It was a great BCS BOWL VICTORY BY WVU.The BCS AUTO BID BELONGS TO THE BE.NO NEED TO WORRY MWC you don't have it.

Congratulations to WVU fans everywhere and what a great and impressive win last night on the SEC home football field.

What is everyone going to talk about now that the Big East BCS bid is secured.

Sweet!

I spoke from the beginning of the year that West Virginia would be the team of the Big East. The Sugar Bowl was one of the better bowl games, and Georgia never overcame that fast WVU start. WVU deserved more recognition earlier in the year than they had received. Congratulations to the Mountaineers, and Rodriguez did a heck of a coaching job.

I believe it was Lou Holtz that called Wisconsin over Auburn.

Tonight's Penn State - FSU game may be a good one if they stop the geezer-coaching hype ::)!

It was a good win by WV, it saved a total embarrassment for the BE from the other 3 bowl games.

I'm happy first for the good folks in West Virginia that such a stirring victory allowed that - in the words of the old Don McLean song, 'American Pie' - "maybe they'd be happy for a while." Things don't look good for the trapped coal miners, which is very sad & which must touch many people in that state. They love their Mountaineers football, so it was a nice distraction.

Other than Louisville's disappointmenting start this season & its the bowl loss, there were a couple of significant accomplishments for the big East this year. This victory by West Virginia over the SEC champs has to be far & away the biggest. Congrats to them, led by a running back who started the season #4 on the depth charts.

The other was the fact that Rutgers got to a bowl game. Even though they lost & even though their success was helped by a weak schedule, this was huge in terms of prominence & recruiting. A good Rutgers program is so important for the future success of the Big East IMHO. UConn's development continues to be solid & they will be back in the winning column. These 3 state universities are the cornerstones of the Big East in terms of command of market & the league needs them to be competitive at the highest level.

Another piece of good news is that West Vitginia's #11 finish in the final BCS poll combined with Louisville's #10 last year extends the conference's viability for a 4-year average in the BCS Top Twelve when the conferences are reviewed in a couple of years.

It's interesting that Miami seems to be in disarray. Five assistants, including some long time members of the coaching staff, have been fired this year. And what was with Virginai Tech losing to a 4-loss Florida State team in the ACC championship game? Just as Lash predicted, these championship games seem to be hurting conferences more than helping them. There is the potential for a good old fashioned a$$ whuppin' for FSU in the Orange Bowl tonight, which sure would take some more luster from the ACC, making it the 6th year in a row that the ACC's BCS representative will have lost its bowl game.

ACC's streak continues but it was a pretty darn good game.

Yes, KC, 0-4 would have been embarassing, but I think that the Big East should be very encouraged and that it's the ACC that should be embarassed.

1. With 5 teams ahead of them losing, West Virginia should jump to #6 in the polls. They lose only 8 seniors & so should be even better next year.

2. Rutgers made an excellent showing in what was for all practical purposes a home game for Arizona State. Rutgers had the lead for most of the game. Given that this was their first time in a bowl in many a moon, this was a very encouraging showing & bodes well for Rutgers' future.

3. South Florida should be encouraged for just showing up! They didn't even have a program 10 years ago, yet they had some big wins this year & a shot at winning the conference late in the season.

4. And then there's Louisville. Here's the nexus with the ACC. Louisville had a big lead in this game despite playing without their quarterback. So what did Marcus Vick do? He intentionally spiked Elvis Dumervil, the national sacks leader, the man who should have been in his face all day. The refs missed it. It should have been a 15 yard penalty & Vick should have been thrown out of the game for intentionally injuring another player. His own coach considered pulling him from the game for misconduct at half time. He should have. Instead Tech was able to make a come back while Dumervil hobbled through the rest of the game. Yes, Virginia Tech won the game, but Louisville had nothing to be embarassed about. Virginia Tech sure did.

5. Miami was humiliated 40-3 by LSU, but more embarassing was the firing of 4 assistants after the game - some of them long time assistants who were good enough to help Miami to national championships in the past. It sure looks like the wheels are coming off the bus in Miami.

6. Georgia Tech went out & lost to Utah. Let me rephrase that. Georgia Tech was crushed by Utah. Utah? Maybe there's something to that Mountain West claim that they deserve a spot in the BCS.

