<p>^ How did that work for Temple when they were in the Big East? Philly sure didn’t support them, and they are a much bigger school/fanbase than Villanova.</p>
<p>Villanova doesn’t even have a place to play. There stadium is to small (12,000, which they don’t sell out), and apparently they can’t expand it, not sure why. Also, Temple already has a deal to play in the Eagles stadium, so I doubt Villanova would be able to do the same.</p>
<p>I hate the direction the BE is going, the teams don’t even play in there own stadiums, they just rent them from NFL teams.</p>
<p>I dont think the attendance rule was in effect when we were in the BE. It was one of the reasons we were thrown out, though. Not even sure what your second point means, because Pitt and USF are the only BE teams that play in NFL stadiums.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, with the Big East, “you can’t fix ugly”. It’s a basketball conference, and until schools like my hometown St. John’s gets in on the football act and people in the big market Big East cities actually watch Big East football (they watch Notre Dame), the Big East will always be a second rate football conference in pro sports territory.</p>
<p>Those are pretty much the problems with the Big East as a whole and why they are getting rather desperate to do anything at all about it.</p>
<p>It really is all about TV dollars. It’s really Villanova’s problem how to fill their stadium, as likely the Big East doesn’t care (as much) about such things. There’s probably some ulterior reason why the Big East sees Villanova as helpful to their TV package. If the Big East is planning their own TV network, then maybe having a local team might be the difference between the Big East network appearing in Philly on basic extended cable, or instead socked away in some sports package that almost no one gets. There must be some reason like that behind the scenes.</p>
<p>But back to real CFB. Anyone excited for games this weekend? USC opens at washington state, but it’s worth remembering that USC has lost its pac-10 opener two years in a row…</p>
<p>Almost certainly some licensing issue, maybe the NFL just doesn’t want to go that route or demands too much money from ESPN to do that. Also if a game isn’t broadcast on ABC/ESPN then whoever is broadcasting probably has exclusive rights.</p>
<p>^ haha I knew you’d be posting something to this effect after the southern couple behind me at the Brown-Harvard game (which we won btw) said UCLA beat Texas</p>
<p>Huge win for UCLA today. That will keep Neiuheisel’s job safe for at least one more year. If they can improve their passing attack out of that pistol offense, then they will be tough to beat. Good win to help out the Pac 10’s prestige as well.</p>
<p>Ryan Mallet practically gave that game away. I expect Bama to slip up at some point this season. The SEC is much weaker than in years past. I think that as a whole, the Big 10 and Pac 10 are stronger than the SEC. The Pac 10 may be the strongest conference in the country. They are certainly the deepest.</p>
<p>IMO, Nebraska is by far the best team in the Big 12. The frosh QB, Taylor Martinez, may cost them some games because he is a terrible passer.</p>
<p>Stanford-Oregon is a HUGE game next week. It could very well decide the Pac 10 championship (Zona and Oregon State will also be in the hunt). I would not be surprised to see Stanford go 11-1. They are a legit top 10 team and are better than about half of the teams in the top 10 (Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma).</p>
<p>Notre Dame has become depressing to watch week in and week out. I didn’t expect a win, but it sucks losing 3 straight. At least their schedule eases up.</p>
<p>The Big East is just awful. They don’t have any marquee wins this year.</p>
<p>The ACC is pretty bad. It pains me to see Miami as the best team in the conference. UNC would have ran away with the conference crown if they didn’t have all of those players inelligible or suspended.</p>
<p>Yeah, if they can develop a reasonable passing threat, just enough to keep the defense honest, the offense will be quite good. Even without that, this is looking like it might be the first UCLA offense capable of controlling the clock since DeShaun Foster. And this defense is probably the youngest and most talented there’s been in a while - finally giving them time to rest has been huge the last couple weeks.</p>
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<p>I don’t think anyone’s going to be strolling through the Pac-10 this year. This game will matter a lot, but I don’t think anyone’s eliminated from the conference race this year until they reach 3 losses.</p>
<p>If we can beat a T25 team this year, I’m going to start rooting for the Cyclones for real.</p>
<p>nah I take that back. We’re going to suk more after this year.</p>
<p>Alabama BCS champs and D Robinson with the Heisman? yes me thinks so. I guess it depends on how michigan does this year. If not Robinson, then Ingram for sure</p>
<p>No. Let’s withhold judgment before he faces a competent Big Ten defense. Notre Dame is a joke. In fact, I think Shoelace is needed more on defense at the moment.</p>