Jim Johnson

From the Louisville Courier Journal

One thing Big East means: No more TCU :-/

Rick Bozich  

FORT WORTH, Texas  To the dazzling list of benefits the University of Louisville will gain by jumping to the Big East from Conference USA in 2005, do not forget to add another: No more football games against Texas Christian.

No more nights of watching the Horned Frogs' offense run right, run left, run deep, run wild, run nearly anywhere it desires.

No more watching TCU defenders strut, pounce and pop the Cardinals in the kisser without flinching.

And, most of all, no more tasting the kind of heartburn the Cards tasted last night when Nate Smith's 44-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of the game knuckled into a stiff Northern wind, kissed the crossbar and fell backwards to the ground.

TCU 31, Louisville 28.

"We were all kind of speechless," UofL linebacker Rod Day said. "We have total confidence in Nate. Ten out of 10 times, he makes that kick. This time it was a little short. That happens sometimes."

INCHES from being a hero, Smith dropped to the ground, nearly trampled by TCU players streaking to celebrate the Horned Frogs' ninth straight victory in a perfect season that attracted scouts from five bowl games  including the Fiesta of the Bowl Championship Series  to wet and chilly Amon Carter Stadium. TCU kicker Nick Browne walked to the center of the field, lifted Smith from the ground, consoled him and then rushed to join his teammates in celebration.

Now TCU has achieved something only one other Conference USA team  Southern Mississippi  has achieved: beat the Cards three straight.

BUT THIS one was different from the 37-22 and 45-31 spankings of the past two years. This time the Cards watched the Horned Frogs dance up and down the field for a half. Of TCU's first 27 plays, a dozen went for 10 yards or more. The Horned Frogs moved the ball as if they were playing Arena football. No wonder TCU sprinted to a 14-3 and 21-10 leads.

"This time we decided to take the fight to them," Day said. "They said a lot of things about us in the papers, that we weren't a tough team. They won the game. They're a very good team. But we played right with them."

IF THE Horned Frogs are ranked No.9 in the latest BCS standings, the Cards can argue they're 9A. Coach Bobby Petrino's team showed it could deliver a hit as well as take one. On a night when Louisville outgained TCU by 119 yards, the Cards lost because of three missed field-goal attempts, a season-high 120 yards in penalties and confusion about how to stop TCU from running a simple option attack.

TCU ran the option like it was 1973. Rambling to the corner, quarterback Brandon Hassell read the defense for the pitch or the run. He usually made the right call, keeping the ball 11 times for 61 yards and pitching to halfbacks Robert Merrill and Lonta Hobbs, who ran for a combined 133 yards.

AS GOOD AS Hassell was, UofL quarterback Stefan LeFors was better. Forced to survive without the comforting presence of running back Eric Shelton, who left the game in the first quarter with a neck injury, LeFors decided that the Cards weren't going to be blown out the way they had been blown out the last two seasons.

LeFors was nearly as dangerous as Hassell running the ball, and he was unstoppable throwing it, completing 31of46 passes 459 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.

But this season has been magical for TCU  magic that now includes a third straight victory over UofL.

Rick Bozich's column normally runs Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. You can reach him at (502) 582-4650.

Good post and welcome to the board...

With family still in Rochester NY - I look forward to seeing a few Bulls games at the Carrier Dome...

From the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel:

Can Big East stay in BCS?

Posted November 6 2003

The Big East suddenly doesn't look so big anymore.

As a football conference, it's more like the Little East now.

It may be super-sized in basketball after Tuesday's expansion announcement, but the conference's stature is so diminished in football there's a serious question about whether the Big East will retain its Bowl Championship Series membership as one of the six conferences guaranteed major bowl berths for its champions.

With Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College departing for the ACC next year, Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese announced Tuesday that Conference USA members Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida have accepted invitations to join the Big East as replacements in all sports, with DePaul and Marquette joining in basketball and other non-football sports. Also continuing to play Big East football will be Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia and Rutgers with Connecticut joining next year and Temple's membership ending after next season.

