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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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Pirate Notebook No. 291
Monday, December 4, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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Time for Easley to step up
©2006 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
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DENNY
O'BRIEN'S HARRIS POLL BALLOT
Denny O'Brien is a member of the
2006 voting panel
for the Harris Interactive College Football Poll,
commissioned by the Bowl Championship Series.
The
Harris Poll is a component of the BCS Standings. The
season's
eighth and final BCS Standings
were released on Sunday.
Here
is O'Brien's ballot for this week's Harris Poll,
conducted by
Harris Interactive:
1.
Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. Louisville
5. Louisiana State
6. Boise State
7. Wisconsin
8. Southern Cal
9. Auburn
10. Oklahoma
11. West Virginia
12. Notre Dame
13. Wake Forest
14. Arkansas
15. Brigham Young
16. Rutgers
17. Virginia Tech
18. Texas
19. Tennessee
20. California
21. Boston College
22. Texas A&M
23. Oregon State
24. Nebraska
25. Hawaii
Checking
In:
Oregon State (23)
Checking
Out:
Georgia Tech
Biggest
Jump:
Oklahoma
Biggest
Plunge:
Rutgers
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BCS
STANDINGS |
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Do the right thing, Governor Easley.
Sometime between your next briefing over
North Carolina's latest political scandal and your weekly commute to that
plush home in Southport, give Mike Tranghese a call.
Get the Big East commissioner on the horn
and give him the lowdown on the advantages East Carolina and your proud
state offer his football league. Because after your failure to promote ECU's
cause in the previous round of conference expansion, I'd say you owe the
Pirate constituency.
Big time.
Besides, wasn't it you who stared ECU folks
squarely in the eye and stated that the ACC was done with conference
expansion, and as a result any posturing on the Pirates' behalf would be
futile?
You really had us going until John Swofford
announced two months later that Boston College was joining the ACC ranks.
Not that anyone Down East thought East
Carolina had a snowball's chance in Hades of joining the ACC, especially
with the school's lack of leadership in place at the time. But you could
have humored us with a little politicking, or better yet called an all-out
blitz on the Big East.
So now's your chance at redemption.
With East Carolina set to face the Big
East's South Florida in the inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl, the timing
couldn't be better. Tranghese will have no choice but to notice the Pirates'
performance on the scoreboard, and even more importantly in the stands.
What's more, you're not facing a potential
re-election campaign, so there's no chance of doing any damage with your UNC-Chapel
Hill and N.C. State supporters.
Seriously, what else could be monopolizing
your agenda? The lottery is up and running, and we all are well-aware of the
resounding success it has been.
It's not like anyone expects you to do the
heavy lifting in advancing ECU's cause. That much resides squarely on the
shoulders of Pirates AD Terry Holland, Chancellor Steven Ballard, and
football coach Skip Holtz.
But as Virginia Tech proved when it
received its ACC bid, a little help from the state's CEO never hurts. And
since you'll likely need a script to help you pitch the Pirates, here are a
few notes on what ECU offers the Big East:
- Location: North Carolina is an
attractive television market untapped by the Big East. Considering the
number of television affiliates and newspapers that pack the Dowdy
Ficklen press box — which on a bad day quadruples its counterpart in
Cincinnati — there is a tremendous coverage area in which to sell the
Big East brand. If television dollars aren't enough, there's also
recruiting to consider. Just ask Frank Beamer how fruitful it's been to
join a league with a North Carolina footprint.
- History: If history is the greatest
predictor of the future, ECU's is blindingly bright in comparison to
almost half of the Big East. The Pirates' appearance in the 2006
PapaJohns.com Bowl marks the 13th in ECU history. That matches the
number of berths by Cincinnati, Rutgers, and South Florida combined.
- Potential: Was this year the
high-water mark for Rutgers? The short answer is most likely. The bigger
question is who will help Louisville and West Virginia carry the
league's football banner moving forward. South Florida appears to be the
most capable candidate of the bunch, but the Bulls have a relatively new
football culture that has struggled to catch on in Tampa. ECU adds a
football-first mentality with a past that proves it has Top 25
credentials. The two-year turnaround under Holtz and the Pirates'
non-conference scheduling strategy also doesn't hurt the résumé.
- Support: Aside from Louisville and
West Virginia, you won't find a Big East school that traditionally fills
more than 75 percent of its stadium's capacity or caravans to road
games. That no doubt has handicapped the league from securing more
attractive postseason tie-ins. East Carolina has long carried the torch
as the favorite among bowls with which Conference USA has a guaranteed
slot. It took some hard convincing from the C-USA office earlier this
week for the GMAC Bowl (which coveted ECU) to agree to take the league
runner-up.
That's enough to get you started. No need
to overload you with too much info, since I'm sure you're hard at work with
a long-term strategy to put those lottery dollars to work. But if you get a
moment, how about making a quick call to Mr. Tranghese. Bet him a bucket of
barbecue that ECU sells 10,000 tickets to the Pizza Bowl and that Birmingham
is taken hostage by deep-pocketed Pirates.
If you lose, send the tab Down East and
consider yourself off the hook. One of East Carolina's generous donors will
be more than happy to foot the bill.
At this stage, you clearly have nothing to
lose. So why not give it the ole gubernatorial try?
Send
an e-mail message to Denny O'Brien.
Click here to dig into Denny
O'Brien's Bonesville archives.
02/23/2007 02:03:38 AM |
