Big East Teams: Rivals or Brothers?

[Griggsy]

A subtle change has taken place in discussions about college football conferences over the last two years. It was so gradual that you may have missed it. The hate still flows in the same direction (from the traditional power conferences towards the Big East), of course, but the context has changed slightly. Two years ago, the debate centered on whether the Big East even deserved an automatic bid. Nowadays, arguments about where the Big East falls within the top conferences are becoming commonplace. In our common struggle, fans of Big East teams have begun avidly supporting fellow Big East teams.

This got me thinking about intra-conference rivalry. In conferences like the SEC, you have a history of "good old fashioned hate" between all the marquee teams that are perinnial Top 25 competitors. Bama fans pull against Auburn when Auburn is playing OOC games, Auburn fans pull against Georgia, and everyone pulls against Florida.

Maybe its the young age of the Big East. Perhaps over time, heated rivalries will develop. But for now, I think most fans of Big East teams don't feel animosity towards other Big East teams. As a matter of fact, I've become quite a fan of our conference. Maybe its because I always find myself defending it against naysayers. 

To tell you the truth, I sort of like it. It's different. There are rivalries of pure hatred all over the country.  So Oregon hates Oregon State. How unoriginal. Where else do you find a conference that pats fellow conference mates on the back after wins? Take a visit to the WVU, Louisville, Rutgers, and Cincy boards and take a look at all the love we're getting.

Do you think if Auburn had beaten USF that Bama fans would be logging on to say "good win"? I think not.

It may change over time, but right now I enjoy how it is. Come Saturday, I will be a die hard Louisville fan. And a WVU fan. And a Cincy fan.  Just as they were all Bulls fans on Saturday night while watching ESPN2 to the wee hours of the morning.

[Mag Pie]

I always root for conference teams when they're playing OOC games.  When teams are playing lowly BE teams (Cuse and UCONN) I pull for the one with the best record.  And when anyone plays us, OOC or BE I pull for USF.

[Economics_Nerd82]

I have to say, I like the camaraderie and brotherhood feeling.

Big East!

Big Beasts!

[Matt]

it has a lot to do with getting respect.  those teams (WV, Louisville, Rutgers, etc) root for us in OOC games because it will help the perception of their win over us, should they beat us.  

i think in conferences like the SEC, it doesnt matter what the other schools records are, they are still big name programs and the winner of the SEC is without question worthy of a shot at the national title year in and year out.

right now, the big east is all grouped together and we are all fighting for respect.  WV wins help us, Louisville wins help us, etc.  The big east doesnt really control its own destiny (well WV might this year) because in years past, even if a team went undefeated it wasnt 100% for sure going to be playing for the title.  

times will change and it wont be long until there are certain big east teams we want to see lose everytime they suit up.

personally, i am still torn between this

[Matt]

I always root for conference teams when they're playing OOC games.  When teams are playing lowly BE teams (Cuse and UCONN) I pull for the one with the best record.  And when anyone plays us, OOC or BE I pull for USF.

actually, we should be pulling for teams like Uconn and Cuse to win against teams like louisville and west va...helps us win the big east.

i dont think big east is in danger of losing our BCS bid anytime soon so ill take those teams beating the top big east teams and get us into a BCS game

[JoeB]

Griggsy, interesting topic.  I think it has alot to do with the whole, Big East doesn't belong theory from a few years back.  It seemed that all Big East schools banded together even though there was no formal meeting or mission statement.  It really started with WVU beating UGA in Sugar Bowl a few years ago.  Then we rooted for Louisville last year over Miami, WVU over Maryland, and RU over UNC.  We needed our teams to win most of those matchups.  It continued with all of the bowl games last season.  Five Wins and no losses was quite a feat and other conferences took notice.  Everyone in the Big East wanted us to win at Auburn, and when that happened all of the conference teams took pride in what we've built so far.  Hopefully it will continue...........only time will tell.  Go WVU, beat Maryland.  

[mulheap]

personally, I root for the Big East because USF is in the Big East and you need to be in a good conference to get the respect.  Losses to conference foes don't look as bad if it's in a tough conference (see the SEC)

Every team on USF's schedule is my favorite team until the week we play them.  I want every team USF plays to go 11-1 and lose to USF.  USF just has to take care of business to win the Big East.

[nobull.Bulls]

I like to think of us as rival brothers, dont like em when they play us, but hope they win against non conference.

I also would like to see the rutgers/louisville.wvu lose to lesser big east teams to help our chances

[postmortem]

It's exactly that. I love to see all the teams in the BE win OOC games just to look better but when they play us I don't like anything about them. A bit of a love hate relationship.

[80mins]

To answer the question, sibling rivalry.

But I agree that in most cases, we root for the rest of the conference in OOC matchups, and that's probably true at most BE school--the exception being WVU and Pitt rooting for one another, probably the strongest true rivalry in the conference.