ACC expansion helped speed up the Big East's progression. This is Year Three for South Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville. None were necessarily considered for BCS conferences until the ACC made its move.

The fallout:

• It should be an outrage that South Florida wasn't ranked this week. Aside from Appalachian State, it owns the biggest upset of the season. In the AP poll, the Bulls have the 27th most votes behind Auburn. The Bulls narrowly missed making it into the coaches' poll.

• South Florida AD Doug Woolard says no more guarantee games. Auburn paid $650,000 for the right to get beat at home but Woolard said no more. The program can stand on its own.

• The league race now goes five deep if you include West Virginia and Rutgers. That increases the likelihood of one of those teams making it through undefeated and competing for the national championship.

• Rutgers is edging close to becoming a national power. It already has the hearts of the New York metro area.

• League favorite West Virginia has scored 110 points in its first two games.

• Louisville won the 2006 conference title, playing in its first BCS bowl and second major postseason game.

• South Florida has played two consecutive bowls and has the fourth-most victories (17) since joining the league.

• Cincinnati destroyed Oregon State on national television Thursday night. The Bearcats (2-0) are off to their best start in four years under first-year coach Brian Kelly.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootbal...y/10344072

East Carolina Is A Better ACC Team Than Most ACC Teams

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/1...acc-teams/

There were two things we learned during the East Carolina/Virginia Tech tilt that opened the season. One: Virginia Tech isn't the tenth-best team in the country when Sean Glennon is the quarterback. Two: East Carolina is doing a better job of being a competitive ACC team than most of the conference's charter members. Don't get me wrong- it's not like this is some new jack program coming out of the Sun Belt to pull shocking upsets against titans of football competence. But in the "get enough conference wins to get a plane ticket to Boise or San Francisco" sort of way, the Pirates are definitely passing muster.

Witness last season: ECU snagged two conference wins against NC State and Virginia, and they were rather convincing. Granted, both NC State and UVA were teams that missed out on the postseason, but both were prone to multi-week spans of bowl-team level competence. And now this year; a close loss on the road to a team that America as a whole was rooting for, and this past weekend's result, a 37-34 win against Butch Davis' UNC squad, which has shown surprising amounts of friskiness on the offensive front.

It's worth wondering if this is just another example of the ACC failing to take care in what they wish for. First, Jim Swofford pirated Miami and Virginia Tech and then Boston College for (let's face it) 95% football reasons, leaving many to wonder aloud whether the Big East even deserved a BCS bid. Now, in Louisville (fresh off a rather symbolic shaming of Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl), West Virginia (passed over for ACC expansion because it supposedly didn't fit the conference's academic profile) and Rutgers (during Greg Schiano's initial recruiting classes, Virginia in particular found itself embarrassed for losing prospects to them), they have three more legit title contenders than the ACC, with South Florida making serious gains. But a Conference USA team that hasn't been ranked since, I dunno, Jeff Blake's heyday? Should the ACC sit out the BCS out of shame this year, like when Notre Dame turned down stuff like the Independence Bowl?

ECU would be a fine addition to the BigEast.

Hummell Wrote:East Carolina Is A Better ACC Team Than Most ACC Teams

Now that I agree with

bearcatfan Wrote:• Rutgers is edging close to becoming a national power. It already has the hearts of the New York metro area.

This even spreads down to some Philadelphia metro areas. I'm from just outside Philly in South Jersey and I've heard and seen a lot of buzz about Rutgers around the area. My mom has even grown tired of all the Rutgers buzz seeing as she is an adopted 'Cuse fan since I went to SU.

Orange Eagles Wrote:

bearcatfan Wrote:• Rutgers is edging close to becoming a national power. It already has the hearts of the New York metro area.

This even spreads down to some Philadelphia metro areas. I'm from just outside Philly in South Jersey and I've heard and seen a lot of buzz about Rutgers around the area. My mom has even grown tired of all the Rutgers buzz seeing as she is an adopted 'Cuse fan since I went to SU.

I'd say the Jersey side of the Philly metro definitely, who knows maybe even Philadelphia county itself. Think about it this way who are you gonna root for Penn State 3.5 hours away or Rutgers just under 1.5 hours away. Temple is unfortunately still an afterthought at this point.

ECU neds to keep winning. The reality is that for the BE to add another team it MUST be a winner. ECU has good fan support is in the immidiate area. If it gets back to its tradition of winning it will make it much easier for expansion.

The ACC can't say a da#$ed thing about the Big East deserving BCS rights if the Big East adds a team to their conference who is consistently whipping the ACC's rear end.

brista21 Wrote:

Orange Eagles Wrote:

bearcatfan Wrote:• Rutgers is edging close to becoming a national power. It already has the hearts of the New York metro area.

This even spreads down to some Philadelphia metro areas. I'm from just outside Philly in South Jersey and I've heard and seen a lot of buzz about Rutgers around the area. My mom has even grown tired of all the Rutgers buzz seeing as she is an adopted 'Cuse fan since I went to SU.

I'd say the Jersey side of the Philly metro definitely, who knows maybe even Philadelphia county itself. Think about it this way who are you gonna root for Penn State 3.5 hours away or Rutgers just under 1.5 hours away. Temple is unfortunately still an afterthought at this point.

Folks in Philly have TV sets, and New Jersey is right next door. And folks in Philly have an inbuilt dislike for the Nittany Lions, possibly originating from affiliation to one of the four local universities in the family in question. Rutgers also gets a bit of the underdog attraction. They were so bad for so long, it's hard for some people to accept that they really are good right now.

Whatever it is, I like it.

The WVU vs. ECU game should be a conference game!

army56mike Wrote:The WVU vs. ECU game should be a conference game!

Perhaps. But even more so should be WVU/Pitt/Cuse/RU/Cincy/BC/UMD vs. PSU, WVU/Cuse/PSU vs. UMD, WVU/Cuse/Pitt/RU/PSU/UConn vs. BC, UL/Cincy vs. Memphis.

brista21 Wrote:

army56mike Wrote:The WVU vs. ECU game should be a conference game!

Perhaps. But even more so should be WVU/Pitt/Cuse/RU/Cincy/BC/UMD vs. PSU, WVU/Cuse/PSU vs. UMD, WVU/Cuse/Pitt/RU/PSU/UConn vs. BC, UL/Cincy vs. Memphis.

I pity Penn State against WVU, Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Boston College, and Maryland. That's a tough road to hoe, playing 7 teams at once.

Of course, BC has to play 6 teams at once, and Maryland has to face 3. Those are all tough games.

Memphis has it easy by comparison. They only have to face Louisville and Cincinnati.