BullFan98

Good break for FIU. They have a good head coach, tv market and have played very well. FAU has had a setback in the last few years, not sure what it is, but I do remember them giving us a very difficult time in Lockheed Stadium in 2007 when we were ranked pretty high.

UCF = Thugs

No big surprise.

I am looking forward to beating UCF AGAIN!

Good point.

Thank you football.

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/61307/big-east-schools-making-academic-gains Every once in a while, it is important to remember that there is a reason players at every single university in America are called student-athletes. Because, you know, they are on campus to get that all-important degree. While everybody is familiar with what football players do on Saturday, every athlete you root for has an overloaded schedule filled with classes, study hall, home work, practice and film study. So I felt it is important to recognize two Big East schools that have made some serious strides with their academic reputations this last semester. USF and Louisville each set program marks for academic performance during the recently completed spring semester. But what makes this an even bigger accomplishment at each school is what they had to overcome to get there. Just one year ago, the Cardinals announced they lost three scholarships because of a poor Academic Progress Rate performance. APR is a measure of eligibility and retention of student athletes over a four-year span. Its intention is to help schools better track how their players are doing in the classroom. In the 2011 report, Louisville went below the NCAA minimum 925, thanks in part to coaching turnover. During the four-year span that was measured, the Cardinals had three different head coaches (Bobby Petrino, Steve Kragthorpe, Charlie Strong). Strong put a major emphasis on academics, and that showed this spring. Thirty-seven players had a grade-point average of 3.0 or better -- two had a perfect 4.0. Seventy-three players earned a 2.5 GPA or higher this spring. The team produced a combined 2.76 GPA for the semester, the highest average under Strong. USF also made major strides since poor APR marks in 2006. Over the past two years, the Bulls have posted the largest APR gains of any team in an automatic qualifying conference. This spring, a program-record 37 student-athletes posted a grade-point average of 3.0 or better. USF also set a new top mark with a semester GPA of 2.76, better than the record of 2.64 set in fall 2011. Since Skip Holtz became coach in 2010, the number of players with at least a 3.0 GPA has increased each semester. "I feel like we're really healthy right now as a program," Holtz said on the school's website. "Not just physically, but academically we're on a very sound foundation." Rutgers already made serious improvements under former coach Greg Schiano, ranking in the top three in APR in the nation in his final four years with the Scarlet Knights. Last year, Cincinnati won the Big East Academic Excellence Award for the 2010 season. The football team had a 2.68 GPA for the 2010-11 year, including an all-time team record of a 2.9 team GPA for the 2011 winter quarter. And every Big East school was represented on the 2012 National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, recognizing college players who maintain a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers. The Big East was the only one of the six automatic qualifying conferences that had every school represented. This can only help us with getting into a better conference! Go Bulls.

Edited that ... That is more of a reality, lol

The ACC will be better off than the BE even with defections.

Want to wish all the Bulls Pen moms a very happy Mother's Day.

I hope all this chaos isn't a distraction for the coaches and players. I wonder if Coach Holtz is second guessing his comments Re: the Arkansas job.

Not soon enough!

Thanks KB

UL leaving the BE obviously would suck for the remaining BE schools. However, if FSU leaves the ACC It would give USF an opportunity to sell itself to the ACC. What is apparent is that the BE is doomed and we need to get out of this mess of a conference with no management during a very tumultuous time.

Nice to be included with those schools on the one hand but also hate the competition.

Judy & Assoc. have their work cut out for them.

Is the Bulls Club gift a charitable donation for IRS purposes?

Nice helmet. How much more time do we have on our UA K?

ACC would be a much better option than the BE. I hope all these what ifs play out and we get out of this crap hole of a conference.

Good luck!

We need depth.

I wonder if it includes a Secret Service guided tour of the Mustang Ranch? That's funny right there.

Nice!

I got the sense of sarcasm in his response due to the preseason jinx of being selected as the BE champ.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/32617/preseason-rankings-and-the-big-east The offseason means an endless array of preseason rankings, good to generate discussion while we prepare for the games to begin. College Football News has already unveiled its complete rankings, from 1-124. Because I know inquiring minds want to know, here are how the Big East teams are ranked, based on how they are projected to finish. CFN believes six of eight Big East schools will be bowl eligible in 2012: No. 14 Louisville. Projected record: 10-2 No. 25 Rutgers. Projected record: 9-3 No. 37 Cincinnati. Projected record: 8-4 No. 47 USF. Projected record: 7-5 No. 51 Pitt. Projected record: 7-5 No. 57 Syracuse. Projected record: 6-6 No. 76 UConn. Projected record: 5-7 No. 101 Temple. Projected record: 3-9 For the most part, I agree with the projections. I believe Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati and USF are the top four teams in the league. I think Pitt is somewhere in the middle. I think Temple will finish last. But here are a few quibbles I have with the projections: I think USF will be better than 7-5. This team is too experienced and too talented to come away with just seven victories this season. I will all but guarantee Temple will have a better record than 3-9. I understand that the Owls are joining a newer, much more difficult conference. And the non-league schedule is pretty brutal. But there are some quality players on this team. I don't believe Temple is in the same ballpark as some of the other bottom dwellers in the nation. I mean Temple is just three spots higher than New Mexico State. That makes no sense to me. I think UConn will be at least .500 this year and back in a bowl game. Syracuse remains a mystery to me. Though the nonconference schedule is tough, it's not impossible. Minnesota and Northwestern are both winnable games. The Orange could easily go 3-2 in nonconference play and then pick up three more wins in Big East play. But a lot of that depends on the maturation of the defensive front, and whether the Orange can jump-start their offense. My spring wrap for the league runs Thursday, and my post-spring power rankings will be revealed next week. They might be a little different than these, particularly because I am just ranking teams on where they stand today -- not where I project them to finish. I would be very disappointed with a 7-5 record.