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E.T.

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    Just wanted to have the first poll ...

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    Nov. 6, 2003

    Why not Big East for Irish football?

    COMMENTARY

    By JASON KELLY

    Tribune Sports Columnist

     

    C-USA schools join the Big East

    The Big East added five teams making it one of the most powerful basketball conferences after football powerhouses Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

    Notre Dame football looks out of its league, and not only during repeated defeats of historic proportions.

    It belongs in the Big East.

    This sacrilegious suggestion that decades of independence should be sacrificed reflects more than an overreaction to a 2-6 record.

    It represents the modern reality of conference dominance in college football and the need to relinquish one cherished tradition (independence) to restore another (championships).

    Trying to do both has mired the Irish in a morass familiar to followers of the men's basketball program.

    Stubborn belief that an independent could thrive despite increasing conference power relegated Notre Dame to the NIT, or nowhere, for the better part of a decade.

    That diminished the men's basketball program more than conference affiliation ever could.

    Notre Dame football now stands at a similar philosophical intersection with more to lure it in a new direction than its caretakers might admit.

    Continuing on its solitary path limits championship potential. Getting there from here requires rigorous scheduling and offers no room for error.

    Notre Dame has received only one Bowl Championship Series invitation in six years despite meeting the criteria three times.

    That's a triumph of competitive fairness over commercial interests, a sign of progress in college football, if not much of a benefit to Notre Dame's bottom line.

    Despite pressing their noses against the glass, the Irish have remained steadfast in their commitment to football independence and the perceived stature the status quo affords them.

    With tradition no longer enough to merit bowl bids over teams with higher rankings and better records, they cannot afford it anymore.

    Even its best seasons in recent years -- 9-2 in 1998 and 10-2 in 2002 against schedules considered among the toughest in the nation -- failed to impress enough voters and computers to be BCS-worthy.

    That's a sudden and seismic change in the college football landscape.

    As recently as 1994, a 6-4-1 Notre Dame team received a Fiesta Bowl payday.

    To say the Irish played in that Fiesta Bowl would be an exaggeration. Like a faded old TV star, they dressed in costume, made an appearance and received a check.

    Since then, Notre Dame has been about the money at the expense of football success, holding out for increasingly rare windfalls instead of positioning itself for a steady stream of revenue and results.

    Proceeds from its NBC contract and one BCS appearance after the 2000 season may have paid some bills, but it has created no apparent competitive advantage.

    A renovated Big East built for basketball needs football credibility and so do the Irish.

    Notre Dame could be the league's lifeboat, and vice versa.

    Recent refusals at the velvet rope separating them from the prestigious and lucrative postseason where they once were the VIPs make the Irish ripe for the right offer.

    Conferences with football strength and stability like the Big Ten and the ACC might be reluctant to entertain extravagant demands from Notre Dame.

    Desperate to protect its BCS status, the Big East probably would be willing to make financial guarantees to entice the Irish in the same way it tried to keep Miami.

    Limiting the conference schedule to six games or even partial membership -- say, four games with access to the Big East BCS bid if Notre Dame finishes ranked higher than the champion -- could ease the transition for the squeamish.

    Nowhere else will a weakened Irish program have such a strong negotiating position.

    As a further incentive, the Big East representative in the BCS receives a larger share of the revenue than the rest of the league members.

    Given the football weakness of the realigned league, Notre Dame would become the dominant member immediately.

    One decision -- albeit a controversial one -- could ease its schedule and increase access to the BCS without ending annual rivalries like USC, Navy and Michigan.

    It would not diminish the Irish to be associated with programs like Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida. It would only reduce the hurdles separating them from national championships.

    Ask Miami how much Big East membership hurt its football reputation with only Virginia Tech in its competitive solar system.

    Notre Dame's non-conference schedule would more than make up the difference.

    Under uncertain circumstances with college football's postseason facing renegotiation and restructuring, advocating conference affiliation might seem like a rash reaction to the worst season in four decades.

    Only in a playoff system -- the one scenario major-conference presidents promised to avoid -- would independence be in Notre Dame's best interest.

    Otherwise conferences will continue to consolidate their power, the one certainty in an otherwise cloudy forecast for college football.

    "Who knows what the next generation of the BCS is going to be?" Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said Wednesday in the New York Times. "Right now, it is like painting by numbers in the dark."

    Joining the Big East could help Notre Dame see the light.

    Just wanted to have the first poll ...

