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.

When the Big East was reconfigured a few years back, the conference was able to persuade their non-football member Notre Dame to commit to playing more Big East teams in football. To that end, the Irish have a six year home-and-home series with Pitt starting this season, they agreed to play UConn and they also set up a six year series with Rutgers.

Pitt is actually one of their most played opponents in the Irish history (5th behind Navy, USC, Purdue and Michigan State), so that wasn't a surprise. The UConn series required the Huskies to essentially go to neutral fields for their home games by making the games at NFL stadiums in the Northeast.

Rutgers is presently expanding their seating capacity to 55,000 at a cost of over $100 million. The expansion would be completed for the 2009 season. The year the Notre Dame series was to begin was in 2010. Notre Dame, however, was insisting that the Rutgers home games take place at the new NFL stadium at the Meadowlands. Rutgers, unlike UConn, wouldn't accept leaving their own facility so the series is now off.

Rutgers entered into discussions about a possible long-term series with Notre Dame, but at the end of the day both schools could not agree about the site of the games," [Athletic Director Bob] Mulcahy said in a statement issued by the school. "We feel Rutgers' home games should be played on-campus at Rutgers Stadium."

Unlike UConn coach Randy Edsall, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano had no interest in surrendering true home field advantage just to play Notre Dame.

It's been a long time coming, but Tuesday Kansas State fans got the official word. KSU has dropped Fresno State from its 2008 schedule and replaced it with powerhouse Montana State. Kansas State will pay Fresno State $250,000 as part of a buyout agreement.

This is a quick reversal in philosophies for Prince and Kansas State. A year ago at this time, Prince was championing the tough schedules facing KSU in the future and encouraging a move away from previous head coach Bill Snyder's cupcake-laden slates. At that time, he was quoted as saying:

"Where we are in the development of our team and our program, I think having the opportunity to go play those kind of opponents [Auburn and Fresno State] will do nothing but benefit us," coach Ron Prince said Monday.

I suppose the fact that the Wildcats finished 5-7 a year ago, while Fresno State was 9-4 in 2007 might have had something to do with Prince's flip-flop.

On the other end of the deal, Fresno State has added Rutgers to their schedule to replace Kansas State. That move should surprise few. Pat Hill and the Bulldogs have always had the attitude of "any team, any time, anywhere." In fact this isn't the first time that an opponent has backed out of a game against Fresno State.

Hill is used to foes dropping him. Earlier this decade, he saw Oklahoma State and Texas Tech duck out of visits to Fresno. The inability to get opponents to come to his turf has led to Hill's team getting just five home games this fall.

Here's why athletic directors are frowning today...

It's time to play Guess The Misdemeanor!: As a coach, Greg Schiano has to make decisions. Most of them are easy, like "should I blitz against Syracuse" (yes) and "should I sell an internal organ in order to bribe Ray Rice to stay" (yes again--the left kidney and a lobe of the liver).

When it comes to player discipline, the answers aren't so simple. So when Schiano found out defensive tackle Justin Francis was arrested, he suspended the young man, then informed the media. Nobody likes a secretive coach, after all. But he decided not to provide the specifics of the arrest itself, which we celebrate as an even better decision. Why? Because it allows us the opportunity to engage in reckless speculation! AOL cannot attest to the veracity of any of these rumors, of course--mainly because this author making them up right now--but we're confidently narrowing down the list of possible infractions to the ones listed below.

• Riding a puma through the drive-thru at the local Arby's. Pumas are endangered, pal!
• Running an illegal bronzer smuggling ring. Yes, it's Jersey, so the market's there, but get a permit, for crissakes.
• Parking fifteen stolen cars on the tarmac at Newark International Airport. Pilots do not appreciate "obstacle courses."
• Puma bombing. Again with the pumas!

How long has it been since you were aware of HGH or the practice of blood doping? If you're a fan of baseball or a fan of the Olympics, you've probably known about them for a while. In fact, you can't escape news about them. So when I caught this piece over at The Wizard of Odds, I was more than a little taken back.

Last week, we told you about Rutgers planning to try the Pure Power Mouthguard, which promises to safely reproduce some of the effects of steroids and the human growth hormone. The manufacturer says the device aligns an athlete's jaw properly by using bilateral electrical stimulation and relaxes face muscles, allowing the rest of the body to work more effectively.

Wow! Really? A mouthpiece that enhances your performance? I feel like the old man that asks, "what will they think of next?" The thing about steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, besides the repercussions on the human body, is that they create an uneven playing field. And that really is what should be front and center in any discussion about the subject. I mean, let's just say for a minute that this mouthpiece actually delivers on it's promise. Will Rutgers record, no matter what it is, get an asterisk?

OK, maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit there. But hey, back to that old man question. It's not so much what will they think of next, because the money is obviously there for them to invest. And they will think of something else. The question should be what are we going to do when they come up with it. The likely trend will be the production of products that improve performance without the side effects of steroids. So where do we draw the line? As long as no one gets hurt, do we allow every product on the market into our sports? At what point do we quit being human beings, and become Borg-like creatures (nerd alert) totally dependent on the drugs and equipment to perform? Maybe Rome will fall before then.

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.

It's really not much of a shock, but Rutgers Ray Rice is giving up his senior season to enter the NFL draft. Rice was the third leading rusher in 1-A football this season with 2012 yards. Behind only Kevin Smith of Central Florida and Matt Forte of Tulane.

According to DraftHeadquarters, Rice received word from the NFL Advisory Committee that he would be a late-1st/early-second round draft pick.

With Kevin Smith already declared, Forte a senior, and Arkansas' Darren McFadden expected to declare soon, that means the top four rushers in the NCAA this past season will be in the NFL Draft. In fact with the exception of Kent State's Eugene Jarvis -- a sophomore -- it can be expected that nine of the top ten rushers will be in the NFL Draft.

Michael Hart of Michigan (#6) and Jalen Parmele of Toledo (#9) are both seniors. Juniors Rashard Mendenhall of Illinois (#8) and Jamaal Charles of Texas (#10) have already declared. Oregon Junior Jonathan Stewart (#6) is also expected to skip his senior season for the NFL.

Sigh. Michigan made a run at Greg Schiano yesterday or the day before, apparently offering him the Michigan job in all ways but giving him an actual contract to sign. The result:

Greg Schiano is staying as football coach at Rutgers, rejecting overtures from the University of Michigan.

An offer was never formally made to Schiano, nor were specific contract details discussed, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

But it was understood, the person said, the deal would have had roughly the same framework of one he passed up with Miami last year that would have paid about $2.2 million a year

With Schiano and Les Miles (probably) off the table, Brian Kelly never even getting a look, and Kirk Ferentz's on-again-off-again flirtation with the job at an end, where does Michigan turn? There is no name out there, but Michigan fans are getting excited about...

Les Miles! Which is crazy. But we're all a little crazy these days.

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.