7. Yes, Florida State did put up a good show against Penn State. But it never should have gone to OT. FSU snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by blowing a fourth quarter lead. More important is the fact that with all the hoopla that accompanied the ACC's expansion, their BCS rep still lost for the 6th year in a row. Adding the extra teams didn't help them. Adding the championship game may have hurt them by keeping their best team out of their BCS bowl spot. But, FSU beat both Virginia Tech & Miami, so maybe 5-loss FSU was the best team in the conference. Maybe the league just wasn't that good. Certainly Virginia Tech & Miami, the top ranked teams in the conference , did nothing in their bowl games to distinguish themselves. And they did a lot to give the conference a black eye.

What is with you BE fans with the ACC? Its like we lost 3 bowls games but but the ACC they did worse. Get over it, seriousally.

Actually, from a Big XII perspective, it was actually good that WVU beat UGa in the Sugar Bowl. Going down the stretch before Monday's Sugar Bowl, there were 4 conferences vying for the Conference Bowl Cup, which goes to the Conference that has 3 or more bowl teams that end up with the highest winning percentage. 9 of the 11 1-A conferences are competing, but before Monday night's Sugar Bowl, these 4 conference were still eligible:

ACC
Big XII
Pac 10
SEC

Before the Sugar Bowl, the SEC still had a chance, with a 3-2 record. But WVU upset them, thus eliminating the SEC from the Conference Bowl Cup. If UGa would have won, it would have eliminated the Big XII from the Conference Bowl Cup. Right now, with tonight's national championship remaining, there are still 3 conferences vying, and they are:

ACC (5-3): 0.625 winning percentage
Big XII (4-3, with tonight's game remaining, if Texas wins, it results with a tie with the ACC with a 0.625 winning percentage, both the ACC and Big XII share the Conference Bowl Cup)
Pac 10 (3-1, with tonight's game remaining. If USC wins, it results in a 0.800 winning percentage for the Pac 10, and the Pac 10 takes home the Conference Bowl Cup)

So, if you are a Big XII fan, you should be happy about the Mountaineers win against UGa. Likewise, you should also be happy about Penn State's win last night against FSU, as it nocks the ACC down into a tie with the Big XII if Texas wins tonight. If FSU would've won, the Big XII would have been eliminated from the Conference Bowl Cup.

So great win WVU. And Great win Joe Pa. Hook 'Em Horns. Remember, "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You".

I can't totally blame BE fans for being bent about the ACC.

Still, I can find the cloud inside the silver lining... 3 teams fresh from C-USA, and 2 of them took half the bowl slots in the BE this year. Is it "pot, meet kettle" or "goose, meet gander"... or can we think of something more original?

Honestly, any other year, I would have absolutely danced in enjoyment over West Virginia beating Georgia in a bowl game... in Atlanta, no less. TS2 ruins it for me.

BTW, it's really rare for me to yell "GO USC!" However, there you have it. I'm up for some London Broil.

Pounder, TS2 is just getting even with the many below the belt post concerning the BE on this board and all the media bashing around the country. I totally agree with him on the issues with MWC fans making attacks at the BE when the MWC conference had no team ranked higher all season over any BE teams. WVU put that puppy to rest once and for all and will be ranked much higher than any MWC school in the final polls. The issue is MWC fans actually thought they deserved to take the BE BCS bid. I could have some sympathy for MWC fans if they thought the Big East deserved the bid and they should have one as well, however, it was less take the BE bid from then since we are better. So MWC have one thing for you, earn it like WVU and beat an SEC team in a BCS bowl on an SEC home field and maybe the MWC will get some consideration for automatic bid.

As for the ACC, there is some selfish indulgence in seeing how the recent expansion results have impacted the three BE defectors.

Take Miami, a program that is in shambles at the moment and this time its not due to probation issues. I have followed Miami since the days of the first national championship and many of those coaches were recently let go as scape goats. The real "goats" are the people running the school including the President and Athletic Director that bold face lied to the the BE for greed.

Now the innocent coaches are paying the price. Miami had a good thing in the BE and was given many special privileges and had a good path to the BCS each year.

Miami could learn a thing or two from Notre Dame.

Now Miami can look for many more Peach and Champs appearances. This does not go well for a team that needs to land players that can help win national titles or the fair weather fans will find something better to do.

