Tranghese:Blame Me

[zls44]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...oner-says-big-east-defections-were-inevitable

Don't worry, Mike. We're way ahead of you.

BE didn't have a football power? Was Miami from 1984-2004 a mirage?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

What a blowhard. Adelson already picked him apart.

 

[ScottBonz]

Next is the Marinotto interview live from the Buffet line.

 

[Danzz]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...oner-says-big-east-defections-were-inevitable

Don't worry, Mike. We're way ahead of you.

BE didn't have a football power? Was Miami from 1984-2004 a mirage?

BE football was weak overall and there is no way around that. The BE had Miami and VA Tech but nothing after that. We were ripe for the picking and we got picked with 7 members that didn't play Div. 1 football. Once basketball became an afterthought, there wasn't anything any BE commisioner could have done to prevent the conference from where it is now. The ACC doesn't have to deal with 7 non football schools but they could also be in trouble if the BIG grabs 1 or 2 of more their members. It is conceivable that there will only be 4 major football conferences and the ACC won't be one of them.

 

[mattp]

We weren't weak after Miami and VTech. WVU was a good team, not great but generally ranked. Pitt, BC and Cuse were solid. Obviously Temple and Rutgers were cannon fodder but every conference has those. I'm not including UConn since this all started before we were involved, but if you want to sub us for Temple it doesn't really change anything. We only had two national powers, but that was a quarter of the conference, and then we had 4 very solid programs after that. Across the board we were about as good as any other BCS conference, way ahead of where the ACC was preraid. Even the almighty SEC wasn't really that much better than the BE at that time.

 

[Dann]

Next is the Marinotto interview live from the Buffet line.

no no no, he will give the interview after he eats and while he is in line at the small ice cream machine in the back corner of the chinses buf place.

 

[businesslawyer]

We weren't weak after Miami and VTech. WVU was a good team, not great but generally ranked. Pitt, BC and Cuse were solid. Obviously Temple and Rutgers were cannon fodder but every conference has those. I'm not including UConn since this all started before we were involved, but if you want to sub us for Temple it doesn't really change anything. We only had two national powers, but that was a quarter of the conference, and then we had 4 very solid programs after that. Across the board we were about as good as any other BCS conference, way ahead of where the ACC was preraid. Even the almighty SEC wasn't really that much better than the BE at that time.

But you are talking quality on the field (where I will defend the old Big East until either I die or there is no more college football). You are not talking attendance, or fan base, or perception.

 

[upstater]

We weren't weak after Miami and VTech. WVU was a good team, not great but generally ranked. Pitt, BC and Cuse were solid. Obviously Temple and Rutgers were cannon fodder but every conference has those. I'm not including UConn since this all started before we were involved, but if you want to sub us for Temple it doesn't really change anything. We only had two national powers, but that was a quarter of the conference, and then we had 4 very solid programs after that. Across the board we were about as good as any other BCS conference, way ahead of where the ACC was preraid. Even the almighty SEC wasn't really that much better than the BE at that time.

I remember the period like it was yesterday, and all throughout the country, the other conferences constantly derided the BE after Miami. Also, BE football started near a down period for Miami, and while VT picked up the slack for awhile, they were constantly derided for their 1-15 record against top 10 teams. The words "Big Least" were invented to describe football during the Miami-VT period.

I'm not saying this was the reality, but the country looked upon the BE in that fashion.

 

[ctchamps]

I remember the period like it was yesterday, and all throughout the country, the other conferences constantly derided the BE after Miami. Also, BE football started near a down period for Miami, and while VT picked up the slack for awhile, they were constantly derided for their 1-15 record against top 10 teams. The words "Big Least" were invented to describe football during the Miami-VT period.

I'm not saying this was the reality, but the country looked upon the BE in that fashion.

The derision was because it was a young upstart conference that was invading the territory of the established hierarchy. And there wasn't an established huge fan base outside of Miami and WV that could counter it. Maybe if Pitt and Cuse were as strong as they were in their heyday the inertia would have been stronger to resist this perception. BL is correct. You only need a couple of top programs, a couple of decent programs, and eyes, lots of them, up and down the conference for the media execs to think, we don't care what a hick in Georgia says. We care about what Coca Cola thinks.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...oner-says-big-east-defections-were-inevitable

Don't worry, Mike. We're way ahead of you.

BE didn't have a football power? Was Miami from 1984-2004 a mirage?

Wasn't Miami, then an independent, just coming off probation when the BE

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Try again, dummy.

Wasn't Miami, then an independent, just coming off probation when the BE took them in? I think I remember reading that the BE was the only conference that would take them. It seems Miami had been shopping itself around. Additionally, I think they had some lean years post-probation. Though one can't tell by the way Miami is treated by the media, the program has never regained it's Jimmy Johnson luster.