saevrick

Well, karma's a bi-- er, not so nice thing.

Yeesh.. glad our Mountaineer has a musket then... Must be from BC though, the colors match, right down to the pansy pink stockings..

Wow.. I would've told them to shove their conference and went independent.. probably wouldn't have been the best decision, but you can disrespect someone only so much.. I hope getting into the BigEast really helps USF out. It's great to see football programs grow stronger and widen their fan base. I don't know how much it'll help recruiting, since Florida already produces so many wonderful players, but hopefully The Bulls can grow even bigger and better. I'm starting to get as excited about USF getting into the Big East as USF fans are

*laughs* That wouldn't be hard considering our winter was about 6 months long. 50 degrees is practically t-shirt weather here, so if it's averaging over 65 our team will probably deem it hot.

Are you saying Louisville can't win the C-USA in 2004, but they could win the Big East if they were in it now?

Thank you, I'll do that if I can get the chance to get away from school come that time.

I don't believe so.. I think Chad was from Knoxville, TN, while John is a Charleston, WV native. I can't find anything that says otherwise.

This somewhat alleviates my worries, but there's still a lot to work on. Great showing by Kay-Jay (15-96 yds-2 TDs), Henry (13-200 yds-1 TD) and Pennington (5-82 yds) as well. Things are slowly shaping up.

I would be really surprised if RJ isn't packed when Pitt goes down there. I'd be green with envy to be able to watch my home team be able to play in such an awesome stadium. Any of you been to wherever UCF plays? Our guys are going down there this year to play.. wondering if it's worth the trip, or safe in that regard.

Not a problem, glad I could help. So they didn't want USF right away, but they won't let the Bulls go right away either... what a silly conference, it's good they'll get away from all that. I'm beginning to think smazza's use of the word "thorn" may have been too kind.

What's behind all the beef between C-USA and USF? Or is it just C-USA in general has a beef with everyone?

Quick defenses are definitely the flavor of the day. Our own 3-3 relies on speed heavily to put pressure on the QB, but really doesn't offer much against a heavy passing offensive scheme. We were creamed through the air last year. Doesn't help much we are weak on the LB position. Good luck getting the cohesion you need to win the C-USA. I'm really pulling for all of you guys (Cincy, UL, USF). Or at least give TCU the pounding they deserve...

Yep, Coach Rod is defintiely one of a kind and he's doing some amazing things to the program here at WVU. I miss the old jerseys though :-/ WVU knows all about not being respected, but I think that's what lights the fire under'em to do better every year. Just watch Lee Corso talk about us once and you'll be convinced ;D Either way, good luck to your Bulls, but it sounds like they don't need it!

If it's decided between WVU and BC, then I'll be very happy since we get them at home! What's the general consensus of how the Bulls are going to fair in C-USA this year? Collegefootballnews.com has you guys placing 6th (behind Lousiville, TCU, So. Miss., Memphis and Cincy) in the conference. Is that a fair assessment? Wow, I can't really keep to the topic anymore..

That would've been pure heaven. Everyone wanted it except C-USA I'm guessing. The shame really is the fans who have to watch you guys (and by that I mean all those schools newly accepted into the BigEast) play the 2004 year in a sort of Limbo. We didn't want to play in a 7-team BE either. C-USA won by holding onto you another year waiting for their other schools, ACC got their wishes (minus BC), and we were left scratching our heads. Oh well, in 2005 we'll be the real winners.

UConn was originally slated to take Temple's place in the 2005 season after they left (*cough* kicked out), but due to the obvious expansions, UConn's BigEast application was accepted so they could begin in 2004.

I feel a bit silly leaving UConn out of the "threat list". Another team that will need to be watched closely and never underestimated. This is what is going to make the 2004 season so unpredictable. Teams such as Syracuse, Rutgers, and UConn all have the abilities to knock off (or at least give a good run at) any team in the BigEast given the right situations. Heck, even Temple showed what a motivated team can do (24-23 loss in OT vs VTech last year). I'm not saying these team will win the BigEast, but they will make it very interesting to say the least. Come 2005, this conference will be as enjoyable to watch on the unpredictability scale as the basketball side. Is this going to be one helluva conference or what!? I'm just going to say my Mountaineers should take the top spot (since through all my rambling, I've seemed to ignore the actual topic of the thread), albeit a rough road with the lack of depth and injuries we've been suffering this spring. The defense seems to be solidifying, but that could be an illusion due to the poor showing the offense has made in practices. Injuries at tailback has made it really difficult to keep practices concrete on the offensive side.. Thankfully it's still spring, heh.

