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[Cubanbull]

Sunday 7: Conference leaders pretty undistinguished  

  Nov. 6, 2005

By Dennis Dodd

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

Tell Dennis your opinion!

   

 

 

     

Seven things we learned on the seventh day:

South Florida controls its own destiny in the Big East: It's not time for the BCS to panic yet, but the Bulls (4-3) have a clear path to the Big East title. That means a $14 million to $17 million payday for a program whose entire budget is approximately $9 million.

And you thought a three-loss Pittsburgh was a travesty in the Fiesta Bowl last year? Try the SEC champion vs. South Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Don't worry about fans. The adult extension night classes at USF alone would fill, what, a section?

The Bulls moved into a tie for second place in the Big East by winning at Rutgers 45-31. South Florida didn't start playing football until 1997. Its biggest win was less than two months ago (over Louisville on Sept. 24). Since then the Bulls are 1-2, out of sync but still kicking.

They played two games in 41 days before Saturday. Hurricane problems shoved the Oct. 22 West Virginia game to a season-ender on Dec. 3 at Raymond James Stadium. A potential perfect script, it turns out. Winning out is not out of the question with games remaining against Syracuse (1-7), Cincinnati (4-4) and UConn (4-4) before the Mountaineers come to town.

If South Florida wins out it would finish 6-1 in the league, winning the BCS berth in the head-to-head tiebreaker with West Virginia. Likely bowl destinations: Sugar or Orange.

[Cubanbull]

I sent him an email.

Letting him know that if USF did win out and became the Big East Champ it would had then beaten

Louisville and West Virginia BOTH ranked teams

It would have lost tp Penn State the Big10 champ on the road 23-13

It would have lost to Miami the probable ACC champ 27-7 on the road

It would have beaten FOUR Bowl teams.

So while is the in-thing to bash the Big East, as shown by those results USF would not be as undeserving as he and others make it sound.

Lets email him and let him know that there are plenty of USF and Big East fans out there.

[BigShoop]

It's all gonna be a moot point when we lose to one of the patsies between now and WV.

This team doesnt have the leadership, on the field, to keep it focused.

[BullDoug]

Is there a head to head tie breaker in the BE?  Does the highest ranking team tied for first place get the BCS bid?  Some conferences do that if I recall correctly.

[No_Willie_Jokes_Yet]

Is there a head to head tie breaker in the BE?  Does the highest ranking team tied for first place get the BCS bid?  Some conferences do that if I recall correctly.

The first tie break if there is only two teams is the head to head record (hence if we win out we win the big east). If there is a three way tie then the highest ranked team goes to the BCS bowl.

[hightechbull]

I read that and I started ranting like South Park's Eric Cartman:

"That really pisses me off"   ;D

[puc86]

If only we could be a national power like the University of Missouri :

[79 Bull]

The first tie break if there is only two teams is the head to head record (hence if we win out we win the big east). If there is a three way tie then the highest ranked team goes to the BCS bowl.

I believe for the BCS bid, they only use BCS rankings even for 2 teams.  There is no tie breaker.  For example, they would want to pick a 10-1 team ranked 7th in the BCS over the 6-5 conference champion probably not appearing in the BCS top 20.

[puc86]

It is the conference champion and the first tie breaker between two teams is the head to head match up winner.

[79 Bull]

It is the conference champion and the first tie breaker between two teams is the head to head match up winner.

I guess you guys are right.  I can't find anything to back up the BCS ranking only.  I thought there was some rule about taking another team from the conference if they are BCS ranked at least 5 places higher than the conference champion.  Oh well.