Beano says WVU headed for BCS spot

[Apis Bull]

Link:  Beano says WVU headed for BCS spot

Mickey Furfari

July 13 2004

Beano says WVU headed for BCS spot

Mickey Furfari

Daily Mail sports columnist

MORGANTOWN-- Beano Cook admittedly likes West Virginia's 2004 football team.

But the widely known ESPN commentator isn't nearly as high on the Mountaineers as Athlon Sports magazine, which has them No. 5 in its preseason rankings.

"Oh, I think they're good," he said recently from his Pittsburgh home. "But if they were in the Southeastern Conference, they wouldn't be rated in the top 15 or 20.

"They really haven't played the rugged schedule on a consistent basis. I think they'll probably win the Big East championship and be in a BCS bowl.

"But with Miami and Virginia Tech no longer in the Big East, that won't be a great accomplishment. It would be in basketball, though."

You may recall that Cook correctly picked West Virginia to go undefeated in 1988 and play Notre Dame for the national championship.

While he hasn't decided exactly where he'll put WVU in his preseason rankings, he does think the Mountaineers will end up in the Sugar Bowl.

"They probably will play an SEC team and get beat by three touchdowns," Cook ventured. "That brings back a lot of memories."

He had to be thinking of WVU's two losing appearances in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia Tech (42-19) in 1954 and Florida (41-7) in 1994.

"The schedule is the key," Cook reasoned. "It always is. And West Virginia doesn't have a back-breaking schedule.

"Maryland will be tough and Virginia Tech will be tough on the road. But they don't have Miami, which would have been a home game this year.''

Cook, who was with ABC four years before joining ESPN in 1986, is amazed that so many people remember his pick of WVU in 1988.

"That did get West Virginia a lot of national publicity because it was on television," he said. "So it didn't prove I was smart. It just proved the power of TV."

Cook is being modest. He's more knowledgeable about the nation's college football scene than most observers.

"In the SEC, you can lose a game and still play for the national title," he said. "You can't do that in the Big East, though.

"What the Big East teams need to do is go out and play three or four tough non-conference games. And if the coaching staffs don't like it, that's tough."

Cook noted that Pitt has Clemson and Michigan State on its future schedules.

By the way, he has a feeling that Connecticut is going to become very competitive in football.

"The Huskies are going to get good athletes and become steadily stronger," he said.

Cook believes Boston College made "a big mistake" in deciding to leave the Big East in 2005.

"I can see Miami going to the ACC, but not BC," he said. "Miami and Florida State are going to dominate that conference.

"If Coach Tom O'Brien doesn't realize that BC very seldom is going to win anything in the ACC, he's naive. And if he doesn't look for a new job, he's crazy. He's a heckuva coach."

Beano Cook always has been one to say what he truly thinks.

[bulls96go]

bc made a mistake

[BULLO12]

Beano is still alive??

[smazza]

i agree and say BC comes back to big east

maybe miami also

[Apis Bull]

Miami won't come back.

[CyberBull]

bc made a mistake

Their mistake was our gain. Without BC bailing on the Big East we would now be talking about those exciting upcoming games against the Tulsa, Rice and UAB.

[bulls96go]

Their mistake was our gain. Without BC bailing on the Big East we would now be talking about those exciting upcoming games against the Tulsa, Rice and UAB.

true

bad for them good for us