"We will be one of the six best football-playing conferences in the country," Tranghese said after Tuesday's expansion announcement. "I'm confident that we will be sitting at the table with the five other conferences."

Athletic directors from non-BCS schools must have spit out their morning cereal reading that. ADs from programs in the Mid-American Conference, C-USA, Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference will want to see some proof that the Big East plays better football than they do the next two years, the last years of the current BCS contract. The dissatisfaction these outsiders feel over the BCS may blow up in outrage if the Big East is automatically renewed when the new deal begins in 2006.

Now, more than ever, these outsiders see themselves as worthy of greater inclusion.

"We think we can make a strong case," Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said.

Look at the Top 25 schools in the BCS poll today. If you project the future affiliations, the Big 12, SEC and Big Ten each have five teams among the Top 25, and the ACC has three (among the top six) with the Pac-10 claiming two.

Here's the eye-opener. The MAC has three teams (Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio and Northern Illinois) among the BCS Top 25 with the "future" Big East claiming just one (Pittsburgh). Notable is that Pitt barely sneaked in at No. 25. Also notable is that since the BCS began in 1998, Syracuse is the only Big East school in the new mix to finish among the top 15 in the final AP poll.

BCS leaders will meet next month and again early next year to discuss extending its arrangement beyond 2005.

Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, whose Sooners are No. 1, expects serious questions about whether the Big East should continue as a member.

"There certainly isn't any move to make that decision now," Castiglione said. "We still have [two years] remaining on the current agreement. I know certain people have expressed concern in the past about a conference having at least one team consistently finishing among the top 15. I can tell you there hasn't been anything formally or specifically discussed about the future of the Big East, but it's a fair and appropriate question to raise. There just isn't a good answer right now."

This will be the place to come together and discuss Big East schools and athletics.

Hopefully it will become the premier Big East board.

It's already on the best College Athletics Site.

Bulliever's Charge:

More general, conference-oriented posts should be made to the Big East Board.  Likewise, if someone comes across an article that educates all on one of the other programs, post it here.  Hopefully, we'll get enough Big East fans to come here and share information and thoughts.

These are our boards and they are what we make them.  I hope you'll help build a vibrant Big East Board.  I believe we'll be playing there in '04, so it's not too early to start.    We have a lot of homework to do on our new peers and opponents.

I saw the game, Rice landed on his feet.  He touched other players.

1 - Unlike in college, in the NFL - a player lining up more than 1 yard off the neutral zone, running toward the line and jumping to block a kick is supposed to jump straight up and down - making absolutely no contact with any other player.

2 - As a referee, I can say that it was a bogus call.  To be sure, it was a technical violation of the rules -- but the Buc he landed on was BLOCKED INTO him.  Any Umpire worth his salt should have seen that.  Rice did jump straight up and would have come straight down had the Colt not pushed the Buc into Rice.

I am willing to bet that the League office issues a "clarification" of this rule sometime in the next few weeks.  Won't change the fact that the Bucs were robbed in OT...

Then again, if the Bucs could have held the Colts ONE TIME in three drives in the last four minutes, none of this would matter...

What's the purpose of having a videotape rule when they don't use it?

Makes no sense to me that they wouldn't look at the tape on their own initiative, in such a situation.

Especially when it's shown right there on the Big Screens for the whole world to see.

It's just whacky. - Howie

Penalties are NOT subject to the replay rule.

Chicago actually has more teams that play inside the city limits... (NY limits defined as the 5 boroughs)

NFL

- Chicago Bears

- New York has NO NFL teams (both play in New Jersey)

MLB

- Chicago White Sox and Cubs

- New York Yankees & Mets

NHL

- Chicago Blackhawks

- New York Rangers (Devils play in Jersey, Islanders play in on Long Island)

NBA

- Chicago Bulls

- New York Knicks (Nets play in Jersey)

MLS

- Chicago Fire

- New York has NO MLS teams (the MetroStars play in Jersey)

WNBA

- Chicago has NO WNBA teams

- New York Liberty

WUSA

- Chicago has NO WUSA teams

- New York has NO WUSA teams (NY Power plays on Long Island)

It's all semantics, but... Chicago 6, New York 5