BE/AAC Conference Discussion

[bullsfan1983]

Big East was better. Gap between the other BCS conferences and Big East was small if not nonexistent. I think there are solid teams in the AAC but the middle to bottom is much more trashy than the Big East ever was. 

[Rocky Style]

1 hour ago, bullsfan1983 said:

Big East was better.

Facts.   Okay that was a bit of a troll but...

I remember WVU being a layup against Pitt away from being ranked #1 in the country going into the BCS NC game.  I can't see that happening ever with the AAC because you have have to have a one loss season to get on anyone's radar for the next season, then multiple undefeated seasons to get any talk of getting into the top 4.  Then your reward is getting destroyed by Alabama.  The parity seemed better back in the Big East days to me.  We weren't given the same level of respect as the other conferences, but we would win the BCS bowl games we were invited to for the most part and be in the conversation.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Rocky Style

[Triple B]

The libelous portion of this conversation has been moved to the proper thread ...

[puc86]

4 minutes ago, Triple B said:

The libelous portion of this conversation has been moved to the proper thread ...

We have a thread for libel? I don’t see how that made it past legal, seems like rather litigation seeking behavior. We should probably rebrand it as a free speech zone for unchecked discussions.

[MaltLiquorBull]

20 minutes ago, Rocky Style said:

Facts.   Okay that was a bit of a troll but...

I remember WVU being a layup against Pitt away from being ranked #1 in the country going into the BCS NC game.  I can't see that happening ever with the AAC because you have have to have a one loss season to get on anyone's radar for the next season, then multiple undefeated seasons to get any talk of getting into the top 4.  Then your reward is getting destroyed by Alabama.  The parity seemed better back in the Big East days to me.  We weren't given the same level of respect as the other conferences, but we would win the BCS bowl games we were invited to for the most part and be in the conversation.

YES!  And that WVU team that was a layup against Pitt away from being ranked #1 in the country had ONE LOSS ALREADY.  TO USF.  Incredible!

That says quite a bit.  Not only about the quality of the Big East as a whole, but also about the quality of its rivalries like the "back yard brawl."

 

[Sk00b]

I've refrained from commenting on this one. I believe most folks on here were around for the Big East days (myself included). I'm honestly surprised it has made it this far. 

Then again, we've been abysmal in the AAC so maybe it is a tougher conference .

[GoBulls84]

6 hours ago, bullsfan1983 said:

Big East was better. Gap between the other BCS conferences and Big East was small if not nonexistent. I think there are solid teams in the AAC but the middle to bottom is much more trashy than the Big East ever was. 

The gap between the Big East and the other BCS conferences was nonexistent and was a total BS media thing. There were more than a few years the Big East was clearly better than the ACC at minimum. but the ACC got credit for having Miami and Virginia Tech (for which the Big East was penalized in the media), even though Miami did diddly squat for like the entire first decade they were in the ACC, if not longer.

[bowman1]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:21 PM, zarnozdabull said:

Ooh I like this discussion. 

A couple of things come to mind.

Put in Grothe and his decision-making almost 1:1 TD-INT ratio into the QF teams, do we win more games? Idk about that. Give QF the 2007 or 2009 defense, do we lose more games than we did? IMO we probably win more. Also, Grothe might've lacked a true 1RB ala Marlon Mack, but USF RBs (not counting Grothe) accounted for more than 1,300 yds rushing in 2007 and 2008, so it wasn't like he was totally void of talent and production in the RB position, I'd argue Mike Ford is one of the most naturally talented players ever at USF - production was just far more spread out than in the QF era. He also did have Carlton Mitchell who played in the NFL for a couple of years and its pretty crazy to see the way MVS has evolved into an NFL star. I don't think many of us would've predicted the magnitude of his pro success to the extent that it has based on his USF experience alone.  

This is not really an apples to apples discussion 

The offense under CJL was little more than controlled chaos and often, the plays looked like they were drawn up in the huddle using sticks and bottle caps.

As a result, Grothe was often working with broken plays and IMO, he was much better outside the pocket than QF - scrambling around and throwing on the run (that did unfortunately lead to INTs sometimes)

Putting QF at the head of the 2007 offense probably does not change the W/L record much (if any)

The better question is what would have happened if Tags had been the OC in 2007 - that could have really been something 

 

[bowman1]

Big East, hands down - while the AAC has consistently had 3-4 good teams, the Big East was strong top to bottom - with the exception of Syracuse, most teams had a winning record at some point.

In 2006, 6 of the 8 teams went to bowl games (75% of the league), with Louisville winning the Orange Bowl over Wake Forrest and 3 teams finishing in the top 15.  2007 featured WVU beating #4 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl (from ‘05 to ‘11, the Big East pretty much had 5-6 teams a year in bowl games)

The best AAC season was probably 2017, where 7 of 12 teams went to bowl games (58%), with UCF winning the Peach Bowl over #7 Auburn and 3 teams finishing in the top 25