Big East Football: Conference Looks to Gain Some Respect in Bowl Games
For a conference as maligned as the Big East, having a great bowl season is very important. The conference has been successful the past few years in bowl games, except for the big one.
This season they are represented in their big bowl game by a team that is leaving the conference as soon as they can get out.
West Virginia is a team that has had relative success in BCS bowl games, however and is ready to represent the conference for possibly the last time.
This year the Mountaineers will be in the Orange Bowl and even though they are leaving the conference, a win would still go a long way.
While only five Big East teams even qualified for a bowl game, everyone in the well-balanced league won at least five games.
The conference is still up in the air as to whether or not they will even retain their automatic BCS status after this season and finishing the season strong will help determine that.
Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers and Pittsburgh are the other teams representing the conference in bowl games. With the exception of Pittsburgh, all the other schools are going against schools from BCS conferences. This will be a great chance for the conference to show they are improved over last season.
With the additions of Houston and Boise St. the conference will undoubtedly get stronger in football and it is likely that they will be able to retain their BCS status, but it will not hurt to go out and win their bowl games, particularly West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
Another sub-par season can soon be forgotten if they can go out on the field and do just that.
