Anti-West Virginia Bias

"South Florida controls its own destiny in the Big East: It's not time for the BCS to panic yet, but the Bulls (4-3) have a clear path to the Big East title. That means a $14 million to $17 million payday for a program whose entire budget is approximately $9 million." -- Dennis Dodd; CBS Sportsline

"Notre Dame could certainly be tripped up at Stanford, LSU could get tagged by Ole Miss and its tough defense, Virginia Tech could have a hard time at Virginia and/or against North Carolina, and South Florida could certainly take the Big East title away from West Virginia. In other words, don’t relax just yet." - Pete Fiutak; Collegefootballnews.com

And I've heard similar sentiment on ESPN all weekend. South Florida is in the driver's seat in the Big East. USF could be in the BCS with 3 losses. Yeah, that's definitely possible. But they have to still beat some teams...technically, West Virginia is in the driver's seat for the BCS. But no one is giving any respect to WVU for the season it has had so far.

To begin the season, it was all Louisville and Pitt. Pitt imploded so it became a run-away for Louisville. Well, USF destroyed Louisville but everyone still said the Cards were going to win the Big East. Then WVU beat Louisville so the story had to change again...Rutgers was only a game behind WVU and if Pitt and USF could beat the Mounties, then Rutgers could go to the BCS. Well, Rutgers blew it to USF so now South Florida is in complete control of the Big East.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that WVU was not supposed to be that good this year...7-4, 8-3 at best. It's a rebuilding year. But they have stepped up and beaten Maryland on the road and Louisville. They beat Rutgers on the road and handled UConn. So, WVU is in the driver's seat. They head to Cincy tomorrow night and, if they win (which they better), they'll be 8-1 and two games away from wrapping up it's first BCS appearance. Of course, they could implode and still finish in the Car Bowl but they'd really have to fight to do that. Pitt will be a contest because of the rivalry and I'm anxious to see the USF game. But don't hand this conference to South Florida...I know the media doesn't want to give WVU any respect but eventually you have to face the fact that WVU is a major player in college football...or the Big East at the least where it is 20-4 over the last 24 Big East games.

Additionally, WVU has been ranked in the Top 25 in 23 of the last 31 polls. That's a major accomplishment...yet somehow everyone seems to completely ignore any accomplishments the Mountaineers make. Even the beloved Notre Dame can't say they have been in the Top 25 that much in the last 31 weeks.