Va Tech has become a 'thug U" that is letting football ruin the reputation of this fine university. Vick should be expelled for his tactics and yet the school is making all kinds of excuses just for the sake of football success.

BC is isolated and was sent to Boise and the future will probably hold many of the same type of favoritisms as BC was just used to get more money for the ACC.

So, now that WVU has won a BCS game and the BE BCS bid is more secured than ever (not that it ever was in jeopardy), the BE will build back with a small group of football schools that can compete and have the champion make a BCS boel each year.

Miami, Va Tech, and to some extent BC are going to have to skip morals to keep up with the 12 team conferences that are made for money.

The WVU victory this week was really a moral victory and sent a very strong message to Miami and others that a price comes with greed.

The only issue is the guilty are not having to pay.

Since we are on the subject of BCS, the BE has won a BCS bowl this year and the ACC has a seven year losing streak in BCS bowls. Go figure.

One suggestion for the the BCS. Please change the "Big East rule" to "ACC rule" as more appropriate in today's college BCS football world.

As a UGA grad and fan one is disappointed. Actually, Georgia made it a game for the last two and 2/3 quarters. Was this the same team that humbled LSU a few weeks earlier?

West Virginia played an excellent game and deserved the win. I thought all year long this team was a bit under-rated in the polls even though they did have a single loss earlier to VPI.

I noted yesterday, Penn State and Florida State would be an exciting and close game even though FSU had 4 loses. Wow, I did not realize how close!

The Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl (maybe not the only ones) delivered exciting games that people will talk about for awhile.

I have mixed feelings as to who I want to win the Rose Bowl. It is time to show that USC can be beaten, and is getting over-hyped with their two "H" trophy recipients and long string of wins. However, do I wish that Mack Brown be the one to be credited if USC get's stop? Wonder if OJ will be at the game? Kinda wish, here, it was two other undefeated teams.

KC, yeah, but they lost the ones that mattered. And the Virginia Tech game goes in the "W" column, but it was a loss of respect in the eyes of anyone who watched the game.

Not saying that the ACC did worse. When you add Miami, VPI, & BC, the bar is set a lot higher. A lot of people are beginning to ask if the run at Miami is over - not just BE fans. They have a lot to prove right now. With all of the expectations for the first year with all 12 teams, it wasn't a good postseason for the ACC.

The BE lost 3 bowl games. Flat out, bad postseason for everyone but West Virginia. But there are reasons for the BE to be encouraged despite the losses. Remember, this is a conference that was in complete disarray. When a program like Rutgers that has been down for so long gives signs of turning the corner, that's good news. When a program like South Florida tha didn't even exist 10 years ago has the kind of competitive season they did this year, that's more good news. And when Louisville without their quarterback can build up a big lead on Virginia Tech & Tech has to cheat to get back in the game, well, that's a moral victory & they can hold their heads high.

BTW, you're asking what's with us Big East guys? What's an ACC guy doing coming on a Big East thread & spouting off about "total embarassment" after the conference champion just scored a huge upset & gave the conference some legitimacy? Did you expect folks here to thank you for your insightful observation?

FriarFan

I'm no way an ACC guy. I hate 4 schools in that conference with a passion (Duke, UNC, Miami, Florida St). Try the conference with the national champ, Big 12.

Sorry, KC, I misread your post. I read "we lost 3 bowl games" to mean the ACC's 3 bowl losses. I hadn't previously thought of you as an ACC guy, but i read too quickly. My bad; what you wrote was clear.

Since you hate 4 ACC schools with a passion, allow us to hate 12 ACC schools with a passion. It's really no different, just a matter of degree. As for getting over it, NEVER! ;D Until they beat the Yankees last year, Red Sox fans were still talking about 1918 & "the curse of the Bambino." Sports fans have long memories. If the sale of Babe Ruth could stick in the craw of fans who weren't even alive than, certainly the defections of Miami & BC will insite the ire of Big East fans for many, many years to come.

BTW, congratulations to Texas, its fans, & all Big XII fans for the stirring victory in tonight's national championship game. Just a great win & a great come back. Something to really proud be of when beating another great team. Championship games often don't live up to their hype, but this one sure did.

FriarFan