong.
Tags: Adrian Bushell, Big East, Charlie Strong, Dexter Heyman, Hakeem Smith, Louisville, Steve Kragthorpe, Teddy Bridgewater
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The Year in Review: Boise State (12-1, 6-1)
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 12, 2012
Georgia sniffed Boise State early, but remember: the Broncos were on the doorstep late in the fourth quarter, and if Chris Petersen hadn’t opted to call off the dogs the final score would have been 42-21, not 35-21. Arizona State humiliated itself with a pitiful Las Vegas Bowl performance, but remember: the Broncos scored 56 points, but they could have scored 70. Little victories for the big boys of the world, those B.C.S. conference purebreds who have long looked unfavorably upon Boise State – and the rest of the non-B.C.S. conference landscape. The Broncos had that laugh, not to mention the last laugh; come 2013, Boise State is crashing the party.
Tags: Arizona State, Big East, Boise State, Chris Petersen, Dan Goodale, Doug Martin, George Iloka, Georgia, Kellen Moore, Nate Potter, Shea McClellin, T.C.U., Tyrone Crawford
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How the Conferences Rank, 1-12: Final
By Paul Myerberg // Jan 11, 2012
The rankings are in the books, for better or worse, so all that’s left is to tally the numbers. What follows is the F.B.S. conference breakdown in terms of average final re-ranking; included in this list are our four Independents, even if that quartet, by design, holds no conference affiliation. The listings include the average ranking, highest team ranking and numbers of teams in the final top 25 in parentheses. The SEC again rules the roost — even if the conference finally lost a B.C.S. National Championship Game, in a way — but the league was challenged all year for the title of deepest conference, top to bottom. One conference in particular made a strong case for being the best in college football.
Tags: A.C.C., Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Independents, Louisiana Tech, MAC, Mountain West, Oklahoma, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC
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S.M.U., Jones Awkwardly Move Ahead
By Paul Myerberg // Dec 16, 2011
At least there’s time until the Mustangs retake the field: it’ll be Jan. 7, three weeks from today, before we see S.M.U. take on Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl. But it’s already been an awkward week for the program, which saw its coach, June Jones, come within hours — if not less — of being named the head coach at Arizona State. Ironically, the Sun Devils eventually opted for the Panthers’ Todd Graham, which might make this game a bit more intriguing to those fans in Tempe, for example.
Tags: Arizona State, BBVA Compass Bowl, Big East, Conference USA, June Jones, S.M.U., Todd Graham
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