Was it really only four years ago that the Big East was in danger of losing it's BCS status? Miami and Virginia Tech left in 2003 and Boston College in 2004. The conference sent Pitt, one of several 8-4 teams in the Big East to lose to Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. And there wasn't much reason to think the conference was going to get better any time soon. The conference was written off by the media and the blogospher didn't even bother to poke fun.

But something happened last week that most of us didn't even notice. The Big East was granted a spot in the BCS through 2013.

The reason is simple: no one noticed the news. No one questioned the Big East's place at the adult table. The reaffirmation wasn't even a note in BCS meeting coverage. "It was quiet,'' Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Tuesday. "The way I like it."

You'd never make it as a blogger Mr. Tranghese. You need to rub it in someones face every once in a while. The least you could do is hold up one of those foam we're #1 hands. Or one of six, I guess. How bout a little woot-woot? Oh fine!

Despite the picture on the right, you can't just point to West Virginia and say their two BCS bowl victories and three straight top ten finishes are the reason. But I won't argue with you if you do. It really has been the improvement of several teams in the Big East that has brought the conference back to respectability. Louisville was expected to be one of the better teams in the conference. And mostly, they've come through. But the real surprise has been the improvement of South Florida, Rutgers, and Cincinnati. And more recently, Connecticut.

While the conference still isn't flooding the first round of the NFL draft with players, it is putting a lot more teams in the top 25. Sure, some coaches have left for "greener" pastures. Others like Greg Schiano and Jim Leavitt have made commitments to their schools that don't involve contracts. There's a balance, and certainly enough rising programs and programs that are there to keep the Big East respectable. At least until the Big 11 10 decides to add another team. Wankers.

I did this last year, so it seems only fitting that I would do it again.

And it wasn't even close. Louisville had five players drafted, while Pitt and West Virginia had three apiece. Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Connecticut had two each. And for the first time since 1975, Syracuse did not have anyone selected.

That's 19 players drafted. And any way I slice it, that's just not all that good for a BCS conference. Looking at the distribution of what rounds the players were taken, it was pretty well spread out over the entire draft for the Big East. But that doesn't make it feel any better. It's especially bad if you look at a team like West Virginia that has had three 11 win seasons in a row along with three straight top ten finishes. They've had exactly four players drafted in the last three years. And Chris Henry and Pac Man Jones the year before that. So we won't even go there.

The ACC? Yeah, that conference we've been quietly laughing at after Miami, Va. Tech, and Boston College left. Yeah, they had 33 players drafted this past weekend. The coaching must really suck over there or something.

Pac 10? Oh, they had 37 players drafted. SEC? 35. Big 10? 28. Big 12? 27. Hell, C-USA had 11 players drafted! Patriot League? Never mind.

Even more upsetting for West Virginia fans, two players left early for the NFL and weren't drafted. Those two being Darius Reynaud and Johnny Dingle. Yeah, sorry folks. Those Dingle-Berry photo's won't be happening anymore. Those are definitely two players the Mountaineers could have used this year, though. I'm not saying that their stock would go up any with one more year of college. But it sure wouldn't go down.

Louisville will have the most holes to fill as well. You don't replace Brian Brohm, Harry Douglas, and Art Carmody. I know there are others, but those three were special at their positions. West Virginia won't be far behind with the loss of Slaton and most of the secondary and defensive line. Rutgers, well we don't know how bad it is because we haven't seen anyone but Ray Rice run the ball. The rest of the conference should be fine. And that's not a good thing if you think about it.

I hated this guy so much while he was at Louisville, I take great joy in knowing that I will never have to write about him again. And by hate, I mean respect if you look at what he did the last three years to West Virginia.

WHAT NFL SCOUTS ARE SAYING

Pro Football Weekly Ranking the Quarterbacks

Brohm – Pop gun arm incapable of drilling NFL throws into tight NFL windows – I can envision him now getting picked off left and right trying to hit the deep out on the next level. Cannot throw on the run. Marginal athleticism - struggles to evade the rush. Pushes the ball and accuracy consequently suffers.

PROBABLY GETTING DRAFTED..

Even after that assessment, will probably go in the late first early second round.

