The Best Big East Bowl Preview Ever

As brought to you by the great folks at CFN. Enjoy!

And if I don't talk to y'all - happy holidays and stuff.

If It's Wed--er, Thursday, There Must Be Random News To Report

The awkwardly sponsored bowls are coming! The awkwardly sponsored bowls are coming!

• Noel Devine apparently fixed (or had fixed for him *nudge wink*) whatever academic issue was dogging him and will play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Although I'm not sure I'm down with the idea of creepy Bill Stewart putting anyone on a leash...
  
  
• Former Clemson offensive coordinator Rob Spence will be taking that same position at Syracuse. Spence was an innocent casualty in the crossfire of the Tommy Bowden firing.
  
  
• Apparently Rutgers is on the short list of schools that USC wide receiver/quasi-washout Vidal Hazelton would like to transfer to.
  
  
• USF receivers coach Mike Canales may end up getting the Illinois offensive coordinator position, and Bulls offensive coordinator Greg Gregory is likely to be a candidate at Army. Or so we hear.

The Best Big East 2008 Awards Ever

As seen on CFN.

What is it with Big East running backs?

First LeSean McCoy makes the rather curious decision not to enter the NFL draft. (although some folks aren't exactly convinced that will hold) Now, UConn's Donald Brown makes the same call, electing to come back for his senior year.

McCoy and Brown may not have been first-rounders, but certainly wouldn't have gone much past the third round if they came out. Considering the short shelf-life that running backs have to begin with, it seems strange the neither would want to take their chances in the draft now. It becomes doubly odd when you consider the chatter about the rookie pay scale going forward.

Contrast these scenarios to the end of last season, when Steve Slaton and Ray Rice couldn't leave fast enough.

Doug Marrone Hired As Syracuse Head Coach

Yep, it's like official and stuff. Read more about my thoughts here.

If It's Wednesday, There Must Be Random News To Report

Because I'm all about the news aggregating:

• Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy is out amid controversy over allegations of unchecked spending - including the controversial $100+ million stadium expansion - and sketchy side deals, including some involving Greg Schiano. It'll be interesting to see if a new A.D. gives Schiano the same leeway that Mulcahy did with regards to the football program.

• Louisville fans are apparently conflicted when it comes to head coach Steve Kragthorpe. Not so much these guys.

• The All-Big East teams were released today. Take a wild guess as to who was coach of the year...

• Just found this gem from Randy Edsall's post-game press conference after UConn was punked by Pitt. I knew Edsall was a defensive guy, but still.

Best Big East Week Ever - Key Games of 2008

As seen on CFN.

Enjoy.

Skip Holtz At Syracuse? Yeah, That Might Work

I'd written on CFN a few weeks back that I thought Syracuse AD Daryl Gross had one chance to make a big, splashy hire to replace Greg Robinson - former USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. Obviously that's not happening. Nor is Randy Edsall going to take what would be (generously) a lateral move to leave Connecticut for the Orange.

With Buffalo's Turner Gill looking like a strong candidate to take the Auburn job, East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz appears to be the frontrunner at Syracuse. It would be a very solid hire - Holtz has won everywhere he's been and has ties to the northeast from his days at UConn. The surname doesn't hurt, either. When your other likely choices were non-descript NFL or college assistants (sorry, Steve Addazio), the son of Lou Holtz seems like a real good bet.

***************************

On a completely unrelated note, it turns out Rutgers defensive end Jamaal Westerman played the second half of the season with a torn bicep, which is just ridiculously manly.

Big East Bowl Lineup Is Set

A thumbnail, first-blush look at the upcoming Big East bowl lineup:

Magicjack St. Petersburg Bowl (12/20) - USF vs. Memphis
It's hard to get jacked up about a South Florida program that went 1-4 down the stretch playing in ANY bowl game, much less against a Memphis team that lost at home to Louisville. Then again, the Bulls also lost to Louisville. And what exactly is a "Magicjack" anyhow?

Meineke Car Care Bowl (12/27) - West Virginia vs. North Carolina
Every time you hear the ESPN announcers discuss Pat White's prospects at the "next level", take a drink of your beer. (If Andre Ware is doing this game, you can also add the fun of taking a shot of Jack Daniels every time he mentions that White has a "NFL arm".)

PapaJohns.Com Bowl (12/29) - Rutgers vs. N.C. State
Besides the fact both teams are on huge rolls, this game is a classic example of why performances against "common opponents" often mean squat. N.C. State throttled UNC, which throttled Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights blew out USF, who destroyed the Wolfpack.

Brut Sun Bowl (12/31) - Pittsburgh vs. Oregon State
LeSean McCoy vs. Jacquizz Rodgers should be an awesome matchup of top-tier running backs. I will, unfortunately, spend the majority of the broadcast trying not to laugh whenever I see the name "Jacquizz" displayed on my TV screen.

International Bowl (1/3) - Connecticut vs. Buffalo
Over-under on how many passes Connecticut completes against the Bulls - 6. Over-under on how many times Turner Gill's status as a "hot coaching commodity"* is mentioned - 13.
*provided he's not already coaching at Auburn

Fedex Orange Bowl (1/1) - Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
Consider the absolute cluster that was the ACC championship game (in terms of attendance). Add in the fact Cincinnati has one of the smallest fanbases of any BCS program. This might be a great game, but it might engender the philosophical question - "if a great college football game is played but nobody is in the stands to watch it, did it actually happen?"

Steve Kragthorpe Believes Running It Up = Class Act

Look, we can argue all day about whether calling timeouts with a minute to go in the first half and throwing for another score - the way Greg Schiano did in the Scarlet Knights' 63-14 obliteration of Louisville - is appropriate. (apparently, Schiano doesn't have a big problem with it, as he did something very similar to Norfolk State last year)

What I found hilarious, though, was Schiano's non-conciliatory halftime interview with Erin Andrews, where he stoically said that his team is "trying to get better" and essentially will stop destroying Louisville when he feels like it. Contrast that with Steve Kragthorpe's halftime comments, which consisted of calling Schiano a "class act" and saying that he wished he had a great offense that could score 49 points in a half.

Is it any wonder why one coach was able to pull his team out of the muck of a 1-5 start, and the other has completely lost his team after a 5-2 start?

And as an aside, I find it funny that Louisville defensive coordinator Ron English supposedly had words with the Rutgers head coach at halftime. Unlike his boss, English had the stones to actually express his displeasure with Schiano's act. However, he would have been better served expending energy on constructing a defensive plan that didn't involve receivers getting 10 yards behind his secondary.

UPDATE: Apparently Louisville AD Tom Jurich doesn't like all the negativity surrounding Krags while preaching that it's important to stay the course.