Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Wide Open Big East

Rutgers beats Pittsburgh and Louisville defeats South Florida. Welcome to the Big East where West Virginia now leads by default. Obviously the bulk of WVU's Big East schedule lies ahead but the Mountaineers now have the inside track to another Big East title and BCS bowl. No team other that WVU is undefeated in conference play and South Florida, the conference favorite since WVU's fall from grace, already has two losses. There's little doubt now that most will see WVU as the conference favorite following their win over Auburn. It will be interesting to see how Stewart and the gang handle the pressure.

On the other end of the spectrum is a team that will not make a bowl game this year and that is Michigan. Following the win over the then #9 Wisconsin Badgers, the wheels fell off for Michigan. The embarrassing loss to Toledo followed by the shellacking by Penn State and Michigan State all but ended Michigan's 33-year post season appearance streak. Obviously Rodriguez doesn't have the players to run his offense but you have to wonder what happened to Michigan. The defense should have been good enough to at least remain competitive. This team is done. It looks very likely that Rodriguez won't even be able to match the 3-wins he had in his first season at WVU.

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