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    Notre Dame ponders Big East role as league meeting looms

    From Associated Press and Bonesville.net staff reports

    SOUTH BEND, Ind.  Notre Dame likes being an independent in football, and being a member of the Big East in just about every other sport.

    The comfortable arrangement may soon change for the Fighting Irish, however. The Atlantic Coast Conference let it be known Friday it wants to add three Big East schools, including football power Miami.

    With the Big East's annual spring meeting convening today, the league is expected to formulate an aggressive response to the ACC's volley, and the path of attack could include anything from a counter-raid on the ACC to a cherry-picking expedition into Conference USA resulting in a wholesale renovation of the Big East's structure.

    The weighty possibilities pose a dilemma for one of the most storied programs in college athletics.

    ``I don't know what this would do to Notre Dame,'' said Gene Corrigan, who served as athletic director at Notre Dame from 1981-87. ``Notre Dame has had a great situation in the Big East, being in with all those schools and not having to put in its football. They've been able to retain their independence.''

    Kevin White, Notre Dame's current athletic director, has declined to comment on what might happen, other than releasing a statement earlier this week saying the school is happy with its present situation. He said several conferences have approached Notre Dame in recent years to inquire whether the school was interested in joining, and Notre Dame declined.

    ``We're very happy with the way things are right now,'' he said.

    That's because Notre Dame has the best of both worlds. It belongs to a major conference for basketball and its non-revenue sports, while continuing a 115-year history of being independent in football. During that time, the Irish have won a record eight national football championships and produced seven Heisman Trophy winners.

    As a football independent, Notre Dame doesn't have to share its gate receipts, bowl payouts or an estimated $8 million to $9 million a year from its television contract with NBC.

    As a Big East member since 1995, the Irish basketball team has been to three straight NCAA tournaments, the women's basketball team won the national championship in 2001, and last year the men's baseball team went to the College World Series for the first time in 45 years.

    ``It's been a pretty good home for us for 23 other sports, as far as an entree to the NCAA championships,'' said John Heisler, sports information director.

    When Notre Dame considered ending its football independence four years ago and joining the Big Ten, students and alumni rallied against the proposal. At Irish basketball games fans would chant, ``No Big Ten!'' Some argued that by joining that conference, the school would damage its status as a national Catholic institution.

    The school's pride in its football independence dates to Knute Rockne, noted Heisler.

    ``We were a small Midwestern school; we travel to Army in 1913 and win,'' Heisler said. ``That put us on the map a little bit. Then Rockne, being the marketer that he was, decided he'd play a more wide-ranging schedule, so we go to the East Coast. Then he started a series with USC. Pretty soon we're playing a national schedule. Fortunately, we have some success over a lot of years, so that's just been the tradition.''

    Corrigan, who also was ACC commissioner from 1987-97, thinks Notre Dame made the right decision when it decided in 1999 not to join the Big Ten, saying it wasn't the right fit. He said it's impossible to predict what Notre Dame should do now.

    ``It's one of those things Notre Dame will have to look at and see what the landscape looks like and try to decide what's best for them,'' he said. ``I think Notre Dame can do what it wants. I don't think there's anybody around who would turn Notre Dame down if Notre Dame came and said, 'We'd like to be in your conference.' I think it has its own choices to make.''

    The Big East annual meetings, perhaps the most important gathering of conference and school representatives in league history, commence today in Ponte Vedra, Fla.  Notre Dame officials arrive on Monday.

    Granted, this is old news ... but the nbc contact may not be renewed and they won't be bowling this year ... in a conference, they'd be sharing Big East moneys.

    I think some of you guys are taking things a little too serious. This is a poll, not a vote. These two teams are the best possibilities of a major team. Who else should be on it? Take it easy Frances  ::)

    BCS berth: Will it stay or will it go?

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    From Today's Times:

    SELLING THE BIG EAST: The euphoria of USF's move to the Big East will wear off quickly if the conference does not maintain its BCS standing. Having an automatic spot in the lucrative BCS games will have to be negotiated when the current agreement ends after the 2005 season. The Big East, ACC, SEC, Pac-10, Big 12 and Big Ten have guaranteed spots.

    "We will be one of the six best football-playing conferences in the country," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. "I'm confident that we will be sitting at the table with the five other conferences. There is a lot of tradition in this league. We have schools who have won national championships, schools whose players have won the Heisman Trophy. We come from one of the most important sectors in this country. I'm very confident we'll be there in the next go-around."

