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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 133
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist |
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Time for Banowsky to step up
©2003 Bonesville.net
The longer Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky
remains idle on conference realignment, the more likely the league
eventually will implode.
With the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences now
considering their own annexations, the Big East no longer is the only
predator that may hunt on C-USA's wide open range.
Unless Banowsky has armored himself with camouflage and is
planning a sneak expansion attack of his own, don't expect C-USA to enjoy a
big feast when realignment season is over. At least that's the message
Banowksy conveyed two weeks ago in Memphis.
"To a certain extent, we've got to understand how the Big
East is going to go forward for us to be in a position to react," Banowsky
said. "I don't think we can be in a position to pre-empt anything relative
to the Big East, and I'm not sure it would be appropriate, anyway, given
where our members are.
"We'll just have to wait and see. I think we're prepared to
do what we need to do to make the league stronger and that would include
adding teams to the conference."
But what about keeping the league in tact? At what point
does that become an option?
Considering that C-USA's most high-profile football schools
East Carolina, Louisville, Southern Miss, and Texas Christian have been
mentioned as potential targets for other leagues, it would seem that
salvaging the current setup would be the primary agenda.
After all, it easily can be argued that C-USA's Big 4 in
football, plus the past accomplishments of Tulane and the potential future
of South Florida, more than rival Big East leftovers Boston College,
Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and West Virginia.
"I agree with that," Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said. "I
don't know what's going to happen to the Big East, whether they'll add
schools and take from Conference USA, but I feel good about this league in
comparison to that. I don't see how the Big East can survive and be a part
of the BCS now."
The fact is, it won't. Not if it adds only Louisville and
Cincinnati, a move that primarily would benefit the Big East's basketball
profile.
No offense to the Cardinals or Bearcats, but neither offers
the gridiron clout needed to ensure the Big East a spot at the BCS table.
Though both are traditional hardwood powers with national titles under their
belts, much of the U of L's football success has occurred over the past five
seasons, while Cincinnati struggles to outdraw many of the surrounding high
schools.
About the only way the Big East can remain a major player in
college football is by increasing its membership to 12, stockpiling schools
with football cultures. With only six football-playing schools for a
foundation, such an effort could be expensive and geographically unwieldy.
If that doesn't spark a few light bulbs in Banowsky's head,
nothing will.
Here's something to ponder:
Army's exodus following the 2004 season leaves C-USA with an
even ten, an ideal number from which to build. So instead of reacting to the
Big East's next move, perhaps Banowsky could steal a page from the John
Swofford book of organizational leadership minus the chapter on chicanery
by tapping into the shrinking league.
If the Big East's remaining six insist on sticking together,
then C-USA seriously should explore the feasibility of adding the whole lot.
As a trade-off, C-USA's non-football schools could be shipped East, which
would quench Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese's thirst to oversee a
basketball empire.
True, the trials and tribulations of the WAC's previous
16-team configuration have been well documented, but that was during the
pre-BCS era and in a league constructed primarily of mid-majors.
A new C-USA inflated with the Big East's holdovers easily
could work given the eight-team, divisional alignments that would provide
competitive and to a certain extent geographical balance. What's more,
with six or more schools that are annual Top 25 contenders, it would be
difficult to deny that group an automatic BCS bid.
It may be the only proposal that benefits all parties,
though it is an idea that likely won't receive it's due consideration.
That's because Banowsky is the only person in a position to
make it happen. And for the time being, C-USA's Commander-in-Chief appears
perfectly content to sit on idle hands.
BCS or Playoff?
Judging by the responses at the recent C-USA media kick-off,
several coaches obviously have been placed under a gag order when the BCS
topic is broached.
Not Cincinnati boss Rick Minter.
"Am I for a playoff," Minter asked? "As long as I'm the head
coach at Cincinnati, I'm for a playoff.
"If I'm the head coach at Ohio State, I'm not for a playoff.
I'm going to win the Big Ten, then go to the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl and
win the whole thing, just like they did. If they had been in a league that
forced them to play a playoff game, their chances would have been
diminished. Not finished, but diminished."
Because of that, Minter believes the ACC will have no
problem rounding up support for its plea to stage a conference championship
game with fewer than 12 schools.
"Do you think the Big XII and the SEC is going to vote
against that rule that the ACC wants to create where ten teams can play a
playoff game," Minter asked? "Most people who want to ask them that question
say, yeah, they'll vote against it. No they won't. The teams in the Big XII
and SEC now want the ACC to have a playoff game.
"Right now, who's got the advantage in college football?
Miami's got the advantage being in the Big East and winning in the regular
season and going to the BCS. And, Florida State has traditionally proven to
be the other really good job because it won what has typically been a weak
league and gone straight to the national title game."
No such luck for C-USA.
As Tulane proved in 1998, even an unblemished record and Top
10 ranking isn't enough to earn a BCS invitation. Due to the emphasis the
BCS computers place on opinion polls and strength of schedule, leagues
without an automatic bid to college football's big dance essentially are
eliminated before the season begins.
"First of all, just the strength of league schedule not
who you play outside of the league prohibits that because our computerized
rankings aren't going to be as high," Minter said. "We're the seventh or
eighth rated conference in the land.
"So, how are we going to win our league and then have a
computer rating of No. 1 in the country? It's not going to ever happen. Can
we win the national title at Cincinnati? The answer would be no."
Memo to Minter: It won't happen in the Big East, either.
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02/23/2007 01:51:31 AM |
