#19 UC vs. #20 Pitt - Major Big East Championship Implications

[paintmered]

For all the talk about how WVU never loses at home on a Saturday night....

[dougdirt]

By the way, isn't it good for the conference to put their best team into the BCS, thus lessening the chances of a loss?

[camisadelgolf]

Originally Posted by paintmered

After playing around with the ticket office website...

It looks like the pavilion is sold out, which is really good news. The best available put me in row 28 of section 126. These are from the tickets Pitt returned.

By my estimation, there's no more than 1,000 tickets left. They'll be gone by tomorrow. Kelly won't get his 500,000. Maybe he'll settle for 35,097 instead.

That's a pretty big drop-off.

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by camisadelgolf

That's a pretty big drop-off.

It's a reference to Kelly wanting 500,000 in the stands for Saturday. To keep out of trouble with the fire marshal, UC never announces attendance greater than 35,097.

[bucksfan2]

Originally Posted by will5979

As much as I despise to utter these horrible horrible words I will be rooting for Pitt against UC. That way if WVU wins their next 3 they win the Big East outright. No disrespect to UC but WVU needs to win to BE outright this year, plus the conference needs WVU to win. They are the flagship of the conference and they need to win it and go to the BCS just to give Rich Rod and Dave Wandstedt a big FU.

Granted WVU screwed the pooch against Pitt last year but I don't really believe that Wandstedt understood what it would have meant to have a BE representative in the National Championship game, win or lose it would have be so great for the conference. The 80s porn star wannabe doesn't deserve to be in a BCS game this year!

I have a feeling that any Big East team will be over matched in a BCS game unless they play the ACC. IMO UC may stand as good of a chance as any team of winning in a BCS game. WVU had their chances but they lost at home.

[Cyclone792]

Originally Posted by will5979

No disrespect to UC but WVU needs to win to BE outright this year, plus the conference needs WVU to win.

Actually what the conference needs is for as many BE schools as possible to build up solid, sustainable football programs. WVU has been an excellent football program recently, but they're going to have some down years, such as this year. An all-around solid conference has several programs that can carry the conference year in and year out. Having merely one team roll over everyone else isn't good for anybody in the conference and won't do much to improve the bowl tie-ins.

[Cyclone792]

Originally Posted by paintmered

After playing around with the ticket office website...

It looks like the pavilion is sold out, which is really good news. The best available put me in row 28 of section 126. These are from the tickets Pitt returned.

By my estimation, there's no more than 1,000 tickets left. They'll be gone by tomorrow. Kelly won't get his 500,000. Maybe he'll settle for 35,097 instead.

The Enquirer has a blurb that the game was just about sold out as of yesterday until Pitt returned 1,700 tickets out of their allotment of 3,000. It looks like anybody still looking for tickets has one last chance to grab one of those 1,700 that Pitt returned.

[OnBaseMachine]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

I have a feeling that any Big East team will be over matched in a BCS game unless they play the ACC. IMO UC may stand as good of a chance as any team of winning in a BCS game. WVU had their chances but they lost at home.

It seems like people say that every year and then West Virginia goes out and beats Georgia in their own backyard in the 2005 Sugar Bowl and then whooped Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl last year. I'm not sure if Cincy has the team speed that WVU had in those years but I still think Cincy could play with nearly anyone on a neutral site.

[bucksfan2]

Originally Posted by OnBaseMachine

It seems like people say that every year and then West Virginia goes out and beats Georgia in their own backyard in the 2005 Sugar Bowl and then whooped Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl last year. I'm not sure if Cincy has the team speed that WVU had in those years but I still think Cincy could play with nearly anyone on a neutral site.

Oklahoma says hi!

I want UC to be successful but when they played OU earlier this year they proved that OU was in a completely different league than UC. IMO UC would stand a chance against the ACC champ and a potential non-BCS team. There was one scenario in which UC would play Florida which would have disaster written all over it.

[Boston Red]

Big East and ACC will likely get paired up in the Orange Bowl. UC would likely be favored/pick 'em against any ACC team in Miami other than the Canes.

[DoogMinAmo]

IMHO, there is a big difference between the top of the Big 12 and Sec, and all other conferences. Not to take anything away from USC or the Big 10 (PSO or OSU), but no one is in the same league as the big 3 of the Big 12 South or Florida/Bama. (Although Bama seems the lone anamoly there mostly for their defense rather than a ridiculous offense) I feel confident in UC's ability to hang with any team in the nation beyond those 5. Heck, UC was hanging with Oklahoma at Oklahoma for nearly 3 quarters before Grutza went down and Pike got abused. At this point in the season the offense is gelling, and the defense has found its identity, UC is an even better team now.

All this is moot if they can not beat Pitt (and they should).

[OnBaseMachine]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

Oklahoma says hi!

I want UC to be successful but when they played OU earlier this year they proved that OU was in a completely different league than UC. IMO UC would stand a chance against the ACC champ and a potential non-BCS team. There was one scenario in which UC would play Florida which would have disaster written all over it.

That game was on the road. Would it have been such a blowout at a neutral site? I think UC would have to play a near perfect game (+ 3 in turnovers) to beat an Oklahoma but it could happen, IMO.

[will5979]

Originally Posted by Boston Red

Yeah, Wannstedt should have thrown the game for the good of the conference. Right. Maybe WV just shouldn't have choked it away.

WVU did blow it, big time! Screwed the pooch is more like it but anyway when you think about what the Big East has been through this decade and the BCS questioning the credibility of the conference shouldn't Wanstadt have taken the best interests of the conference into consideration? Think of the money/attention the Big East would have received. Would have been huge for Pitt, Cincy, everyone in the conference, not just the Eers.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

Oklahoma says hi!

I want UC to be successful but when they played OU earlier this year they proved that OU was in a completely different league than UC. IMO UC would stand a chance against the ACC champ and a potential non-BCS team. There was one scenario in which UC would play Florida which would have disaster written all over it.

UC in week 2 and UC in week 11 are two different teams. UC also lost its starting QB in that game. Are they better than Oklahoma? No. Are they 26 points worse than Oklahoma? Absolutely not.


UC could win against the B10 or P10 (especially if its Oregon State). If they play the ACC champ, they will win unless something crazy happens.

[GoReds33]

ESPNews is now reporting that BK is the leading candidate for the UT job. Thanks ESPN. That's just the thing we need right now, a distraction.