GUY WHO WATCHED HIM FOR THREE YEARS IS SAYING

If all you knew of Brian Brohm was his performance last year, then I would say most of the above is spot on. However, there is a reason he was considered a top five pick if he would have come out for the draft after his junior year. He really is that good. And Louisville really was that bad last year. Most everyone will point out to you that a large part of the problem last year was that the defense put the offense in bad positions by letting teams score at will on them. And that's certainly true. But he didn't get a lot of help from the offense either. The rushing game got scary bad to nonexistent through the meat of the schedule. Harry Douglas was hurt in the middle of the season, and Mario Urrutia wasn't Mario Urrutia. Despite that, he completed 65% of his passes for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. Pop gun arm or not that's pretty good. Last year wasn't an easy year for Brohm, but he took it all in stride and did everything he could to help the team win.

His numbers and Louisville's record in 2006 and 2005 speak to what he is capable of when surrounded with adequate players. And while he might not have the OMG! skills that impress everyone leading up to the draft.

OMG! Football news! February is like the worst sports month in the world! Unless you like meaningless mid-season NBA and NHL games. Sure I love NCAA basketball. But that love has been tainted by my coaches fashion sense and my teams ability to rip defeat from the jaws of victory. So I'm kind of not liking February at all.

Anyhow, some good news today football fans. The Big East released the 2008 football schedule. And while that's nothing compared to being in the stands after hours of tailgating and screaming obscenities at opposing fans and players, it is a reason for hope. The hope that another football season will soon be upon us.

And lookie, there are actually some good out of conference games this year. In September:

Cincinnati @ Oklahoma-Will the Sooners crumble again in the face of Big East might?

Penn St. @ Syracuse- When this game was scheduled Jo Pa was heard saying, "That Paul Pasqualoni is a tricky devil. We're going to have to find a way to shut down McNabb!"

Kansas @ South Florida- The Bulls can't be looking at this game the way they were a year ago.

West Virginia @ Colorado- This game fills the void left by Maryland opting out of the series. And given the size of Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, that's quite a void to fill.

Iowa @ Pitt- Again, Iowa might not like this game as much as they did when they scheduled it.

Rutgers vs. TBA-Ah, the unknown enigma that is TBA. You just never know what team you're going to play.

Alabama freshman Jeremiah Elder started the trend, and now we've got a second man overboard due to an armed robbery charge:

Louisville cornerback Rod Council has been dismissed from the team following his arrest for armed robbery in his home state of North Carolina. As of Wednesday evening, he is being held on $50,000 bond for a charge of robbery with a dangerous weapon. As a result, Kragthorpe got rid of him immediately, as he should.

While Elder took a redshirt in 2007 and wasn't expected to be a big contributor this year, Council was the best "cornerback" in what passed for Louisville's "secondary" last "year" and is a major loss for the Cardinals as they attempt to reassert themselves as a Big East power.

Also... like... dude:

According to the incident report, Council allegedly entered the store about 4:15 a.m. and pulled what looked to be a 9mm Uzi on the clerk, who was the only other person in the store at the time.

When Rod Council (allegedly) robs a store, he goes all out. Maybe he played too much Syndicate this month?

In order for former Louisville running back Anthony Allen to be released from his scholarship, he has to agree not to transfer any school on the Cardinals schedule for the next three years. And he can't transfer to Arkansas, coached by former Louisville coach Bobby Petrino.

"They told us that if they let Anthony go there, it would be open season on their other players," Amos Allen said. "We're not even sure if Anthony wants to go to Arkansas, but we thought the restriction was unfair."

Absolutely, it is unfair. When you take into consideration that coaches, being the sneaky little devils that they are, can jump from job to job with little or no repercussions. At worst, boosters from the new school pay for the buyout clause of the coach. At best, the former coach drags his former school through the mud and fights the buyout in court. Tom Fornelli touched on this earlier with the story of Ryan Mallett.

What strikes me about this situation is that Louisville is scared that they would lose several players if given the chance to go to Arkansas. Is this paranoia, or is it based in fact? You can't want to have players on your team that are only there because you say so. The Louisville program is already on shaky ground after a very disappointing 2007 season. One that Steve Kragthorpe was rumored to be going to SMU at the end of the year, and Louisville fans were all for it. If there is something going on behind the scenes that players, even if it's only a few, want to leave to be with their old coach, that's not a good sign. A little locker room cancer can go a long way in deciding the fate of future recruits. And can be a horrible distraction to the team.

