You could take a stab at what the top five or six talking points for Tuesday’s Big East Media Day will be and probably get pretty close to what will be said by officials, athletic directors and coaches. In fact, in a moment I’m going to list the core questions that need to be answered but the truth is I already know what everyone’s going to say.
Big East Media Day: An Exercise In Considerations
The day won’t be much different than the Big Ten Media Day in that everyone will speak highly of the conference and its place in the world. It will be extremely different than its Big Ten counterpart however because very few people in the room will actually believe that.
A few days ago UConn head coach Randy Edsall said that the Big East is “as strong as any conference in the country, when you look at the eight teams and how competitive it is each and every week.” On one hand, he’s got a point only because he took the extra step to talk about the efficiency of the eight-team conference. Because without that, everyone who follows college football knows that he’s crazy.
Perception is reality and perception says the Big East is the worst of the BCS conferences. That perception is aided by the fact that its two-time defending champion, Cincinnati, finished the regular season undefeated last year and was not even considered for a shot at the National Title. That they went on to lay an egg on national TV against the Florida Gators was just insult to injury.
That perception is equally-aided, if not more, by the fact that the conference almost ceased to exist a few weeks ago and doesn’t seem to have the wherewithal to do anything about it. Commissioner John Marinatto talks regularly of the many things he has under consideration...expansion, TV network, improved scheduling. He and other Big East officials will tell you that a lack of action does not mean nothing is happening. For the rest of us, in the face of such certain doom, it can’t mean anything else.
The most pressing questions that we expect to be answered tomorrow, truthfully or not.
- Who is the favorite to win the Big East?
- Who are the preseason conference players of the year?
- Who is the most likely program to make The Leap?
- How do the coaches feel about the state of the Big East?
- How do the coaches feel about the Big Ten’s recent comments and how does that affect the way you do business?
- How do the coaches feel about how the Big East brass are handling the realignment issues?
- Do the coaches want to see a ninth team added to the conference to balance the schedule?
- Do the coaches want to see the Big East expand at all? To ten teams? Twelve?
- Does anyone really want to coach their football team in Yankee Stadium in the end of December?
- Who ate the most lobsters at the Big East Clambake?
We shall see how it goes, who tells the truth and who has the stomach lining necessary to carry their team to a BCS bowl. Winning it is a whole other story.
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