Give The Big East Some Love

At that start of the season, the Big East was labeled as one of the weakest college football conferences in the nation. Yes, this statement was made because while the Bearcats did make it to the Orange Bowl, Pike threw 4 interceptions and UC was handled soundly by Virgina Tech. The symbol of Big East football went on to lose 10 starters on defense, and Rutgers (Rutgers?!) was given the title of the "Best Team in the Big East" in 2009. While I personally felt that this was a horrible decision, it seemed like every professoinal analyst agreed. Richard Cirminiello of College Football News went so far as to say the Big East should lose their automatic BCS bowl bid.

Well, well, well... look where we are now only 4 weeks into the season. Let's recap shall we? The Big East has defeated Northwestern, Maryland, Baylor, Oregon State, Fresno State, Florida State. Wins coming out of the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and 2 victories from the ACC. Not to mention a top 10 team out of Cincinnati which has the number five offense in the country and a QB ranked #4 on the current Heisman Watch.

Now let's take a look at who has actually beaten teams in the Big East. Penn State, Auburn, Minnesota, North Carolina, Kentucky, NC State, and Utah. Outside of Kentucky (Who is still an SEC team) the Big East has only been beaten by some fairly strong competition (Mind you Louisville and Syracuse have 4 of those losses between then).

This proves the Big East can still hang with the big boys, especially when most of the losses were very close (Kentucky[4], NC State[7], Minnesota[3], North Carolina[2]). I will go as far as saying we are better then the ACC as a whole, and on par with the Big Ten, if not better.

With Cincinnati on their way to another BCS Bowl, if not an argument to be in the BCS Title Game, the Big East should finally earn some respect on the national level.