How good have Syracuse and Pitt been in Football last 5 Years? Replacements? | The Boneyard

How good have Syracuse and Pitt been in Football last 5 Years? Replacements?

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Did football really take a hit as Pitt and Syracuse leave? Let's look at the average Sagarin Ratings over the past 5 years.

Pitt: 37
Syracuse: 83

(Note: UConn is 47, not bad for a newby)

In my mind, Pitt has been an average BCS team and Syracuse has been a lousy BCS team. Since the additions of Louisville, Cinci, and USF to the BE, neither played in a BCS bowl, whereas Louisville, Cinci, WVU, and UConn did.

Granted, Pitt and Syracuse are the two teams with the best history in football in the BE, but if you were projecting future potential I would argue that WVU, Louisville, USF, and TCU have more upside than either Pitt or Syracuse.

Now, let's look at the average 5 year Sagarin ratings for rumored BE additions:

Air Force: 51
Navy: 53
East Carolina: 64
Houston: 65
Villanova: 74 (yes, 9 points higher than Syracuse!)
UCF: 76

They all look mediocre, but Navy and Air Force would have been solid pick ups, despite the protests that I have been seeing. Navy gave South Carolina a challenge this past weekend. Remember, the Sagarin ratings of teams like East Carolina and Houston are hurt by playing weaker schedules due to their conference affiliation. Put them in a BCS league and I would bet recruiting and schedules would improve.
 
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OMG, its not about their record, how hard is it to understand, its about eyeballs and branding like BizLaw said. NONE of those teams make anyone turn the channel on. This discussion is not in any way about how teams are on the field, because if it was, WVU would have been the 1st team gone and it looks right now like their not even going to be the 4th team taken if they're taken at all. You can talk records all you want and Sagarin ratings but they mean next to nothing. Its about $ and names bring money. If that was the case Boise would be in a BCS conference and TCU wouldn't have to accept an invitation to a conference where their closes conference partner is hundreds of miles away.
 

FfldCntyFan

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One thing to keep in mind is at the moment every BCS school has members who have won the national championship in football. Once we lose Cuse and Pitt that goes away for the BE (although TCU has one under their belt from the depression era).
 
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I remember when a regional state college joined the Big East and the naysayers said UConn would never be able to compete in basketball in the Big East. Not only did UConn win BE Conference tournaments, we won NCAA championships, and are now recognized as one of top college basketball programs in the country.

Look at what Butler has done recently in basketball or Boise St in football.

Short term, you are correct, history and current markets will drive media contracts. But, in 15 years, who will have produced better results and continue to develop their fan bases: Pitt and Syracuse or UCF (the largest university in the US) and USF (the 9th largest university in the US)? I'm betting on the upstarts.
 
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I remember when a regional state college joined the Big East and the naysayers said UConn would never be able to compete in basketball in the Big East. Not only did UConn win BE Conference tournaments, we won NCAA championships, and are now recognized as one of top college basketball programs in the country.

Look at what Butler has done recently in basketball or Boise St in football.

Short term, you are correct, history and current markets will drive media contracts. But, in 15 years, who will have produced better results and continue to develop their fan bases: Pitt and Syracuse or UCF (the largest university in the US) and USF (the 9th largest university in the US)? I'm betting on the upstarts.
first of all, i have a tremendous amount of respect for uconn sports, your achievements in basketball, and your rise to competitiveness in football in a relatively short period of time. my question to you is, are you able to attribute some of that success to the fact that you were able to grow into a successful basketball and football league, that was largely made successful by others? or do you feel that uconns success in either sport was inveitable regardless of conference affiliation? i would think that being "born" into a bcs conference for football is a fairly significant advantage to a growing program, but not necessarily to the programs that funded it.
 
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UConn was a very successful regional basketball power when we entered the BE. Everyone always considered UConn a sleeping giant and the Big East pushed UConn to a new level. UConn owes much of it's athletic success to it's affiliation with the BE, which is why UConn has always been a huge conference advocate.

As for football, joining a BCS conference was a tremendous help, but I think it's important to note that fan support tripled or quadrupled after going D1 in football which shows the pent up demand that was always there for football. In addition, Northeast football is under rated which has allowed UConn to find good local players that just need development, but aren't highly recruited. (seems Marrone has brought back this same model to Syracuse after Robinson drifted.)
 
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UConn owes much of it's athletic success to it's affiliation with the BE, which is why UConn has always been a huge conference advocate.

As such, are you willing to acknowledge that success of the big east (and as by established extension, uconn), and the respect required for a bcs bid, was largely built through the 80's and 90's and beyond, by programs like syracuse, pitt, west virginia, and boston college over a long period of time, years and years, decades and longer; and that looking at only the last five years for syracuse football is relatively short-sighted, and petty in some ways?
 

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As such, are you willing to acknowledge that success of the big east (and as by established extension, uconn), and the respect required for a bcs bid, was largely built through the 80's and 90's and beyond, by programs like syracuse, pitt, west virginia, and boston college over a long period of time, years and years, decades and longer; and that looking at only the last five years for syracuse football is relatively short-sighted, and petty in some ways?
Syracuse and BC were screaming to leave with MIami because everyone assumed BCS access left with Miami. Don't kid yourself, if VT stayed and SU left the last time the ACC would have been a laughingstock in football.
 
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