I know what your point was. I am just saying the schools in the new Big East can improve quite a bit and I am sure are intent on doing so. They are using this conference to help achieve that, just as big time college athletics helped put us on the map. And a LOT more can still be achieved in football with the hand of cards we have been dealt. This conference will now have a direct presence in 5 out of the 10 largest cities in the US. As far as metropolitan areas go, we'll have a presence in 6 of the top 10, while the ACC will have a presence in 4 of the top ten (I am including Syracuse for NYC). Here's the rest of the list.Not that USN & WR is the be all and end all, but just for comparison:
Duke #10
UVa #25
UNC #29
Maryland #55
Pitt #58
UConn #58
See my point?
(by the way... Houston is not listed in the national rankings, and Boise is classified as a regional school. Though thanks for bringing UH's research budget, I didn't know that. I googled around a bit and found this on the efforts of several Texas U's plans to compete for more funding)
http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/csa2005.htm