Bulletin Board Stuff
June 29, 2009 07:27 AM | General
(7:28 am)
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| Bill Stewart |
It looks like Bill Stewart's Mountaineer football team is going to have to locate some extra room on the bulletin board for this fall.
First it was CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd picking West Virginia to finish fifth in the Big East.
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/15698248
Now, CNNSI.com's Cory McCartney thinks South Florida is the program most likely to step up and dominate a weak Big East Conference this year.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/cory_mccartney/06/25/south-florida/?eref=sircrc
By the way, West Virginia football has won 42 of its last 51 games and is 22-6 in Big East play during that span. That four-year mark of 42-9 is the sixth best in college football behind just USC, Texas, Boise State, Ohio State and Florida.
Hmm …
Meanwhile, over at The Sporting News, Matt Hayes takes a stab at ranking the non-conference schedules in the Big East.
http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2009-06-26/ranking-nonconference-schedules-big-east
Hayes has Cincinnati's non-league slate as the toughest with games against Southeast Missouri State, at Oregon State, Fresno State, at Miami (Ohio) and Illinois.
At the bottom of the list is Rutgers with a '09 football non-conference schedule that is comprised of Howard, Florida International, at Maryland, Texas Southern and at Army.
Hayes ranks West Virginia's non-conference schedule the third toughest in the league.
Here are the Big East's big opportunities against other BCS conference members in '09:
Cincinnati - Oregon State and Illinois
Syracuse - Minnesota, Penn State and Northwestern
West Virginia - Auburn and Colorado
Connecticut - North Carolina, Baylor and Notre Dame
Pitt - NC State and Notre Dame
USF - Florida State and Miami
Louisville - Kentucky
Rutgers - Maryland
Speaking of Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights are playing eight home games this year and it couldn't come at a better time. The school's $102 million stadium expansion project that will increase Rutgers Stadium's capacity to 52,000 is scheduled to be completed this fall.
New Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti has also indicated that the school has begun looking at funding sources to refurbish the RAC in addition to constructing a practice facility for Scarlet Knights men's and women's basketball programs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/sports/21rutgers.html?ref=sports
By the way, Louisville's football stadium expansion is expected to be completed for the 2010 season.
Pitt is 30th with 25 bowl appearances, Syracuse is 37th with 22 bowl trips, and Louisville is 56th with 14 bowl appearances.
The Mountaineers are also tops in the Big East with 13 all-time bowl victories.
Well, here is nifty stat for you to sink your teeth into: Since 2001, West Virginia has acquired the fourth most turnovers (236) in college football behind USC (266), Virginia Tech (248) and Oklahoma (242).
Not only does Stewart have the young, charismatic coaches that can relate to 18-year-olds, but he also has the bird dogs that can turn up rocks and locate those good hidden football prospects. And when they get them on campus, Coach Stew knows how to close the deal.
That's a pretty formidable combination.
Last year the Big East had just four players picked.
Panther rooters were hoping that their 11-year first-round drought would end last week and prove to hoop recruits that Pitt basketball can become an NBA draft factory. Instead, Pitt has now had four second-round picks in the last five years.
The knock on Young is his age, while Blair is thought to be too short to play in the post in the pros. Despite that, it is difficult for me to imagine both players not making NBA rosters this fall.
Have a great week!