    Consider this, however: Since the BCS began in 1998, Syracuse is the only school in the new Big East (without Miami and Virginia Tech) to finish in the Top 15 of the Associated Press poll, which could move other leagues to argue that they are just as worthy of an automatic BCS spot.

    A Look At The New Big East Conference

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    Football in BOLD

    A Look At The New Big East Conference

    Published: Nov 4, 2003

     

    1. Marquette University

    Location: Milwaukee

    Enrollment: 10,750

    Marquette is ranked No. 91 by U.S. News & World Report among U.S. universities granting doctoral degrees in 2004.

    2. DePaul University

    Location: Chicago

    Enrollment: 18,565

    DePaul was recognized this year as one of the top 100 U.S. universities in awarding master's and bachelor's degrees to minorities.

    3. Notre Dame University

    Location: Notre Dame, Ind.

    Enrollment: 10,126

    It is one of nine schools that admits fewer than half its freshman applicants.

    4. University of Louisville

    Location: Louisville, Ky.

    Enrollment: 22,000

    UL has more than 100,000 alumni worldwide.

    5. University of Cincinnati

    Location: Cincinnati

    Enrollment: 34,000

    UC graduates 5,000 annually and is the largest employer in the region, with annual economic impact more than $3 billion.

    6. West Virginia University

    Location: Morgantown, W.Va.

    Enrollment: 21,500

    WVU has produced 25 Rhodes scholars and 24 Goldwater scholars.

    7. University of Pittsburgh

    Location: Pittsburgh

    Enrollment: 32,107

    In past 17 years, more students from Pitt's honors college received Rhodes and Marshall scholarships than from any other college or university in the state.

    8. Syracuse University

    Location: Syracuse, N.Y.

    Enrollment: 10,000

    Distinguished alumni include ``Nightline'' anchor Ted Koppel, columnist William Safire and author Joyce Carol Oates.

    9. Georgetown University

    Location: Washington

    Enrollment: 6,374

    Distinguished alumni include President Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

    10. Villanova University

    Location: Villanova, Pa.

    Enrollment: 6,234

    U.S. News & World Report ranked Villanova No 1 in the Best Universities - Master's category (by region).

    11. Seton Hall University

    Location: South Orange, N.J.

    Enrollment: 9,436

    Seton Hall had the first female dean of law in the United States and is known globally for its mobile computing program.

    12. Rutgers University

    Location: New Brunswick, N.J.

    Enrollment: 33,500

    It is one of the oldest U.S. universities (founded in 1766).

    13. St. John's University

    Location: Jamaica, N.Y.

    Enrollment: 17,200

    St. John's distinguished alumni include former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, former California Gov. George Deukmejian and U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

    14. University of Connecticut

    Location: Storrs, Conn.

    Enrollment: 17,652

    UConn is a Carnegie Foundation Research University, a distinction shared by 4 percent of its U.S. peers.

    15. Providence College

    Location: Providence, R.I.

    Enrollment: 3,596

    U.S. News & World Report has ranked Providence one of the top two master's-level colleges and universities in the North.

    16. University of South Florida

    Location: Tampa

    Enrollment: 37,000

    USF is the second-largest university in the Southeast and is among the nation's 20 largest.

    Carrier Dome

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    Air conditioning as we know it was not invented until 1902, however, when Willis Haviland Carrier invented a machine that controlled both temperature and humidity by pumping air over refrigerated coils. His first customer was a Brooklyn printer. Today, the New York-based Carrier Corp. has clients in more than 145 countries. (For sports fans reading this article, Syracuse University's Carrier Dome is named after the illustrious inventor.)

    And I heard the dome wasn't AC'd until a few years ago.  

    Big East Attendance ?

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    I can't find the link that list all teams  ??? Does anyone know what the numbers this season so far or last years ?

    I BULLieve L'ville lead c-usa and Cincy was near our 2003 totals. Would figure Pitt, Syracuse and WVU leads. UConn still getting there, but are doing great in W-L ... see Rutgers at the bottom  ???

    Thanx.

    Go BULLS !!!

    Just wanted to have the first poll ...

    in American Athletic Conference

    Posted

    It will be interesting if ND loses to Navy, which is a very strong possibility. Navy hasn't won since Roger Staubach (1963 I BULLieve) and with the new NBC contract coming up ....

    Penn State hasn't done anything in the Big Ten (plus 1) and may want to come "home" with closer opponents for rivalries ... Penn St vs Pitt each year  :o ... would love that!

    Go BULLS !!!

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