Durzblog

Uconn and UVA get it on tomorrow at 3:30 on ESPNU, biggest game of the season thus far for the Huskies with a chance to go 6-0 and add a win to a resume sorely in need of a legit win. Anytime a Big East team plays an ACC team there seems to be a little extra on the line, though the players might not feel it -- the fans sure seem to!

Since the infamous raid of the Big East there seems to be much competition between these two leagues...Essentially the ACC has been slow to top the college football world as John Swofford had "maliciously" planned and the "Big Least" has been slow to crumble and die as was the popular crying call just 3 years ago. What we have left are two leagues that are good, most likely still the two weakest leagues in the BCS although the inflated B-10 is not far behind. This seems to annoy the ACC followers more because of their expectations, almost to the point that they deny that fact. Over the last two years however the ACC is hands down the worst BCS league with regards to bowl game and OOC results.

Whats all the hate about you ask? (right or wrong) You can understand the BC fans having to back their programs move and the Big East fan hating that they left for greener pastures -- though if West Virginia, Uconn, Rutgers, Pitt and Syracuse (they were never formally given the invite) were invited they would have gone to. The attitude problem somewhat lies in the overall let down of the ACC (they thanks to the weak play of Miami and FSU are not the SEC) and the arrogance in which every "expert" and ACC fan turned their noses to the Big East. All of this created a very defnensive Big East fan with a bit of a Napolean complex. On the other side (the EVILLL side), after shamelessly watering down a proud basketball league on tobacco road (adding three teams that have never played in one Final Four game combined) -- the payoff for football is just not happening.

Teams like Wake Forest, Virginia and BC having success is actually killing the league in terms of credibility because they are smaller size schools with modest tradition and less than rabid fan bases. UNC beats Miami last week, again not helping.

When creating a 12 team league for a lucrative League championship game, they were not envisioning a Wake/BC game in front of a half full stadium in Jacksonville garnering absolutely no television ratings and then sending a team like Wake to a BCS game where they further expose the league...

The equality of the two leagues in a somewhat quick fashion is truly surprising. Louisville was going to be good (though they are struggling this year, its a solid program), South Florida is now perhaps the best team in Florida and are in the top 10 and Cinci appears to be a legit top 25 team -- not sure anyone saw the latter two things happening. Nice additions from old Mike Tranghese, no? Not bad for the guy who "fell asleep" at the wheel and let the Big East self destruct.

Top to bottom the BE is one of the more competitive conferences in the land with only one really bad team -- Syracuse -- and a Pitt team that is going to have Coach Wanstach end up as a offensive coordinator at Duquesne before long. Other than that you have 6 teams that are legit top 40 teams (WV, USF, LOU, CINCI, RU, UCONN)

For a program like Uconn the league is a perfect fit, a legit league that we can actually compete in. For those who might think that we can't hang in the almighty ACC -- have a look this weekend as we play their first place team. They (the ACC) aren't that good and we aren't that bad...