I'm a bit biased since I go to WVU, heh, but I really think it'll be a toss-up between Pitt, BC and WVU. It may come down to the Backyard Brawl in Pittsburgh to decide the conference champion this year. I'm fine with either WVU or Pitt winning the conference, so long as BC doesn't for the sake of the rebuilding process. Last thing we need is for the title to be taken by a team heading off to the ACC. I really don't want to see another shared title either... Be sure to watch for Rutgers-- I think they'll scare some people this year. They may play a vital role to see who gets the loss that places them out of contention for the top spot in the BigEast.

Thanks for the info A 16 team basketball conference should be interesting nevertheless. Here's to hoping the BE brings home another basketball championship! Here's to hoping my Mountaineers can continue to grow and become more competitve once again on the court. How exactly does the RPI index work anyway? (Least I admitted I was dumb to the fact of how basketball goes eh?)

Think WVU was still beat up from the Pitt game, but I'm not going to take anything away from Rutgers. They have a wonderful team together and the RAC is a tough, tough place to play. I think even if WVU had been 100% they still would've gotten beat, but maybe not by as much as they did. It's a shame our 100th year of basketball couldn't have been more of a Cinderella story..

It's hard to say really.. both conferences have outstanding teams which usually play hard. Thankfully though the additions of Miami and VTech sort of weakened the ACC basketball programs overall, while the NBE is importing some great ones. I'm not a basketball buff, so if I sound ignorant to the fact I'm deeply sorry. Just my honest opinion from what I've seen or heard. Regardless, the NBE is going to be wonderful to watch as the teams will beat the snot out of one another every week, which is the most important thing I think for the guys on the court-- just to be out there having fun.

Another Big East board at ESPN.com

You could always try the Big East fan forums.  They always seem lively. Big East Board at Collegefootballnews.com.

I believe WVU is 9-2 at home (losses to Northeastern and VT I believe), and Pitt's two losses (Seton Hall and UConn) are both at away games. Pittsburgh has won 4 of the last meetings between these two teams. Pitt is definitely the favorite coming in, but if the Mountaineers play focused and Pitt sleeps a little bit this game could be decided in the 2nd half. WVU has always had the habit of falling apart in the 2nd half however.. case being they were only down by 5 points entering the 2nd half against UConn, but ultimately lost the game by a whopping 30 points (outscored 27-52). Revenge?.. maybe, doubtful but maybe. I don't know if it'll be an easy win necessarily, but Pitt should prevail. The only way to have a chance of winning for WVU is if they (please excuse the cliche) bring their A game.. maybe add a few pluses at the end there..

While I agree Penn State would make sense in the Big East, I just don't see it happening. The Big Ten is a solid conference, and I think a fear of losing potential funds would probably play a part. I would have to do some research to confirm that however. But, if the Big East wants to court Penn State, they need to do so while JoePa is running the show. It was his dream in the first place to have an eastern football conference. It would only be right to have Temple in that though.. Notre Dame would never leave their football independence UNLESS they were to lose their tv contracts in the future. Even when Notre Dame doesn't compete in a bowl game, they still make as much off of TV contracts as most schools do after bowl season, which of course as everyone knows they do not have to share with anyone else. If Notre Dame couldn't take a spot from the current BigEast in bowl games, then there is a slight, albeit it be a very slight, chance they would join one of the conferences.. I doubt it would be the Big East however.. The only whammy I would see is when the Big East football playing school break off from the basketball-only schools.. which is going to happen sometime within the next decade I would speculate. Till then, all bets are probably off. I would hope though when the split does occur that the football schools expand to at least the 12 minimum for a championship game..