I'm not saying that players should be allowed to transfer at will without sitting out a year. But there should be some guidelines from the NCAA on what schools can and can't demand about the future of a player that transfers. Damn, I can't believe I just said that. The legal team at the NCAA will probably start working on that minutes after this story posts. And the legal fees will, of course, trickle down to the cost of my season tickets.

scha·den·freu·de /ˈʃɑdnˌfrɔɪdə/

–noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

---

[Origin: 1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.

It's been a bang-up year in the laugh-at-your rivals department. As a fan, there's nothing more painful than seeing your team's shot at the ever-elusive mythical national championship go out the window because you can't beat some pissant like Stanford or Arkansas or Oregon State or Appalachian State or ... well ... not Oklahoma. But still. There was a large swath of the season in which unranked teams had a winning record over the #2 team. The most enormous upset in college football history was topped, then topped again* within a month of Appalachian State's blocked field goal.

And we tried to cover it all at the Fanhouse, at least after the two week period at the beginning of the season during which I huddled on the floor and tried really hard not to die. In the interregnum between the season and the bowls, then, let's review the year in pointing and laughing. Because the Motor City Bowl just isn't that interesting. After the jump: This Year in Schadenfreude.

*(in point spread terms, at least)

Purely coincidence that it is just a day after Bobby Petrino returns to college coaching, I'm sure.

Anthony Allen was Louisville's leading rusher this year, and set a team record for rushing for 275 yards in one game. He did, however, wear down during the season and appeared to be out of favor with new head coach Steve Kragthorpe who preferred speedy, shifty, pass catching tailbacks for his offense over a more traditional power back like Allen. In light of that Allen has decided to transfer.

Louisville is willing to release him, but his choices are a bit limited.The Big East prohibits any player transferring to another Big East team. The school also won't release him to any school they face in the next three years. Right now, that includes Kentucky, K-State, Utah and Oregon State. Oh, and they also won't give him a release to Arkansas.

Amos Allen, who was driving from the family's home in Tampa, Fla., to retrieve Anthony this afternoon, said going to Arkansas "is the last thing on our minds right now." If that should change, he said, the family would appeal U of L's decision to block that transfer.

That sounds convincing that he doesn't want to join his old coach. Good luck with that appeal.

Rutgers @ Louisville | 1st Half | 2nd Half

Welcome back. Thanks to John Radcliff for the fine work of blind liveblogging the first half. It looked like the Scarlet Knights were going to run the Cardinals right out of their own stadium with a 21-3 lead. Louisville QB Brian Brohm has admirably prevented the Cardinals from quitting. It's 28-17 Rutgers, and while Louisville has not come back to win a game they trailed at the end of the half this year the Scarlet Knights have blown two halftime leads (Maryland and Cinci) this season. So, it's hard to write this game off.

Given the meaningless of the game in the scheme of the National Championship picture and the early blow-out status, the crew of Fowler, Flutie and James have seemingly spent most of the game talking about other games. Since it's a Big East game the are ostensibly covering, much of the discussion has been about West Virginia and how they have absolutely no chance of losing to Pitt this Saturday.

That of course led to the latest Lou Holtz halftime pep talk for Pitt. Something I, as a Pitt alum have been looking forward to hearing all season since the pep talk has achieved demented cult status. This one pulled out the classices. Lou Holtz's magic trick with ripping up the newspaper then bringing it back whole. Pitt is the biggest underdog of the weekend. NoHe even ended with Mark May walking on in his old school Pitt jersey. Words fail me.

What a difference a year can make. Both teams started the year out in the top 20 with aspirations of a Big East title and a BCS bowl game. With Rutgers accepting a bid to the International Bowl today and Louisville needing a win tonight to become bowl eligible, it's been a season of disappointment for both schools. But that doesn't mean it won't be a good game.

Louisville certainly has plenty to play for. Besides an outside shot at a bowl, they should still have payback on their minds from last years best game. With Louisville undefeated and in the running for a national title shot, an equally undefeated but lower ranked Rutgers won the game on a last second field goal. A field goal that was gift wrapped after Jeremy Ito missed the first kick, but Louisville was offside. Ito nailed the second one, and ruined a perfect season for the Cardinals.

It'll be interesting to see how fired up Rutgers is, or if Louisville isn't. With a bowl game already locked up, Rutgers doesn't have much to play for but respect. Louisville on the other hand has everything to play for, including this being Brian Brohm's last game. Not to mention Harry Douglas and Art Carmody. I'm sure they've had this one circled since last years game ended.