Big East rises past the ACC

[TyBull]

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Big East rises past the ACC

David Teel

November 8 2006

The rankings prompted a double take. Rutgers among college football's top five defenses? Ahead of Michigan, Florida and Texas?

No offense, but the concept of the Scarlet Knights as defensive stalwarts is more foreign than Borat Sagdiyev, especially here in the commonwealth. Our frame of reference is Rutgers' Big East encounters with Virginia Tech, and the results were not pretty for Tony Soprano's favorite team.

In 12 annual meetings from 1992-2003, the Hokies went 11-1, averaged 47 points and never scored fewer than 30. Michael Vick pinballed the Scarlet Knights for 107 points in two outings.

Well, the football landscape in north Jersey has changed dramatically, and Thursday night Rutgers plays its most notable game in 137 years, a game showcasing two undefeated teams, a resurgent conference and national-championship dreams.

Rutgers' opponent is Louisville, a basketball power with more football pedigree than many realize (10 bowls in the last 15 years). Conversely, the Scarlet Knights never have won a bowl (0-2) and have not mattered since 1869, when they defeated Princeton 6-4 in the first college football game.

"The 25 players from each college played in their street clothes, and the several hundred spectators stood around on the side or sat on a wooden fence," according to an account on Princeton's Web site. "The Rutgers Targum reported that Princeton's first goal was made 'by a well directed kick, from a gentleman whose name we don't know ...' "

We don't know many of Rutgers' current players, either, though quarterback Mike Teel's family tree merits investigation. Tailback Ray Rice, Division I-A's third-leading rusher, is the Scarlet Knights' marquee talent, and he landed at Rutgers only after his original college choice, Syracuse, fired coach Paul Pasqualoni.

"He has a combination a lot of people don't have," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said of Rice, "power and the ability to go the distance."

Petrino's Cardinals (8-0) sit third on the Bowl Championship Series food chain, 10 spots above the Scarlet Knights (8-0). Moreover, the idea of Louisville completing a perfect regular season and qualifying for the national title game, against the winner of the Nov. 18 clash between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan, offends those who consider the Big East inferior.

Those folks need to relax, let the regular season play out and ponder a question: Would you voice similar objections if the teams hailed from the ACC?

Of course you wouldn't. But the truth is the Big East, left for roadkill after ACC expansion, is a better conference, if only for this season. Maryland, co-leader of the ACC's Atlantic Division, lost 45-24 at West Virginia, and Miami's demise began with a 31-7 loss at Louisville.

"You just wonder what their agenda is," Petrino said of the Big East bashers. "Whose vote are they trying to influence?"

Rutgers-Louisville, the first game in Scarlet Knights history matching ranked teams, marks the back end of an unprecedented two weeks for the Big East. Last Thursday, unbeatens West Virginia and Louisville collided, and the Cardinals' 44-34 victory attracted - if you believe ratings - nearly 5 million households to ESPN, a Thursday-night record for Lee Corso's life-raft network.

(Watching Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm dissect the Mountaineers, I couldn't help but wonder how the Cardinals might have fared in last season's Gator Bowl against Virginia Tech, a game the Hokies won 35-24 and Brohm missed with a knee injury.)

And now the ESPN Thursday circus heads for Piscataway, N.J., where Rutgers coach Greg Schiano recruits effectively in New Jersey, New York, eastern Pennsylvania and south Florida. Not coincidentally, Schiano worked as an assistant at Penn State and Miami, and whenever those head-coaching gigs open, he will be a logical candidate.

Schiano is a defensive specialist and serves as his own coordinator. His team - 58 of 85 scholarship players are freshmen or sophomores - allows a meager 9.1 points per game, second-best in Division I-A.

Petrino, a former offensive coordinator at Nevada, Utah State, Auburn and the Jacksonville Jaguars, also figures to have plenty of offseason suitors. His team averages 39.4 points per game, second-best in I-A.

Something's gotta give.

David Teel can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com «